Retailing/Wholesaling - a good road to go down?

[bimbogeri]

This question is mainly aimed at all the geeks on here who, along with being nail techs, run wholesalers or online stores, either for retail or wholesale. So Lily, Suey, Melle, and everyone else, if you're reading this, please help
Al just brought up today the 'small' matter of the £400-odd he owes me from uni. I'd pretty much forgotten about it as it's gone on so long, but he's just got a couple of regular contracts and reckons he can pay me back by the summer.
This got me to thinking, what would I do with £400 - do I put it in savings (which I wiped out starting up), or invest it back into the business? And so my brain meandered round to the idea of running an online shop.

I've done it before with body art supplies to a small level of success - to be honest I was 'playing' at it, and it kept me in pocket money but was no big deal. Also did body jewellery, again, ended up making a profit but on a relatively small scale.
I'm wondering if maybe this is something I should consider with nails as well? I import a lot of my products and I'm always scouring the net for things that you can't get over here, or better prices. A couple of my suppliers are looking for international distributors and it got me to thinking.
What kind of outlay do you need to get an online store up and running? Obviously there's the whole e-commerce website, but how much have other geeks with online stores spent buying in enough stock to 'open'. Do you find you are turning over regular orders or do you always end up keeping too much stock in? In wholesale in particular, is the profit margin too small, and how do you make sure that you are only selling to professionals? For those who also retail, how are you finding the strength of sales and the industry in general?

I've made a point currently with only stocking the retail side of my salon with products I use in all my services, so if I am ever over-stocked I know I can use the products myself.

I enjoyed running my stores before but wonder whether the sales are too small and the profit margins too low to do it.

Has anyone got any opinions or practical advice??

xxx

 

[Nailsinlondon1]

Right babe, this is me Mrs sensible speaking lol , believe that you can believe anything....
Now 400£ is a nice sum , but for importing stock might not be that much.........I checked out one option, for art stuff, not that long ago and they wanted a minimum order of £2ooo...........

But it makes a fab amount as your cash-flow........... open a business account and put it in there...this also gives you time spend with a bank, as business account holder, that in turn gives you banking history and that in turn will give you a good credit rate for further business add , when the time is right.... .give yourself a year and then review your situation......sometimes to much , to soon is the killer for a new Salon or home based business............

But then thats just my thought and others may better advise xxxx

 

[JackieMc]

Ruth's right about the £2,000 minimum order, my poor ole bank balance can testify to that. I only supply nail art items and I have heaps of the stuff hanging around in various places in my house. In fact I often come across stuff I forgot I had! In my experience you'll never make your fortune this way, I sometime wonder would I have made more in interest on the money I have spent if I'd left it in the bank! You have no idea just how many people back out of orders too, it's very annoying when you've counted out thousands of piggin' rhinestones and pearls etc., and searched through every single drawer in your house to find the elusive item that you know you have but just cant seem to find, only to never hear from the 'buyer' again, despite emails reminding them that their order is ready and you're waiting on a payment! Don't rely on heaps of orders coming in on a regular basis either, it can take an awful long time to actually make back your money and even longer to start making a profit!

That the nail art side of things anyway! Ruth's idea sounds much better!

 

[suey]

Well, i keep hoping to make money one day....Must admit to not exactly being the worlds best business woman though, (better watch out girls, or my prices will be going up )

I spend an awful lot of my time sourcing new products, and keeping control of stock etc, hence the fact i am always up late, and the ironing etc gets ignored.

The profit margin is relatively small as there is a lot of competition out there. I don't sell any monomers or gels etc, so i don't have to worry if the buyer is a trained nail technician. I do enjoy it, and often have e mails asking questions which i am always happy to answer, it would be easier if there were 2 of me though, one at home and the other at the salon.

So, it does take up a lot of time, and any money made goes back into the business. i do wonder if i will ever see any money for me, my husband says i ought to pay myself a wage, but i just keep spending it on new things, which, you must agree is such an enjoyable thing to do!!

i don't expect I've been much help, please feel free to pm or e mail me if you have any more questions though! xx

 

[july]

Hi, guys, I'm new here and wanted to ask a (stupid ) question. Why are they so many Chinese nail salons??? Everywhere I go there are only Chinese, they hardly speak any English, they are not friendly and don't feel comfortable at all when they shout at each other in Chinese or if I ask something and they finally understand it they talk with each other and have a laugh of what I said??
Thanks
A newbie here
xx

 

[Tickled Pink!]

Hi, guys, I'm new here and wanted to ask a (stupid ) question. Why are they so many Chinese nail salons??? Everywhere I go there are only Chinese, they hardly speak any English, they are not friendly and don't feel comfortable at all when they shout at each other in Chinese or if I ask something and they finally understand it they talk with each other and have a laugh of what I said??
Thanks
A newbie here
xx

hiya - not a stupid question at all....so as not to cofuse this thread, go to the top right hand corner and use the 'search' facility. type in NSS (non standard salon) or mma - this will give you about a weeks worth of reading!
if there is anything you're still not sure about, start a new post.
hope this helps