Watches
Almost everyone I know wears a watch, there are a couple of exceptions trying to prove to the world that they don’t need one, or who have learned to use their cell phone in lieu of wearing a watch but generally speaking we all wear one. More and more people seem to be wearing a brand that says something about them whether it be a Swatch that says “hey I’m fun” or a big diving watch that alludes to an exciting hobby or simply a Rolex which screams “I have more cash than you do”.
Such a universal demand creates an opportunity to look for niches and deliver to customers who are not being served by the big players. This might be watches with oversized numbers for the sight impaired or elderly, antique watches for collectors, or watches that show more than one time zone for travellers.
Start with a niche that interests you, and that you think you can market effectively. If you try to be all things to all men you will soon find yourself pulled in too many directions, and you may well lose credibility.
Distribution can be similar regardless of your niche but your approach to positioning, marketing materials etc. will need to be targeted. For example you could ask watch shops to stock your watches but if you are selling antique watches you would need to sell them on the concept of having an antique corner, or display. Equally advertising in the local newspaper can be in different sections, you wouldn’t want to advertise kids watches in the car section, or large digit watches for the elderly in the cartoon section.
We suggest the following approaches to distribution: -
Ebay
Website
Networking
Advertise
Direct Response
Shop
Ebay has thousands of watches, literally. It is very competitive and you will need something special to get noticed. On the positive side Ebay is a market where the customer can search for exactly what they need. If they want a watch with big digits, or in a certain colour they can search for exactly that, the same is true of brands and even the type of strap. Put as much detail as you can into your description and customers will find you, advertise as just “watch” and they probably won’t.
Websites are cheap to build, and easy to set up so competitive products such as watches return massive numbers of results on the major search engines. Trying to get noticed at this level will be extremely difficult and potentially expensive. Focus instead on getting noticed offline. If you have an interesting story about why you chose watches for your business then send it to local journalists, if not then have some kind of event, open a mini watch museum, or research the history of an old time piece and write an article about it. The key is to get yourself noticed and tie that to your website.
Watches are a great product to sell through networking, you can always carry some stock with you, and providing they are affordable you can probably sell some just about every where that you would expect to meet people. Watches get sold every day at dinner parties, sports events and even freeway rest stop car parks. You can’t be shy if this is your intended approach and need to accept that a lot of people won’t be interested, but many will be. If you are a little shy then you can try party planning and other more sophisticated versions of networking such as appointing sales agents to sell your products for you.
If you plan to advertise then think about where you want people to see your ads. Putting diving watches in “women’s weekly” is unlikely to work however cheap the page rate. Similarly you probably don’t want Yellow Pages advertising. Target your adverts very specifically, if you want divers then advertise in diving magazines. Don’t advertise your watches in sports related periodicals if they are not waterproof, it pretty much accepted that sportsmen require robust, waterproof watches not antique dress versions.
Direct response can also work, for example you may be able to get hold of name lists of club members, residents associations, alumni etc. Try to find lists that are suitable for your product and send a nicely printed invitation to view your catalogue, website, or drop in at the shop for a cup of coffee, and view the new line. You will find perhaps less than 1% response rate but if you can get hold of a big enough list or if there is sufficient margin in your product then this can still work very nicely.
I did mention a ship in the paragraph above. It doesn’t have to be a big jewellery store in a busy location, but it should have sufficient foot traffic to be noticeable. A stand in the thoroughfare of a mall, or a unit in a small shopping centre should be sufficient, people will find you particularly if you promote the store through other distribution channels. Keep the décor simple and costs to a minimum and you should see a successful business pretty quickly.
If you want to buy new watches to fit a certain market niche then you can look at sites like www.globalsourcing.com and www.alibaba.com. Email several suppliers and get some dialogue going; this ensures that a) you can communicate effectively by email and b) you find someone who is willing to be flexible.
Antique watches are harder, and you will need to read up on what is what to make sure you don’t get scammed. Some of the best sources are flea markets and garage sales as well as house clearance businesses and pawn shops. Often the proprietors do not know what they have got. If you want to ensure a steady stream of watches then split your profits with them, once they know you are honest they are likely to search out watches for you.
Developing countries can also be a good source of watches; I bought a beautiful 1960s LeCoutre (pre the merger between Jaeger & LeCoutre) watch for my father in Saigon a few years ago. It only cost a couple of hundred US$ and he recently had it valued at more than $2000. Unfortunately there are also many copies in the market so you need to be careful not to get ripped off.
Even in competitive industries you can find niches. Why is a Rolex worth more than a Seiko? Arguably the Seiko is more accurate but the Rolex is marketed very differently. Both companies make handsome profits.
If you can appeal to an emotional aspect when selling your watches then you can end up selling treasured possessions that bring happy memories for years.