Becoming a vendor/setting up a vaping business?

P_1

Mods hope this is ok to post, if not delete away.

Basically I want to set up a business that caters for vapers (and to do something 'worthwhile' for myself). What does one need to do to do this? How much money? How to get supplies? What business type to use, website, b+m shop, kiosks, cafes etc?

I understand (mostly) how it works and some of the competition (market and otherwise). I'm just curious as to the first steps needed.

Muchos gracias

jamie72

We have already seen vendors shut down because of the competition in what is currently a niche market. You'd be better investing that money into almost any other business you can think of.

P_1

Yeah from what I can tell most vendors are either going down the ecommerce route or the kiosk in a shopping center route.

StickyIcky

Heck why dont we just write your entire business plan for you. Giving vaping advice is one thing. Telling someone how to setup a vending business from scratch is another.

P_1

StickyIcky wrote: »

Heck why dont we just write your entire business plan for you. Giving vaping advice is one thing. Telling someone how to setup a vending business from scratch is another.

TBH if you don't ask you don't get. Not asking anyone to write a business plan or anything, just wondering how much money you realistically need to get things going and where to go looking for supplies etc. I have ideas for business plans etc but unless I know how much money I would need to save, beg, borrow or steal to get there it is slightly shooting in the dark.

jamie72

P_1 wrote: »

Yeah from what I can tell most vendors are either going down the ecommerce route or the kiosk in a shopping center route.

This is as anyone who buys online is catered for, and you can reach non-tech non-informed people easily on the street. You can also sell them horrible HORRIBLE products for tons more than their worth because the idea is novel to them.

Case in point: http://www.jasperandjasper.com/impulse-disposable-cigarette-tobacco-p-2596.html

That thing is ****ing dreadful.

P_1

jamie72 wrote: »

This is as anyone who buys online is catered for, and you can reach non-tech non-informed people easily on the street. You can also sell them horrible HORRIBLE products for tons more than their worth because the idea is novel to them.

Case in point: http://www.jasperandjasper.com/impulse-disposable-cigarette-tobacco-p-2596.html

That thing is ****ing dreadful.

Ah stop don't get me started on those things, tried one of them once and nearly decided to pack the whole thing in because of how poor they were.

StickyIcky

P_1 wrote: »

TBH if you don't ask you don't get. Not asking anyone to write a business plan or anything, just wondering how much money you realistically need to get things going and where to go looking for supplies etc. I have ideas for business plans etc but unless I know how much money I would need to save, beg, borrow or steal to get there it is slightly shooting in the dark.

Who would really be able to tell you that apart from the people who have already gone the hard yards and done up the business plans for themselves? Which vaper do you think can possibly tell you exactly how much cash you need? You have to work that one out yourself.

P_1

StickyIcky wrote: »

Who would really be able to tell you that apart from the people who have already gone the hard yards and done up the business plans for themselves? Which vaper do you think can possibly tell you exactly how much cash you need? You have to work that one out yourself.

I could be being somewhat naive here but generally as part of a business plan you need to research. Now you can research by either asking questions or by studying the industry.

I'm in the middle of studying the industry and am asking some questions. There's no harm in asking questions, generally people would say yes or no for whatever reason they have.

Not having a go at you or anything, I understand why people can feel the need to get defensive over things like this.

heliguyheliguy

You seem to have the right idea, find as much information as possible from as many sources as possible,
Don't be put off by the number of shops out there already (failing or not)
To succeed in a crowded market; you just have to do it better than the competition


edit: we have some great vendors in Ireland, I look forward to a better one

P.I.T.A

P_1 wrote: »

Mods hope this is ok to post, if not delete away.

Basically I want to set up a business that caters for vapers (and to do something 'worthwhile' for myself). What does one need to do to do this? How much money? How to get supplies? What business type to use, website, b+m shop, kiosks, cafes etc?

I understand (mostly) how it works and some of the competition (market and otherwise). I'm just curious as to the first steps needed.

Muchos gracias

I think you'd be wiser to wait until the EU directive proposal pans out, to see if there will even be a market (as we know it now) left, or just a market for BT and their medicinal rubbish. Anyone who is serious IMO about starting a biz in this uncertain climate can expect a knock on the door shortly by the men in white coats :eek: or has money to potentially throw away.

P_1

P.I.T.A wrote: »

I think you'd be wiser to wait until the EU directive proposal pans out, to see if there will even be a market (as we know it now) left, or just a market for BT and their medicinal rubbish. Anyone who is serious IMO about starting a biz in this uncertain climate can expect a knock on the door shortly by the men in white coats :eek: or has money to potentially throw away.

Put it to you this way, it will be a while after the dust has settled from the EU directive by the time I have the cash

donkey oatey

I think the biggest problem for a new vendor is finding suppliers with consistently good products. I've bought dud batteries from vendors that were replaced with more duds and meant I didn't trust their rest of their stock. And, from looking at group buys for some atomisers, finding the real McCoy or good clone involves a lot of luck and research. I think the way I'd set up an ecig business would be to become a franchise of another vendor and either become their stockist outside their country or become their bricks and mortar face. That way you'd have their reputation, more bulk buy discounts and their established suppliers.

richardw001

donkey oatey wrote: »

I think the biggest problem for a new vendor is finding suppliers with consistently good products. I've bought dud batteries from vendors that were replaced with more duds and meant I didn't trust their rest of their stock. And, from looking at group buys for some atomisers, finding the real McCoy or good clone involves a lot of luck and research. I think the way I'd set up an ecig business would be to become a franchise of another vendor and either become their stockist outside their country or become their bricks and mortar face. That way you'd have their reputation, more bulk buy discounts and their established suppliers.

Sounds like sensible advice - To get into this business a good suggestion would be approach one of the Irish retailers with a good reputation and offer to be a bricks and mortar face for them - plenty of supermarkets around the place that you could set up a kiosk in and plenty of Irish e-sellers out there already that don't appear to have a physical presence out there in terms of the general population. At least you would be dealing with a decent supplier.
On being a franchise outside the county - not sure how that would work.
The internet market is fairly saturated I would think however there's still plenty opportunity out there for physical person to person selling if you consider that the product it replaces is available in pretty much every shop in ireland.

Celly Smunt

Another thing is Juice.Considering most shops are around the same price for devices etc etc,i'd much rather buy from a shop where i can buy GOOD juice along with whatever i'm buying,two birds with one stone and all.It's a pull factor when it comes to vaping.

jamie72

pmcmahon wrote: »

Another thing is Juice.Considering most shops are around the same price for devices etc etc,i'd much rather buy from a shop where i can buy GOOD juice along with whatever i'm buying,two birds with one stone and all.It's a pull factor when it comes to vaping.

Yeah ESI really pull me in with this, they have a new juice up now every other week that I want to try.

sept09baby

Me too. Can get the other bits (new heads, batteries, adapters etc) anywhere really but the juices are the big draw for me. Other sites also have their specialities - purevapour does the pipe sauce, ezsmoke have t-juice

pkjnr

Wanna see how its done right?..have a look at Vape Revolution's site;http://www.vaperev.com/about-u/

I would think a couple of grand would start you off nicely...your gonna be buying from china,and the cost price of a lot of the stuff that the average vaper buys is very small.

Nearly all the successfull E-cig suppliers started and grew there buisness by selling 510 kits and pre-filled carts..then slowly branched out into the more interesting things...who would of thought this time last year that you would be able to buy high end mods and atty's here in ireland,i didnt!

jamie72

pkjnr wrote: »

Wanna see how its done right?..have a look at Vape Revolution's site;http://www.vaperev.com/about-u/

I would think a couple of grand would start you off nicely...your gonna be buying from china,and the cost price of a lot of the stuff that the average vaper buys is very small.

Nearly all the successfull E-cig suppliers started and grew there buisness by selling 510 kits and pre-filled carts..then slowly branched out into the more interesting things...who would of thought this time last year that you would be able to buy high end mods and atty's here in ireland,i didnt!

To each there own, I don't like that layout at all. While ESI has a few problems of its own, the layout is much clearer and easier to follow than that.

StickyIcky

pkjnr wrote: »

I would think a couple of grand would start you off nicely...

Bullocks. Good luck competing with established businesses with a couple of grand.

pkjnr wrote: »

Nearly all the successfull E-cig suppliers started and grew there buisness by selling 510 kits and pre-filled carts..then slowly branched out into the more interesting things...

Exactly. For a couple of grand maybe he can buy some 510's and cartomisers etc. A lot of the interesting stuff like smoktech drip tips etc you need to order 100+ of minimum. OP will by buying small amount of some products with that couple of grand and hardly anyone will be bothered to go to his website, when there are others out there with much more choice.

Think about ALL the products vendors stock then ALL the variations of those products, sizes, colours, mls, mg strength, flavour, resistances etc. You're talking about dozens and dozens of products and then having to buy most of those products in bulks to get them at wholesale prices if you want to be competitive. OP needs to go away and think this through on his own. Work out your stock list OP, source your vendors, work out your costing and your selling prices, work out your capital. Then come back and ask some specific questions. Then I'll maybe help. Right now it seems like a million questions and no clue. That or set up one of those VIP smoke stands or sell Smokegreen or something. It's better than nothing and requires less actual effort on your own part, the people who run the franchise can tell you exactly what you need to do. Peace out.

Mr. Chrome

I remember reading in the paper a while back about 2 guys from cork who were gonna open 10 b+m shops around Ireland, creating 40 jobs.
Whatever came of that?

pkjnr

..this guy just wants a start..not take over the world...get some stock/sell it,then get more..and so on.He doesnt need to take on everyone immediately.

Ive seen vendors grow on line in the last year..when i first looked at their stock a year ago,i would have juts passed over it..now i see them being mentioned on forums about some of their stock etc...So the 'start small' rule does work for some.

colly10

I choose my supplier based on good juice, a well laid out site that functions correctly, how large their range of parts is and how much is in stock, how fast they are to get the latest items and my previous experience in dealing with them.

The op doesn't really have a question without a solid business plan. Personally I think if your planning on starting small with nothing differenciating you from the crowd then you could be going down hill fast. The market and compitition is very different from a year ago even.

You need to work out how much it will cost to design and develop a quality website. Find a supplier where you can get you stock quickly and work out how much you will need to buy from them to make a resonable profit. You need to decide how much stock you will need to have ready for order.
You need to know what will differenciate you from the opposition.

Then there's the new legislation, not much point in thinking about setting up till you know how that'll go.

I would say that the more difficult thing would be working out stock. Like if ye get too few evics for example ye'll loose business from people who want one but if ye get too many they may become outdated and ye'll be left with a few.

heliguyheliguy

1. Sell a product people want to buy.
2. At a price people are willing to pay.
3. Create customer satisfaction high enough to make people talk about you/recommend you.

Master all 3 and your on to a winner, fail at one and your doomed to failure or at least a long uphill battle till you get it right.

Note: it's a lot easier to say than do, but many have why not you.

heliguyheliguy

An example of the simplest form of this would be Grants vanilla custard.
A very nice guy with a single very popular product that people are willing to pay a little more for.
The product is sought after by many.
The price is not the lowest availbile.
His character is as much a part of his success as the product.