How do you open a PC store? Online or otherwise.

[InternetSwag]

More out of curiosity than anything else, I'm sure if it was easy, many people here hella more qualified than me would've done it by now.

Also why don't suppliers open their own stores? I mean some items have pretty large mark ups and if said supplier just opened their own store they could charge less and get more buyers.

Like, making a website is pretty easy.
Contacting a supplier seems easy.
Where does the hard part start? SARS? Startup capital needed?

 

[WalkWithMe]

More out of curiosity than anything else, I'm sure if it was easy, many people here hella more qualified than me would've done it by now.

Also why don't suppliers open their own stores? I mean some items have pretty large mark ups and if said supplier just opened their own store they could charge less and get more buyers.

Like, making a website is pretty easy.
Contacting a supplier seems easy.
Where does the hard part start? SARS? Startup capital needed?

Some of the hard part. Is support, returns, distribution. Stock levels / capital for stock.

 

[lived666]

Not many items have huge mark-ups.
Anyhow you hardest part is probably marketing.
Everyone basically buys from the same distributors so on some items your margins are low, so your profit will either be on volume or on keeping your overheads as low as possible.

 

[GoB]

The margins are low. On low turnover, you basically lose the margin on something like a return.

It is easy, but not worth most people's time.

 

[Techfox]

Building/purchasing a site these days is fairly easy and cheap, as is acquiring the necessary accounts in order to create an online store. Profit margins are fairly low but doesn't require large capital to begin if you're willing/able to do most of it yourself.

The hardest part? Service.

Maintaining a high level can be both very difficult and emotionally taxing when there are so many variables at play that are out of your control including stock levels, DOAs, faults etc. When things go wrong, it's a very testing time. For me, personally, I lose sleep over things until everything is 100% whether it's a full PC or R99 mouse.

There are also the promises of after sales service must be fulfilled, and once again, can be a very testing time especially when you're relying on suppliers and 3rd parties.

For me, it's down to the love of what we do. Building a brand and service that I can be proud of, and that people can trust and rely on.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

The hardest part? Getting customers

 

[bigboy529]

Me and a friend played with the idea of starting a online computer shop around 7 years ago.
1. Getting a website up and running then maintaining it is more difficult than you would think. Keeping it up to date with product info, stock and correct pricing. Firstly permission from venders to use product logos and descriptions on the site like Intel, Asus, Apple etc.
2. Another issue was simply the wide veriety of products, you had to cater for each and every CPU option, GPU option, motherboards etc etc.
3. Margins are very tight.
Us both being students at the time and finding time to run the business didn't quite work out, so it died before it really took off.