home Business blogs How to open a baby food store. Selling baby food is a profitable business idea

How to open a baby food store. Selling baby food is a profitable business idea

1 Advantages of doing business with children
2 How much does baby food cost?
3 Business idea on how to open a baby food store
4 Business plan for a children's store
- 4.1 1. Market analysis
- 4.2 2. Target audience analysis
- 4.3 3. Preparation of the legal framework
- 4.4 4. Assortment and markup for baby food and other categories of goods
- 4.5 5. Search for suppliers
- 4.6 6. Search for employees
- 4.7 7. Marketing plan
- 4.8 8. Financial plan
- 4.9 9. Production plan

Opening a store focused on baby food is not difficult; it is more difficult to win the competition with other sellers of children's goods. But if everything is done correctly, after breaking even, such a store can bring in a decent income. Let's look at how to open a baby food store, how much investment you will need and how quickly it will pay off.

Advantages of doing business with children

A business that is directly related to children's products is considered stable and promising. This niche is little subject to fluctuations, and prices for basic products are only increasing from year to year. The owner of a baby food store does not need to worry about possible crises: regardless of the season and other factors, there is no shortage of customers.

There is a demand for children's products at absolutely any time. If you choose the location of the outlet and the range of products correctly, the baby food store will quickly break even and be able to generate income for the owner within a few months after opening.

How much does baby food cost?

The retail price of baby food depends on the product category, brand, manufacturer and other factors. Average retail prices now:

For infant formula - from 300 rubles

For dry mixes for making porridge - from 80 rubles

For vegetable and fruit purees - from 50 rubles

For meat purees - from 80 rubles

For juices for children - from 20 rubles

In this niche, you can put a markup on goods up to 100%, that is, the purchase price can be two times lower than the selling price.

Business idea on how to open a baby food store

There are few specialized baby food stores. Typically these products are sold:

in children's departments of supermarkets;
in pharmacies;
in children's goods stores.

Even if your store specializes in nutrition, it is wise to also add other products for children - both food-related (plates, bibs, bottles, etc.) and non-food related (clothing, toys). But keep in mind that this niche is highly competitive. For your business to be profitable, you need to carefully study the assortment and prices of all nearby stores with children's goods and the demand among your target audience. For your store to be profitable, you need to either attract customers with lower prices, or offer them in-demand products that your competitors don’t have, or additional services (for example, home delivery).

You can also open an online store— in this case, you don’t need to spend money on rent and repairs, but you will need a competent marketing strategy and an advertising budget.

Business plan for a children's store

A business plan for a store selling goods for children, like any other plan, should contain the following points:

1. Market analysis

Analyze your closest competitors. Where are their stores? How much does location affect your profit? What prices do your competitors charge for their products? Who is their target audience? Do they have a franchise, how successful is it? Approximately how much do your competitors earn per month and how much do they spend on promoting their project? Based on the answers to these questions, you will be able to assess the prospects of your store, select the optimal assortment and choose the right pricing policy.

2. Target audience analysis

If you are opening a business related to children in a residential area of a large city, your target audience will be residents of this area who want to give their child the best from the first moments of his life. As a rule, you can put a high markup on such goods.

If you want to open a store with discounted or simply inexpensive goods, focus on the needs of your target audience. In this case, it would be best to rent inexpensive premises and not put a high price tag on the goods, since your potential buyer is not ready to overpay.

3. Preparation of the legal framework

To open a store with children's goods, you will need to create . Individual entrepreneurs also have obvious advantages - ease of registration (within 5 working days at the regional or city office of the federal tax service), low income tax (15 percent on net profit without additional payments) and business support that does not require special skills. If you would like to open a franchise, expand, or sell products that require a license (such as medical drugs, etc.), consider opening an LLC. This way, you will have the opportunity to attract investors and sponsors to your business, you will be able to trade an unlimited number of goods and prepare the project to enter the medium-sized business segment. Taxes when registering an LLC increase - you will have to pay approximately twice as much as an individual entrepreneur. The document flow will also be significantly greater.

4. Assortment and markup for baby food and other categories of goods

To sell in a children's goods store, you will need to select a wide range of different products. Baby food must be presented - the average market markup for it is one hundred percent, but at first you can reduce it to attract an audience. In addition, it makes sense to offer a variety of toys, license-free sleep aids, and other useful devices that are popular with parents. Additional products for parents will approximately double your revenue - stands with similar products are always available in children's goods and food stores.

Be careful when choosing an assortment - it is what will attract or repel the first buyers. The assortment largely determines how quickly your store reaches full profitability.

5. Search for suppliers

You can buy the products you need at wholesale warehouses throughout Russia or bring unique products from abroad. It is better to find regular large suppliers of goods, who themselves are a store with a wholesale warehouse, and purchase some of the assortment from them. You can find the best supplier either by reviews on thematic forums or by personal acquaintance. Considering that most entrepreneurs interested in starting their own business are not fully familiar with the specifics of their chosen field, a good option would be to search for suppliers through common databases and competitors. Finding out who supplies goods to your closest competitors is not difficult - this is stated either on the official website of the stores, or in their declaration, which is posted on their website or on the federal tax service portal in the public domain.

6. Search for employees

The store needs a security guard, a cleaner (who can work from the shopping center where you rent premises), and two sales assistants. You yourself can act as a store manager and director. This will allow you to save on expenses for employee salaries and keep the situation within your business under control. It is better to outsource accounting for the first six months - it will cost less than working with an accountant, and the quality will not change

7. Marketing plan

You need to write down an advertising plan, also called a marketing plan. You can advertise your store both online and offline. Choose advertising on city websites where your target audience is located, and on social networks.

For websites, you will need to create banners (large pictures with a brief description of the product and a photo) and teasers (small pictures with a minimum number of words and a small photo). For social networks, you will need to enable targeted advertising that will select users from the core of your target audience and show the offer only to them. Create your own groups on the largest social networks and an Instagram page if you plan to expand your business.

Your website can become another tool for competent promotion. In the future, it will also help you create an online store. This is goodidea for mothers on maternity leave. Create a website, open sections with a forum and reviews. This will create an image of an honest company that is not afraid to receive criticism from potential clients. The forum will also allow you to focus your entire target audience on your Internet resource.

8. Financial plan

Create several tables indicating all the calculations - fixed and one-time expenses, estimated income, calculation of financial indicators of the business. It will cost from 50 thousand rubles to rent the premises (a little more if you rent the premises not in a shopping center, but in a residential building). You will need to spend at least one hundred thousand rubles on decorating the store (one-time investment). Purchasing equipment will cost approximately 200 thousand rubles. Every month you will need to purchase new products and goods for sale - this will cost up to three hundred thousand rubles when opening a small store. Don’t forget about paying salaries to employees - for this you will need to allocate at least one hundred thousand rubles every month. Maintenance of cash registers and computers, outsourcing, obtaining licenses for the sale of medicines - approximately another 30 thousand per month. Thus will amount to at least 500,000 - 600,000 rubles. The business can pay off in just 2-3 months.

The franchise business model demonstrates its effectiveness in serving the children's target audience. This vector of development remains relevant in any country and under any circumstances.

Classification of children's franchises

Attention to children encourages adults to allocate a significant share of the family budget for expenses for their heirs. And this money goes into business, providing the most basic needs. Therefore, the classification of children's franchises is more extensive than that of hotel franchises or other businesses, and is divided into two categories - franchises of children's goods and franchises of children's services. This franchising vector may also include manufacturing franchises focused on the production of children's goods, toys, furniture or clothing.

The activities of children's franchisors whose projects are presented in this section of the catalog can be characterized in several areas:

Online store of children's clothing:
Children's hair salon franchises;
Development of preschool institutions;
Baby food franchises;
Children's toys franchise;
Business of teaching children in development centers;
Franchises of sports sections.

In this far from complete list, children's franchises are presented for future franchisees with different amounts of investment. In addition, many franchisors focus the development of their franchisees on the long or short term.

At the same time, future partners of famous brands can choose suitable franchises with different payback periods and aimed at children of different ages.

How to choose a children's franchise

The lump sum fee is the amount of payment to the franchisor for the purchase of his franchise. Essentially, the lump sum fee is the cost of the franchise;
Royalties are regular payments made by the franchisee to the owner of the business under whose brand it develops. At the same time, the royalty may have a floating value depending on the pace of development of the franchisee. Also, royalties can be paid in different periods with different amounts and for a specified period. However, many franchisors do not establish royalty requirements, while others limit these payments to 1-2 years of activity;
The volume of initial capital investment - this selection criterion depends on the scale of the upcoming business, the need for trade or production support. Also, this category of budget costs includes rent, taxes, communications, interior decoration and wages of employees.

Along with the payback period and the size of the investment, you can take into account how developed the franchise network and brand awareness are.

Popular franchises of children's goods and services

The market for children's franchises presented in this profile category of the catalog of franchising projects includes many domestic and foreign brands, the list of which is constantly growing. Therefore, choosing a suitable franchise may take some time in the interests of the future franchisee himself, who is necessary to familiarize himself in detail with the multifaceted offers of franchisors in this catalog.

The most relevant at the moment are franchises in the following categories:

With an investment amount from 30 to 150,000 rubles;
With volumes from 150 thousand to half a million rubles;
With an investment of over 1 million rubles.

In addition, you can find franchises of such famous brands here.

Continuing the topic of making money on food, we will consider various options for highly specialized stores that work well in many cities and bring good profits to their owners. Our topic today will be how to open a business selling baby food and promote it.

Business Features

In short, selling baby food is a very promising niche, especially if the level of competition in your region is not too high. This direction has both its pros and cons.

Pros:

high demand for products;
wide range of goods.

The main disadvantages are greater involvement in the business process:

you need to constantly scan the pricing policy of your competitors, because if yours is more expensive, customers will stop coming. Word of mouth works great among the target audience, so you need to be alert to all aspects of doing business. After all, reputation comes first.
The quality and freshness of baby food should be monitored daily. Here again there is a question of the reputation of your store.

Also, you should have good customer service and a discount program. As practice shows, with a competent approach, you can ultimately get a profitable business selling baby food.

Selection of premises and purchase of equipment

If we talk about the right place to sell baby food, here are some good options for rental space:

shopping centers with children's clothing or shoe stores;
residential areas, but only on crowded streets that lead to parking lots;
near other grocery stores.

Now let's talk about what it takes to open a baby food store. For commercial equipment you will need:

Rules for selling baby food

As with any business activity, you will need to obtain all the necessary documents and permits.

So from the main one you will need.

Register as an individual entrepreneur.
Specify OKVED for the sale of baby food. For Russia this is - 47.29.36 Retail trade of homogenized food products, baby food and diet food in specialized stores. For Ukraine - 47.2 Retail trade in food products.
Have in hand all the quality certificates for the products sold.
Obtain permission to trade from the SES and fire service.
Set up a buyer's corner.

One of the main questions that worries budding entrepreneurs is whether a license is needed to sell children's goods? The answer is that at the moment it is not needed, perhaps something will change in the future, but for now it is so. If you really want to receive a qualified and, most importantly, relevant answer, contact a lawyer.

Assortment and suppliers

Let's figure out what main categories need to be included in the assortment list and how to expand it in the future.

Here are the main assortment items.

Baby formula
Children's tea, sugar
Cookies, sweets
Pasta
Yoghurts, puddings, starter cultures

As you can see, the assortment is quite large. But at the same time, according to reviews from entrepreneurs, there is no point in opening a purely baby food store, since it is not profitable, it is better to combine it with other children's products, such as diapers, clothes, etc. Many people advise combining the two directions and using food as an additional source of income.

Advertising

At the initial stage of promoting a store, you should make sure that people know about you. You can distribute leaflets near the store and advertise in the media.

As a separate source of income, you can open an online baby food store and connect contextual advertising, and then carry out search engine optimization of the site.

How much money do you need to start?

Let's estimate how much it will cost to open a baby food store in a small town. We indicate only the main cost items; you can recalculate all these costs for your region.

Room rental – $150 – $200
Taxes - $150
Salesperson salary - $180
Initial purchase of goods – $5000 – $7000
Purchase of equipment – $800 – $1000
Advertising – $350 (+ online advertising)
Transport costs – $60.

How much can you earn?

Your earnings will depend on the location where you start your business. Also, the assortment decides a lot.

The average markup on children's food products is 20% - 30%.

As entrepreneurs working in this area write, if you charge more, the prices will be higher than those of competitors and clients will simply go to them. Watch the pricing policy very carefully.

Conclusions. We can conclude that a baby food business can be started with a small department or as an additional section in an existing store, for example, children's clothing. Selling only food separately is not very profitable, since the markup is not encouraging, and besides, competitors in the form of large shopping centers are also tightening their belts. But with the right approach, it is still possible to work.

What experience do you have in this business? We are waiting for your comments.

Due to increasing competition in retail trade, “specialization” is beginning to play an increasingly important role. Winning in the competition with large federal chains becomes possible only by selling a narrow segment of goods in the widest range. Fish shops, fruit stalls, bakeries, tea departments - all these outlets operate on the principle: here you can buy everything that relates to this type of product! A specialized baby food store should be built on the same principle...

Room

It all starts with finding a premises. To open a baby food store, large areas are not required. In most cases, it is enough to rent no more than 15 square meters. m. and several square meters for a warehouse of goods. The rental price will depend on the location of the outlet. In the central parts of the city, rent will cost two to three times more. But the cross-country ability here is much higher. But a point opened in a residential area of the city, especially in the area of new buildings, where the target audience lives in the form of young families, can be no less successful. In addition, rent in a residential area will cost less, but for a new project every penny is precious.

It is better to take a ready-made room that does not require additional repairs. An important component here is the design of the outlet. Pleasant light colors and colorful posters depicting mother and baby will help create that very atmosphere of a real children's store.

Business registration

Before concluding a lease agreement, you must register your business. No licenses or additional permits are required to sell baby food. The optimal organizational form in this case is an ordinary individual entrepreneurship. Registration of an individual entrepreneur with the tax office takes only 5 working days, requires a minimum package of documents and costs only 800 state rubles. registration fees. The optimal taxation system is a single tax on imputed income (UTI). Under this regime, the entrepreneur is relieved of the obligation to install a cash register. The tax itself is paid in the form of a fixed amount every quarter and does not depend on how much the retail outlet earns.

Investments - how much does it cost to open a baby food store?

To open a business you may need from 300 thousand rubles:

design and decoration of the premises - from 100 thousand rubles;
trade equipment – from 80 thousand rubles;
creation of an assortment of goods - from 100 thousand rubles;
case registration and other org. expenses – from 20 thousand rubles;
personnel training – from 15 thousand rubles.

TOTAL: from 315 thousand rubles.

Selecting an assortment of products

The next stage in starting a business is searching for suppliers of baby food and creating an assortment of products. The main difficulty is due to the fact that baby food is sold in almost every grocery store, although not in such a wide range. Many mothers go to the grocery store and at the same time buy baby purees, cottage cheese, etc., because it is convenient.

It's not easy to entice customers. In order for a buyer to go to your specialized store specifically for baby food, you need to offer him reasonable prices and the widest range of products. It is necessary to sell even things that are very rarely bought, but which are not available in regular grocery stores (and they sell only what is in constant demand): milk formulas and purees, products for pregnant women, juices and water, dairy products, cookies and desserts, grocery.

In addition, it is important to have products from different manufacturers. Some people buy only Gerber products, others buy Fleur Alpine, and so on.

Staff

Even at the stage of searching for premises, it is necessary to select sellers for the store. And here some difficulties may arise. The fact is that here you need not only a person with experience, but a real sales consultant who has completed special nutritionist courses. It is very difficult to find such a person, so the surest option is to find an ordinary seller and pay him for training (training is carried out within a month).

The presence of such a specialist will give a competitive advantage to your store, where people can not only buy goods, but also consult on the nutrition of pregnant women and children.

How much can you earn?

The average bill for such a store is small and amounts to about 200 rubles. The markup is also small - no more than 40%. To ensure daily revenue of 10,000 rubles, it is necessary for the point to be visited by up to 50 people per day. In this case, you can count on a daily income of 4,000 rubles, and a monthly income of 120,000 rubles. From this amount you will need to subtract fixed costs:

rental of premises – 20 thousand rubles;
salespersons' wages + insurance contributions – 45 thousand rubles;
tax (UTII) – 6 thousand rubles;
other expenses – 10 thousand rubles.

TOTAL: 81 thousand rubles.

Thus, the entrepreneur’s net profit will be about 40 thousand rubles per month. To increase profits, you need to increase the flow of visitors. To do this, active advertising of the outlet will not hurt: a bright sign at the entrance to the store, posting advertisements, distributing flyers and discount coupons, advertising on the Internet (on forums and social networks). Don’t forget about working with regular customers: a cumulative system of discounts, bonuses for new clients, competitions and gifts. This is the only way today to reach the Russian consumer, who has already become capricious and picky.

Choosing a business idea is the first step towards starting your own business. When deciding on the direction of future activity, you need to take into account many factors, including the size of the start-up capital, the ratio of supply and demand for specific goods (services), resistance to the impact of the crisis, etc. Today we will bring to your attention the sale of products for children as an idea for business. Opening a baby food store is not so easy; it is quite a troublesome business, but at the same time, profitable. After all, they save on children last. This type of business, if properly organized, can stay afloat even in times of crisis.

Preparing to open a retail outlet

How to open a baby food store from scratch and not go broke? To organize your business and make it successful, as well as minimize business risk, you need to carry out certain preparations. The first step in any endeavor should be market analysis. You need to evaluate a lot of factors before you start investing:

presence of competition;
strengths and weaknesses of competitors;
volume and quality of trade offer;
demand for products;
pricing.

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Drawing up a business plan and paperwork

Any business idea should be documented and a business plan drawn up - a program for its implementation. This will allow you to avoid mistakes and correctly calculate your capabilities, as well as attract investors or lenders to finance the project if necessary. An example is:

introductory part (resume), containing information about your future enterprise, the direction of its activities, main goals, the amount of starting capital, description of goods, etc.;
market analysis and relevance of opening a retail outlet;
an organizational plan that should describe the activities for opening a store, including registering a business, obtaining all necessary permits for work, recruiting personnel, purchasing equipment, etc.
a production plan containing information about which suppliers you are going to work with, what space you will need, a detailed description of product categories, etc.;
the financial part, including a plan for initial and ongoing expenses, as well as calculation of the expected profit and payback period of investments;
assessing risks and proposing measures to eliminate them. Find out more about .

Opening a baby food store requires registration as an individual entrepreneur (individual entrepreneur) or a legal entity, for example an LLC (limited liability company). In addition, before starting actual activities, it is necessary to develop and approve a production control program, obtain a positive expert opinion from Rospotrebnadzor (SES) that the store premises meet sanitary requirements and a conclusion from the State Fire Supervision Authority on compliance with fire safety conditions.

Premises for a baby food store

Premises for organizing trade can be purchased or rented. In the first case, you will have to invest more money at the start, but you will be able to save on current expenses, and, if necessary, sell your ready-made business. Another option does not require significant capital investments at the beginning of the activity, but increases the amount of current expenses and assumes a certain dependence on the lessor. Therefore, if you plan to rent space for a store, be careful when drawing up the contract.

For a small baby food store, an area of 30 square meters is sufficient. m with division into retail, warehouse and area for household needs. The premises should be located in a public place, preferably near kindergartens, clinics, schools, and playgrounds. It is not recommended to place such retail outlets in entertainment centers. The purpose of their visit is relaxation, not planned purchases. Do not locate your store in the basement. Be sure to consider a place for parking cars and temporary placement of strollers in front of your store.

Even if the premises are renovated, you will have to spend a certain part of the funds on the design and equipment of the store. You will need to purchase shelving, retail displays, and possibly a refrigerator. If you equip a children's corner, then it will be more convenient for mothers to look at the goods while their kids are busy. Whenever possible, try to express yourself in your design. Store design is an advertisement that will work for you in the future.

Formation of assortment

Before opening a baby food store, you need to work on your product offering. The store's assortment must include:

If you install refrigerated display cases, you will be able to sell curds, milk, yoghurts, kefir, starter cultures, etc. Expand your trade offer with products from the children's hygiene segment, toys, clothes, strollers, goods for children's creativity, books for children and mothers .

An important component of opening a store will be the search for suppliers and manufacturers. Always ask for a product certificate. The wholesale base will significantly expand your range. Purchasing from a domestic manufacturer of any brand will have a more favorable impact on pricing. You will need to find regional representatives.

If you decide to add toys to your store's assortment, don't discount Chinese manufacturers. There are factories in China that operate in compliance with all necessary requirements regarding the quality and safety of children's products.

As a business, the sale of baby food is a highly specialized market segment. Therefore, you need to have the widest possible range. Large retail chains offer only “general” goods, so you must have something they don’t have.

Read also about what high income can bring. Find out how you can make money while on maternity leave.

Effective advertising for a baby food store

If you locate a retail outlet in a residential area, you can organize the distribution of flyers and posting advertisements and advertising posters about the opening of a store near nearby houses. Advertising campaigns with animators are considered effective if they take place in places where mothers most often spend time with their children: parks, playgrounds, early development and children's creativity centers.

If the store is located in the city center, you will need to spend more on promotion. This could be outdoor advertising on special street structures located in crowded places, advertising on transport, etc. Be sure to include advertising on the Internet, as today it is the most effective. Use promotion on social networks; by the way, additional income can come from selling children's products online. Read. When opening a retail outlet, make a bright holiday promotion. Don't forget about the attractive store name and colorful sign.

Store staff

To generate good income, your store must work 10-12 hours a day without weekends or lunch breaks. Optimal schedule: from 8.00 to 20.00. To do this you will need 3-4 sellers. Employees must understand the range of products sold and have sales skills.

The main task of the seller is to identify the basic need of the buyer, talk about the product positions of your store and offer the most suitable product. The ability to communicate, create an atmosphere of trust, attention to the buyer - all this will help to form a base of regular customers and will help attract new ones through word of mouth marketing.

Profitability of a business selling baby food

The following table shows the approximate costs of opening a store:

Expenses	Amount, rub.
Business registration
Retail store equipment
Renting premises
Public utilities
Purchase of goods
Reserve funds
Repair and decoration of premises

Staff salaries (4 salespeople)