It is immediately clear that the author is far from this business, as the Earth is from Mars. I've been in this business for 20 years. Shitty business, I tell you. I have nowhere to go, I can't do anything else. But in general, guys, I'll tell you, the headache is still the same. I am writing this not because I am afraid of competition. Not at all. We are the largest store in the city. But it all started in the 90s. With racketeering, cobal loans and other fun things. But now, voluntarily into it…. God forbid! I just want to warn those who are thinking about this. Do not waste time, think of something else. It's a pity for your money and time. Judge for yourself. I have never seen such a bloated staff (but it’s impossible in another way). If you think you can get by with a couple of salesmen, don't give a damn. So so. Warehouse worker - two at least (I have five). One can’t work without days off, and unloading chandeliers alone is not diapers. A person who is a warehouseman must, in addition to unloading, assemble lamps. Professionally! And this is not khukhry-muhry. I mixed up the contacts and kirdyk chandelier. So, there should not be Uncle Vanya on a part-time job, but a professional. And this is 27-30 thousand rubles salary plus the second, third person. Uncle Vanya can't work without days off. Second, and most importantly, are the sellers. During the trial period, 90% is immediately eliminated, since the seller must not only sell, connect, but also hang out, remove, properly pack the chandeliers so that they do not crash along the road. To learn just a huge range of lamps, light bulbs, other small things is difficult and time consuming. Girls cannot hang and connect, boys are needed. And they, as you understand, need a salary of at least 30 thousand, otherwise they will run away in three months to sell gadgets. The salary is the same, but the headache is a thousand times less.
Next, you need a manager. It's not the same as a salesperson. I have four managers, all with higher education plus a lighting designer. Their salary is 40-50 thousand. Their task is to work with projects, with catalogs, with designers. Without this, just selling and everything is a utopia. You also need an accountant. We have a huge nomenclature, all goods are entered into the 1C program. We need a cashier (again, we have two). We tried to assign the function to the sellers, we quickly realized that it was not realistic to sell and punch checks at the same time. Either sales fell, or checks with errors punched through. We also need a person with a private car. Because it’s more profitable to take small things from a transport company yourself, plus customers stamp their feet and demand delivery. Further more - you sold the chandelier, assembled it, packed it, delivered it. The fun begins in two weeks! There was a stream of customers whose LED strip in the lamp did not light up, or the transformer grunted. And taking into account the fact that everything is now going to China, you yourself understand what awaits you. For example, Aunt Klava calls from the suburbs and shouts into the phone, “Fuck, the chandelier is not working, what should I do? We calmly begin to explain to her that we give a year warranty for the electrician, you only need to bring the chandelier to us yourself, we will take a look, repair it, if necessary, contact the factory and decide everything. To which she screams - come, shoot it yourself. I have no men and no one to do it. And what do you think? We eat, yes, 30 km to the suburbs, we rent this fucking chandelier, which was assembled in the garage by some disabled Chinese. And where to go? He will roll a cart to the consumer protection department and a fine will be imposed under the article violation of consumer rights. And our customers, as you know, are always right.
More from the history of the company. Two managers for all the time left me, having decided to open their own business. It seemed to them that they themselves knew everything and would become businessmen more abruptly than me. I’m a complete fool, I don’t understand the elementary. Only there they waited for him. Half a year later they came, crawled literally again to ask to take them to work. It didn’t work. And it didn’t just go wrong, they got into debt at the most reluctant. Forgive me, help me, take it back. They are already over 40, they don’t know how to do anything else, no one takes a job because of their age. And here's another important point. For 20 years of work, we have an exclusive for almost all factories around the world. And what should you do? And you, my dears, will need 10 years to produce such volumes, and maybe more, otherwise you will not be able to compete on prices even close. I'm not going to dissuade anyone. But, by God, find something simpler, then tell me thank you.

Lamps, chandeliers and fixtures are of no small importance in a modern interior. The buyer does not spare money to improve the interior of the house or apartment. A designer chandelier can radically transform the interior of any room. In this publication, the site has prepared a business plan for a lighting store selling chandeliers, lamps, lamps and other lighting. Unfortunately, this direction has one serious drawback, which is high competition. In every large and even medium-sized city, there are dozens of shops selling lighting fixtures.

Business plan for a lighting store

Brief business analysis:

1. Initial investment = 500,000 - 1,000,000 rubles
2. Net monthly profit = 40,000 - 70,000 rubles.
3. Payback - from 10 months. On average = 1.5-2 years.

#1: Competitor Analysis

Particular attention should be paid to market analysis in the city or region where you are going to open a store. It is necessary to determine the level of competition, identify the most profitable products, evaluate the range of goods and the level of service in competing stores. Including you should find out about the optimal hours of work. It is advisable to immediately go around all the lighting stores that are in your city. In each store, you can emphasize something new for yourself, identify advantages and disadvantages. In the future, this will help you create the most competent business plan.

No. 2. Premises for a store of lamps and chandeliers

Considering that chandeliers and lamps take up a lot of space, the optimal size of the room will be 100-150 square meters. As for the location, there is no general rule that must be followed.

The best options:

1. City center. The disadvantages of being located in the central areas include high rental rates and great competition. The advantages include busy streets and high traffic. In this case, the location will play on you and you can reduce advertising costs. The store should be located on the first floors of buildings, and a bright sign should be installed near the entrance.
2. Shopping centers. If money allows, you can rent a room in a popular shopping center.
3. large sleeping areas. It is not worth excluding the option of renting premises in large sleeping areas. In this case, only those buyers who live in this area will become your customers.

No. 3. Choosing an assortment for a lighting store

Typically, lighting stores operate in two directions. The first direction involves cooperation with a major supplier that offers a wide range of various lighting products. The second direction involves cooperation with many small manufacturers or suppliers. In this case, you can create a more original range of products. Which job option to choose? You decide.

There will be no problem finding suppliers. Most often, the owners of such stores cooperate with Chinese suppliers. In particular, it is possible to agree on cooperation with Russian manufacturers of lighting fixtures.

If you have entered into cooperation with a major supplier, then you can sell products on order. Usually suppliers provide a catalog of goods for buyers. It often happens that the client cannot choose the appropriate option. In this case, he should be offered to familiarize himself with the catalog of goods and place an order with partial or full payment.

In many stores, one drawback can be noticed, which is that all products are arranged in a chaotic manner. This creates difficulties for buyers. We recommend that you design your retail space as competently as possible. Each category of goods should be located in a separate zone. You can classify goods by category, type of lighting, installation method, purpose, etc.

The range should include:

1. Chandeliers
2. wall lighting
3. Shelf lighting
4. Floor appliances
5. Embedded appliances
6. Table appliances
7. Hanging appliances
8. Lighting for cars, light bulbs, flashlights, devices for photographers.
9. Adapters, extension cords, switches, tees, surge protectors, etc.

As for the staff, 2 cashier consultants will be enough for shift work. The most important thing is that the consultants should have a loose tongue, a neat appearance, be able to win over clients, and be well versed in lighting fixtures.

No. 4. Brief financial plan for a lighting store: investments, revenue and net income

When many sites write that the payback of such stores is 7 months, this figure is too exaggerated. During the organization and promotion of a business, various unforeseen expenses arise. It is especially expensive to promote a business in the first few months after opening. It is necessary to carry out an effective advertising campaign, promotions, offer discounts, etc. In the best case, the payback will be from 10 months. If average figures are important to you, then you should focus on 1.5-2 years. The margin on lighting devices should be about 50%, with the exception of original design solutions. For exclusive products, the margin can reach up to 100%.

Approximate financial plan:

1. Purchase of the first batch of goods - 300-500 thousand rubles.
2. Room rental (100-150 sq.m.) - 40-50 thousand rubles.
3. The cost of an advertising company in the first 3 months - 50 thousand rubles. After 3 months, advertising costs can be reduced to 10-15 thousand rubles per month.
4. Utility payments - 10 thousand rubles.
5. Salary for two sales consultants - 40 thousand rubles.

If every month you sell goods in the amount of 300,000 rubles at the purchase price, then your net revenue with a markup of 50% after deducting monthly expenses will be about 50,000 rubles.

How to promote a lighting store and attract customers? In the first three months after the opening of the store, the rate must be placed on effective marketing advertising.

Best Ways:

1. Bright sign at the entrance to the store.
2. Standard advertising in local media
3. Issuance of discount cards to regular customers
4. Cooperation with hardware stores, designers, repair teams, etc.
5. Promotions
6. Promotion in social networks
7. Promotion and creation of your own website
8. Advertising in public transport
9. And other ways.

Chandeliers and other lighting fixtures are always relevant, and therefore there is a wide selection of this type of product on the market. But by developing a completely new business strategy and offering customers something new and interesting, you can take a special place in this niche. In this case, lamps and chandeliers can become a very successful business.

Features of the sale of lighting fixtures

In recent years, the range of lamps and chandeliers has expanded significantly: thanks to technical innovations and a variety of design ideas, customers have the opportunity to choose from a huge variety of proposed models.

When starting a business selling chandeliers and lamps, it is important to take into account the existing current trends in this area.

First of all, a novice entrepreneur needs to study the current market and determine what qualities his company will need to have in order to become competitive. To do this, you will need to offer customers something interesting and unique, as well as establish a competent pricing policy.

When opening a store selling lamps and chandeliers, it is important to immediately identify potential buyers. So, the main assortment can be lighting fixtures for home and office. In the future, you can expand the offer by including in the sale of lighting systems for industrial premises, cars, etc.

Having decided on what assortment will be offered to customers, it is necessary to draw up a business plan for the enterprise. The business plan includes the following features:

• start-up investments in opening a store, including rent or purchase of premises, purchase of goods, payment of salaries to employees;
• expected profit from the sale of fixtures;
• features of the pricing policy of the future enterprise. Setting prices for products is a very important step that requires a thorough study of the existing market and analysis of the products presented. So, for small, inexpensive lamps, the mark-up can be higher and range from 50 to 100 percent, while expensive chandeliers allow a mark-up of a maximum of 15%.

When solving the price issue, it is important for an entrepreneur to determine which category of potential customers the company will focus on: if the store of chandeliers and lamps is declared as an elite one, accordingly, the goods sold will be of high cost, but in this case you will not have to count on a large number of buyers. Moreover, the elite chandeliers store assumes the high quality of the goods presented for sale.

Having drawn up a business plan and having thought through all the estimated costs, in accordance with the calculations made, they pay attention to the following aspects:

• Finding suitable premises for opening a store;
• purchase of goods;
• selection of employees;
• registration with the tax authority;
• advertising work.

It is important to write down the costs for each of these aspects in the business plan; as the enterprise develops, the costs incurred need to be adjusted.

A more economical option would be to open an online store of lamps and chandeliers, at least you can significantly reduce the cost of renting a room and paying utility bills, paying employees and some other types of costs. At the same time, other nuances come to the fore. In particular, it is important to create an online store website that is convenient and functional for users. The staff must have site maintenance specialists and online consultants. Considerable attention should also be paid to the advertising campaign of an online store: if in the format of an ordinary store its main advertisement will be a bright showcase with chandeliers turned on, then when starting an online sale, it is worth promoting your company online.

Stages of organizing a business for the sale of lamps and chandeliers

When opening your own business selling lighting fixtures, it is important to decide not only on the assortment, but also on the location of the store. The ideal solution would be the city center or one of its busy areas with high traffic. In such an area, you can count on the largest number of potential customers and higher profits. At the same time, it is necessary to form a portrait of a potential buyer, to decide on the most demanded price category. This information is also taken into account when purchasing goods. In order for the entire range to be in demand, it is important to monitor the market in your city before purchasing and understand what types of lamps and chandeliers are most in demand among buyers.

As a rule, most of the range should represent lighting fixtures for apartments and houses in the middle price segment, elite exclusive chandeliers must be on sale, but make up a smaller part. When purchasing goods, even from the category of the low price segment, you should give preference only to high-quality products, trusting manufacturers well-known on the market. In the first months of the store's operation, it is possible to conclude agreements with several suppliers and, in the process of cooperation, continue working only with those who offer the most favorable conditions.

The store itself should be spacious and have enough space to accommodate most of the assortment. With the right design of the store, it will be quite bright and noticeable from afar, which in itself will already be a good advertisement.

When developing the design of the store, it is important to create several shopping areas, which will be delimited by theme and type of lighting fixtures. So, you can separately place the lamps for their intended purpose (household and industrial), in accordance with the method of installation (separately ceiling, wall and others) and other criteria.

The next stage is the selection of personnel for the store. The level of sales, and hence the success of the enterprise, largely depends on how qualified employees will be.

First of all, you will need such specialists:

• two or more vendors (depending on store size and opening hours)
• accountant (you can outsource the position);
• marketer;
• site creation and maintenance specialist (freelancer or outsourcer);
• technical staff.

In order to save on wages, all employees, excluding salespeople, can be recruited through outsourcing companies.

Particular attention should be paid to the following aspects:

• bright showcase. You can absolutely not spend money on outdoor advertising, simply by equipping the room with glass showcases through which the lights emitted by chandeliers will be visible from afar. They are the ones who will attract customers. This method works especially well if the store is located in the city center;
• Internet advertising;
• distribution of leaflets, advertising messages in the media.

The most effective will be all of the above methods in combination. Many store owners specifically hire a marketing specialist, some of them turn to specialized agencies to develop an advertising campaign, which saves money spent on advertising.

Starting a Lighting Business: Tax Registration

The official registration of a business selling chandeliers and lamps does not provide for the need to obtain special permits and licenses. You just need to go through the standard registration procedure with the tax authority corresponding to the registration of the business owner. Of all the possible options, most often novice businessmen choose the form of IP.

This is due to the fact that you can get the status of an individual entrepreneur in a matter of days according to a very simple scheme:

• come to the branch of the Federal Tax Service corresponding to the official registration of the future entrepreneur and fill out an application in a special form. The application also indicates the address of registration: it usually coincides with the address of residence of the entrepreneur himself. It is also mandatory to select and provide in the application the codes of activity according to the OKVED classifier. There may be several of them - the main thing is that the type of activity being carried out is fully spelled out in codes, otherwise the enterprise will be considered illegal;
• pay the state duty (its amount is 800 rubles);
• provide the tax office with a completed application, copies of the passport, identification number and receipts for payment of the fee;
• wait for the issuance of a certificate of registration of a person by an individual entrepreneur. As a rule, this period is about 3 working days.

You can fill out such an application and complete the registration process online by going to the official service of the Federal Tax Service. The waiting period for the result of online registration will be the same. If it is inconvenient for a future entrepreneur to visit a branch of the Federal Tax Service, he can also send an application and all documents by mail. True, the term for issuing an IP certificate is increased by several days.

As a rule, applications for the creation of IP are rarely denied. It is important that the candidate for such status has Russian citizenship and is over 18 years of age. There are no more stringent criteria for future entrepreneurs.

In general, evaluating the prospects and potential profit that an entrepreneur selling chandeliers and lamps can count on, we can conclude that this area of ​​\u200b\u200bbusiness is potentially profitable and in demand. At the same time, there are certain nuances that you need to keep in mind when starting a business in this direction.

Jan 18, 2017 Sergey

In any field of activity, both at home and at work, it is impossible to do without lighting. Therefore, conventional and industrial lamps are very popular. Thanks to this factor, the business of selling them is profitable. To date, the cost of electricity consumption is one of the significant cost items. That is why, mainly in production, they resort to the modernization of lighting equipment. This is an excellent prospect for small entrepreneurs who seek to reduce the cost of the products they sell and increase their competitiveness in the market in addition to creating their own corporate identity, which can be ordered on the Symbol/Symbol Communication Group website.

Of the entire range of lighting equipment, LED industrial lamps should be highlighted. Despite the fact that rather high requirements are imposed on them, their implementation is quite profitable, since they are in constant demand. This is due to the fact that high-quality industrial lighting is the key to high productivity of workers and comfortable working conditions.

That is why it must be constantly maintained at the proper level. If you plan to trade such products, then you need to ensure that it can be operated in conditions of high humidity, dust and various temperatures.

Is it profitable to sell household lamps?

Today, the competition in this market share is quite strong. Therefore, you can count on success only if you have a fairly wide range and relatively low prices. For this, suppliers must be carefully selected. It is best to contact those who work without intermediaries, shipping products directly from their warehouses. When choosing models of household lamps, you should count on buyers of all age groups, which will allow you to reach the largest audience.

Good luck in business.

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