detailing supply store

M

Mobilejay

Active member
I am trying to decide on wether to open a detailing supply store or not. I wouldn't do much over the internet(atleast I am not planning to right now)and would be in Houston...for now. My only concern is do people really care about this stuff? I know there are tons of vette, porsche, and bmw guys that are hard core about zaino here. Well I can't get that at a discounted price to where I would make money. I think I would lose a lot of people to that. I just don't think there are that many people that wash their own cars or really care enough to do it right. I don't know. It would definetely be a lot of over head I know that. I would really like to have a place like this but not sure if it would work here. What do you guys think about this?
 
Bearing in mind that I have absolutely no expertise in the market at all, I have a hard time seeing a brick-and-mortar-only detailing supplier aimed exclusively at the enthusiast consumer as being profitable. You said yourself “I just don't think there are that many people that wash their own cars or really care enough to do it right.� I agree with that.



We have a local place here in car obsessed Orange County that does actively market to enthusiasts but their bread-and-butter business is still the commercial side, pro detailers and car washes.





PC.
 
Well I would like to keep doing mobile on the side. I would like to eventually get a shop to do work and then inside sell products. That is a lot more money so I was thinking as starting out selling the products.
 
MobileJay said:
Well I would like to keep doing mobile on the side. I would like to eventually get a shop to do work and then inside sell products. That is a lot more money so I was thinking as starting out selling the products.
Click to expand...





Do your research...go to the phonebook, open it up and look up how many detailers are in your area(20 mile radius of where you want to put your store) and visit each and every one of them. Ask them where they purchase their products...would they buy from you if you were right down the street?(saves them shipping costs if they buy online)



Also, my brother and I own a business online...and we are a manufacturer, so people call us to set up "drop ship" accounts. This means they feature our products on their website, they increase the price by a couple dollars, so if someone buys off that website, we ship directly to the customer, at the people from the website make a couple bucks for JUST having it on their website...no a bad gig! SO if you ever decide to start online first, think of trying to set up "drop ship" accounts!



Goodluck!
 
Thats a good idea Twista, thanks

Cajunfirehawk, believe me I don't do anything with out doing research first. I am just getting an idea here. If I really decide to go into it I will be doing a ton of researching. Thanks guys
 
The online detailing supply business is very crowded and hard to break into.



Locally, people buy from established auto parts stores or Wal Mart.



Frankly, it's a dead end. Focus on building your detailing service.
 
Palm Beach Motoring (Auto Geek) has a couple very sucessful detail supply stores called The Driver's Seat here in S. Florida. They basically sell the entire AG line in addition to stocking a complete line up of Zymol and aftermarket accessories. They position their stores in busy strip malls in affluent cities & they're always filled with people buying loads of stuff. They've been in business for many years, which leads me to believe they do pretty well.
 
There was a couple guys in the city where I used to live who paid a body shop a small amount of money to keep their stock of detail supplies in (basically one small room), and they went around and sold quality detail products to all the car detailers and body shops. They did pretty well and got most of the dealers business. Just another idea to keep from over-extending yourself. You could go around and demonstrate some of your good stuff and ask them if they'd be interested in purchasing thru you.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I will probably do some research into it and see what people around here would think about a place like this. Right now I'm getting pretty swamped so I don't know how much time I will be able to put into it. Thanks again
 
Tough business to get into. Walmart and other big stores can undersell the OTC products. which cater to the every day casual consumer. Even Kragen has a hard time competing with the items Walmart carries.



The other alternatives are the non-OTC products. For that market segment, most detailing enthusiasts pretty much buy their stuff online.



So not recommended at all.
 
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