In the small business environment, there are many areas that are accessible to entrepreneurs, even with a very modest starting capital. This includes the opening of its own newsstand. They relate to such outlets that are easy to place, which always have their own consumer, for goods of which there is always a demand. Therefore, this type of initiative is worth considering if you want to start your own business with something small. It’s worth noting that a newsstand alone will not bring a lot of profit, usually entrepreneurs tend to constantly expand their network, open any other establishments in addition to newsstands (for example, tobacco stalls pavilions), but just try your hand at one a kiosk is possible.
Of course, the competition in such an endeavor is very large, in almost every city there are kiosks selling newspapers. However, it is worth noting that newsstands, like the same tobacco pavilions or grocery stores, should be everywhere, so if there are no competitors in the work area, you can start acting. In markets and in crowded places, several such outlets can coexist at all, so initially all options should be considered at once. Also, a newsstand can work in a different format, it can be a simple stall where only daily newspapers are sold directly, and a relatively large store where you can find a variety of print publications, for example, expensive magazines and even books, teaching aids, textbooks. This may be a slightly different type of business, but often they are combined, because in the end you can achieve much better profitability indicators. Business at a newsstand can be relevant even in small towns, and if there are no competitors in the market, that is, there is every chance to start making good money only if it is not a remote village, of course.
To get started, you need to register as a business entity, it is easiest to register as an individual entrepreneur, because it does not require a lot of time, effort and money from a businessman, registration generally rarely takes more than a month, although usually it is a week. The situation is somewhat more complicated if there is a need to register a legal entity, in this case only the authorized capital must be at least 10 thousand rubles, plus you need to allocate funds for the registration itself, and the procedure itself is delayed for a longer period compared to the registration of an individual entrepreneur. Among legal entities, the preferred form is a limited liability company, because such a legal entity as an individual entrepreneur has access to a simplified taxation system, which is no more than 6% of income taxes or 15% of operating profit. The activity itself falls within the definition of (OKPD 2) 47.62 Retail sale of newspapers and stationery in specialized stores.
The next stage is the search for premises for your work. It is not always for this that they purchase a kiosk or pavilion, although this is economically the most profitable choice. But newspapers and all related products can be sold even in a small store. The kiosk also allows you to use a mobile room, which can be moved to a new place if necessary. At the same time, the kiosk is a very small room that is convenient to place, which is inexpensive and at the same time convenient in its operation. The simplest option is a kiosk of several square meters, in which there is space for only one person and placing a small amount of products sold, such can be purchased for an amount not exceeding 100 thousand rubles. You can also rent a kiosk, while you can find offers for renting kiosks already in a good place, therefore, no additional coordination with municipal services on the establishment of your outlet is required. There are also large mobile shops - pavilions in which there is already a retail space, that is, people have the opportunity to enter the room and get acquainted with the products offered. But in this case, it is advisable to trade not only with the daily print press, but also with some more expensive print publications - large glossy magazines, textbooks and inexpensive popular books, as well as many office supplies (the benefit of the coding allows you to trade these products). Finally, you can rent a room in an ordinary building, the cost of rent depends on many factors, including the city of work and position in it. You can find a small place in the shopping center, while the entrepreneur will be spared the need to maintain his premises - to bring electricity, heating, and security.
In any case, the format of work depends on the available funds, and with sufficient capital, it makes sense to think about buying out the premises, kiosk or pavilion in the property. The cost of one square meter of the pavilion is on average 15 thousand rubles, a room can cost several hundred thousand or even more than a million. Renting a kiosk or pavilion rarely exceeds 10 thousand rubles (the average price tag is 5 thousand), renting a room of 10 square meters will cost about 15-20 thousand rubles, in small cities - an order of magnitude cheaper, in megacities - an order of magnitude more expensive. Separate mention is made of the possible bureaucratic red tape in the case of buying or even renting a kiosk, if its owner did not agree on the location with the municipal authorities or the entrepreneur needs to move the kiosk to, in his opinion, a more advantageous place. You will have to visit the administration in order to obtain permission to install your kiosk, because in most cases it is advisable to install kiosks in the state territory; there are places in the markets that belong to private individuals, and then you need to negotiate with the immediate owners. Public services can also allocate a place for free, but here you need to be prepared for the fact that there may be requirements for the transfer of the kiosk in connection with any circumstances.
Equipping a kiosk for work is quite simple, usually they immediately provide autonomous heating and electricity, although sometimes you need to take care of this issue. The store will cost a little more in the arrangement, because you have to buy shelves, display cases, furniture and appliances. It’s also worth thinking about the external design of your kiosk, this is necessary to attract buyers, you can also put signs in the area, but in most cases the newsstand works in the same way as a regular grocery store, that is, it has buyers from among the people who just go through past. However, investing in the appearance of the outlet will have a certain amount. In general, these expenses cannot be called large; in some cases, product suppliers may offer some kind of advertising or informational posters that can diversify their appearance.
A particularly important issue is the location of the kiosk. The success of the whole undertaking depends on this. The best place is in markets where there are always a lot of people, excellent traffic and enough potential customers. If you put a kiosk at the entrance or exit, you can almost immediately provide yourself with great sales. As already noted, in order to settle down on the market, you need to find the owners of this market and agree with them, but there are almost certainly competitors in the best places, so the likelihood of finding your "place in the sun" is extremely small. It is not advisable to locate your kiosk in the immediate vicinity of an existing competitor, a certain percentage of customers will not care, but regular customers — residents of nearby houses — will be purchased more often at a competitive outlet.
A kiosk can be put in almost any area of the city, small markets, stops and the like mass places in sleeping quarters like that all the time are good. In the central areas, you can even put a kiosk just at the stop or even near the road, there will always be enough buyers. But putting it in the middle of the housing estate is not worth it - the buyers will be only residents of neighboring houses who are comfortable going downstairs for fresh newspapers, all the rest will not go inland. Still very good places at train stations and stations, people who hit the road often buy not only the latest press, but also simple soft-bound books that are not burdened with deep meaning, so the goods will be sold out quickly enough. You can also think about opening a kiosk near a school or even a university, but only in this case stationery items will become category A goods. However, in this case it is more expedient to open a full-fledged stationery store with the possibility of printing, if no one else has opened a similar outlet - it will be an order of magnitude more profitable.
In a newsstand, not only fresh press is sold. Typically, newspapers rarely wait for their buyer for several days (if we are talking about daily publications, of course), people are interested in today's newspaper. Therefore, you need to rely on the fact that a certain percentage of such goods will eventually be sent to the scrap. Some kiosks for old issues make big discounts, but this is relevant only for more expensive print media - glossy magazines, for example, which are issued once a month, and can be kept in a kiosk for almost half a year, the last five months - at a bargain price. For a long time, all kinds of newspapers from the “jokes”, “scanwords” and other “crosswords” section may lie; they are usually taken without looking at the release date. Cheap books from the category of “Deadly Murder” are sold out for a relatively long time and are usually in demand at railway stations, few people buy such products in the city, and connoisseurs of such reading matter go to bookstores that don’t hesitate to put up this little literature on their shelves. Among office supplies, cheap pens and pencils, rulers, and erasers are the best choice, and again go to specialized stores for more specific products.
In general, in any newsstand, the assortment will be the same, but depending on the location, the priority for this or that product may change, because somewhere more often it will be books and ballpoint pens that are bought, not the newspapers themselves. Having worked for several months, an entrepreneur will know perfectly well what to buy and in what quantities. ABC analysis to help.
Stationery and books can be bought from the appropriate wholesalers, in any major city there are organizations that supply such products. To start selling newspapers, you need to find out if there is a representative office in the city. Any large publishing house has its offices in big cities, so for cooperation it is worth contacting there. The situation is somewhat different with the local press, which can be bought immediately from the printing house, and you also need to negotiate sales with the publisher, but the products themselves will have to be received from the place where newspapers print. Not so popular newspapers and magazines (which include all kinds of sudoku with jokes) are usually sold by certain wholesalers who simultaneously work with a large number of such publishers; you can often find a company that is a representative of several publishers at once. This is not to say that newspapers in bulk, especially cheap ones, are much more profitable than retail, but here it is the volume of sales that decides everything.
It should also be noted that a single kiosk can only be the beginning of the entrepreneurial path, but in no way will become a source of decent income. There may well be a situation where one kiosk brings 5-10 thousand rubles of net profit per month (or even less), which, of course, forces the businessman to open several similar outlets at once. Developed networks have several dozen kiosks, as well as several larger stores, usually entrepreneurs expect to immediately open 10-15 kiosks, although at first it may require too serious investments. However, the more stalls, the less risk to burn out at all, because after analyzing the work of all the stalls, you can understand where it is most profitable to place them, what to sell and in what format to work. And after moving unprofitable stalls to a new place and consolidate the position of successful ones.
A very large item of expenses (relative to the rest) will be the payment of wages to employees. At least 2 people are required per kiosk, although some entrepreneurs set up a five-day work week with an eight-hour work day and thus can only afford to hire one seller. An outlet works in this case, usually from Tuesday to Saturday. If the work schedule is different, for example, daily, then employees are needed in shifts. An entrepreneur himself can work on one of the shifts, but in case of opening a large network, in any case, a lot of people will be required. Moreover, all business processes that are not related to profit-making by an organization should be outsourced.
It is believed that currently opening a newsstand is futile, and to some extent this is true, because the main consumers are somewhat conservative segments of the population. Today it is much easier to draw up-to-date information from the Internet, ardent press buffs usually pay for an annual subscription, which costs them an order of magnitude cheaper. Newspapers are actually now buying to a much lesser extent than even several years ago, but it was precisely those who refused to just find out the latest news. For many, the newspaper is already a familiar part of life, which they will not refuse. Perhaps, in the future, really newsagents will outlive themselves, but to know for sure you need to conduct a full-scale marketing research. However, for a long time this business may not flourish, but still survive without any serious crises. There is a consumer for it. More than one generation may change before all newspapers stop publishing printed materials, having gone completely to the Internet. Moreover, some types of products can not exist in kind, this applies to a variety of sets for collecting models, collectible publications with attachments and the like. Also, one should not forget about the rest of the products that are sold in kiosks, they certainly cannot always be found on the Internet.
Thus, opening your own newsstand is only the beginning of a long journey. To earn good money, you need to maintain a considerable number of outlets. A newsstand may become a development of its existing business in related fields, may become a reference point for something larger, but such a business does not have too much risk (because investments are usually small). The press is always needed, and if you choose the right place for your placement, then you can come to success. At the same time, there are many prospects here, and a small kiosk may turn to a bookstore or office supply store over time.
Matthias Laudanum
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08/18/2019