talkmagic.co.uk

Hi guys, I have been looking very deeply into setting up a new online magic store, however, I see there are already quite a few and would love your views and opinions on if you think a new store would be a good idea and how what would you love to see on a magic store that you just do not on others?

Sure - why not?

If your prices are competitive, and your customer service as good as (for example) MagicNevin, Dude That's Cool or MagicBox, then I'd certainly use you.

Price, speed, communication. Get those things right, and you'll have happy, repeat customers. Simples!

I say go for it, the more the merrier as far as the customer is concerned. Remember though that magic is already a fairly well saturated market, there are a good number of shops already out there serving a fairly limited customer base. You'd either have to be very competitive or find yourself a little niche.

Good luck with it though and let us know how things go

Competition is good for everyone. Make sure you can compete, though, or it won't be good for *you*

i say try it, but offer different choices...everyone sells cards at the same kinda prices, most shops hold the same "tricks"...

do or sell something a little different that you can't get in many other places...carry them too...

oh, and above all else, run a live inventory - nothing worse than placing an order and thinking its a done deal only to be told its "on order" and you end up waiting a couple of weeks...

saying that - whatever it is you do, make sure its clear to the user...

some shops dont hold stock, but order it in for you, then send it on...so if the average order takes 7-9 days, tell us that in the first place...

look at cards4magic, by their name you know what they specialise in (though hold loads of other stock) - but sometimes only they have some things (off the top of my head recently, i wanted some brass die and coloured die as well as some other bits n bobs - the only place that i could get everything in one go was from them)...

so, though you keep some general items, it would be nice to see a shop that does a few specialities...

I'd say be very careful. TM is supported by paying advertisers of existing stores so asking for advice on adding to their competition isn't really the thing to do.

But Mandrake, this forum is full of magicians who make their living solely from performing magic. Aren't we all doing the same thing by asking for advice on how to turn pro?

Arkesus wrote:But Mandrake, this forum is full of magicians who make their living solely from performing magic. Aren't we all doing the same thing by asking for advice on how to turn pro?

i would presume it is because the pros dont pay to advertise on TM.

One niche I recently came across is that there are no uk suppliers of street performers stuff such as thick metal cups, poachers pouches etc. I recently had to order what i wanted from the states.

ah...adverts only work if people buy from them, people will only buy from them if there is a "value"...be it cheaper, faster, different...

I agree with Iain. I would not change my internet orders from Mike at Dude That's Cool Magic for common magic items, unless you were either much, much cheaper (which I doubt is possible) or if you had something completely different and interesting. He offers such a good service, nice communication, quick delivery and very reasonable prices. Why should I change?

It sounds like its time to write a detailed business plan, Domscore.

There are lots of magic suppliers around.

If I was setting up an online store I would want it to be:-
Much cheaper than anyone else.
Faster delivery (i.e. carrying huge stock) than anyone else
easy to use with informative videos and descriptions to view before I buy.

That would be a massive undertaking for any online niche retailer and would require huge financial investment in stock with very little profit. Unless you are a big corporate prepared to make initial losses in order to undercut and remove the competition with a long term view of dominating the whole niche market that I would stay away for this sort of venture. You would also need to work carefully with your suppliers as they can often dictate your minimum prices or restrict your supply if they think your business will affect their other dealers and ultimately their profits.

Where you can succeed in this type of business it to build up a reputation for excellent service at reasonable prices, but the standard is already very high.

Good luck.

Arkesus wrote:But Mandrake, this forum is full of magicians who make their living solely from performing magic. Aren't we all doing the same thing by asking for advice on how to turn pro?

We're not talking about magicians performing, we're talking about selling magic stuff. Let's put it this way, if you were the owner of a magic store which paid for advertising here, and certainly affected by the downturn in business in the UK, would you be happy to see marketing information being sought and gathered this way? Bear in mind that this is not the first time someone has tried to canvass information on this topic. At best I think it's a wee bit thoughtless.

Thank you for all the support and encouragement guys. I really do appreciate the feedback I have received from you all. I shall take all the comments I have received and, as 'Tomo' said, start writing a business plan haha. The thing I am worried about is what 'gunnarkr' mentioned, people most probably already have a tried and trusted magic store, why would they want to change.

Discombobulator (I think is how it is spelt) - Thanks greatly for the feedback, and just to let you know I am not a corporate company haha, I just love magic as a hobbyist and would love to make it a career (as I am not the greatest performer I must admit).

Mandrake - I apologise if this post has caused any trouble, I just thought that it would be okay as I have not posted any advertisement, just asked for ideas, I do apologise.

IAIN - Thank you for the response, I have already though of making it more of a specialist store (I will not mention what type of magic, just know it is not cards haha). However, saying that I will most probably cover majority of other magic just in lesser detail. Also, I will make sure to notify how long shipping will take at each stage (e.go out of stock 7-9 working days), unfortunately, however, sometimes there are issues due to the delivery companies as I'm sure you know haha, but I will also mention about this.

And thanks to all others who provided support and a general interest.

Im so glad to have such a great amount of feedback and encouragement from you all, I shall keep this post updated with how I'm getting along, If that is alright with Mandrake?

Your profile says your 18 and a newcomer to magic. I'd be concerned that you may not have enough experience yet to set this sort of thing up. Obviously I don't know much about you, but do you have the finances to set this up? do you have any business experience? the time? the knowledge of the products your selling? I'm not trying to put you down, just don't want you to end up wasting money.

I think Iains advice of looking into specialities is a good route. A while back someone asked whether there was a specialist supplier for mentalists. However If I remember rightly it was decided that we already have mentalism shops; there called stationary shops. But there may be a market for some other area. like the busking.