Chess Sets
Even in this age of Play Station 3, The Internet and Home Cinema people still play Chess. Even Hollywood movies still contain scenes with people playing Chess; the game retains its challenge and social appeal.
Different people want different things from their Chess set. I have a friend who has a beautiful set in his living room for decoration but cannot even play. Other people want a basic wooden set for utility, and yet others collect different sets in the same way that people collect china, stamps or pin badges (oh look 3 more ideas for businesses).
As with most products the possibilities are endless, a quick brainstorm might give the following: -
Open a shop specialising in Chess sets
Market Chess sets to other non-specialist shops
Market through direct response advertising
Market directly through Chess clubs, schools, games clubs etc.
Market to interior designers as decor items
Set up a website specialising in Chess Sets
Sell Chess Sets on EBAY or Yahoo auction sites
Opening a shop is always the most expensive distribution method, but has a
number of inherent advantages. Customers become familiar with your location
as they pass it regularly, which builds trust, the visibility builds impulse
business such as present buying, and having a physical address is reassuring
to internet purchasers as well as real world customers. Read our section on
shops in "Finding Customers" to get more detail on what to think about when
putting a shop together.
Many gift and curiosity shops also sell Chess Sets, other shops that might be willing to carry specific types of sets include antique shops (Period style Chess Sets), and shops selling collectibles (e.g. Star Trek Chess Set) as well as local Toy Shops. These non-specialist shops will be unlikely to get better prices than you from their general warehouse suppliers and hence may be interested in your stock. Your margins may be lower this way but volume sales should make up for that.
Advertising your specialist Chess Sets in magazines, or magazine inserts with an addresses reply card can be a relatively cheap way of gaining customers. I don't mean advertising in Vogue, or Men's Health which would be prohibitively expensive, but specialist magazines such as Gamers' magazines, or those magazines containing gadgets and presents which often come with your local, or Sunday newspaper. You might want to offer a catalogue of your own, or emphasise a specific set for sale. Try different approaches to see what works best. Similarly to owning a shop, you will require some investment to get started using this method, designing your ad, and placing it is likely to set you back a few hundred dollars at least.
Marketing directly to specialist groups has the advantage of being cheap to do but requires a lot of leg work. You need to find the clubs (many of which will have web sites or blogs) and then contact them to explain why your product is superior and the fact that you are willing to make a special offer to their club members. If possible try to understand something about the club first as this will give you an ice breaker, and shows that you are genuinely interested in their group.
A lot of people are suspicious of this approach, is the market big enough? A quick search on Google for "Chess Clubs Bristol" tells me there are 12 Official Chess Clubs, I also quickly found out that there are 204 official adult chess clubs across the UK. There are another 30 junior clubs listed. Further reading tells me that these are only the clubs with Web Sites, there are yet more without. A Search on Bristol Board Game Club gives me more than 1 Million hits. If this isn't enough I can find 48 Schools listed in the immediate area.
Interior designers may or may not go for your spin, and will not individually make up large buyers, but if you can access a trade directory or event and access a large enough number of designers, or design firms then you may be able to get your catalogue or brochure onto the desk of enough people to make this worthwhile. Certainly as an additional distribution method to any of the others listed here it should increase your sales at minimal additional cost.
Setting up a Website, as explained in our "Finding Customers" pages may be an entire distribution strategy, or a part of your main business. If it is your main strategy; be sure to market it to the best of your ability. Letting people know that it exists, keeping the content, and products fresh and carrying relevant information are all good ways of driving repeat visitors.
For example you might want to carry a timetable for all your local Chess competitions and list the results. Advertising your site in newspapers or through meetings and bulletin boards is also a good way to drive traffic and presence within the Chess community.
EBAY and Yahoo auction sites are also useful augmentation tools for your main business, and can work as a good starter or part time business in their own right. For example you should be able to source Chess Sets from China and sell them on EBAY or Yahoo at a profit. Carrying several different sets will allow you to build more presence, and a link back to your main website will also give you more credibility than a random advert for a chess set from Joe-Public. This is a way to begin to establish your brand as the expert chess supplier.
Finding suppliers of Chess Sets is not difficult in itself. You will need to know what you think you can sell the sets for in your market to remain competitive and then you can choose which sets to sell based upon the margins available.
Easy sources include: -
www.Alibaba.com - search for Chess Sets to find a number of sources in China.
www.Google.com -search for Chess Set Suppliers in India, Vietnam, Indonesia,
and China
In an ideal world you should be able to carry a number of sets, and enough of them to fulfil several orders, but if you are working to a budget then try to get some sample sets or pieces so that you can drive advance orders before you make your first purchase. This minimises your risk and gives you a feel for the size order that you need to place. Dealing with Suppliers
When you find a supplier that carries what you are looking for you can make
contact and ask the following questions: -
Minimum order size?
Whether samples are available?
Whether they can handle Shipping and export procedures?
What quality control is in place?
Can you return unsatisfactory goods, if so under what circumstances?
Prices and bulk order discounts available?
When you get the first quote from the supplier do not bother haggling. Get a number of quotes from different suppliers if possible. Once you establish that you have a market and want to go ahead then you can play the suppliers off against each other to get better terms. You will soon realise that there are numerous suppliers and some will be more flexible than others.
This is a pretty straightforward business, and should be easy to build multiple sales channels with the one product.
As you develop your skill at finding new sources of customers your stock
should get cheaper (bulk order discounts) which means your profit will
go up
It is relatively easy to branch out into Backgammon, Drafts and other popular
board games using the same approaches.
Making that first dollar is the key. Every dollar after that will get progressively
easier.