Potential New Business; Questionnaire

[Hostile_18]

Hi everyone.

I'm currently looking into creating a small new business in my local town (selling TV Shows Sets and related drinks & snacks). It would really be helpful if people could answer the following questions to help me determine how big the market is for such a business. Thanks a lot for your time

Q1: Are you Male or Female?

Q2: What is your age? (optional lol)

Q3: Do you watch any Scripted Drama TV Shows?

Q4: Generally would you say many of your friends/family have an interest in TV on DVD/Blu Ray?

Q5: Do you own any TV Season/Series Boxsets?

Q6: If so how many?

Q7: Roughly how much do you spend on TV on DVD/Blu Ray a year?

Q8: Do you prefer to buy at traditional retail stores or online?

Q9: How would you rate the range of TV titles available at your local dvd store(s)? (Very good/good/average/poor/very poor)

Q10: How would you rate the price of TV titles available at your local dvd stores? (Very good/good/average/poor/very poor)

Q11: Would you buy a TV show as a gift to someone?

Q12; Would you be interested in a shop that specialises in TV shows and offers a wide range of products not easily found in traditional DVD/Music shops? (Interested/ Somewhat Interested/ Not Interested)

Q13: How much over the online price (if at all) would you be willing to pay on average for a season/series of a tv show bought in a traditional bricks and motar store?


Thanks a lot for your time, and if anyone would be kind enough to list their tv shows on DVD I'd appreciate it as it would let me know the demand for certain titles.

 

[Dunks]

Selling TV season DVDs? Sounds dodgy

 

[neil3k]

play.com have already undercut you

don't bother

 

[BloodyL]

Have you questioned people in your town?, while an internet poll might provide beneficial numbers to take to your startup helper however it'll not tell you whether there is a market for the shop in the town in question.
Que setting up shop only to find no custom, then wonder why it isn't working when the numbers pulled from the internet show otherwise.

Best of luck though, I hope it works out for you.

 

[Dr House]

Q1: Are you Male or Female?
m

Q2: What is your age? (optional lol)
29

Q3: Do you watch any Scripted Drama TV Shows?
sometimes

Q4: Generally would you say many of your friends/family have an interest in TV on DVD/Blu Ray?
no

Q5: Do you own any TV Season/Series Boxsets?
no
Q6: If so how many?
na
Q7: Roughly how much do you spend on TV on DVD/Blu Ray a year?
50 quid per month for sky
Q8: Do you prefer to buy at traditional retail stores or online?
if I was to buy it would be online
Q9: How would you rate the range of TV titles available at your local dvd store(s)? (Very good/good/average/poor/very poor)

Q10: How would you rate the price of titles available at your local dvd stores? (Very good/good/average/poor/very poor)

Q11: Would you buy a TV show as a gift to someone?
yes
Q12; Would you be interested in a shop that specialises in TV shows and offers a wide range of products not easily found in traditional DVD/Music shops? (Interested/ Somewhat Interested/ Not Interested)
no
Q13: How much over the online price (if at all) would you be willing to pay on average for a season/series of a tv show bought in a traditional bricks and motar store?
10%

 

[neoboy]

Use Survey Monkey or such, should make collecting and analysing data a lot easier.

 

[Hostile_18]

play.com have already undercut you

don't bother

Yeah while the main websites will no doubt be cheaper online sales only account for a relitivly small portion of total sales. Many people prefer to buy at traditional stores still. Theres also poeple like me who simply can't wait for something a lot of the time! I'm positioning myself to be the Game of the highstreet in that people who don't know whats available out there can find out with friendly knowledgeable staff and also be able to look at similar shows to ones they like very easily. Lastly I want to build up new releases as a lot of people don't know or wouldn't be inclined to search the net for release dates.

I know the range of titles near me if pretty lacking as well with only HMV offering what I would consider a decent range but at a huge premium!

 

[Hostile_18]

Have you questioned people in your town?, while an internet poll might provide beneficial numbers to take to your startup helper however it'll not tell you whether there is a market for the shop in the town in question.
Que setting up shop only to find no custom, then wonder why it isn't working when the numbers pulled from the internet show otherwise.

Best of luck though, I hope it works out for you.

Thanks advice taken on board! I certainly will, still working on which local town to set up in as theres a few medium sized towns that could work just depends on the costs of the location which I'm finding differ widely.

 

[randomshenans]

Streaming.

 

[Moredhel]

Q1: Are you Male or Female?

M

Q2: What is your age? (optional lol)

28

Q3: Do you watch any Scripted Drama TV Shows?

Yes

Q4: Generally would you say many of your friends/family have an interest in TV on DVD/Blu Ray?

Yes

Q5: Do you own any TV Season/Series Boxsets?

No

Q6: If so how many?

0

Q7: Roughly how much do you spend on TV on DVD/Blu Ray a year?

£0

Q8: Do you prefer to buy at traditional retail stores or online?

Online

Q9: How would you rate the range of TV titles available at your local dvd store(s)? (Very good/good/average/poor/very poor)

Not sure if I even HAVE a local store for it, the nearest one is about 10 miles away. I'll have to go for very poor.

Q10: How would you rate the price of TV titles available at your local dvd stores? (Very good/good/average/poor/very poor)

Very poor.

Q11: Would you buy a TV show as a gift to someone?

I have done in the past, probably will again.

Q12; Would you be interested in a shop that specialises in TV shows and offers a wide range of products not easily found in traditional DVD/Music shops? (Interested/ Somewhat Interested/ Not Interested)

Not interested at all, I don't own anything that can play DVDs or Blu Ray movies, I use iTunes and other online services to watch TV. For a present I'd buy online and get it delivered to them directly, for far cheaper.

Q13: How much over the online price (if at all) would you be willing to pay on average for a season/series of a tv show bought in a traditional bricks and motar store?

I can't stand bricks and mortar shops, I'd much prefer online, it's cheaper, faster, more convenient and there are less morons to deal with. £0

Of the TV shows I follow, I'd buy these ones by the season if possible, but not via optical media as that sucks:

• American Dad
• Being Human
• Blue Bloods
• Bones
• Burn Notice
• CSI (Original / Miami / New York)
• Californication
• Castle
• Dexter
• Doctor Who
• Eureka
• Family Guy
• House
• Leverage
• NCIS
• Nikita
• Outsourced
• Peep Show
• Skins
• Spooks
• Stargate Universe (although now cancelled )
• The Good Wife
• The Walking Dead
• True Blood
• Waking the Dead
• Warehouse 13

I'd also only do this if I could get the season when the season starts to air, which is when the episodes are available via iTunes / Netflix etc. I'm not waiting until afterwards.

 

[[TW]Fox]

So in this climate of media retailers going to the wall, you think now is the time to open a bricks and mortar DVD shop?

Seriously?

 

[neil3k]

So in this climate of media retailers going to the wall, you think now is the time to open a bricks and mortar DVD shop?

Seriously?

once again fox drops the bomb of truth

 

[Dabbles]

So in this climate of media retailers going to the wall, you think now is the time to open a bricks and mortar DVD shop?

Seriously?

Way to **** on someone's parade! You could have been a little less blunt!

 

[Moredhel]

Way to **** on someone's parade! You could have been a little less blunt!

When it's good advice that could potentially save someone a LOT of money, I don't feel bluntness is inappropriate.

 

[Scrutinize]

Yeah while the main websites will no doubt be cheaper online sales only account for a relitivly small portion of total sales. Many people prefer to buy at traditional stores still. Theres also poeple like me who simply can't wait for something a lot of the time! I'm positioning myself to be the Game of the highstreet in that people who don't know whats available out there can find out with friendly knowledgeable staff and also be able to look at similar shows to ones they like very easily. Lastly I want to build up new releases as a lot of people don't know or wouldn't be inclined to search the net for release dates.

I know the range of titles near me if pretty lacking as well with only HMV offering what I would consider a decent range but at a huge premium!

Er. Er... Errrrrrr

Where are your market analysis figures to back this up? Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a retail premises and employ staff?

You do realise that the profit margins are pretty slim on these sorts of items so you would have to shift serious volume to make enough profit to remain viable.

Shop premises in prime site (needed to get guaranteed foot fall in current economy) say £20k-40k per annum + rates at say £5K-12k per annum + bills £5K-£10K+ per annum + staff including oncosts say £16K-22K per annum for a basic FT shop monkey.

Then you need money / capital to purchase stock. Don't forget costs of stock liabilities, returns, thefts, taxes etc

You could easily see £100-150k start up capital required to see you through year 1, assuming business loan add interest and 3-5 year repayment period.

Ok so say a generous 20% profit margin on each box set, assuming you can buy in at a good rate, I don't need to do the maths for you to see how many you would need to shift to break even let alone make enough profit to see you enter year 2 with any hope of trading successfully and surviving.

You are up against online and TV on demand services, streaming, torrent sites, online sales sites and existing retail shops + super markets all of which have already established themselves.

 

[Hostile_18]

Hi all thanks for the feedback.

I've done the survey on SurveyMonkey and so far the results seem encouraging only a long way to get the numbers into high figures.

I will be just off the town centre visable from the highstreet. 8k rent per year, 1.2k rates (they only rise to high levels on the mian highstreet itself). I will be the sole member of staff (it will be a small store) possibly my girlfriend helping out.

I know from my own experience that I would love a place that stocks all the online titles I can only source from the net. I think positioning it into the gift market and also offering a range of products that beats current brick retailers is the way to go. I can do so because my costs will be a lot less than a HMV or big superstore that sells anything. Our local supermarkets at least only focus on say the top 2-5 latest releases and only for a few weeks in anycase so I am not so much worried about that.

Yes online buying is growing as well as on demand but also I think the market as a whole is growing and shows are getting more exposure over movies simply for the value that they offer. The idea to me at least of having a place where a decent range of tv shows is all collected together (albeit slightly more expensive than online) is an appealing one. People like to see what they buy with their own eyes and may lets face it unless you know exactly what you want online shopping isn't the best. I want to capture the imagination and interest of people who say like one type of show and perhaps didn't know that they may also like such and such etc. Also peripheral products such as popcorn/sweets/drinks etc isn't generally done online or at the biggest retail stores.

Its still an idea at the moment but I can see the potential if I can keep the costs as low as possible .

 

[Scrutinize]

Hi all thanks for the feedback.

I've done the survey on SurveyMonkey and so far the results seem encouraging only a long way to get the numbers into high figures.

I will be just off the town centre visable from the highstreet. 8k rent per year, 1.2k rates (they only rise to high levels on the mian highstreet itself). I will be the sole member of staff (it will be a small store) possibly my girlfriend helping out.

That is not bad on premises costs, but at that price are you sure it is in a good enough site to attract the footfall and causal shoppers you will need? How is it positioned for parking/car parks. Your shop will be the main source of visible presence/marketing unless you want to spend a fortune on adds/leaflets. The main issue you will face is market penetration and attracting enough business initially to benefit from repeat customers and word of mouth etc. In the current market time is not something you may have to establish yourself and make it a sucsess.

If there is an Asda/Tesco/HMV etc in the central highstreet area, will people still feel the need to walk to your shop. Do they have any other reason to walk passed, i.e. is there a large car park near by, lots of employment or other large brand retail store?

It is a nice idea and if you get a good shop location and can offer prices that beat the competition near by then you could make it work. The chances of this at the moment though may be quite slim but as/if the economy picks up you could do ok.

 

[ColdAsIce]

Cannot see this working, people are lazy and do indeed shop on impulse. Which is why supermarkets and the likes are making good business selling dvd's.

Anyone with a brain will buy direct from play or amazon who constantly have better deals than anywhere else on this kind of stuff, plus a more expansive catalogue of titles than you could ever fit in your shop. Don't go a head with this.

 

[Hostile_18]

Anyone with a brain will buy direct from play or amazon who constantly have better deals than anywhere else on this kind of stuff, plus a more expansive catalogue of titles than you could ever fit in your shop. Don't go a head with this.

I think you would be suprised how little you would need to cover most TV show releases on DVD/Blu its certainly no where near Movies. I can get all mainstream releases no problem and most specialist ones within my budget.

Its been pointed out to me that no where in town sells music cd's anymore either, which could be another potential revenure stream.

mrk1@1 yeah footfall is possibly the biggest issue in my mind right now and is key to the location I choose if I go ahead. Luckily one or two of the locations can been seen from the main highstreet about ten meters away in both cases).

I do realize a lot of people buy online but I don't think its as big as what computer savvy people would perhaps have you believe? Speaking for myself I buy my tv shows online in most cases but thats because of the poor selection and poor price points. I do think that a low cost shop (relative to other outlets not website) in a high density area has potential to turn a good profit. If I went ahead with this of course I would utilize features of a dedicated TV to DVD store of which to my knowlege there are none certainly not in the North East?

Anyways we will see how my market research goes that will be the deciding factor but I do feel a specialist small store in a central position can do well. I certainly don't compare myself to the independant games and cd markets which are suffering greatly in the current environment.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I think you would be suprised how little you would need to cover most TV show releases on DVD/Blu its certainly no where near Movies. I can get all mainstream releases no problem and most specialist ones within my budget.

And sell enough at high enough margin to pay the bills?

Its been pointed out to me that no where in town sells music cd's anymore either, which could be another potential revenure stream.

The decline of places in town to buy music is because people were not buying music. Profitable record shops did not suddenly decide they couldnt be bothered anymore. They went out of business.

I do realize a lot of people buy online but I don't think its as big as what computer savvy people would perhaps have you believe?

It's big enough to kill Zavvi, and it's big enough to nearly kill HMV.

Speaking for myself I buy my tv shows online in most cases but thats because of the poor selection and poor price points.

How are you going to offer the selection and price of an online retailer with the overheads of a traditional store and the buying power of a one-man-band?

If I went ahead with this of course I would utilize features of a dedicated TV to DVD store

What features?

of which to my knowlege there are none certainly not in the North East?

Why do you think that is?

I do feel a specialist small store in a central position can do well. I certainly don't compare myself to the independant games and cd markets which are suffering greatly in the current environment.

You will be in an even worse position than retailers offernig games, DVD's and CD's because you will be a one trick pony with no diversification.