Mobile Bookshops: A Viable Business Venture - Cont'd
The actual materials needed are very easy to obtain. First, you need a space, a little space would do�€ Offiong advises, it may not necessarily be an office, it could be just a little corner in your room or so�€.
Just ensure that it is enough for you to place a shelf where the books can be stored, to keep away dust, and other things that might destroy them.
Also you may need little materials like price stickers and maybe nylons/packs, with which to put the books for your customers.
Later as the business grows, you can begin to bring in other things like receipts, invoices, etc..
To save costs, you may need to start on your own so that you may be able to test the market, see what people are demanding, and later, you may need to get one or two more people to meet increasing demands. As time goes on, and as the business enlarges, operational issues such as getting some equipment like computer systems maybe needed. This would help for adequate record keeping.
A resource manager, Mr. Niyi Fowobaje, who is also involved in the mobile bookshop business, says it could be a very challenging venture. The major challenge in this kind of business is the issue of building your customers. You know we go to meet people to tell them about our business, and some people are not even ready to listen to whatever you have to say. It is after a while that people begin to know you, and then they can come to you for a change�€.
You therefore have to be prepared to do a lot of marketing, bearing in mind that you will spend some money on transporting yourself from place to place�€ Niyi continues, so the easiest thing to do is get your friends to tell their friends about your business. That way the job is easier.
Commenting on the profitability of the venture, however, both Offiong and Niyi agree that after you�€™ve dedicated a period of time to the business, profits will then start to come in. We make about N500, N1,000 or even more depending on the book. So imagine if we sell up to 20 in a day�€.
Any kind of books can be sold in a mobile bookshop. Offiong says, We source for books on leadership, management, career, business, entrepreneurship, biographies, autobiographies, military books, CDs, DVDs, journals, magazines, Harvard Business reviews and so on.
Niyi said that when one contacts the right people, he can have easy access to very uncommon books and can usually provide them at prices cheaper than what the customers themselves would have been able to obtain them for.
He went further to say that people should not deal with pirated materials.
One, however, has to guard against dealing in pirated books, because once customers find out that they are not getting the best quality books, they would stop patronising such a dealer.
Also remember that you cannot market a book you are not conversant with�€. Above all it is necessary to be thrifty, spend only on those things that you absolutely can�€™t do without in the business.
Niyi was quick to add that it pays to be time conscious, that way, your customers know you�€™re serious and that would make them respect you and patronise you the more.
- Culled From Punch
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