Madrobots goes to war: how do we open a point in "Mega"
In the spring, we opened our first retail point of sale on Gorbushka. It was a rather spontaneous decision - the owner of the shopping center offered us a place, and we, without hesitation, agreed. Now Madrobots opens the second store - this time, in the mall "Mega Belaya Dacha".
The market situation doesn’t have anything to do with it - Russians are re-credited, the economy is stagnating, retail is going through hard times, and most of the networks selling electronics and home appliances are on the verge of ruin. Only a madman would dare to step on this scorched earth, where the birds do not sing and the trees do not grow.
We decided to become just such madmen. When everyone is fleeing from the battlefield, on the contrary, we pack things to go to the front line. And, of course, we hope that we can win where others suffer one defeat after another, because we believe that by doing everything, you can hardly create a good business. Can Madrobots capture Mega? Place your bets.
')
We still have no place to retreat. We were one of the first to start selling exclusive gadgets from Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites on the Russian Internet. But less than a year, they began to feel serious competition.
And many of our followers did not bother in order to enter into contracts with manufacturers. They make sure that they are in demand with us, and then they buy all this from the “serovozov”. In the market of gadgets from the world of the Internet of things, price competition has begun. And to compete with the gray market is extremely difficult.
In addition, we realized that it is not so easy to scale success on the Internet. This problem is probably faced by many online store owners who have managed to get on their feet somehow. Attracting traffic is quite expensive, and making a qualitative leap is a million dollar task.
The idea to open a new store, and in a popular and fashionable shopping center, was born after the Ball of Robots in Artplay, in which Madrobots took part. Several items from our range were sold so smartly there that it became obvious: we could well earn on the stream. So you just have to open where this stream is.
We in Madrobots began fierce disputes. My business partner, who has worked for more than ten years in the retail department of an international brand, was strongly opposed. He is well aware of the situation in which the networks selling electronics and home appliances are now. The costs are huge, the margin tends to zero.
Our shop on Gorbushka demonstrates normal dynamics - but only because it works as a pick-up point for us.
I convinced that we are not obliged to repeat the fate of other retailers. Why do large networks bend at all? They sell equipment that is already obsolete. All have long bought themselves laptops, computers, tablets and smartphones. The market is satiated. But for us, this is not a problem: we focus on advanced and still not very common gadgets from the world of the Internet of things. They are just coming into fashion.
Yes, the big guys, like “MVideo” and “Svyaznoy”, also look in our direction and begin to slowly expand their range. But to change the situation, they need sales at the level of tens of thousands of units per month. The Internet of Things will not save them. We in Madrobots in order to survive, it is enough to sell gadgets in the hundreds - and this is quite real. We can grow smoothly with the market. There is no doubt that it will grow.
In general, I persuaded a partner to spend money on one experiment. And after that we started preparing our adventure.
The main question - where to stay - decided rather simply. It was important for us to reach a wealthy audience, not indifferent to gadgets and advanced technologies. Users of the Forsquare application ideally correspond to this description - they are greedy for new technologies and can afford to buy a smartphone. Therefore, we began to carefully study in which Moscow shopping centers customers check in most often - this analyst is in the public domain, anyone can see.
So we made a shortlist of potentially interesting to us shopping centers. Well, after that, they simply began to work through all these options, sending out requests to the owners of all the sites. Somewhere we were simply ignored, but somewhere there were no empty seats. Having received a positive answer, we went on reconnaissance - we considered throughput, communicated with other retailers working around. So we got a lot of valuable information. Strangely enough, many sellers quite openly talked about their earnings.
In the end, we decided to settle down in the Mega Belaya Dacha shopping center. This is one of the three most prestigious centers, along with "European", "Metropolis" and "Atrium". Renting there is expensive, but worth it. In the month in the "White Dacha" is more than a half million people. This is a lot. No wonder retailers are doing great.
The management of the center offered us to stand in a very busy place. We counted the patency, it turned out - about one and a half thousand people per hour. However, while we were coordinating the project of the store, it turned out that the guys who provide 3D printing services and trade in 3D pens were already located not far from us. “Mega” even offered us to stand in another place - next to “Auchan”. But we refused - traffic near Auchan is poorly converted into real purchases. People loaded with sausage and potatoes, not at all up to electronics.
Competition doesn’t bother us too much. If you open in a place like “Mega” and cannot earn it, then something fundamentally wrong with your format. With this in mind, we set about developing our format for our new retail outlet.
Since this is an experiment, we decided not to risk it and not to open a full-fledged store. It is better to start from the "island" - a small point standing right in the middle of the floor (these are the lockers that stand around, inside which the seller sits). The "island" is cheaper than a full-fledged store, plus, it can always be dismantled and moved to another place.
To reduce risks, we spent a lot of time to study both business processes of direct competitors, and the model of work of islands as such. One of our employees traveled to twelve "islands" selling electronics throughout Moscow, trying to understand how and on what they earn.
We found out that a significant part of the revenue of the “islands” is made on primitive, it would seem, additional services. For example, glue protective films on the screens of smartphones. I pasted a dozen tapes a day - I earned up to eight thousand rubles (film + work). For a month, you can pay back half the rent with films.
But we hope to do without plenochek. Unlike other "islanders", we sell interesting gadgets. When you sell jewelery, watches or e-books on an island, it’s difficult for you to come up with something interesting with them. And our range can be interesting to submit.
If every tenth of those one and a half thousand are interested and fit, we will not be left at the same time.
We plan to recapture the money invested in the rental in about three months. Exit to this shopping center will cost about a million, not counting the cost of inventory: this amount includes a deposit for several months of rent and equipment and materials for construction. According to our calculations, the point in "Mega" can bring 300 thousand net profit per month. Unless, of course, everything goes as planned (which, of course, not a fact).
Why am I, a person who actually grew up on the Internet, started from online trading, with such enthusiasm doing old-fashioned business?
I like offline retail because of my predictability. If you sold a hundred items in a store in one month, you will almost certainly sell the same amount in another. Online is not the case. No one will give you guarantees.
Internet users are very price sensitive, and there are always a lot of people who want to dump. Therefore, to reach a certain level of sales, and then also keep it, is an extremely difficult task. Contrary to stereotypes, business on the Internet is much tougher and more complicated than offline trading.
Therefore, I really hope for our point at Mega. If we manage to set up a retail business, this will open up new horizons in front of Madrobots.
Who will be right - me or my skeptic partner? We will find out very soon. Opening is scheduled for August 26th. Come, see our triumph (or our defeat) with your own eyes.
*
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The market situation doesn’t have anything to do with it - Russians are re-credited, the economy is stagnating, retail is going through hard times, and most of the networks selling electronics and home appliances are on the verge of ruin. Only a madman would dare to step on this scorched earth, where the birds do not sing and the trees do not grow.
We decided to become just such madmen. When everyone is fleeing from the battlefield, on the contrary, we pack things to go to the front line. And, of course, we hope that we can win where others suffer one defeat after another, because we believe that by doing everything, you can hardly create a good business. Can Madrobots capture Mega? Place your bets.
')
BALL ROBOTS
We still have no place to retreat. We were one of the first to start selling exclusive gadgets from Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites on the Russian Internet. But less than a year, they began to feel serious competition.
And many of our followers did not bother in order to enter into contracts with manufacturers. They make sure that they are in demand with us, and then they buy all this from the “serovozov”. In the market of gadgets from the world of the Internet of things, price competition has begun. And to compete with the gray market is extremely difficult.
In addition, we realized that it is not so easy to scale success on the Internet. This problem is probably faced by many online store owners who have managed to get on their feet somehow. Attracting traffic is quite expensive, and making a qualitative leap is a million dollar task.
The idea to open a new store, and in a popular and fashionable shopping center, was born after the Ball of Robots in Artplay, in which Madrobots took part. Several items from our range were sold so smartly there that it became obvious: we could well earn on the stream. So you just have to open where this stream is.
We in Madrobots began fierce disputes. My business partner, who has worked for more than ten years in the retail department of an international brand, was strongly opposed. He is well aware of the situation in which the networks selling electronics and home appliances are now. The costs are huge, the margin tends to zero.
Large retail chains somehow manage to keep afloat only due to additional services, such as repayment of loans or replenishment of the mobile balance. Why poke your neck in a loop?
Our shop on Gorbushka demonstrates normal dynamics - but only because it works as a pick-up point for us.
I convinced that we are not obliged to repeat the fate of other retailers. Why do large networks bend at all? They sell equipment that is already obsolete. All have long bought themselves laptops, computers, tablets and smartphones. The market is satiated. But for us, this is not a problem: we focus on advanced and still not very common gadgets from the world of the Internet of things. They are just coming into fashion.
Yes, the big guys, like “MVideo” and “Svyaznoy”, also look in our direction and begin to slowly expand their range. But to change the situation, they need sales at the level of tens of thousands of units per month. The Internet of Things will not save them. We in Madrobots in order to survive, it is enough to sell gadgets in the hundreds - and this is quite real. We can grow smoothly with the market. There is no doubt that it will grow.
In general, I persuaded a partner to spend money on one experiment. And after that we started preparing our adventure.
"SUNNIES"
The main question - where to stay - decided rather simply. It was important for us to reach a wealthy audience, not indifferent to gadgets and advanced technologies. Users of the Forsquare application ideally correspond to this description - they are greedy for new technologies and can afford to buy a smartphone. Therefore, we began to carefully study in which Moscow shopping centers customers check in most often - this analyst is in the public domain, anyone can see.
So we made a shortlist of potentially interesting to us shopping centers. Well, after that, they simply began to work through all these options, sending out requests to the owners of all the sites. Somewhere we were simply ignored, but somewhere there were no empty seats. Having received a positive answer, we went on reconnaissance - we considered throughput, communicated with other retailers working around. So we got a lot of valuable information. Strangely enough, many sellers quite openly talked about their earnings.
In the end, we decided to settle down in the Mega Belaya Dacha shopping center. This is one of the three most prestigious centers, along with "European", "Metropolis" and "Atrium". Renting there is expensive, but worth it. In the month in the "White Dacha" is more than a half million people. This is a lot. No wonder retailers are doing great.
One of our neighbors, a clothing store, has a weekend gain of 500-600 thousand rubles.
The management of the center offered us to stand in a very busy place. We counted the patency, it turned out - about one and a half thousand people per hour. However, while we were coordinating the project of the store, it turned out that the guys who provide 3D printing services and trade in 3D pens were already located not far from us. “Mega” even offered us to stand in another place - next to “Auchan”. But we refused - traffic near Auchan is poorly converted into real purchases. People loaded with sausage and potatoes, not at all up to electronics.
Competition doesn’t bother us too much. If you open in a place like “Mega” and cannot earn it, then something fundamentally wrong with your format. With this in mind, we set about developing our format for our new retail outlet.
TREASURE ISLAND
Since this is an experiment, we decided not to risk it and not to open a full-fledged store. It is better to start from the "island" - a small point standing right in the middle of the floor (these are the lockers that stand around, inside which the seller sits). The "island" is cheaper than a full-fledged store, plus, it can always be dismantled and moved to another place.
To reduce risks, we spent a lot of time to study both business processes of direct competitors, and the model of work of islands as such. One of our employees traveled to twelve "islands" selling electronics throughout Moscow, trying to understand how and on what they earn.
We found out that a significant part of the revenue of the “islands” is made on primitive, it would seem, additional services. For example, glue protective films on the screens of smartphones. I pasted a dozen tapes a day - I earned up to eight thousand rubles (film + work). For a month, you can pay back half the rent with films.
But we hope to do without plenochek. Unlike other "islanders", we sell interesting gadgets. When you sell jewelery, watches or e-books on an island, it’s difficult for you to come up with something interesting with them. And our range can be interesting to submit.
Over the weekend, near our “island” promoters will launch quadrocopters into the air, draw in 3Doodler with a pen, move the roboball and play with controlled cars.
If every tenth of those one and a half thousand are interested and fit, we will not be left at the same time.
We plan to recapture the money invested in the rental in about three months. Exit to this shopping center will cost about a million, not counting the cost of inventory: this amount includes a deposit for several months of rent and equipment and materials for construction. According to our calculations, the point in "Mega" can bring 300 thousand net profit per month. Unless, of course, everything goes as planned (which, of course, not a fact).
STARIKS HERE NOT A PLACE
Why am I, a person who actually grew up on the Internet, started from online trading, with such enthusiasm doing old-fashioned business?
I like offline retail because of my predictability. If you sold a hundred items in a store in one month, you will almost certainly sell the same amount in another. Online is not the case. No one will give you guarantees.
Internet users are very price sensitive, and there are always a lot of people who want to dump. Therefore, to reach a certain level of sales, and then also keep it, is an extremely difficult task. Contrary to stereotypes, business on the Internet is much tougher and more complicated than offline trading.
Therefore, I really hope for our point at Mega. If we manage to set up a retail business, this will open up new horizons in front of Madrobots.
Who will be right - me or my skeptic partner? We will find out very soon. Opening is scheduled for August 26th. Come, see our triumph (or our defeat) with your own eyes.
*
You can follow how I build Madrobots live by subscribing to my accounts in
Twitter feed Vkontakte , in Google+ or in Facebook Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/233625/
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