I've worked at an LFS for the last 4 years of my college career, so I agree with a lot of what you're saying.. however I still think some of this could be addressed to encourage people to come in.
"As a independent LFS owner you unfortunately cannot compete with BRS and other online "big box" type retailers.. "
- I've seen this firsthand, oh so true. If it came down to it, I may purchase items off of amazon for the same price others pay for it, then offer it at the same price as they do for no profit-- I know that sounds bad, but hear me out. I'd be keeping only a very very limited amount of dry goods, and only offering it as a way to bring customers in so they hopefully purchase livestock.. if you need something and you can get it today for the same price as online.. then hey..
"I also have concerns about the QT idea.. While Qt is very popular on this and other Internet forums.. In my experience only a small percentage of people in any particular hobby use Internet forums..."
-I agree on this point now that you brought it up.. a lot of people I talked to at the last lfs job I had didn't use the local or national forums. I'd have to look into the feasibility of QT'ing all livestock while not affecting fish prices... I need to draw a plan up and see what I can come up with. If that doesn't look like it'll work, maybe only offering treatments to folks who have sick fish?
"I do really like the idea of a "coffee bar" type area.. maybe a soda machine as well.. huge profit in coffee and sodas.. and it encourages traffic and people staying, plus adds a revenue stream.. Lingering customers equal sales.."
-I agree that soft drinks,coffee, chips, candy would be great.. but I wonder if there any health regulations on "open top" foods/beverages like coffee or homemade cookies being in a fish store?
..... keep a accurate inventory, and return, discount, discard, products that are not selling and replace them with something else.. livestock to.
-This. My old lfs boss would keep stuff sitting on the shelves for YEARS taking up real estate. Product cycling, whether live or dry, is very important.
I did not think about regulatory issues with the coffee bar, definitely something to consider...
I pretty much figure I need to make 30% on everything I sell.. Most retail is set up around a 30% margin. A very rough breakdown goes like this..
70% is cost of goods.. Gotta pay that FIRST!!
10% is real estate.. payments, insurance, lights, utility's, upgrades.. etc.. In my case it's a mobile store but it correlates..
10% is taxs... state, federal, income, unemployment, on and on and on.. makes me wanna pull my hair out sometimes.... but I digress......
10% (the final 10% if your keeping track) is profit.. you have to have this to keep momma in new shoes!!
Now that being said if your margins exceed the typical 30% this all goes out the window..
I don't have a huge problem with offering to sell certain items and match
Amazon, as a customer service. But unfortunately in retail there is a well proven idiom, "either you train your customers, or they train you".. What I mean by this is, I am afraid if you make it well known that you will match
Amazon prices on a Apex or a Reef Octopus skimmer before you know it you customer will be coming to you with a price list from LiveAquaria.com and expect you to price match.. maybe you can and still make margin, maybe not.. IDK. Just something to keep in mind..
In the end the best thing you have to sell is yourself, your experience, your advise, your service after the sale.. And you can't really sell those things, so you might have higher prices but your good customers pay them because they trust YOU... If you have enough of these you will be a success..
