So you choose a vape shop as your next commercial venture – or perhaps your first commercial venture. That means you should understand how vaping, a popular term for e-cigarette use, is a fast-growing industry in the United States.
In fact, in 2014, the Oxford Dictionary chose “vape” as their Word of the Year. Recently, a Reuters poll found that about 10.8 million people in the United States are vapers. More than half are under 35 years old and one in three fireworks every day. If you play your cards right, you can purchase some of these e-juice steam in your own shop.
No matter what type of business you start, you need to think before you take any action. Here you’ll find a complete guide to be sure you do not miss anything you need to do when opening a vape shop.
Here are five steps to follow when you’re about to open your own vape shop.
- Evaluate your budget
Before opening any business, you need to find out how much a store can afford. Your budget will help you evaluate the canvas on which you’ll paint your masterpiece from a business plan.
If you have money saved, you can invest it in your business. If you are willing to put something on the line, your potential investors will see and understand your commitment. It’s much easier to spend other people’s money than yours.
However, you should not just take a break to open your vape shop. Opening a vape shop requires a multi-part investment. If you can attract investors, you will not must worry about debt.
Not everybody can afford venture capitalists and investors to put their money into a business, so you should consider borrowing. Choose a reliable financial establishment to get your loan. People you have worked with through your credit card or personal account will prove to be better than people you have never worked with.
Check your credit and be sure you have enough credit to make a loan. You must have a robust credit history to qualify for a commercial loan that does not risk putting you under water.
- Select a location
Location is extremely important for the continuity of any business. While someone like Anthony Bourdain is willing to travel 10,000 miles to climb the jungle to the perfect bowl of soup, vapers aren’t going to do this.
They will look for somebody closer and easier to reach even if you have the best shop in town.
You need to find out where most of the vapers will be found. The ideal place for your vape shop is wherever other vape shops are. However, unless you are ready to drop the shop business, you need to create a plan B.
Your vape shop should be accessible, while somehow located someplace you may have a market just for you.
Start by thinking about who your ideal client is. If your client is young and lives near a train station so he can travel into town, you have already got two data points. See if you can find a place within your budget and you are out of the race.
- Find Your Niche
Every shop has a niche. Some will specialise in numerous high-tech devices and equipment. Along with vape kits, they also sell larger smoking kits. Others will stay focused on vaping.
If you have all the time been interested in music, you may find ways to combine your interests to keep your store interesting for you. Connect with someone who wants to run record storage and you can combine your efforts and save money. By offering two things that match, you may have the ability to make a splash.
If you are more interested in taste and different styles of vape equipment, you can spend your time trying to be the place with the best variety of flavors. Finding your niche is extremely important and you need to be honest so that you have an interest and customers trust you.
See what Flavors United has done to conquer your niche in the vape world.
- Find your products and distributors
While this may not be the sexiest part of setting up your vape shop, it is vital to know where you source your product from. You must have the right product distributors to make sure that you all the time have the most interesting thing for your customers.
You want to be at the forefront of the industry and at the same time stay full of what your customers like best. See which brands are trending and which are about to explode.
You can offer your customers a special in-store experience by being a specialist in the field. This is a terrific way to also create custom customer tracking.
- Build Your Brand Online
Even if you do not plan to do e-commerce, having a solid online presence is important for doing business in that environment. In the absence of the old yellow pages and business directories, online surveys are now how people discover new services and products.
Online surveys are great because they give customers and customers the ability to get to know your store before visiting it. Online surveys often result in reviews and directory listings that are collected by sites like Google.
Take control of your online listings and directory entries for your business. Claim your listing on Yеlp and Google so you can confirm correct information about your services and products. You can even add photos and data.
Make sure you have a presence on social media and keep your posts up. Add a blog to your site and answer common vaping questions with your posts. Update your blog on social media and liven it up.
Opening a Vape shop is a good investment
If you are thinking of opening a vаpe e-juice shop, you are entering the ground floor of a smart investment. As vaping grows, so does the demand for quality services and products. Be there to serve your community and you’ll easily gain a robust audience.
