How to Open Toy Store - Nothing delights children like going to a toy store. Often, adults cannot refuse a child and buy dolls, constructor cars. The children's store is a lucrative business. But to make it popular, you have to try, because you need to please both adults and children at the same time.
For complete success, you need to be passionate about your work, understanding what children love.
It is profitable to open a business selling children's products. There is always a demand for such products - children grow up quickly, they need to buy new clothes all year round. In addition to clothes and shoes, they need educational games, art supplies, toys and many other things.
That is why this niche is so popular in the market - there is always a demand for accessories for children. But if you've decided to open a toy store, where do you start? We will analyze what you need to start your own business, as well as what aspects you need to pay special attention to.
how to open toy store
Business features
Before opening a toy store, you need to understand the main features of the business, its advantages and disadvantages.
One of the features is the lack of seasonality. There is a demand for goods for children both in summer and winter. Before the New Year, sales increase, as in other areas, but the rest of the time they are more or less stable.
What other nuances need to be considered if you want to open a toy and children's goods store:
- Adults with children of different ages will come for shopping, so the outlet should have a ramp for strollers, as well as a place where they can be left.
- Certification of children's products is mandatory, so carefully monitor not only the availability of papers at the supplier, but also the quality of the products - many parents prefer hypoallergenic materials.
- It is important to know what cartoons, comics and their characters are popular now in order to quickly respond to customer demand, offering relevant toys that children will like.
- Keep in mind that a child of different ages has very different interests and hobbies, so there should be both rattles for the little ones and puzzles for older children on sale.
All these factors indicate that it is not so easy to open a children's goods store. But with the right organization of the business, it will bring a stable income and quickly recoup the investment.
Which is better: open your store from scratch or choose a franchise
How to open a successful toy and baby goods store? There are several main ways:
- start your own project;
- buy a ready-made business;
- purchase a franchise.
Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, when starting your own store, you get complete freedom of action and you can decide for yourself how to name the company, which direction to choose, etc.
The good thing about a ready-made business is that it is well-established and working, with guaranteed income. But it may be easier for a new owner to start a project on their own than to change an existing enterprise to suit their preferences.
If you do not know how to open a toy store from scratch, but want to gain experience in managing such an enterprise, use a franchise. This method has several advantages at once. First of all, the purchase costs are not as high as the initial investment in your own business or the purchase of an operating company. In addition, the franchisor company often provides everything you need for a successful start:
- business diagram;
- equipment;
- employee training;
- promotional materials, etc.
You get tangible help at the opening stage, as well as a recognizable brand and a well-known name of the network. This makes it much easier for beginners to start. Inexperienced entrepreneurs can learn to run a business with minimal risk.
But there is another side to franchising. An entrepreneur is very limited, he needs to comply with corporate standards and conduct business according to a given scheme. You cannot change anything in the sign, decoration, training of employees.
In addition, the use of a well-known logo and corporate support will have to pay interest on the monthly income. Therefore, what to do: open your own toy store or join an existing network, everyone decides for himself.
What you need to open a toy store
So you've decided to open a toy store: where do you start? First of all, you need to draw up a business plan, then register an enterprise. To open an individual entrepreneur, you must submit documents to the tax office at the place of registration. To do this, you need copies of your passport, TIN, a completed application in the form of P21001, as well as a receipt for payment of the state duty.
Individual entrepreneurship is the best form of doing business if the company has one owner. If there are several owners, you can register an LLC. But keep in mind that in this case, each founder will have to contribute the authorized capital, as well as take part in the constituent assembly.
After you have chosen the required organizational and legal form, you can proceed to the next steps. To open a children's goods store, you need:
- find and rent premises;
- pass the inspection of SES and fire supervision;
- coordinate the project with Rospotrebnadzor;
- install a cash register and conclude an agreement with the OFD;
- purchase equipment and necessary furniture;
- hire staff;
- order advertising.
Children's stores are allowed to be located in separate buildings, shopping centers or on the ground floors of residential buildings. Supervisory authorities put forward their requirements for the premises. For example, there must be ventilation, and if the area exceeds 150 sq. m, there should be hoods and an inflow of fresh air. The store must have adequate lighting and heating.
Another important issue is staff qualifications. It is necessary that sellers not only be able to offer goods to parents, but also find a common language with children. It's good if the employees themselves have children and they know what they might like.
For sales to be successful, it is recommended to open a self-service toy store. This way children will be able to touch the goods, and parents will rather buy a toy that the child does not want to part with.
How to attract buyers
It is impossible to open a children's toy store, which immediately starts to make a profit. To be known about it, it needs to be advertised. One of the typical mistakes is that an entrepreneur runs an advertising campaign and stops there. And after a while, sales fall.
To attract a steady stream of customers, you need to constantly remind yourself in different ways:
- advertise in the media, on television;
- place signs, banners, billboards;
- attract the audience with discounts, sales;
- actively maintain pages in social networks, advance in search engines;
- organize events for children (master classes of children's creativity, presentations of new products, etc.).
If you are opening an educational toys store, you should tell your parents what exactly these products are good for. Show what skills they help to develop, how specific models will be useful for their child.
Also, do not forget about the sign for the point of sale. If a store is hard to find, for example, it has an entrance from the yard, you should not count on a good profit. But even in this case, bright pointers can be placed. The sign itself, like the name, should be clearly associated with children's products.
Another possible advertising move is to put a small playground near the store. Residents of nearby houses will be able to walk on it with their children. Parents are unlikely to want to go somewhere if goods for the child can be bought in the immediate vicinity of the playground.
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Payback of children's goods store
If you decide to start a children's goods store by starting your own business, you need to calculate when the investment in it will pay off. The average payback period for such enterprises is 6-12 months.
The mark-up for baby products is quite high - from 100 to 300%. But other factors can also affect the rate of return on investment. For example, the need to renovate the premises, advertising costs, the arrangement of the area near the store, etc. All this is written in the business plan so that you can calculate when the entrepreneur will start making a net profit.
Doubt that you can foresee everything? Order a ready-made business plan. It was developed by professionals who are well versed in business processes. By following their recommendations, you will easily achieve success.