Interest in the mysterious, hidden from human eyes and inexplicable from the point of view of a rational approach has existed at all times. And our time was no exception to this rule. Moreover, as analysts say, right now, at the beginning of the new century, esotericism is at the peak of popularity. Paradoxical as it may seem, modern science played a certain role in this, which far from always can explain the nature of some phenomena.
So, interest in esoteric trends is very high, and, of course, this could not go unnoticed by entrepreneurs. Although in every city there are several ordinary stores of esoteric products, and the number of specialized online stores operating throughout Russia, in the hundreds, in the opinion of experts, this segment of the market is still far from saturated and very poorly understood. It is developing spontaneously, new players are constantly appearing, but most analysts consider it too “frivolous”. Of course, the participants themselves are in no hurry to reveal their secrets. Therefore, even the number of players and their turns can be estimated only approximately. There are no more than ten large stores in this market. Their turnover may well reach several million dollars a year. The turnover of small points, the number of which is even hard to imagine, does not exceed $ 4000 per month. Initially, such a business, as a rule, grows out of a simple hobby of the entrepreneur himself, but often quickly turns into something much more.
And now, new players may well count on success, but only if they can offer a wide range of products and additional services. Previously, small retail outlets prevailed in this segment, which were located on the territory of markets and offered cheap products of Asian production - from incense and amulets to “good luck” coins and jewelry with a “sacred” meaning. Gradually hawkers fade into the background. If in the post-perestroika time, our compatriots, having “broken through” to previously forbidden esoteric goods, swept everything out of the shelves, now the target audience has become much more enlightened and selective. They are interested in new products in the field that is of most interest to them, read special literature and even study at various courses. There are a lot of directions in esoteric, and most of them should be presented on the shelves of your store.
Thus, modern lovers of the mysterious and unknown can be interested in a large selection of products, as well as competent consultations and additional bonuses (we will write about the latter in more detail below). As for economic indicators, this business is quite promising and profitable.
We open a shop of esoteric products: the choice of premises
In many cases, experts and experienced entrepreneurs recommend that newcomers do not seek to open their store in the very center of the city. The cost of rent here is usually much higher, options for rent are less, and the convenience of location is a big question (primarily for residents of remote areas). However, in the case of the esoteric goods store, this advice does not work. For the sleeping area, even despite the low rental cost, these products are too highly specialized. If your store will be located in the center with convenient transportation, your regular and new customers will come to you from any other area of the city. Moreover, such an arrangement in itself is a good advertisement. People passing and passing by your store will remember your sign and will come to you in the future for shopping.
True, the cost of rent in this case will be quite high. Keep in mind that the area of even a small store should be between 30-40 square meters. meters. The area of large stores is about 200 square meters. meters. Of course, this does not mean that you should open a real esoteric shopping center, but nothing confuses visitors like a tiny space littered with a lot of small goods. Buyers of such products like walking around the trading floor, independently exploring the goods, leafing through books and viewing maps. Although the esoteric goods are usually not large-sized (apart from various pendants such as “wind music” or “dream catcher”, but they can be hung under the ceiling or on the walls), nevertheless, they are rarely chosen “without looking”, but high shelving and glazed display cases, trays and horizontal glass boxes occupy a lot of space. In addition, on the territory of such a store should be provided for a warehouse for products (with a large assortment, the area under the warehouse should be at least 10 square meters), as well as for the office. The fact is that, as we wrote above, a wide range of goods is a necessary condition for a successful store, but not the only one. If you offer your visitors additional services, this will become your main competitive advantage. Services, of course, should be specialized. Opening an atelier for sewing curtains on the territory of an esoteric shop is not worth it. Fortune-telling on Tarot, numerological calculations and astrological charts, reincarnation, palmistry, etc. are in great demand. Ideally, you should provide such services yourself. If you work with an incoming consultant, then your profit is only enough to pay the rent (and then, perhaps, not completely). If you yourself are such a specialist, then you will have to hire a sales assistant who will serve visitors while you conduct consultations.
As for the decoration of the room, the fashion to the east with the music of the wind and the heavy aroma of incense gradually passes. You still can’t do without aroma if you have aromatic oils and Indian sticks in your assortment. However, do not forget that not everyone likes strong smells. Moreover, they are difficult for allergy sufferers. So a good ventilation and air conditioning system or, in extreme cases, regular airing of the room will not hurt.
The interior design of the store is preferably ordered from the designer. But novice entrepreneurs do not have extra money on professional services, so you can do it yourself, relying on your own taste. The atmosphere of your store should, on the one hand, be intriguing and evoke an appropriate mood. But on the other hand, you should not turn it into a tent of a fortuneteller with a mysterious twilight, velvet curtains and candelabra. You can use even cheap Ikea shelving units as shelves and display cases. The main thing is that they should be placed with maximum comfort for visitors, not interfere with the passage, but at the same time open a review of the presented goods. Contrary to popular belief, dim lighting is also not the best option. You can make the general lighting slightly muffled, but then you will have to equip the lighting on the shelves and display cases so that buyers can see in detail the laid out small things like amulets and crystals. Shelves with printed materials - books, periodicals and fortune-telling cards - are made with open access so that it can be taken from a shelf, scrolled or held in hands. This facilitates the selection process and increases the likelihood of making a purchase. But an open display is fraught with an increase in costs for you: not all people handle books carefully, and storefront samples of fortune telling cards can be written off right away, because they won’t go for sale (factory packaging is broken, cards wrinkle, wipe, get lost, and sometimes even carried away “by memory” by dishonest visitors). Therefore, when drawing up a business plan, immediately lay the costs of display cases (with a large assortment of printed materials, this expense item can be very noticeable).
Small products that come in bulk (amulets, charms, crystals, gems, coins, etc.) must be laid out either at the checkout counter or in glazed windows to avoid theft.
We buy goods
Carefully choose a supplier. Pay attention not only to prices, but also to the quality and originality of products. Of course, you can not spend a lot of time searching and purchasing the initial consignment of goods from one of the many small wholesale suppliers. The only problem is that their product will be of low quality. And your direct competitors will most likely have the same products. However, betting only on exclusive is also not worth it, unless you have a highly specialized online store that focuses on a limited number of connoisseurs and collectors.
Specialists advise to formulate the assortment as follows. About 50-60% of products are best purchased from wholesalers or directly in the countries where they are produced. These are mainly China, India, Tibet, Indonesia, Nepal and Thailand. For a small store, the latter option is not suitable, as it is too complicated and costly. After all, you will have to look for suppliers and manufacturers in each of these countries, take all the trouble on paperwork (clothes and utensils require mandatory certification) and purchase large quantities of the same type of product. In addition, each country has its own specifics, which must be taken into account. The main manufacturers of the vast majority of souvenirs of this kind are China, India and Nepal. The easiest way to work with the Chinese. But Indian partners are considered the most unreliable. Cheating on their part is far from a rare occurrence. It is easier and even more profitable to find a reliable Russian company engaged in wholesale sales and conclude an agreement with it. In the future, with constant cooperation, you will be able to agree with partners on more favorable procurement conditions.
About 30-40% of the assortment is printed materials (specialized books, fortunetelling cards, etc.), which are purchased at book publishers and their representatives. Esoteric literature should not be neglected. Perhaps it seems too narrowly specialized to you, and, indeed, it is less in demand than female novels or detective stories. However, the share of such books is about 5% of the book market in terms of circulation and up to 6% in the number of titles. With a total book market capacity of about $ 1.5 billion in our country, this segment is very promising.
Finally, the remaining 10% are exclusive goods that are purchased from individuals, in small online stores, at various auctions, including foreign ones. You can also ask for help from intermediaries who travel to different countries and look for goods at local bazaars on customer orders. The goods of this group are more likely to be fashionable, but they can bring you considerable profit. The extra charge for small things ranges from 100% or more, for products of the middle price category (usually books and cards) it will be in the range of 30-60%, and for exclusive products the margin can reach 300%. And yet, most of these unique things, which are usually presented in a single copy, are designed to attract regular customers - collectors and just interested. They will often come to you in the hope of a new arrival and at the same time will get something from your main assortment.
There is always a buyer for each product, - many entrepreneurs adhere to this opinion when purchasing goods for their store. And yet, even with the condition of "small size" of esoteric products, you should not spend money acquiring everything in a row. To begin with, study the range of competitors - it can be either a completely ordinary store in your city or an online store operating throughout the country. Pay attention not only to the types of products presented in them, but also to the calculations of the goods or the rating for the popularity of positions (these are often in the online store). Your indirect competitors include many large online retailers that sell book products (such as Labyrinth or Ozone). In their assortment there are Tarot cards, and various amulets, etc. Pay attention to their prices. You are unlikely to be able to offer your customers a lower cost for similar products, but a small price difference with the opportunity to see the product “live” and immediately purchase it without a long wait is a definite plus in your favor.
Try to track changes in purchasing interests. If earlier people were most interested in Buddhist and occult themes, now experts note other trends. Many esoteric goods stores have included healthy food and ethnic clothing, as well as various national souvenirs and jewelry in their assortment. About the classics also do not forget. Material wealth interests modern people more than spiritual values. The demand for amulets and talismans, which according to legend bring wealth, good luck and great love, will always be. But goods from Africa and South America are not so popular.
In any case, there is always an element of luck in the procurement of such products. No matter how profound marketing knowledge you have, it is unlikely that you can predict with high accuracy what exactly will cause the hype in the public. But this does not mean that you do not need to experiment without investing a lot of money in your experiments. If you are lucky to find such a product that will be in great demand, be sure that it will appear in the range of your competitors soon. But at least you will have the advantage of a discoverer.
The ideal sales consultant worth its weight in gold
Esoterics is a complex topic. As polls show, only 35% of the total number of visitors to the esoteric store happen to be in it by chance: they come out of sheer curiosity or choose some souvenir “with meaning” for their friends and acquaintances. The remaining 65% are people who are attracted to the theme of esotericism. But no more than 10% of this amount are experts in this field and know exactly what they came to you for. The rest needs the help of a real specialist, whose role should be sales consultants. At first you can take on these functions. After all, no one knows your product as well as you. However, you will have to deal with purchases at the same time as sales, solve various issues, communicate with different authorities, etc. If you also conduct consultations for customers at your store, then you can’t do without help.
It would seem that there is nothing easier than finding a seller in a similar store. Such topics attract a lot of people, and some of them will not refuse to combine business with pleasure - to advise buyers and make money. But imagine that the assortment of a relatively small shop of esoteric products has several hundred positions, and your seller should not only distinguish a simple souvenir from a “magic” amulet, but also tell in detail about the healing properties of each mineral and what signs of the zodiac it fits. Of course, it is possible and necessary to supply each such “exhibit” with detailed instructions for use, but you need to know at least where exactly and on which shelf it should be searched.
There is such an unpleasant moment (as at any point of retail trade), as theft. It is difficult to control the amount of all small goods. They are not of great value, but unscrupulous sellers often take them “as a keepsake”. Therefore, at first it is advisable to constantly be with the seller in the trading floor, controlling his work, and ideally, to hire a relative or acquaintance whom you can unconditionally trust. Another option is to open a business with a partner and work together for at least the first few months, but in this case, serious problems can arise much later when your business finally becomes successful.
Finding a true professional will be very difficult, and sometimes even impossible. So be prepared for the fact that you have to deal with the training of your employees yourself. The management of some large companies takes this issue very seriously. In order for the seller to get a higher qualification, he has to write an essay on the topic of cultural studies or religious studies (mainly on Oriental topics) and pass a real exam. Training is carried out in the form of lectures that are given by managers or even full-time teachers. В крайнем случае, можно обойтись чтением специальной литературы. Главное условие – интерес самого сотрудника к этой теме. Впрочем, незаинтересованные, как правило, не откликаются на такие вакансии.
Отдельного внимания заслуживает вопрос возраста ваших работников. Эзотерической тематикой интересуются, как правило, женщины, причем старшего возраста. Но они обычно не столь энергичны, как молодые люди, сложнее обучаются и редко уделяют внимание качеству обслуживания клиентов. Последнее же условие, пожалуй, одно из самых главных. Рано или поздно любой человек выучит ассортимент и расположение товаров, но не стоит рассчитывать на большую прибыль, если ваши продавцы-консультанты будут недоброжелательно вести себя по отношению к покупателям.
Будьте готовы к высокой текучке. На первом этапе работы вы вряд ли сможете предложить большой оклад для продавца-консультанта. Тем более, если ваш магазин работает с раннего утра и до позднего вечера, включая субботу и воскресенье, вам потребуется минимум два работника. Далеко не все люди, увлекающиеся этой тематикой, окажутся энтузиастами, согласными работать по 10 часов в день с плавающими выходными за скромное вознаграждение в 10-15 тысяч рублей.
Доходы-расходы и перспективы развития
Достаточно сложно дать более-менее полный расчет по вложениям, срокам окупаемости и планируемой прибыли, когда речь идет о таком специфическом товаре. Все зависит от вашего ассортимента, закупочных цен, площади магазина и его расположении, ваших знаний в этой сфере, профессионального «нюха» и просто везения. Для открытия небольшого магазинчика потребуется от 300 тысяч рублей, но, конечно, ни о каком эксклюзиве речь в этом случае не идет. Это будет дешевые и, как правило, не очень качественные товары, которые можно найти у конкурентов.
Рассчитываете на хорошую прибыль? Будьте готовы вложить от 700 тысяч рублей только в закупку товара. Делайте ставку на дорогие эксклюзивные вещи, ориентируйтесь на высокодоходную аудиторию, привлекайте внимание ценителей и ищите собственную, пока еще пустующую нишу на рынке.
Существенная статья расходов – аренда торгового помещения. Чтобы увеличить доход, магазинам нужно наращивать обороты, но развитие полноценных сетей зачастую оказывается бесперспективным именно по причинам большой арендной платы (плюс коммунальные расходы). Дальнейшие варианты развития бизнеса – переход в формат интернет-магазина (в этом случае основные расходы – закупка товара, аренда складского помещения, создание сайта, реклама и продвижение в интернете), либо оптовые поставки.
The payback period of such a business is from one year. Хотя сам бизнес и не имеет ярко выраженной сезонности, все же наибольшие продажи наблюдаются в преддверии праздников (преимущественно это касается сувенирной этнической продукции), а также, в целом, в период с осени по весну. Летом, как правило, наблюдается резкий спад: людей начинает больше интересовать отдых для тела, а не духовное развитие.
Sysoeva Lilia
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08/18/2019