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I'm not a web designer or a fancy-schmancy programmer or anything. My only skill is journalistic writing and photography, which I currently have a fulltime job for. Anyway, here's my idea: Since moving to a rural area peppered with densely populated small towns, I've been toying with the idea of opening a store that deals in videogames, boardgames, toys, etc. I'm located smack-dab in the middle of an area in Michigan with Ann Arbor and Jackson on either side. The folks here loathe having to drive to either one, so I feel like that's one opportunity to tap demand doing something I know (I'm a huge manchild who has always been into videogames and things along those lines). There are some Gamestops on the other side of the county, but I don't really feel like they're a factor, as I would be directly undercutting them in my pricing and fee structure. Basically the town I live in has experienced a surge of young couples and young families, so there are years of stable market for easy local access to toys and games, so I think there's a market for this. The good thing about my model, as I have it roughly crafted in my head, is that I can start small with a website/selling on Ebay or Shopify, local delivery (I live right in the midst of the area) and local marketing efforts to get things going. From there I can scale up to having a storefront and then redouble my efforts on marketing and online presence, building up to each step using proceeds from the previous step. My only biggest concern is procurement of new retail items. I have no idea at this point how to find a distributor for new videogames, consoles, games, toys, etc. Another concern is whether or not videogames will be sold at retail in the next 5 to 10 years, as digital downloads become a bigger slice of the market. Aside from money, this would be a great excuse to learn these skills and I would like to design my own website, building on my basic web and graphic design skills to do so myself, with my girlfriend, who is a business major, assisting me. She would probably build the initial business plan, which would both help us in terms of the business, professional development, and who knows maybe she could write a paper on it when she's thinking of undertaking graduate studies. Now commence with telling me how naive and doomed to failure I am.
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Nov 7, 2011 00:03
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Another component I didn't mention would involve potential competitions centered around video and boardgames, as well as having potentially rentable gaming areas right in the store. This community loves communal events and there's a laser tag place right in town that does birthdays and appears to be doing quite well. As a journalist I have numerous contacts in the community that could be leveraged, like the awesome family pizzeria chock full of HDTV's right in town. The owner and I get along famously and I would imagine hosting some kind of videogame tournament or convention would fill her place of business up with families very quickly. I appreciate the feedback, which indicates to me that I definitely should follow my initial instinct and not make this thing an independent Gamestop store. There's also a computer shop in town that could handle repairs and I'm good friends with the owner of an antique shop, who could be a potential business partner/mentor. I plan on sitting down with him this week and discussing how to approach all of this over coffee, and hopefully you guys keep giving me feedback. I'm drafting a business proposal that I'll discuss in more detail once it's drafted for further feedback. edit: Thanks for the link to that blog, which links to some other really insightful blogs relating to business and e-commerce. I intend of reading the whole thing for insight. ANGRY TEEN fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Nov 8, 2011 |
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Nov 7, 2011 23:56
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