Trade is one of the pillars of the economy and the most popular activities in private business. It is often difficult for novice businessmen to decide what to sell in order to get the maximum profit without risk.
There are a huge number of positions and directions in which you can develop a trading network. Some of them are attractive for their large turnover, others for their high interest mark-up, others for their one-time profits, and others for their relative stability. Many sellers are let down by the desire to get the maximum profit without taking into account other significant factors. Meanwhile, it is necessary to take into account not only the figures of the net profit from the sale, but also the requirements for the storage of goods, customer demand, seasonality. In addition, a lot depends on the start-up capital that you can spend on the purchase of the first consignments of goods.
Which store to open?
You don't always have to chase high mark-up opportunities. For example, in retail chains selling food products, the retail margin rarely exceeds 10%, however, due to the fact that the products are always well bought, even such a margin is quite profitable. Naturally, when planning to trade in food, one must not forget that this is a perishable product that is demanding on storage conditions. Therefore, you must take care of the storage space and dispose of the surplus goods in the warehouse in time. To some extent, this also applies to household chemicals, although the shelf life is much longer here.
Hygiene items and household chemicals are also products that are always in demand, but the competition in this area is very high.
Unlike food products, clothing and footwear provide the seller with a high profit, due to the possibility of a significant (up to 200%) markup relative to the purchase price. Here, too, it is worth focusing on the average buyer, because elite clothing brands, although they provide a larger one-time income, are sold much more difficult. In addition, the start-up capital required to purchase clothes in the middle price segment in the required assortment is much less than if you work with the premium segment. The undoubted advantage of the clothing trade is the lack of expiration dates, but this comes at the cost of seasonality. Particular attention should be paid to children's things: it is profitable to sell them, while buyers will come again and again as their children grow up.
As for the low one-time profit, then you should not be intimidated by it if your product is popular enough to be bought in large volumes. For example, a package in a supermarket rarely costs more than one or two rubles, but given that its wholesale price does not exceed 20 kopecks, it turns out that the margin is up to a thousand percent. The main thing is to ensure the required demand.
Please note that certain activities are subject to compulsory licensing. In addition, you may need certificates for certain products.
Look for profitable options
In general, if there is enough consumer interest, you can find many “compromise” categories of goods that cost five to ten times less than the selling price, without having to sell several thousand units to generate an acceptable income. In this respect, children are ideal consumers. Even a small retail outlet next to a circus or an amusement park can generate huge profits. You can sell cheap Chinese toys, cotton candy, or popcorn. For example, the cost of an average glass of popcorn is 4-5 rubles (of which 3 rubles is actually a paper cup), and the selling price is about 50 rubles.
