In this guide we explain how to open a bike shop, evaluating what are the costs and requirements, and providing some useful tips.
The bicycle is not simply a means of doing sport, but a real philosophy, cycling is in fact a way to keep fit and at the same time enjoy the views that surround us. It also turns out to be a way to go on vacation and travel, considering the success that cycling tourism is currently experiencing throughout Italy.
Then, of course, it is also a way to compete with ourselves and to overcome our limits. Even if you experience the bicycle with these sensations, you may have the idea of going beyond just the hobby and turning it into a job. You could start your own business and make money with your passions.
What You Should Know Before Opening a Bike Shop
Before opening a bicycle shop, you have to carefully frame all the opportunities that this sector offers you, so as to understand what you really want to do, for example, you could have in mind to open a physical store or an electronic shop. Also, you may want to sell bikes or just rent them.
Do not forget that opening a shop is comparable to any other business activity, whether or not it is linked to the sale of bikes, this means that you will always have to draw up a professional business plan, measuring your market, your target, the costs of start-up of your business and of course the objectives and timing within which you wish to achieve them.
To start, you have to choose the sectors in which to operate, and the services to offer to your potential customers, as already mentioned you may want to sell bikes, rent them or open a point for their repair. If you want you could do all three things, two out of three or only one, it always depends on the budget you have available, and of course on your professional goals. For instance,
Costs to Open a Bike Shop
Opening a bicycle shop undoubtedly has its costs, but this actually concerns any business in any sector. If you have decided to open a physical store, for example, the first thing you will have to take into account will be the rent of the premises, and of course, the supplies with which to fill the shop and set up the windows.
In both cases it depends on your budget, a place in the center or in a busy area has a much higher cost, as well as high-end products, much more expensive than those of medium quality or low cost. As regards the total cost of starting a bicycle shop, it can be estimated on average around 80,000 dollars.
An alternative to save money could be this, to buy only a few products and put them up for sale on order. By doing this you will avoid expensive inventories, and you will also be able to first understand which products are getting the most appreciation from your target audience.
To the package of expenses, then, you must clearly add the management costs or the expenses that you will have to face for the maintenance of the room, such as energy bills, building interventions, and staff salaries. Furthermore, the costs of the accountant will also be added to these expenses, together with the costs of promotional activities, whether online or classic. Then consider that the franchise option would allow you to save, incurring a start-up cost of about 48,000 dollars, and to immediately have a well-known brand to exhibit,
Requirements for Opening a Bike Shop
Whenever an entrepreneur chooses the path of independent activities, he already knows that he will have to face a series of logistical and bureaucratic commitments. In most cases, these do not involve enrollment in a specific register or having obtained a certain degree, in our case, anyone can open a bicycle shop without having specific educational or professional requirements.
Useful Tips
For the moment we have talked to you about how to open a bike shop, touching on important topics such as the fiscal procedure and the costs to be faced. A little above we also told you that everyone can open one, but this is not exactly the case, this is because, to be successful in your entrepreneurial activity, you will also have to be driven by passion. To make yourself better understood, to sell bikes you have to appreciate bikes and know them well.
However, this cannot be enough, you must also combine intelligence and study with passion and knowledge, and above all, you must combine everything with the aim of creating profitability. In other words, you have to open the shop with the aim of recovering expenses in the medium term and then go into profit, creating a system to make money with what you do. No entrepreneurial activity can be considered as such,
When you launch a business, you have to take into account that you are not an island, this means that you will always have to deal with competition that is sometimes ruthless. In this sense, the secret is to start by differentiating yourself and choosing a specific target, by doing this, you will not go up against competitors that are impossible to beat like the big chains.
Of course, you have to study your area from this point of view too, if you open a mountain bike shop, and around the corner, you have a competitor of the same niche that has been open for 10 years already, you will encounter many difficulties in starting. So the advice is to look for the place in an area still uncovered by the service you intend to offer to your target. It is also advisable to start a multiservice business, for example, you could also offer assistance and repairs, so as to greatly expand your potential target. You can even open a second-hand bicycle business, which is a very popular alternative at the moment.
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