The world of gadgets has come a long way since IBM released the first smartphone in the market in 1994. The latest smartphone models offer a lot more features than the Simon Personal Communicator (SPC). The gadget was once limited to the upper crust of society. But these days, the majority of the population own at least one smartphone.
In addition to smartphones, other electronic gadgets have also become popular since they make life easier for many people. Due to this, you may want to consider an electronics store and tap into a market of consumers who will line up for hours to get their hands on the latest models of their favorite gadgets.
Here are the things you need to do if you are planning to open an electronics store.
Choose the Type of Store to Open
Before you open the store, you should decide what type of store you are going to open. When the pandemic started a year ago, many brick-and-mortar stores closed due to the lack of foot traffic. Some of these stores turn to online selling to connect with their customers.
While many consumers may continue shopping online, the situation is better these days with the continuing vaccination of Americans across the country. In this situation, you have to choose whether to open a physical store and focus on encouraging people to visit the store, or you can open an e-commerce site and sell online.
If you opt to start a physical store, you should also consider installing conductive epoxy flooring in the store. This material protects your products from static electricity that can potentially damage them. But if you go for an online store, you have several e-commerce platforms to choose from.
You should consider the advantage and disadvantages of both types of stores. These can range from a wider market, lower costs, and tapping into a market that shops offline. You can also have an online store and a physical store, but you’ll have a lot of work ahead of you.
Research the Products to Sell
The next thing you need to think about is the products you want to sell in the store. While selling smartphones is a no-brainer, you should also look into adding more products into your store’s inventory. But you should make sure to research these products and try to forecast their winnability in the market.
Selecting a winning product is essential since you wouldn’t want to spend on ads promoting a product with no market. If you have a physical store, you also want to avoid having an inventory of products that you cannot sell. So, you should make sure to choose products with a market that can grow in the future.
When you decide on the products to sell, you can also get the necessary tools and equipment to repair the products if they are damaged after the customer buys them. Getting an inventory of the components of these products also saves you time from sourcing these parts in case a customer comes in to have their device fixed.
Create a Marketing Plan
Creating a marketing plan is also important since bringing customers into a physical or online store takes more than just telling them your store is open. A marketing plan helps you promote your products to your target market and lets them know that you are meeting their needs.
The marketing plan should include information about your target market, how you can connect with your customers, and how you intend to encourage them to buy your products. Analyzing the business’s strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats (SWOT) is also important so you’ll know where to focus on when you run the business. The marketing plan should also be ready even before you open the store.
Check for Competition
Checking for competition in your area is also important if you are running a brick-and-mortar electronics store. You wouldn’t want to compete with a big-name electronics store that already established its brand in the market.
Aside from the big brands, you should also check for the presence of smaller stores that sell the same products you are offering. With these stores, you can look for a unique selling proposition (USP) that sets you apart from the other stores in the market.
You can create your USP based on the SWOT analysis you conducted while developing the marketing plan. Focus on your strengths and differentiating qualities that your competitors do not have or offer in the market.
Setting up a physical or online electronics store can be challenging but not impossible if you know the things that you need to do.