The failed business of a young mother, or how I bought Korean cosmetics.
In the past, I often thought about taking advantage of my shopaholic tendencies. I have already tried to collect people according to the type of joint venture, I was scared away by small percentages of profits and large kilograms of things. Korean cosmetics did not give me rest either ...
By the way, I asked the seller a question - how do you sell samples if they are NOT FOR SALE? To which the seller replied that the samples are free, and I just pay for the shipment)
The parcel included a booklet with thanks for the order and an invitation to the site. And then I got stuck)
Firstly, the ability to choose prices in dollars, and not just in Korean currency (experience with gmarket)
Third, the goods are 10 pieces
Fourth, the availability of goods (mainly MIZON) with free shipping.
In this case, the product is marked with zero weight in the cart. That is, if you still have products from the usual categories in your shopping cart, then the shipping cost will not change at all.
But, if there are only FREE SHIPPING products in the basket, then the minimum packing fee will be charged:
Fifth, the ability to choose delivery (depending on weight, from 2-4 options). Shipping is by weight. I got (already after the formation of the basket, I did not find a separate table with prices) 14 dollars per kilogram, the total package was about 3 kg.
The weight of the product is indicated in the description. For example, the weight of a cream with a volume of 50 ml can reach more than 200 g! Probably glass packaging
One more point:
I ordered a Mizon cream for a friend along with my samplers. When opening the box, she did not like the integrity of some sticker. I wrote to the site and attached a photo of the packaging. They asked to send a photo of the invoice from the parcel. In the end, I received a long letter of apology from the director and the choice of a refund or resending the cream. A friend chose the money, and, of course, she still had the cream.
By the way, the same seller on ebay has a cheaper cream - $17.99 versus $18.15.
In general, the price starts at about 15.69:
The price in Russian stores is higher:
Well, in general, I needed wholesale purchases, so I really liked the roseroseshop.com service. Despite the opaque shipping costs.
By the way, samples are sent as a gift:
What, exactly, about my attempt to get rich?
I bought hand cream, sheet masks, patch masks, tester masks and 10 samplers. Packed in beautiful boxes. I came up with the name CUTEBAG (like a cute handbag). I made a description in Russian and a VK group.
But, as they say, either you are selling in the wrong way, or you are selling badly, or you are selling crap) I didn’t manage to sell anything, but I provided my friends with gifts for NG and March 8)
Cosmetics from Thailand - tangible benefits for both the body and the wallet!
Thai women look younger than European women. In many ways, the "culprits" of the youth of taeks are racial and genetic characteristics. But another secret lies in the cosmetics used by women in Thailand. This cosmetics has a considerable number of significant advantages.
First of all, it should be noted here that almost all cosmetic products that are produced in Thailand contain only natural ingredients. These are components such as algae, oils, extracts of tropical trees and plants, minerals. Even if chemical elements are used to create this or that remedy, there are very few of them.
Thai cosmetics are mostly hypoallergenic. For skin on which irritations, rashes and overly sensitive skin appear, Thai cosmetics are a real salvation. All cosmetics created in Thailand have a light structure and a pleasant aroma. Therefore, for any type of skin, they are just perfect.
Many cosmetics are made in Thailand according to traditional recipes that have stood the test of time. Thanks to Thai cosmetics, you can achieve the desired result in the shortest possible time. The cost of Thai cosmetics is very attractive. In Thailand, the production of such products is inexpensive. The natural ingredients that make up cosmetics are very cheap in this country. As a result, thanks to all this, the manufacturer has the opportunity to provide the buyer with affordable products.
Another very significant advantage of cosmetics from Thailand is that it can be purchased in bulk. Cosmetics from Thailand wholesale- this is a great opportunity to save money for various organizations and individual entrepreneurs who sell cosmetics at retail.
Wholesale you can buy not only the most popular cosmetics, but also products of less well-known companies. These are products such as lotions, shampoos, oils, balms, lip balms, body care products and much more. All cosmetics supplied in bulk are packaged with high quality, therefore they reach the buyer in complete safety. You will not have any difficulties with the choice of cosmetics from Thailand, since it is universal.
15% - this is the part of the income that women are willing to spend monthly on the purchase of cosmetics. Some of them are willing to save on entertainment, clothes and food in order to spend this money on cosmetics. In this business plan, you will learn how to open a cosmetics store with minimal investment. We will conduct a detailed calculation and tell you how you can save money and achieve maximum business profitability.
Difficulties in business
When starting a cosmetics store, you may encounter some difficulties that will ruin your business in a few months.
The first thing you will encounter are competitors:
- large stores
- small shops
- Hypermarkets with a department of cosmetics and perfumery
- Online shopping
The market of cosmetics and perfumery cannot be called new. Major players such as L'Etoile and Rive Gauche have long understood how to attract customers, what range to provide and how to work with their employees. Smaller players are also on the alert and have occupied all the most advantageous places in shopping centers.
Also, if you want to open a natural cosmetics store or some other, then you will have to compete with hypermarkets, as very often they have departments that sell these products.
In addition to the usual offline competitors, you will also have to deal with online stores that sell their products cheaper, as they save on the number of employees, rent and utilities.
In addition to problems with competitors, other risks await you:
- The owner of the premises can increase the cost of the rent
- Suppliers may increase the cost of goods
- Difficulty attracting clients
- Due to the crisis, the purchasing power of customers may decrease and they simply will not have the money to buy your product.
- Incorrectly selected assortment that no one buys
As well as standard problems for any business:
- Business registration
- Recruitment
- Employee training and motivation
- Supplier search
- Location selection
- Repair
You must be clearly aware that opening your own cosmetics store is a very difficult business that requires you to make a large investment of your time, effort and money. There are options to make your life a little easier, namely to cooperate with some kind of franchise that will help you at every stage, or to create an online store, then you can save a lot. First, let's talk about how to open a cosmetics store from scratch, and then we will tell you about franchises and online stores.
Business registration
The first step of our cosmetics store business plan that you have to go through is registering a business. You can register as an individual entrepreneur or LLC. For large stores, you can choose an LLC, and for small ones, individual entrepreneurs.
If the area of the premises is not more than 150 sq.m., then we recommend choosing the UTII taxation system. It will be the best option for you.
OKVED codes for a cosmetics store will be as follows:
- 52.33 - "Retail trade in cosmetics and perfumery products";
- 52.33.1 - "Retail sale of cosmetic and perfumery products, except soap";
- 52.33.2 - "Retail trade in toilet and laundry soap";
If you are going to sell your products also via the Internet, then you will also need the following code:
- 47.91.1 - “Retail postal (parcel) trade services”.
As for accounting in this case, you can save money on a full-time accountant. You can do your own bookkeeping, but if you don't have the time for that, hiring an outside accountant is a great option.
Before starting a business, you will need to go through the following list:
- Open a bank account
- Obtain permission from Rospotrebnadzor
- Get permission from the fire department
- And get permission from the SES
If you choose an individual entrepreneur, then in total at this stage you will have to spend 3,000 rubles, for those who have chosen an LLC, the amount of costs will be slightly more than 20,000 rubles.
Location selection
The second thing we need to do to open a cosmetics store is to find the right premises. In offline business, this stage is the most important, since the location of the store directly affects the daily number of visitors and, accordingly, profit.
Like any other business, a cosmetics store is best located where there are more people. For example:
- Shopping centers
- Close to metro or stops
- Densely populated neighborhoods
- City center
Most of the target audience of cosmetics and perfumery stores are women. Therefore, if you know some places in the city where there are a lot of them, it would be a great option to open there. For example, girls often visit beauty salons. It makes sense to open next to such a salon, then you will earn not only on visitors, but also on the employees of this salon, who buy consumables every week.
There are no important requirements for choosing premises for cosmetics stores. Usually a small room of 45 sq.m. is suitable for such needs. where most of it goes to the shopping area and a smaller one for a bathroom and a warehouse.
It will be a huge plus if large windows are inserted into the walls. The interior of the store and its assortment will attract buyers from the street, and pleasant sunlight will fall on those who are already inside.
Also, before opening, you need to take care of the repair and interior. If your budget does not allow you to hire a professional designer and make some interesting design, then you need to try to make everything minimalistic, but beautiful. The interior should create a comfortable atmosphere in the room and not strain customers.
In total, a simple repair will cost you 200,000 rubles, and the monthly rent of the premises will cost about 40,000 rubles.
Necessary equipment
After the premises are selected, equipment must be purchased. No one will give you a clear list of what equipment you need to buy for a cosmetics store. The exact list of equipment depends on the interior design concept. Some need to buy wooden display cases, some glass.
It is worth noting that closed windows will reduce the number of thefts in your store, but they have one major drawback. Potential buyers will not be able to twist and feel the goods, and this can lead to a decrease in sales.
Particular attention should be paid to lighting. When testing samplers, visitors should see all shades undistorted. Also, you need to place a large number of mirrors.
If you have a very small space in the room, then you do not need to force it with shelving and display cases. There is no need to turn the store into a warehouse, since a huge amount of illiterately arranged goods will not lead to an increase in sales. The best option would be to reduce the assortment and concentrate on selling the most popular products.
Buying used equipment can save you a lot of money. The most important thing is that it looks fresh and does not make customers feel that the store is already a thousand years old.
An example of a list of required equipment can be seen below.
| Name | Sum |
| Glass rack (4 pcs.) | 15.000r |
| Low showcase (5 pcs.) | 20.000r |
| Showcase island (2 pcs.) | 10.000r |
| Table and chair at the checkout | 10.000r |
| simple computer | 10.000r |
| Lighting | 20.000r |
| Cash register | 5.000r |
| Signaling | 5.000r |
| Mirrors | 20.000r |
| Air conditioning | 30.000r |
| Total: | 150.000r |
Range
Some entrepreneurs want to open a Thai, Korean or Belarusian cosmetics store. You may well sell cosmetics from manufacturers of a particular country, but you should not focus on this. For example, if you name the store “Korean cosmetics”, make a huge sign with this name, design the site, banners, interior in Korean style, and as a result, they won’t buy cosmetics from you – it will be a complete failure. To change an assortment that is not in demand, you will have to change everything and start from the very beginning.
You will spend about 400,000 rubles on the first purchase, but until your store is functioning, you will not have data that you can analyze. You will not be able to know exactly which products will be sold and which will not. Therefore, before the first purchase, it is important to analyze the market and determine which products and manufacturers are in demand and which are not. If for some reason you are not able to independently analyze the market, competitors, websites, forums and social networks in order to understand what is in demand now, then we recommend hiring a specialist who will do it for you.
The first batch of goods should not be too large. It makes no sense to buy 100 pieces of one lipstick when you don't even know if it will be sold or not. The best option would be to purchase a small batch and in the future to buy more well-selling goods, and not to buy more that are not sold, respectively.
The range should look like this:
- Cheap goods - 50%
- Average cost - 30%
- Expensive goods - 20%
The percentage will depend on a variety of factors, including the size of the city's population, the location of the store, the economic situation in the country, and other factors.
Product categories:
- Makeup (lipstick, mascara, powder, etc.)
- Skin care
- Body care
- Cosmetics for adult women
- Cosmetics for men
- Perfumery
There is an option to purchase directly from manufacturers, but then you will not be able to boast of a diverse assortment and the target audience of your cosmetics store will become much smaller.
The purchase of the first batch of goods will look something like this:
| Name | Price |
| Foundation | 25.000r |
| Powders | 16.000r |
| Blush | 10.000r |
| Base for shadows | 3.000r |
| Shadows | 7.000r |
| lipsticks | 15.000r |
| ink | 20.000r |
| Pencils for eyes, eyebrows, lips | 20.000r |
| Tonics | 10.000r |
| Moisturizing cream | 10.000r |
| Nutritious cream | 10.000r |
| Body cream | 9.000r |
| Anti-aging cream | 40.000r |
| Hand cream | 15.000r |
| Anti-cellulite cream | 10.000r |
| Mask for the face | 13.000r |
| Perfume for women and men | 170.000r |
| Total: | 403.000r |
In addition to the cosmetics and perfumes themselves, we can sell various accessories, so you can increase your profits. Accessories should be selected based on the audience that visits you. For example, handbags, bracelets, simple jewelry, glasses, etc. can be offered to young girls. At the very beginning, we recommend concentrating on specialized products, that is, cosmetics and perfumes, and later, when the business is established, you can add some new products.
Merchandising
If this is your first business plan for a cosmetics and perfume store, and you have never done any business before, then you need to learn the science of product placement on the shelves.
It seems that this is not difficult, but nevertheless, large companies invest huge amounts of money in research every year to determine which arrangement of goods will lead to the greatest profit. In our case, we do not yet have huge funds for research and the object of study itself, but nevertheless, a few rules are worth studying:
- Products must be in some logical order, they can be sorted by brand, purpose, or something else.
- The same type of product should be in only one place. For example, all the lipstick that is in the store lies on a particular shelf. It makes no sense to put 10 lipsticks on the other side of the store. An exception in this case can only be showcases where goods are located at a discount.
- The buyer should have a sense of a clear system. Namely, all goods must stand exactly on one straight line. If a product is bought, then some other one should immediately take its place.
- Goods that are located at eye or hand level are bought unconsciously. The buyer himself does not know exactly what he wants and chooses what is easier for him to get. Therefore, goods sold at a discount, or if the goods expire soon and need to be sold urgently, must be placed at eye or hand level.
Staff
To open a small professional cosmetics store, you need a small staff. As mentioned earlier, we hire accountants on outsourcing, and at first it is worth saving on the administrator. Until the organization of the business is brought to the ideal, you can perform the role of administrator yourself.
The most important employees of a cosmetics store are sales assistants. As a rule, these are young girls of good appearance who understand cosmetics. To get started, it is enough to hire only two sellers with a salary of 20,000 rubles. To motivate them to help customers more, you can pay a certain percentage of each sale.
For sellers, it is worth coming up with a strict dress code that they must comply with. It can be some kind of dresses, t-shirts, shirts or trousers. Since this is a cosmetics store, then in the dress code you can make it a mandatory requirement that girls should wear bright makeup.
Of course, no business is complete without a cleaner. If things go really bad and you don't have extra 10.000r. to pay for her work, then you can take over her duties.
In total, we will have to spend approximately 50,000 rubles. for employee salaries each month.
Customer acquisition
The final step in creating a cosmetics store will be to attract customers. By itself, a store built in a good location will attract potential buyers, but in order to have more of them, you need to work a little.
The most important thing to do is to buy a large luminous sign, which will be located above the doors to the store. This is especially important if the entrance to the room is on the street. In the winter season, it gets dark very early and a bright luminous sign will attract your attention in the dark.
Also, the standard methods of attracting customers include the distribution of flyers and advertising on banners.
The Internet is a great way to get attention. It certainly would not be superfluous to create your own website or at least communities on social networks where you will post news about your store.
A good option would be to advertise in urban communities or on city websites. Most importantly, advertising must be original and attract attention. For example, just information that a new cosmetics store has opened on Pobedy Street 6 is unlikely to interest anyone. People need to be hooked with something, for example, a banal 25% discount.
To make a regular customer out of a random visitor to your store, you can offer loyalty programs. For example, at the first purchase, you issue a discount card for the buyer and the discount will increase with each new purchase.
You can see the marketing plan in the table below.
How much does it cost to open a cosmetics store?
| Name | Sum |
| Initial Costs | |
| Equipment | 150.000r |
| First purchase | 403.000r |
| Repair | 200.000r |
| Business registration | 3.000r |
| 40.000r | |
| Customer acquisition | 70.000r |
| Salary of employees for the first month | 50.000r |
| Total: | 916.000r |
| Monthly expenses | |
| Room rental for the first month | 40.000r |
| salary of employees | 50.000r |
| Communal payments | 4.000r |
| Total: | 94.000r |
As a result, the initial expenses will amount to 916,000 rubles, and the monthly expenses will be 94,000 rubles.
Income and payback
In this paragraph, we will figure out whether it is profitable to open a cosmetics store or not? It is impossible to answer this question precisely, since a huge number of factors will influence the success of your store: location, competitors, cost of goods, the economic situation in the country, trends and much more.
When opening a cosmetics and perfumery store, it is worth focusing on the following calculations: the daily income of the store is 9,000 rubles, the monthly income is 279,000 rubles, from here we subtract monthly expenses and get a net profit of 185,000 rubles. Also, we need to replenish the store with a new assortment, which means that we will have to invest approximately 85,000 rubles for the purchase of new goods, as a result, the real net profit will be 100,000 rubles.
Monthly income— 279.000r
Net profit— 100.000r
Payback- 10 months
Franchise shop cosmetics and perfumery
Earlier we promised to tell you about the creation of a franchise cosmetics store. It should be borne in mind that by contacting the franchise throughout the entire period of work, you will encounter positive and negative sides. Therefore, you must be ready for this.
Let's start with the positives:
Of the minuses, it should be noted that you will have to share the profits and you will have to agree on all the changes that you want to make in your store. And that means you can't just change employee uniforms or put up new merchandise like handbags and bracelets for sale.
Before buying a franchise, be sure to read reviews about it. They can be found on the Internet in forums. Also, it will not be superfluous to find people who work or have worked with this franchise and find out how things really are there.
| Franchise name | Description | Price |
| Danaco | Korean cosmetics | 1.000.000r |
| Demeter | Perfume shop | 1.600.000r |
| fresh line | Natural cosmetic | 1.000.000r |
| Mixit | Natural cosmetic | 2.000.000r |
| Tony Moly | Cosmetics store | 1.000.000r |
| Yves Rocher | Boutique of cosmetics and perfumery | 3.500.000r |
| Belarusian cosmetics | Belarusian cosmetics | 1.000.000r |
| Flormar | Popular brand of cosmetics | 500.000r |
| Holika Holika | Korean cosmetics | 1.300.000r |
| Lush | Handmade cosmetics | 2.000.000r |
| L'Occitane | Perfumes and cosmetics | 4.000.000r |
There are many other franchises, here we have listed only those with which it is worth starting the analysis. It is impossible to say for sure which franchise will be better and which will be worse. They all have pros and cons.
I recommend reading this article to those people who are seriously thinking about changing their place of residence in the global sense. That is, they decided to change the country of residence. Since we left to live in Thailand, the idea that I will describe is, of course, connected with the supply of Thai goods to Russia. Well, in general, this idea can be applied more widely. Indeed, in each country there is a certain group of goods, which is much cheaper than in Russia. This is certainly related to geography, raw materials, national production, industry, etc.
Thailand, an exotic country and far from Russia in every sense: here they think differently, eat differently, live differently. Well, in general, Thailand is famous for its latex production, fruits, seafood, cheap and high-quality silver, and of course, the famous Thai massage. Anyone who has ever been to Thailand and visited a massage parlor will understand what I'm talking about. Incredible fragrances, not cloying and unobtrusive, after which the mind becomes rested and clear. Fine balms and oils with which Thai massages make the skin soft, silky and lightly scented with fruits and flowers.
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Let's go back to Russia for a while. Shortly before leaving Russia, I began to notice that various Thai, Balinese and other massage parlors were growing like yeast. That is why we decided to try to offer ourselves to salons as suppliers of high-quality Thai cosmetics for massage and other small attributes. In general, these products can be found on every corner in Thailand, but it will be more difficult to agree on a favorable price. But we were lucky, we have a Thai friend who speaks excellent Russian and keeps a small shop with oils and balms for massage, aroma oils and other things. Her shop is located on the embankment, where tourists stroll in the evenings. The assortment that she has was more than enough for us. We agreed on the wholesale price without any problems.
The next question that seriously puzzled us was delivery to Russia. Delivery by various popular express services is so expensive that it will pay off only in the case of very large deliveries. For example, if you are the exclusive supplier of all massage parlors of some Russian millionaire. Thus, the only option left was mail. Yes, the delivery time is not very impressive (3-5 weeks). But in principle, for this kind of business is perfect. The cost of delivery from Thailand to Russia for a parcel weighing 20 kg (which, by the way, is the maximum weight) is only 4,500 rubles. (+/- 500 rubles, depending on the destination in Russia).
Our next steps were very simple. The first thing we did was decent product photos (some found on the net) and a detailed and "selling" description of each of them. From all this, they blinded a commercial offer, which was sent to all massage parlors, having previously called them.
We didn’t worry about pricing for a long time, we took the unit price, added overhead costs to it and multiplied by two. Thus, we got a 100% markup, which gave a good income. After monitoring the prices of similar online stores (even a wider range), we realized that our price tag is more than competitive, since on average, the markup of competitors was 200-400%.
Since this kind of business became a debut for us, we were afraid to invest money and just buy goods without pre-ordering. After the distribution of the commercial offer gave its first responses and we formed the first, albeit small, order, purchased the required amount of goods and sent it to Russia, having previously received an advance payment of 50% from the customer.
In Russia, the goods at the post office were received by "our man" who quickly delivered the goods to the customer. After delivery, we received a satisfied regular customer and the remaining 50% payment.
The range that we offer to massage parlors is small and consists of everything you need: Thai oils and balms for massage, aroma candles, aroma oils, aroma lamps, fruit shower gels, body balms, body creams, various shimmering body powders, soap handmade in the form of fruits and genitals, face and body masks and more. This range is more than enough to successfully sell it. A large assortment often scares off the client, people do not want to delve into a huge catalog and look for a few goods they need.
Thus, we can conclude that the most important thing is to find the very niche that needs the products that you can offer. I know a lot of people who live in Thailand and sell Thai cosmetics, products and more to Russia. People do not thoughtlessly make online stores, but find a buyer for their goods aimingly. Sell face masks, offer them to beauty salons, are ready to supply latex mattresses - offer your services as a supplier to large furniture stores. Good luck to everyone in your new endeavors!
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Thailand, like any country, has goods that are especially beneficial for export. Moreover, in many cases, you can engage in such a business while in your homeland and without even visiting the Kingdom. What is profitable to bring from Thailand, where to make purchases and how to open a business in Thailand based on export, we will tell in this article?
In Thailand, hevea grows very well, from the juice of which latex is obtained. Thanks to this, pillows and mattresses from Thailand are in great demand, as they are of low cost and good quality. it is convenient and profitable to buy latex pillows and mattresses from direct manufacturers, although a trial batch can be purchased at retail.
The export of latex products from Thailand is a very specific business. Here are a few things to consider:
- Factories are not always producers;
- There is a high probability of buying low-quality latex pillows and mattresses;
- Latex products take up a lot of space.
Often, Thais deceive buyers from other countries in the most sophisticated way. They can say that latex products purchased from them are not taken into account when weighing luggage and even write out a corresponding document. And at the airport an unpleasant surprise will await you, you will be forced to pay for the excess. If a guide takes you to a factory or a store, then don't expect a good price - he gets a percentage of each latex mattress or pillow you buy. The same goes for taxi drivers.
Read also: Opening a restaurant business in China
Business in Thailand in the export of leather goods
Products from genuine leather in Thailand are made by everything, both single handicraftsmen and large factories. And all of them differ in quality and low price. The range is simply amazing - all kinds of bags, wallets, purses, gadget cases and accessories. Such a business can be developed in two directions.
The cheapest, but nevertheless high-quality products are made from cowhide. It is inexpensive, so in order to export from Thailand for a normal amount, you will have to import a large number of units. It is better to buy them at factories, but if you want to expand the range, you can buy up in large markets.
Exclusive products are made from the skin of sharks, monitor lizards, snakes, crocodiles, etc. They cost more than consumer goods, but you can earn more on them. When purchasing, you should pay attention to quality, since such leather must be properly dressed following a certain technology, which not everyone follows.
Clothing from Thailand
Clothes in Thailand are made for both children and adults. And it costs mere pennies. But it does not always differ in quality - sometimes you can save 20-30% on the purchase, but later stay with products that “spread apart” after the first wash. Such a business in Thailand will go down the drain, as they say.
