Moving into a larger shop

[n3rdism]

Thanks Guys, My new stop is 200m2 my old shop is 50m2 so is a big change into retail for us.

As for facebook getting thousand of fans is relatively easy, to get your numbers up initially you want to offer prizes like pc's or video cards something that people want to get them to your page. Cause once you have them there will rarely leave your page.

[drpcfix]

We only have luck selling laptops/computers on the retail side, we tried merchandising components, external hard drives, fun video gadgets, all kinds of stuff..

If you are real small, I would take it easy on inventory and start with just a few things and see how it goes - I always ended up with a bunch of stuff on pegboard that didn't sell for 3 years.

(but I'm a retail n00b too..)

refurbished laptops seem to go pretty fast..

[ComputerCorner]

We never have used laptops very long, but our desktops don't sell as quickly. The big thing we aim for is trying to beat out the big box stores with cables, routers, WiFi adapters, external hard drive enclosures, mice / keyboards, and more. They aren't always the top brands, but our products are still good enough. We want to be the convenient place to go that has all of the necessities. Yes, we may be a little more in some instances, but you can depend on us for helping you find what you need, learn up on it, and you have the satisfaction of buying it immediately instead of waiting for it to be shipped.

For instance, you can go to Best Buy and buy a 3ft HDMI cable for $50, or you can come to our shop and spend 1/3 of that for a 10ft cable.

[Tony_Scarpelli]

Originally Posted by npinc

We have about 2000 sq ft and a small portion is devoted to retail. What I learned is that if you have it, it will sell.

I have some inventory I will make you a deal on.

[Tony_Scarpelli]

Originally Posted by drpcfix

We only have luck selling laptops/computers on the retail side, we tried merchandising components, external hard drives, fun video gadgets, all kinds of stuff..

If you are real small, I would take it easy on inventory and start with just a few things and see how it goes - I always ended up with a bunch of stuff on pegboard that didn't sell for 3 years.

(but I'm a retail n00b too..)

refurbished laptops seem to go pretty fast..

That is my experience as well. We were doing over $30k per month in service revenue so I allowed our inventory to get a little high....Our hardware sales are 10% of our gross.

From time to time i would buy some neat looking new items but seldom sell as well as I hoped.

There are some exceptions, I met with an retailer who was 20 miles from a Office max, Officedepo, Walmart or BestBuy and she did a great job with ink cartridges, computer supplies and all manner of computer parts. I think it was more than 1/3 of her sales but then people didn't want to drive from Key largo to Coloney Key to go to Officemax.

[npinc]

Originally Posted by Tony_Scarpelli

I have some inventory I will make you a deal on.

We're good thanks! We're extremely picky about the brands we carry and where we buy from, so we don't buy off the street.

Unless you're being facetious.. In which case you may not reach enough clients for that model to work effectively/efficiently.

One example is an APC unit we brought in. It's a rack mount/pedestal unit for servers. The average user won't buy something like that. We ordered it in for a job that turned out they needed a far more advanced model that we brought in for them. So this huge box is sitting in my office. Today we had a client with a Supermicro server and a dead UPS. He gladly bought it.

I believe the key is how much real estate the product takes up and how much you have to tie up in it The bigger its foot print and dollar value, and/or the more effort it takes to sell it, the bigger the margins you better have or they better fly off the shelves. Stuff that takes up no space and is high margin can sit around a little longer.

[Tony_Scarpelli]

A good rule of thumb is you should be able to turn your inventory every 60-90 days or about 4- 6 times per year.

[npinc]

Originally Posted by Tony_Scarpelli

A good rule of thumb is you should be able to turn your inventory every 60-90 days or about 4- 6 times per year.

That sounds good to me. I'll definitely bear that in mind for future orders. Thanks!