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Hi I’m after some advice (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by kinglurker1703@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have a issue

If anybody can shed any kind of light on this with solutions I’d be grateful.

So my dad co owns a shop that specializes in quite a niche for where we are based ( no other competitors around )

He sell high quality detailing products for cars, lots of different brands, we are the only place over here that has contracts with the suppliers meaning they won’t ship their products to any other retailer here.

Now here comes the issue, the place was doing great, now inflation comes along and the rent has gone from £1000 a month for the shop to £2500, plus the heating, electricity, water, computers, phone lines blah blah.

This could be done I imagine all online rather than a walk in shop, meaning build a small website, and do all the advertising via Facebook which he has a 10k following.

He could offer same day delivery, the island is only 30 miles long and 14 miles wide. Plus it’s only him and one other person that works there.

So as you can imagine he’s a bit down in the dumps, the shop can pull anywhere from £300 - £3000 a day depending on the day. But obviously paying an accountant, the rent and all the over heads it’s eating quite alot into the profit, so much so that the creditors for the previous month aren’t paid as the shop hasn’t been busy and only pulling in around 700 a day.

He’s old school (65) so I’ve tried to explaining people are lazy and it would make sense to just be online and I’d help, thing is I’m not too clued up either, I’m a bricklayer but I’m willing to help. He won’t stop working because he’s Irish and Irish work till they die.

Any help or any good advise would be appreciated. Cheers guys. Any questions just ask

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[–] MaelstromMediaMan@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Honestly, you said he has about 10K followers, if a lot of those are his routine customers I'd say post a poll or several and take the customer feed back. If majority are on board it might help convince him to move more online. As far as storage just look into rentable storage spaces if thats all it will be used for, likely a lot cheaper than a proper shop rental. I do want to point out though that you should double check and make sure none of the distributors he gets from have any rules about not selling online, I had a store once where certain distributors would only let us sell brick and mortar. There can be work arounds to that but just be careful. Hope this helps.

[–] AbstractIsBetter@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

All you can really do is try to help him embrace the new methods on how to make a profit. Whether or not he listens or attempts to adapt is up to him.

Is he any good with technology?

[–] MrGreenyz@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Listen. Just build the shop, start selling and show him numbers. He could be old school but i’m 100% sure is not an idiot. Dm me if you need advices!

[–] RampUpMarketing@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You are a great son for trying to help him, and I know from experience that the older generation has a hard time wrapping their head around the online world. But you nailed it, people are lazy being online opens you up to a global market instead of just a local one.

I consult companies in launching online and happy to answer any more questions. Don't worry I am not trying to sell you here. Before you even get started work with your dad to find out who his ideal customers are. Make a customer persona (you can google this) and then this will help guide your strategy online. I have a worksheet that I could share with you if you have a hard time finding one.

[–] kinglurker1703@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Thank you

[–] silisolutionist@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Changing times call for changing strategy.

Build an online e-commerce store, fully automated, so as to make the transition as easy for him as possible and so that he doesn't need to fiddle much with technology.

Then find somewhere else to store the products seeing as he's not getting enough foot traffic to justify the overheads of a brick and mortar store.

[–] kinglurker1703@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Could I dm you?

[–] silisolutionist@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Sure. Feel free to.