Hardware store can be used to refer to a hardware shop, a place from where people can buy hardware materials. Whenever there is a mention of hardware business, the first thing that comes to people’s mind is the picture of the hardware store or shop. That’s because in the real world, people have seen existing entrepreneurs earning a lot of money from hardware stores.
So whenever there is talk of hardware business, it is speculated that there is a conversation about the hardware shop itself. So today we will try to know Hindi about Harware Shop Business Plan through our article. Before we know about the methodical process of starting this type of business. Let us first understand what is a hardware store or hardware shop and what kind of goods the entrepreneur is earning by selling in it.
What is Hardware store?
The literal and real meaning of hardware store is a hardware shop and hardware shop means a place available in a market where hardware materials such as nails, nuts, bolts, construction materials, hand-held tools, electrical appliances, keys, etc. are used for domestic and commercial purposes. Locks, plumbing materials, electronic materials, cleaning equipment, utensils, paints, agricultural equipment, gardening equipment, etc. are available.
That is to say, the goods of a hardware store are mostly used by carpenters, mechanics, masons, painters, etc. Now you may have understood that hardware store is also a shop like other shops available in the market in which hardware materials are available.
Eligibility and Skills Required to open Hardware Store
Although there is a demand for hardware store business and it can also be earned, but there is a lot of competition in this kind of business. This is the reason why every hardware business entrepreneur is not able to reach the stage of success. People who have the skills and experience to run this business are more successful among the successful people.
There is no provision of any kind of qualification to open a hardware store, that is, every person who has money to invest in this business can start this business. But despite all this, a person who has ever worked in a hardware shop, and has knowledge of its market and suppliers providing goods at reasonable rates, then he can not only start a hardware store business easily but can also run it successfully.
How to Start Hardware Store Business in 2023?
Whenever it comes to starting a hardware store business, the entrepreneur’s biggest focus will be on where he will get hardware goods at reasonable or cheap rates. It is natural for the entrepreneur to think that the cheaper the entrepreneur is able to buy goods at the cheaper rates, the more he will be able to earn his earnings by competing with his competitors.
Because the entrepreneur may need to pay special attention to quality and prices to make his business name popular. That is to say, to start a hardware store business, the entrepreneur not only needs to pay special attention to prices while buying. Rather, many processes require attention, which we are describing below.
1. Select Location for Hardware Store:
If the entrepreneur has a shop in a crowded place where there is a large population, then he can open a hardware store in the same shop. But if the entrepreneur does not have a shop available in a market or crowded area, then he can rent the shop. The rent of the shop can range from 7000-55000 rupees per month depending on different areas.
In the initial stage, to do hardware store business, instead of an expensive rental shop, you should choose a shop whose rent is in the entrepreneur’s budget and that shop is in a local market or a more populated area. Because the more populated the store is available in the populated area, the more likely the customers will be to buy goods.
While choosing a shop, the entrepreneur will also have to pay attention to the size of the shop because hardware store may require more space than a general store or other shops because in this, the entrepreneur has to make many types of goods a part of his store. Large space is required to keep tanks, ladders, etc. Therefore, it is very important to keep all these things in mind while choosing a place for the shop.
2. Get furniture and fixture work done (furniture and fixture):
After selecting the place for the hardware store, that is, after selecting the shop, the entrepreneur will now have to do furniture and fixture work in it because wooden poles will have to be prepared to keep the hardware materials in an orderly manner inside the shop. Apart from this, a store will also be needed to store the goods, so if the selected shop is large, then the entrepreneur can divide this shop into two parts by getting a wooden partition.
However, even if there is no store to store in the initial stages, the entrepreneur can run the work. And later when the goods start selling so much that it is not possible to keep them only in the shop, then the entrepreneur can find a place for the storehouse near the shop. The entrepreneur should also construct his seating area, counter, etc. during this time.
3. Get Required License and Registration:
However, this type of business i.e. hardware store business is currently being run by many entrepreneurs without any kind of license and registration. Because perhaps this type of business does not necessarily require any kind of license. But despite this, the entrepreneur should get information about the local rules of the region and state in which he is starting this business and get the necessary licenses.
For this, the entrepreneur can find out by going to the office of the local authority such as municipal corporation etc. If the entrepreneur wants, he can also register his business under the Shop and Establishment Act. And if the annual turnover of the entrepreneur is above the exemption limit of GST, then the entrepreneur has to mandatorily register GST.
4. Select Supplier & Purchase Materials for your Hardware Store:
After obtaining all the necessary licenses and registrations, the next step of the entrepreneur should be to choose the supplier for his hardware store business. If the entrepreneur has previously worked in a hardware shop in the same area, that is, if the entrepreneur is experienced, then he will know who can provide hardware goods at reasonable prices in that area.
If the entrepreneur is new, then he can find out from the owner of a hardware store already present in that area who supplies the goods to them. Once you get the supplier’s number, talk to him and ask him to send your quotation. Ask for three such quotations and make a comparative analysis of them. After that, talk to the wholesalers listed on online websites such as IndiaMart, JustDial, etc. and see which vendors agree to give you hardware goods at reasonable prices.
When choosing a supplier, in addition to the price, comparative analysis of the service offered by them is also very important. After selecting the supplier, in the initial stages, buy some important items that you think can be sold more in that particular area. And after that, increase the goods in the shop according to the demand of the customers.
5. Appointment of Staff:
Hardware store business is a business in which the entrepreneur needs at least one employee. Who can give goods to the customer when they ask for goods and the entrepreneur can work for money, bills, etc. Since a hardware shop has small goods, there are also large and heavy goods that need more than one person to keep from one place to another or to give to customers.
Therefore, for the hardware store business, the entrepreneur should choose someone who does not mind lifting heavy goods, moving around. Initially, the entrepreneur can run the business with only one person, but as the sales in the shop increase, he can hire one or two people again.
6. Run hardware store and earn money:
Now that the entrepreneur has completed almost all the processes for his hardware store business, now the entrepreneur has to think about running his business successfully. For this, the entrepreneur can contact carpenters, painters, plumbers, masons, etc. located in that area and lure them with discounts or commissions. Because most of the goods used by these people are available in the hardware shop and people often ask them about good and cheap hardware stores.
Apart from this, the entrepreneur can resort to these various techniques of marketing to market his business.
At present, people are also buying every item online, although hardware materials are still purchased by people from the local market, but the entrepreneur can also earn his money by selling his goods online by creating his own website. Apart from this, the entrepreneur can also earn money by selling his product online by listing his product on popular ecommerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal etc.
Cost and earnings of starting a hardware store:
Hardware shop business is a business in which it is a little difficult to tell how much it will cost to start this business. Because in a hardware store, all kinds of expensive and cheap, small and big goods are available. Therefore, the cost of starting this business depends on the size of the shop i.e. small size, medium size or large size.
On an average, an entrepreneur can invest 4-6 lakh rupees to open a small size hardware store in the city, while an entrepreneur can invest 7-10 lakh rupees to open a medium size store and more than 12 lakh rupees to open a large size store. That is to say, in the initial stage, the entrepreneur will have to choose the product in such a way that the cost of starting his business does not exceed 6 lakhs.
The choice of hardware goods affects the cost of starting this business. As far as earning from this business is concerned, the earnings depend entirely on sales, that is, the more sales the entrepreneur will have, the more his earnings will be. Margin of 5-15% is expected on paint products.
What to do to run a hardware shop successfully?
As we all know that not every business person is successful in business. There are many reasons behind it, which we have mentioned in the article titled Reasons for Failure in Business. Keeping this in mind, we are mentioning some things here by which the entrepreneur can earn money by running his hardware store successfully.
- Find out about your competitors if they are getting more customers than you, what are the reasons behind it. When you know the strengths of your competitors, you will also know your shortcomings, so that you can overcome them.
- If possible, computerize your shop and buy software that provides customer management facilities in addition to accounting facilities. This will enable the entrepreneur to know which customers come to his hardware store again and again, make a separate plan for such regular customers.
- People doing this kind of business do not keep the details of their income expenditure, in such a situation, sometimes the shop is running well, but for some other reason, the entrepreneur spends the money earned from the shop elsewhere and later forgets that his shop is not running. Therefore, the details of each income expenditure will help the entrepreneur to make business decisions.
- There are many hardware items in which the price ie MRP is not written, in which case many entrepreneurs sell them to customers at high prices. The result of this is that the customer does not go to that shop again even by mistake. Therefore, if you want to make Hardware Store Business successful, do not do such an act because at present the customer is very alert and aware. And the wrong attitude of that customer towards your business can keep him away from your business forever.
- Make a list of your items that sell more in that particular area, so keep their stock more so that no customer has to return empty handed from your shop.
- From time to time, keep checking the available goods in your Hardware Store and order whatever is less before it expires. Because there are some customers who do not get the goods once in a shop, then they themselves understand that nothing is available there, but do not refrain from informing others about this. Due to which the entrepreneur can lose his partial customers.