$1000 Allocated for Inventory

[techwyze]

Hello folks, I have allocated $1000.00 for inventory so I can get some items on my shelves. I have been pondering this for the last week and am going nuts trying to decide what and how many of various items I am going to purchase/display. If anyone would like to share any ideas on this let me know. I have a steady flow of walk-ins but it would greatly increase if there were products on the shelves. My building was an old drug store so the lobby area is set up for retail.

~Techwyze

 

[Mushin]

Hello folks, I have allocated $1000.00 for inventory so I can get some items on my shelves. I have been pondering this for the last week and am going nuts trying to decide what and how many of various items I am going to purchase/display. If anyone would like to share any ideas on this let me know. I have a steady flow of walk-ins but it would greatly increase if there were products on the shelves. My building was an old drug store so the lobby area is set up for retail.

~Techwyze

How quick can you restock if you run out? Keep on hand the amount that you would use in the period that it takes to get a new order in. Then double this number for your first shipment. Now you are ready to cycle the inventory. When you sell through the the amount you need to have on hand all the time reorder. By the time the reorder comes in you will have used that amount and created a new order.

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

$1000 wont get you much of an inventory of computer parts.

Best bet would be to use it for comsumables,a range of cables, connectors, mice, keyboards, etc

We dont sell anything apart from having a range of the above but it amazing the amount of people who come to us as we are only ones for miles around they know they can get ps2 to usb adaptors, male 3.5mm to male 3.5mm cables to connect ipod to car radio, etc at reasonable prices compared to local maplins (not sure what equivelent is in USA probably radioshack). Also has the plus point that other techs visit for cables/adapters/etc which gives good impression to any customer who are there at the same time.

consumables are high turnover that poeple will come back often for, cables/adapters are a niche that will stay on shelf longer but will gain a try there first type of reputation.

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

Retail sales are not my focus, $1000 is plenty to put a few items on my already in place shelving.

quite agree only mentioned it as have seen pepole go down the stock with cpu, graphics card route and then realise that unless they spend big bucks on that type of stock they have noone going to them specifically for parts.

 

[techwyze]

$1000 wont get you much of an inventory of computer parts.

Retail sales are not my focus, $1000 is plenty to put a few items on my already in place shelving.

 

[Iconic]

If you are just looking to put stock on your shelves for visual apeal I would suggest shooting two birds with one stone and stock up on the items that you know you are already purchasing.

For example if you are seeing a large collection of HD replacements or Memory upgrades, why not stock up on those and display them?

Just a suggestion.

But miscellaneous cable connections are never a bad idea to keep one or two in stock, even the more common cables like USB A to B cables since most new printers do not come with those for some insane reason.

 

[joydivision]

Sometimes I stock up on RAM a bit. Tomorrow I am buying quite a bit of DDR1 RAM while prices are low. I think there will be a market for DDR1 RAM for another 6 months then demand will die out. At the moment I operate a just in time operation. E.g I only buy parts when I need them, but the shop is either 4 or 7 miles away depending which branch I go to and I live in a large city so it can take ages.

 

[techwyze]

If you are just looking to put stock on your shelves for visual appeal I would suggest shooting two birds with one stone and stock up on the items that you know you are already purchasing.

For example if you are seeing a large collection of HD replacements or Memory upgrades, why not stock up on those and display them?

Just a suggestion.

But miscellaneous cable connections are never a bad idea to keep one or two in stock, even the more common cables like USB A to B cables since most new printers do not come with those for some insane reason.

That all sounds very logical, what a simple solution. You hit the nail right on the head, my whole point is to the increase visual appeal for my walk-ins and those who just walk by. Just the simple fact of people seeing items on the shelves will bring them out of curiosity.

 

[Iconic]

That all sounds very logical, what a simple solution. You hit the nail right on the head, my whole point is to the increase visual appeal for my walk-ins and those who just walk by. Just the simple fact of people seeing items on the shelves will bring them out of curiosity.

Glad I could help. The local store that I get all my parts from follows this method. They only display the items that they know they are going to use in the next month. They display the boxes from the sound cards, vid cards, memory and HD's of the parts they typically put together into their customer PC builds. It is because of this method they have 2 locations in my city and 2 in Hong Kong as well.

I know I should probably not be buying my parts from them since they are competitors, but I pass system build business their way and they give me cost prices on the parts I need from them.

 

[TechForce]

i remember reading a post on here a while back from someone who was kitting out they're shopfront with stock, one reccomendation was to stock some things, then on higher shelves you could put the boxes from graphics cards and motherboards etc that you've used in the past, just put the empty boxes up there as a 'display only' this will keep your shelves full with parts which as you say, will 'decorate' the place up a bit.

other than that i'd think of what your going to sell most, what is your typical customer going to purchase when coming in? i'd imagine a small range of cables, ink cartridges perhaps, wireless routers/access points etc. also keep your average range in stock, mobos/psus/rams etc, just not too much at a time so you can keep up with the pricing (unless you get a great deal on bulk that you could sell before it would devalue, obviously).


other than general products, what else do you have to decorate the shop andmake it more visual/stand out? any banners/posters from partners/vendors etc? i'd look into that also. if yourr a microsoft partner contact them, they'll probably be happy to send you some materials to deck out the shop (i imagine it'll all be promo for win7 atm) and any vendors or other partners your associated with.

p.s.... get pics up when it's finished!

 

[JosephLeo]

I would just stock up on the the most common items I deal with...

Memory

• DDR 133MHz (256MB Units)
• DDR2 400MHz (512MB & 1GB Units)
• DDR2 667MHz (512MB, 1GB & 2GB Units)
• DDR2 800MHz (512MB, 1GB & 2GB Units)
• DDR3 1333MHz (1GB & 2GB Units)
• DDR2 800MHz Laptop Memory (512MB, 1GB & 2GB Units)

Hard Drives

• 3.5" 160GB IDE
• 3.5" 250GB SATA
• 3.5" 500GB SATA
• 2.5" 80GB IDE
• 2.5" 120GB SATA
• 2.5" 250GB SATA

Power Supplies

• 80+ 350 ~ 500 Watt PSU
• 80+ 500 ~ 750 Watt PSU

Case Fans

• 80mm Case Fans
• 90mm Case Fans
• 120mm Case Fans

CPU Fans

• Regular Multi-Socket Fan/HS
• Low Profile Multi-Socket Fan/HS

Disk Drives

• IDE DVD Writer

Video Cards

• Low Grade PCIe 16x from ATi HD 4K series & nVidia 9k series

Peripherals

• Standard Keyboards
• Standard Mouse
• Speakers

 

[techwyze]

I would just stock up on the the most common items I deal with...

Memory

• DDR 133MHz (256MB Units)
• DDR2 400MHz (512MB & 1GB Units)
• DDR2 667MHz (512MB, 1GB & 2GB Units)
• DDR2 800MHz (512MB, 1GB & 2GB Units)
• DDR3 1333MHz (1GB & 2GB Units)
• DDR2 800MHz Laptop Memory (512MB, 1GB & 2GB Units)

Hard Drives

• 3.5" 160GB IDE
• 3.5" 250GB SATA
• 3.5" 500GB SATA
• 2.5" 80GB IDE
• 2.5" 120GB SATA
• 2.5" 250GB SATA

Power Supplies

• 80+ 350 ~ 500 Watt PSU
• 80+ 500 ~ 750 Watt PSU

Case Fans

• 80mm Case Fans
• 90mm Case Fans
• 120mm Case Fans

CPU Fans

• Regular Multi-Socket Fan/HS
• Low Profile Multi-Socket Fan/HS

Disk Drives

• IDE DVD Writer

Video Cards

• Low Grade PCIe 16x from ATi HD 4K series & nVidia 9k series

Peripherals

• Standard Keyboards
• Standard Mouse
• Speakers

Thanks for your input!

 

[JosephLeo]

Thanks for your input!

No problem. Also you might want to wait for the DDR3 memory thing I mentioned. I haven't seen any yet, but hey it's pretty much reaching a steady price now at that level so it's worth it to keep a few modules lying around

 

[Tweak]

I'm with Joe as he hit on what I would have replied had he not pretty much, only other thing might be a case or two and every time you sell an item and don't have a client wanting the box you have a new display item.

 

[JosephLeo]

I'm with Joe as he hit on what I would have replied had he not pretty much, only other thing might be a case or two and every time you sell an item and don't have a client wanting the box you have a new display item.

Hmm- yeah eWiz (newbiiz) has INCREDIBLY cheap cases ($10 to $20) with power supply that look good enough and are of decent quality...meaning they're a bit flimsy to a techie- but an average Joe wouldn't be able to tell the difference or care for that matter....I believe the brand you should look for is called iMicro.

Note though, they have a kit that is a Computer Case, 400W power supply, Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers with 5-star reviews for $20...AVOID IT AT ALL COST. those are fake reviews, trust me.



However...how about the case below w/ 400 watt power supply for $15?

If you don't want to trust a new brand (I wouldn't either at first) then how about one from Foxconn for only $29 w/ 350W power supply?

 

[Blues]

Antec has some good cases that are fairly inexpensive I think the models are what they call thier Solutions line. I think you can find some of them for as low as $30 when on sale.

 

[ProTech Support]

i remember reading a post on here a while back from someone who was kitting out they're shopfront with stock, one reccomendation was to stock some things, then on higher shelves you could put the boxes from graphics cards and motherboards etc that you've used in the past, just put the empty boxes up there as a 'display only' this will keep your shelves full with parts which as you say, will 'decorate' the place up a bit.

That is exactly what I did, worked fine for me. It's hard for a small shop to stock a wide range of items because everyone is always looking for something diffrent.

Just hold onto the box's from custom build's, they will add up quick.

It is also good to do because the customer will sometimes see a box (even if it empty), and ask about the product, giving you an additional sale.

 

[AtYourService]

ive been holding off on ordering any parts only because there is a wide range of items and you may or may not sell the item

i just order on demand if needed

 

[Mushin]

Do vendors provide boxes?

I have tried but have had no luck in finding a MFG such as ATI or NVIDIA that will provide empty boxes.

Does any know where you can get stuff like this instead of have to buy the item and recycle the box?

I am currently recycling my boxes by putting them on the shelf but I would like more and also like to stay current.


Hmm... For those of you that will not use your empty boxes start saving them I sure people would gladly pay postage to have them sent. Simply break them down to as flat as possible.

Thanks

 

[bagellad]

Mushin: just start working the upgrade angle of what you need parts boxes of haha.