Where/ how to begin?

kweeveen86

Hi all,


Total newbie here, so please forgive my innocence/ stupidity/ naivety!



I'm looking to start up a monthly subscription box business in the autumn and am just looking for some guidance please. I had just hoped to sort suppliers, choose box packaging, delivery costs, launch website and social media and go from there but it seems there's more to it than my simple 1-2-3 process! Who knew...?! :pac:



Really unsure where to begin or what the most important things to sort out are...? VAT, CRO, whether to use startuphub.ie, Shopify, etc?



My understanding was that it's not really necessary to register for VAT until turning over a certain amount. Suppliers and delivery company all charge VAT though, so, if I'm paying VAT, can I claim it back without being VAT registered myself...?


If not registered for VAT, am I then wasting 23c in every euro when paying my suppliers?



When my subs boxes are on sale and website is live, is the price paid by customer inc VAT? If so, do I then need to deduct that amount of what I had imagined were my reasonably healthy margins...which would then make them not very healthy at all....?!





All/ any help greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

jimmii

Your best starting point is your local enterprise office and see if they have a start your own business course as this covers a lot of the basics no matter what the business.

One small thing I would do for this is have your boxes for large envelope size makes life a lot easie (and cheaper!).

silver2020

as above the LEO, but subscription model is not that popular in Ireland and this area is littered with people who failed. Setting up an online business is not as easy as some will tell you.

there are commentators (media and politicians and many selling online solutions) who say online online online, but have never managed an online operation themselves and rarely do they know even the basics of setting up. I know someone just about to start with a phenomenal product - and he's putting over €50,000 into set-up costs and initial marketing and expects to still find it difficult. He's planning to turn a profit in year 3, but once the profit starts it grows quickly.

jimmii

Totally agree. The media love to go on about online like its an endless money tree for anyone willing to do it. Truth is its dam expensive trading online and the "huge" margins online retailers make really isn't the case. The money saved on renting on the High Street is all gone on marketing.

lastusername

Slow waayyy down. I know you've mentioned margins, but the ins and outs don't matter a jot if you don't have a strong grip on whether you can make any money here.

I've been working in online business for a decade now and I'll give you three words I recommend you print out and stick to the top of your monitor:

Profitable_customer_acquisition.

The way you start is to look at the available and realistic marketing channels and work backwards from there.

-Who are your customers
-What are say the top 3 marketing channels you will use to reach them
-How much will it cost to reach them and how profitable will that be, when you look at your costs, margins, etc.

For subscription boxes you are looking mainly at search and Facebook ads. The former can be uber-competitive and hence expensive, while the latter can work but are more successful in terms of driving awareness. That said, it really all depends on what you are offering and how you position it.

Also, use Shopify. Don't go spending thousands on a website starting out!

Hope that helps.

kweeveen86

Have contacted my LEO to see what they can help with, thanks. Packages have to be boxes, rather than jiffy envelopes but I have now got a decent quote on delivery costs that I'm happy enough with.

Yeah, I was leaning towards using Shopify anyway, so, good to hear that you'd recommend them too. Do you know if they offer packages to design logo, set up site, etc as well as giving ecommerce support?

Thanks

jimmii

You can get everything done for you if you wish theres a big shopify development market. You're probably better off getting logo and other design work done separately though someone who builds websites is unlikely to be a good logo designer!

Axwell

lastusername wrote: »

-Who are your customers
-What are say the top 3 marketing channels you will use to reach them
-How much will it cost to reach them and how profitable will that be, when you look at your costs, margins, etc.

To go along with the above, and even before that...what is your niche?
Have you done the market research on that niche to confirm the demand?

Once you know what you are selling and then who you plan to sell it to you can look at how you are going to do it and market it and the cost acquisition.

Do a LEO starting your own business course to get an understanding of VAT etc.

Go over your numbers..go over your numbers again...go over your numbers again on top of that to make sure its a viable business.

Subscription boxes are a very tough business to be looking to get into, theres a lot of planning and research and work you need to have done before even worrying about a website, logo or brand.

manor

Have a shipment of books due in the next few weeks for a client. Subscription boxes with orders of 1,000 each month. Other clients looking at coming on board September with large marketing budgets behind them.

Atomic Pineapple

Axwell wrote: »

Do a LEO starting your own business course to get an understanding of VAT etc

Do you have to meet certain criteria to qualify for one of those? And is there an expense involved?

The_Honeybadger

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

Do you have to meet certain criteria to qualify for one of those? And is there an expense involved?

Anybody can do the start your own business course and they also do one to one clinics, probably over zoom / phone at this stage.

That’s a tough market you are getting on to. Some excellent advice in the posts above. I can’t really add much except to reinforce that you need to do your research and financial planning very carefully before jumping in and spending money.

I’d second the Shopify recommendation and getting your logo and branding done separately by a professional, also get a digital marketing strategy together, tailored to your market, again ask the LEO about upcoming courses on one to one mentoring with a marketing professional. You would be amazed at how many people skimp on these fundamentals and then think they can trade successfully online.

Axwell

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

Do you have to meet certain criteria to qualify for one of those? And is there an expense involved?

Anyone can do them, think there is a small fee.

https://www.localenterprise.ie/Portal/Discover-Business-Supports/Training-Programmes/Start-Your-Own-Business-Programme/Start-Your-Own-Business-Programme.html