How to Start a Toy Store
New toy store business owners have many options when launching their businesses. They can open a physical location in their community or venture into the online marketplace, hosting a virtual online toy store. Some toy businesses do a combination of both strategies. Before launching your toy store, it's important to get the required licenses, create a business plan and find wholesale distributors.
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Instructions
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Determine your location. You can launch your toy store using a "bricks and mortar" model, which means you'll have a physical location, or you can launch an online toy store, which operates in a completely virtual environment. If you decide to have a physical location, make sure to choose a location close to your target market, which is the consumers you'll be serving.
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Build an online toy store. If you decide to start a toy store in the online marketplace, you have many options for establishing your business. You can start an online store with eBay (see Resources) or you can build your own website with a company such as Yahoo! Web Hosting. You can also advertise your toys with large retailers such as Amazon.com (see Resources).
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Create a business plan. Having a business plan will allow you to create strategies for marketing, operations and financial projections for your toy store. If you haven't created a formal business plan before, check out Bplans.com (see Resources), a company that provides free templates.
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Get your business license. Before selling your first product, you must have your business license. Complete an application with your city, usually available at the city hall. There is typically a processing fee of up to $100, and paperwork takes a couple weeks to process.
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Purchase your products for resale. Once you've taken care of the paperwork, it's time to plan which types of toys you'll sell. Check out ToyDirectory.com (see Resources), a company that researches which toys are selling and offers a directory of toy manufacturers and wholesalers. Contact each wholesaler you want to deal with and set up an account. Then select the products you want to order for your store.
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Tips & Warnings
Create a strategy for evaluating results. This can be accomplished with a simple spreadsheet. Track how much inventory of each toy is purchased, profit made per unit and how quickly inventory is sold. This will allow you to make adjustments and increase profits.
Invest in marketing your toys. Whether you created a traditional bricks and mortar toy store, or an online store, you need to focus on marketing. Get a booth at community events tailored toward children to get your name out. Write press releases about the events you participated in or your grand opening event. Allocate time daily to marketing activities.
