Computer hardware stores have long become familiar in any city. The main share of the market is occupied by large computer stores, since wholesale purchases of computer equipment allow you to trade at a high margin, and the larger the batch of purchased equipment, the greater the discount of wholesale suppliers. Therefore, to open your own business in the field of sales of computer equipment, you need to decide on the format of the store and target buyers.
It is most profitable to open a computer store on a franchise or become part of a distribution network.
This allows you to get equipment at lower prices and provides the necessary assortment. On the other hand, such cooperation with large networks usually brings low profits, since network owners seek to increase their share, including through small partners.
Another option for creating your own business is to open a small computer equipment store that competes with retail chains not in terms of prices, but in terms of customer service flexibility and level of service.
These computer stores are usually targeted at the population, although they often find regular customers among enterprises. The secret of the success of such a store lies in the willingness to help the client with qualified advice and the selection of computer equipment that best suits the needs of the client. The target buyers of such stores are individuals who make a purchase of computer equipment for the first time, or want to upgrade existing equipment.
A special category of customers is occupied by gamers who strive to constantly improve their computers in order to ensure maximum performance. Therefore, it is not necessary for such a store to have large sales areas in order to display the entire range of products. It is enough to expose several samples of system blocks or even a case, with an emphasis on assembling the computer configuration at the request of the customer. True, it must be taken into account that many inexperienced buyers tend to purchase a ready-made system unit that can be picked up immediately and installed at home on the same day. So in the trading floor it is always necessary to have several assembled, ready-to-work computers, which have a relatively low cost and are quite suitable for novice users.
When opening a computer equipment store, you need to take into account that the bulk of the income will come not from the sale of system units, but from the sale of components and consumables.
The highest margin on goods can be made just on inexpensive goods, such as flash drives, disks, blanks, memory cards, microphones, Web cameras, and so on. A special source of income may be sales of used components and computer upgrade services.
Some customers who are advanced users who want to maximize the performance of their computers are happy to change quite powerful modern components for even newer ones. By accepting performance components at very low prices in exchange, by discounting the sale of new ones, you can make a good business using used components when assembling inexpensive models for novice users.
The most important condition for the successful operation of the store is the selection of reliable suppliers from whom you can purchase equipment and components at lower prices, while at the same time providing yourself with guarantees for the exchange of low-quality goods.
Finding suppliers is often the main problem when creating a computer equipment store. The easiest way is to conclude an agreement with a larger distributor, providing yourself with the possibility of a guaranteed exchange of goods. Naturally, in this case, the margin on the sale of goods is reduced, but the risks of loss of income when receiving low-quality goods are also reduced.
For high-quality customer service, the staff of the store must have specialists capable of repairing and setting up computer equipment.
The presence of such specialists allows not only to assemble system blocks according to the needs of customers, to give qualified advice, but also to establish relationships with corporate clients who are able to bring higher sales volumes than private clients.
In connection with the development of the growing popularity of portable devices, it is imperative to include such goods as laptops, netbooks, tablets, smartphones, and various accessories for them in the assortment of a computer equipment store. This will increase overall sales and solve the problem of pre-installed software, which significantly increases the cost of finished computers, if licensed software is used.
Opening costs depend on the selected assortment and the size of the store.
When selecting premises, it is necessary to take into account that, in addition to the trading floor, it is necessary to have a room for assembling and repairing computers, a warehouse, as well as administrative and amenity premises.
As a rule, the total area of the store should be about 100 square meters, the sales area — at least 50 square meters.
As trading equipment, it is necessary to use not only open showcases for system units, monitors and peripherals, but also closed showcases for placing small goods and components. In addition to the cost of equipping the premises, which can range from $600,000 to $1 million, when drawing up a business plan, it is necessary to take into account the costs of purchasing an initial range of goods in the amount of $10,000 to $50,000. In the future, the purchase of goods can be made in batches, replenishing the existing assortment, and adjusting the batch of goods, depending on the volume of sales.
The running costs of a computer hardware store are also significant, since it is necessary to have qualified personnel, pay for security services and utilities, as well as rent, in the case of using someone else’s premises.
As experience shows, the profitability of computer stores is from 10 to 15%.
This allows you to make a profit within one to one and a half years. The provision of additional services, servicing corporate clients can help speed up the profit.
Proper business management must begin with the preparation of a business plan , ordering which on our website, you can ensure a good start for your own enterprise.
