As the subject states, I am in the process of starting a business. The company is called "Detailers Paradise" and I will be selling premium car care products on the web and out of a retail storefront in Denver, CO. If all goes as planned, we will open for business mid April.

What I am asking of the S2K family is input on what types of products you would like to have me carry. Like I said, my emphasis will be on premium products that you can't find at your local superstore.

If you don't mind, could you also list what motivates you to shop at a certain store for your car care products. Also, what keeps you coming back.

Any and all advice and/or input is appreciated.

 

I've almost given up getting quality products from local retailers. I find that I can get all I need online.

My advice for going into business is to be WELL capitalized. Starting out with a lot of debt gives you no room for growth or flexibility to modify your business plan in the future.

 

I buy my car care producsts from:

Proper Auto Care

The prices are decent, & they offer advice on detailing. Just a suggestion on modeling your business after.....good luck!

 

I have to agree, but on the other hand I have often thought that if there was someplace local with competitive pricing, I would much rather shop there. I hate running out of something then having to strategise my order timing because I only want to pay for shipping once. I often go without wheel cleaner until I need, for example, car wash.

 

Hopefully you did lots and lots of research or have the $ to risk?

I would think everyone already has a favorite and a place to get it. Unless you plan to undercut other companies prices, which is damn hard to do when some of them are so large, I don't see this being a winning deal.?

Did you figure out how much you would need to sell per day just to pay your expenses?

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Rent - $3k per months = $100 per day
Utiliites (phone, electric, heat) - $20 per day
Advertising (yellow pages, online, mailings, magazines) - $50 per day
Interest (lets just assume you are spending your own $) - $0.00

So you need to NET $170 per day just to break even (assuming you want to work sundays).
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To Net $60k per year you would need to sell $305k worth of stuff at 40% margins...... I cannot even imagine that! Maybe you can get better than 40%????

There are way way easier ways to make $60k I think.?

Scot

 

Of course we have done tons of research. My wife also has a business degree from an Ivy League school. We have been working the numbers for four months now. By the way, there are five categories of buyers and price shoppers are only one. We don't intend to be the "Wal-Mart of Wax." As many people know, the lowest price isn't always the best deal. Quality of service and ease of transaction go a long way to adding value.

Yep, I'm sure there are easier ways to make $60k. I've been trudging to work for the past five years making plenty of bank on the way, and hating every day. I can certainly see me making a profit at the business, but sometimes pride in ownership, a daily challenge and a business or industry one enjoys can go a long way to contributing to one's quality of life.

Thanks Scot for your perspective. Positive or negative, I appreciate your opinion.

 

business degrees mean sfa in the real world, hell i got a commerce degree and an mba, but i dont use it in my line of work, well not directly.
anyway, u obviously looked at ur competitors in ur local area in terms of ur retail outlet, correct? not knowing denver, i assume there is the local large auto parts retailer such as pepboys or similar that caters to the masses. then maybe there might be the local carwashes- machine and hand....and perhaps even professional detailers that r mobile units or u go to them, right.
then look at denver, it snows there right, so people either clean their cars alot or leave sludge on them. then u need to ask urself, what r the demographics, car ownership, income- is it a relatively high income area (locally) so that a "premium" car products store such as urself can do well. internet sales r always a "hazy" area, u just need to look at the hundreds of published papers by "academics" (as if they know jack anyway) that state that internet sales r either a godsend or a minefield for businesses. personally i feel internet businesses can succeed depending upon the product.
u seem to feel that a premium car products business will do well, what makes u think this? i am always surprised at how people (and this is no slight on u) especially those that have no real experience in retail or small business in general dive headfirst into a project without analysing the full picture. perhaps that is why the statistic for small business failures is so high. then again u are in the US where franchising is so popular to take the guesswork out starting out.
may i ask what ur background is? in terms of business experience, i know that u know the product and as a car enthusiast it makes the job easier, but at the end of the day, passion only takes u so far.....it helps but it doesnt pay the bills
feel free to pm me, i like to talk shop
jason

 

so are u just specialising in car cleaning products or are u supplying all types of automotive car care products such as fan belts, tyre pressure gauges, etc.
i don't know about the US but in OZ there are heaps of automotive retail stores that supply almost anything and the really hard to find specialist stuff can be purchased over the net.
i hope everything goes well though but unless u have something different to offer, it's still the same thing only with a different covering.
moreover don't u guys have upmarket hand car washes whereby u can drive up, give ur car to someone, sit down and have a latte while ppl wash the car for u, great way to spend a sunday morning and the cost probably works out cheaper if u take into consideration ur time and effort and also no messy clothes, clammy hands or skin irritations.
just my thoughts.
i also agree with scot, there is definetely easier ways to make $60k

 

I have an accounting degree from a shitty state school (call me an idiot).

My post was more negative than positive I guess, but I do know how to work some simple math. It is always funny to me how many stores come and go in the local malls. Apparently lots of people don't think ahead.

So... assuming you don't want to work sundays, you plan to sell $1000 worth of wax products per day? Again, assuming you will be knocking out 40% margins and have ZERO employees and ZERO interest expense.

I will stick with rental houses, but I am not from an Ivy League School, so what do I know.

I do hope you prove me wrong and succeed but I just don't see how.

Scot

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nin009
[B]Of course we have done tons of research.

 

We will not sell car parts, it will be polishes, waxes, etc...

I agree, many items can be purchased over the net, but not every demographic shops the net like we do.

Yes, we have snow, but we also have mild temps and 300 days of sun. For example, temps will be in the low 60s this week.

There are car wash places, but the market isn't as saturated as, say, someplace like Phoenix.

As far as having something different to offer, I will be the only retailer in the Rocky Mountain region. Not just Denver. There is a serious void for a specialty retail store such as this.

blks2k
But I think it may have some relevance when starting a business.

In the Rocky Mountain region there are zero locations to buy premium products.
My background: My degree is in Journalism with emphasis on public relations. I am 33 and have done everything from retails sales to road construction to running multi-million dollar projects for major corporations. I know market research, staffing and how to manage a budget. I have worked the last several years as an IT project manager.

My wife has an MBA from Cornell and a vast amount of business experience that goes with it.

We are not a couple of kids with a big dream. We have the experience and knowledge to do more than close our eyes and jump into a cool concept.

Scot-
No worries, most of your posts are negative anyway. I know how you like to stir the pot. I, however, am sincere when I say I appreciate even negative feedback. It helps keep things in perspective and pushes me to apply proof to concept.

Based on my extensive research, a specialty store, when properly executed, can prove to very profitable enterprise. Take a minute a break down Starbucks for one example. Fancy coffee at high prices. Hell man, I get better coffee at home for cheaper, but that doesn't stop me from dropping change at a specialty store. If you start looking at things from a different angle, you will notice that many of the products a consumer purchases are from a specialty store. The author of one of the books I read owned a very successful dress store for the mother of the bride. Talk about a niche market.