reef trendy artical
- Thread starter papawilks
- Start date
Anthony Calfo
New member
its a very large topic for one post/thread my friend.
Getting to the real issue IMO (your interest and my desire to see you succeed!)... the best advice I can give you is to spend the money on some travel to see the best stores in the nation. Do this before you finish your first draft of your business plan.
Taking the time to observe other good business models is one of THE best ways to shape your own first pass at your own model.
Different stores will have different emphasis... some will appeal to you and some will not.
Some of the best stores in thee nation are in your/our region: Old Towne Aquarium in Chicago... Country Critters in Long Island... several great shops inthe Cleveland and Baltimore areas.
The get yourself out to LA to see the wholesalers on 104th street and make connections (or seek a jobber for you, better yet... do PM me for current recommendations)
Also... you will need/want to subscribe to the trade journals (Pet Age, Pet Business, and Pet Supplies Marketing)
Be sure to attend at least one large hobby conference per year too to keep a pulse on industry events, news, trends.
And for a the crash course on a good shop... you will likely find success/profits in:
- focussing on beginners and intermediate hobbyists to a significant degree... they drive the industry and will be a majority of your short-term and long-term livelihood
- do not ignore advanced aquarists and hobby clubs... being flexible with them on large item purchases and group/volume buys will make the difference between making some money off them or losing all such profits to Internet sales
- do NOT rely on livestock as your principal means of income. You will see that very few of the best/oldest stores do this. Livestock gets people in the door and keeps us interested in the hobby... but profits there are volatile and often lean. In a sentence - your profits are at the mercy of many factors on import: weather, politics, delay, airlines, disease,etc.
- consider aquarium servicing, custom tank work (drilling, sumps, refugiums, etc) and any/all drygoods as the real staple to your livelihood
- be honest to a fault... this will pay long term dividends on referrals and long term happy (spending!) customers. Selling a mandarin fish to a newbie, eg, hurts your business in many ways and is simply not worth the sale that day.
so much more to say... do investigate the above leads.
And check out the industry info and FAQs/articles over at wetwebmedia.com
best of luck and life
Anthony
Getting to the real issue IMO (your interest and my desire to see you succeed!)... the best advice I can give you is to spend the money on some travel to see the best stores in the nation. Do this before you finish your first draft of your business plan.
Taking the time to observe other good business models is one of THE best ways to shape your own first pass at your own model.
Different stores will have different emphasis... some will appeal to you and some will not.
Some of the best stores in thee nation are in your/our region: Old Towne Aquarium in Chicago... Country Critters in Long Island... several great shops inthe Cleveland and Baltimore areas.
The get yourself out to LA to see the wholesalers on 104th street and make connections (or seek a jobber for you, better yet... do PM me for current recommendations)
Also... you will need/want to subscribe to the trade journals (Pet Age, Pet Business, and Pet Supplies Marketing)
Be sure to attend at least one large hobby conference per year too to keep a pulse on industry events, news, trends.
And for a the crash course on a good shop... you will likely find success/profits in:
- focussing on beginners and intermediate hobbyists to a significant degree... they drive the industry and will be a majority of your short-term and long-term livelihood
- do not ignore advanced aquarists and hobby clubs... being flexible with them on large item purchases and group/volume buys will make the difference between making some money off them or losing all such profits to Internet sales
- do NOT rely on livestock as your principal means of income. You will see that very few of the best/oldest stores do this. Livestock gets people in the door and keeps us interested in the hobby... but profits there are volatile and often lean. In a sentence - your profits are at the mercy of many factors on import: weather, politics, delay, airlines, disease,etc.
- consider aquarium servicing, custom tank work (drilling, sumps, refugiums, etc) and any/all drygoods as the real staple to your livelihood
- be honest to a fault... this will pay long term dividends on referrals and long term happy (spending!) customers. Selling a mandarin fish to a newbie, eg, hurts your business in many ways and is simply not worth the sale that day.
so much more to say... do investigate the above leads.
And check out the industry info and FAQs/articles over at wetwebmedia.com
best of luck and life
Anthony
just dave
11th in '11
Do you think this still holds true today with the internet( I know you said it and I'm just wondering if this advice is left over from the ole days...good or not)?
I remember talking to J. Tullock many years ago and he said that livestock was a necessary evil and if you could break even on it you were lucky. The money was in the 'support' equipment. I've always liked John and always thought highly of him and always thought he was smarter 'n I ( which he confirmed when he got out
).The reason I ask is that many people have no problem buying drygoods over the 'net. As Flebelmanns Swizzlestick Rotary Skimmer will be the same no matter who you buy it from and since one is not actually driving to pick it up,it makes no big difference where it's shipped from.
Livestock,on the other hand,seems to be something many are not willing to buy online (compared to the drygoods purchasers) and many that have have been unhappy with end results or the additional costs and stress placed on 'em by Uncle Fred's Delivery.
So it would seem to me that things may have shifted in that respect as opposed to the times of ole. I'm not making any cracks about your age because I'm pretty sure we will both be picking out walkers within a year or two from each other.
Anthony Calfo
New member
John's words still hold true... the industry has not changed much at all. Don;t just take my word for it... beyond doing your business plan (a must), if you subscribe to the trade journals and our industry lobbyist group (PIJAC) publications you can see near monthly reports as the years go by stating current margins, sales figs, demographics, etc.
The numbers dont lie, my friend.
And the goldrush of fools... er, folks... getting into livestock only Internet sales is disheartening. Few survive in business that way.
The numbers dont lie, my friend.
And the goldrush of fools... er, folks... getting into livestock only Internet sales is disheartening. Few survive in business that way.
just dave
11th in '11
The only reason I mentioned it is that I'm a SW only 'LFS' and we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary and subscribe to all that you mentioned,attend conference/shows,...etc,etc. I realized awhile ago that things had changed for us and our numbers were down esp. in the drygoods/hardware category. We made a decision to realign our pricing structure to become more competitive with the online vendors(basically the margins on our drygoods went down and the livestock went up) and our bottom line got fatter. Of course other things may/probably played a part in it and different locations/markets have different needs and concerns. I have friends with stores in other parts of the country and keep in touch with them and compare notes and know that different markets seem to require different tactics. But anyway,thanks for the reply and the insight...it's always welcome.
On a different not,one that pertains to the original topic. When someone asks me about what I think of them opening a LFS my first response is to slap 'em across the face with a Rabbitfish to jog some sense into them . I tell them that IMO a person with strong business skills and poor animal husbandry skills would do better vs. someone with strong husbandry skill and poor business sense. Of course it would be nice to start with both.
On a different not,one that pertains to the original topic. When someone asks me about what I think of them opening a LFS my first response is to slap 'em across the face with a Rabbitfish to jog some sense into them . I tell them that IMO a person with strong business skills and poor animal husbandry skills would do better vs. someone with strong husbandry skill and poor business sense. Of course it would be nice to start with both.
Anthony Calfo
New member
ooh, yes... quite correct. The business sense is a MUST.
