Chargers
How many times have you been out and about and not had a charger for your phone, laptop, I-pod, or other device that needs a battery charger? What if there was a place where you could get your device charged, and pick up a spare charger if you are likely to be away from home for a few days?
I have seen this work in Japan with phones as part of another business, not with chargers for sale, but with power rentals. Charges are fixed and the phones are individually locked in a mini locker with the owner having the key, whilst charging. By offering laptop and I-pod charging you will also draw a larger clientele.
You will need to get a supply of chargers for the most popular laptops, cell phones etc. You will also need a location that has fairly high foot or vehicular traffic so that you are easily accessible and more importantly visible. Initially people will not know your service exists, and even when the locals know, out of towners will not.
As we have said many times setting up a shop is not cheap. You will need some cash for rent and signage, if this is likely to be a problem then read our section on finding finance using the link to the left of the page. Keep your eyes peeled for a small unit in your mall, or even in your supermarket if they have booths for rent. You know the sort of thing? Where you get keys cut, or drop off your dry cleaning.
Naturally you are going to need to carry stock, so you should also promote your site online. Other marketing strategies such as building and promoting a web site, selling your chargers on EBay etc are all valid here. I suspect that on their own they would not generate enough income to be worthwhile, but they may give you just enough additional income to keep you going in the tough early months, plus of course it is all good publicity.
You should definitely try to get yourself into the local newspaper, or on the radio. Offer to write, or talk about your new service, why you thought of it, and how much good feedback you are getting. The more people know you exist, the more customers you will get. This is the ultimate impulse business as no one plans to run out of juice, but with your service they can simply drop off the phone for half an hour and come back after some shopping to collect it fully charged.
You should also let local hotels and conference centres know about your service. Many of them carry the best known chargers, or just have them around because they get left by guests, or the staff has their own. Less popular versions may have them and their clientele stumped however, which is where knowing about your service could save them having an irritable customer.
You can buy most standard chargers from the manufacturers, and the more popular ones are available as generic (cheaper) versions. You should however invest in 5 or 6 universal chargers for both phones, and laptops as they are expensive but will fit pretty much any piece of equipment that a customer brings in; even if they are old models, or grey imports.
You can also stock gadgets such as solar powered chargers, and overseas power adaptors. Think about car adaptors, you can sell them but will they ultimately water down your business? Probably not, but maybe worth testing with some of your better customers.
www.alibaba.com has nearly 16,000 items listed under charger, www.google.com has more than 700,000 entries just for <cell phone charger suppliers>. You should have no trouble finding stock at a sensible price.
This is a more expensive business to get started in than we would normally recommend. I have seen it work in various guises in Asia but usually as part of another business. If it feels to risky then think about using it as an additional cash generator alongside a more traditional business idea.
Because this is an "emergency" service you can charge a premium for your products, and your charging fees do not need to relate to the cost of the power consumed.
You can add additional services such as an answering service, if a call is expected. Again this can be charged for.
If you charge too much then locals will not use the store. Maybe you can discount for students, library card holders etc. to encourage usage, or build a membership scheme at a substantial discount.