Before opening a sock shop, I did many jobs. After graduating from Changsha University in 2008, I went south to Shenzhen to do website planning and sales, thinking about what I really want and what I can do.

20 14 After getting married, I am going to resign and go back to my hometown Changde for development. But it is obviously unrealistic to continue to work for people after going back: first of all, the platform is different. Many large companies in Shenzhen have their own specialties, and Changde may not have suitable positions. In addition, it is unacceptable to continue working in my hometown, and the psychological gap is too great.

So, after returning home in June, 20 14, I looked for projects everywhere and prepared to do business, but the accumulated funds on hand were less than 200,000, which was beyond the reach of big stores and disdained by small stores. I overheard a sentence: "socks industry is an undeveloped gold market in the clothing field", and I decided this direction at once.

"Brand and positioning are the key to opening a franchise store?"

When I was in Shenzhen, I often ordered men's socks online. I have also heard of Little MissMatched, a famous Swedish sock brand, which sells socks by the order. However, in a fourth-tier city like Changde, it is quite difficult to really open such an avant-garde sock shop.

The main reason is that in the eyes of many middle-aged and elderly consumers in China, socks are only accessories of clothes, which are relatively ignored, and the public's brand and quality awareness have not yet formed. But there is no doubt that with the improvement of living standards, consumers will pay more and more attention to the brand and quality of socks in the future.

Based on this reality, I still chose to join a well-known brand to try relatively conservatively.

At that time, there were several brands of socks that did well in the market. First of all, Langsha, an old brand, once had an excellent reputation and good quality. However, due to its time-honored qualification, it blindly pursues quality and ignores the current fashion sense, and the development of new products is relatively slow. In terms of channels, Langsha takes the full circulation market. Every store, every store and every booth can buy goods, and it is impossible to distinguish between true and false, so it is inevitable that price confusion and counterfeit and shoddy products will appear.

And then Nell. Nell's model is semi-circulation+semi-self-operation. Nell used to imitate the full circulation of Langsha, and then opened a specialty store to start operations. However, the market that flows through wants to gather again, just like spilled water. This is why we can see Nell and Langsha stockings on sale in supermarkets, stalls, small underwear stores and other channels, and the prices and quality are different, so it is difficult to distinguish between true and false.

Then the foot show, take the high-end route. Consumer groups are mainly women who love beauty, fashion, high quality of life and enjoy life. And its channel management is very strict. Unlike Langsha and Nair, which are full-circulation markets, they can't get the goods anywhere except the foot-mounted show stores, the quality is relatively guaranteed, there will be no fake and shoddy products, and the national price is very uniform, so there will be no internal competition.

When I was preparing to run this brand, I thought that I must contact the end consumers in the form of a specialty store. My last home is a brand management company, and my next home is a consumer. There is no other link in the middle, I can connect these two links, and I will be relieved to have the opportunity of dialogue.

After choosing the right brand, I went to find the facade, and then chose a shop of about 25 square meters. The geographical location is not good or bad, but the area is just right. Because it is a franchise store, the decoration and store display should be in accordance with the requirements of the brand, and there is no room for discussion. So this part of the cost is relatively high. Take the small checkout counter as an example, 1700 yuan, and there are thousands of back cabinets and nakajima cabinets.

But this is the way for a brand to join, not only for socks stores, but also for the decoration of other stores, because these standards and prices are set by brands, and the decoration of high-end clothing stores is even more expensive.

"It is enough for one person to look at the store, and the display is very important."

A small shop of 25 square meters basically does not need to hire people. The boss is responsible for purchasing goods, tally, shopping guide, cashier and other aspects. It's entirely possible. Just ask someone to help you when you are busy, which can save a lot of labor costs and avoid crowded stores.

Sorting out the goods is a headache. Don't underestimate those socks. All socks add up to almost hundreds of varieties. Each brand is subdivided into many series, and the series has more than N styles and models. Take stockings as an example, the materials are divided into core-spun yarn, Lycra core-spun yarn, glass yarn, cool yarn, velvet, ultra-thin velvet and so on. Core-spun yarn can be divided into single-spun yarn and double-spun yarn. There are many varieties of pantyhose, and each variety has its own characteristics: small and fresh, fashionable and sexy, charming and seductive, elegant tattoo, jacquard dark pattern and so on.

Then each style is divided into various avant-garde styles, and each style is divided into different colors. Classify according to the package number, and indicate the quantity at the same time. The inventory quantity must be consistent with the product system quantity of the company. If the quantity is wrong, I will pay for it myself.

I remember the first purchase, a * * *, 22 boxes of goods, because of lack of experience, it took two days to finish sorting.

Good commodity display can stimulate customers' desire to buy and promote secondary consumption. The decoration is actually very simple, and it is good to be in the middle of the rules. Silk stockings on one side and cotton socks on the other. The stocking area is displayed according to styles, and cotton socks are typeset according to men's socks, women's socks and children's socks. The whole is simple and clear, clear at a glance.

Leggings on the cabinet in Nakajima should be arranged at any time and kept at equal intervals. Because the guests will look through it every day, they should tidy it up every 15 minutes.

"The site selection failed and the service won."

It is better to open a sock shop in a place like pedestrian street, which is close to the business circle and has a large flow of people, making it easier to get new customers. After all, socks are not fast-moving consumer goods, and the replacement cycle is relatively long. If it is opened in a residential area, the customer base is very limited and the risk is great.

I made a mistake in site selection. I chose a residential area instead of a commercial area. It is similar to a community store. Although there are many people, I actually bought very little. Therefore, I can only win if I serve my surrounding customers well and expand new customers by their word-of-mouth communication.

Socks are delicate personal items, so you can't try them on. You can only open them to let guests feel the delicacy and feel of silk, but many shopkeepers will forbid customers to open them at will for fear of trouble.

Since it is a high-end stockings product, it is necessary to have supporting services that are worthy of the price of the specialty store. Whether the guest is sure to buy it or not, I will open the package to show the style and feel to the guest. In addition, I will take the initiative to provide customers with unpacking inspection service before paying the bill, and I will never sell stockings with quality problems to customers, because I want to do word-of-mouth marketing, and I can never buy and sell them at one stroke.

As soon as the service improved, there was a shortage of manpower. Like my sock shop of more than 20 square meters, I unpack my own bags, and sometimes I come to a few waves of guests, which is completely busy. I need my wife to help me at this time.

In addition, unpacking socks is a must-do every day. The company stipulates that gloves must be worn, and there are many small details in packing socks. My request to myself is that a pair of socks that have been opened must be wrapped as beautifully as those that have not been opened.

In addition, summer is the off-season of socks sales, so we must find ways to remedy it and attract guests. You can decorate some plastic green lawns in the store and put some cool-looking props such as ice cream and ice cubes. The whole store feels cool and green, and customers prefer to come in and stay for a while.

With the increasing demands of women who love beauty, they not only pay attention to brand, texture and style, but also pay great attention to overall collocation. If the clothing market is compared to a big river, then the knitwear market is like a stream. Although it is not the trunk of the river, it is closely combined with the trunk as a tributary, so I often pay attention to the trend of women's wear and try to consider the matching needs of customers when choosing goods.

This shop has been open for more than two years now, and it is doing well. I'm going to open another one with a slightly larger area on the commercial pedestrian street in May this year.

In fact, I mainly deal in mid-range socks at present, but with the concept of consumption upgrading becoming more and more common in fourth-tier cities like ours, I think there will be more and more markets for high-end socks with advantages in quality and brand in the future, and consumers are willing to spend more money on them. I am firmly optimistic about this market prospect.