How to start Stationery and Office-Supply Business
Success of a stationery and office-supply business is contingent upon
several variables. One often-overlooked success factor is customer
service. Always be friendly to your customers and go out of your way to
help them. Additionally, you should know the competition. Always strive
to offer products that competitors do. However, include additional
product lines or services. For example, include computer or fax services
in your stationery and office-supply business if competitors do not.
Significance
One of the
most important success factors for any business is location, according
to Entrepreneur.com. A stationery and office-supply business is no
exception. You must locate your store in a high-traffic area such as a
strip mall, busy intersection or uptown at a major university. Moreover,
make sure you are located near customers you want to target. For
example, people with middle or upper-middle incomes have more to spend
on stationery and office supplies. Rent a location downtown if you have a
lot of potential business customers in the area. Business customers
will often purchase in high volumes. Business customers also require
massive amounts of copies. For example, a downtown advertising firm may
need to make 50,000 copies of a brochure.
Features
Another
business success factor is store appearance and ambiance. Keep your
stationery and office-supply store neat and orderly. Keep the aisles
clear of clutter. Use bright lighting so people can see what they are
purchasing. Hang large signs throughout your store so people know where
to go for certain items. Shoppers are busy. They do not want to spend
extra time looking for items they need. Display new or sale items on end
caps or at the front of the store. Encourage people to test out
floor-model computers and other merchandise.
Suppliers
Suppliers
are important to the success of stationery and office-supply
businesses. You must be able to purchase your items at the lowest
wholesale cost available. Larger retailers pay extremely low prices for
products when they purchase them in volume. You may need to occasionally
shop around for wholesalers that can provide you with a lower per-unit
cost on products and stationery.
Promotion
Promotion is another important success factor for stationery and office-supply businesses. You will need to target your customers with fliers,
newspaper classified and coupon magazine ads, and Internet marketing.
Create a website for your stationery and office-supply business. Have
employees hand out business cards inviting customers to visit the
website for coupons. You can also hold drawings for those who visit the
website. Give away gift cards and free office supplies. Have liquidation
sales occasionally to get rid of old merchandise. Put the merchandise
in dump bins near the front of the store.
Considerations
Like
other businesses or retailers, stationery and office-supply stores may
need to create special programs to increase customer loyalty. People
will tend to shop more often at your store if you give them an
incentive. Consider a loyalty program for your stationery and
office-supply store. Start with a points system. For example, people can
earn 100 points if they spend $25. Track people's purchases by
assigning everyone a card and identification number. Gradually offer
coupons of greater value or free items the more people spend.
Really great and helpful information to whom who are going to start their own business and infact who are already running their business they can also get idea that how to per mote their business, how to supply. I'm also going to follow some steps from it.
Success of a stationery and office-supply business is contingent upon
several variables. One often-overlooked success factor is customer
service. Always be friendly to your customers and go out of your way to
help them. Additionally, you should know the competition. Always strive
to offer products that competitors do. However, include additional
product lines or services. For example, include computer or fax services
in your stationery and office-supply business if competitors do not.
Thank you for giving the information. I am running the same business and it would be easy for me to run my business.
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Really great and helpful information to whom who are going to start their own business and infact who are already running their business they can also get idea that how to per mote their business, how to supply. I'm also going to follow some steps from it.
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