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  Have you ever thought about opening a supermarket or a mini supermarket? Supermarkets stock a wider variety of items than regular neighbourhood shops or kiosks. This makes them the go-to place for a large number of things.
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This also means that, on good days, they garner more revenue than many other types of stores. If they are in a location with a high demand for the products they sell, they’ll make a fair bit of profit as well. Here, we’ll talk about how to set up a mini supermarket—one that isn’t very large but is also sizeable enough to hold a broad range of goods. These are the steps you should take to open a mini supermarket.

Decide To Begin

Most guides won’t mention this, but it’s really the first step to succeeding in this business. If you do not set your mind firmly on getting this done, you may end up losing interest or failing in the end. Tell yourself you’ll make it happen, and begin inquiring about what you’ll need to launch it.

Find A Location

Your shop should be in a location that still has some inadequately met demand for the sort of goods that supermarkets sell. Study your options before choosing a place to begin. If there are already several shops there, and the number of customers visiting each day is thin, you should look elsewhere. But if there are often numerous people waiting to buy something, it may be a sign that there’s room for you to establish a shop. The shop should be accessible, relatively free of security problems, and sizeable enough to take whatever items you’ll be stocking up.

Decide What Goods To Sell

Don’t just settle for a random list of things to stock up on. Instead, find out what’s in demand where you’re setting up, and plan to create an inventory featuring those things. If you set up close to a university, your goods will include things that students typically use. You won’t have exactly the same sort of things you had while you were in a regular neighbourhood where families live.

Determine How Much Capital You Need

After learning about all the things you need to start, it’s time to learn how much you’ll have to spend to acquire them. When doing your calculations, make sure to allow for some margin of error, in case the prices turn out to be a bit higher when you want to make the purchase. Join Connect Nigeria’s Club Connect to have a plethora of access to funds. With our club partners and merchants, you have easy access to all the funding information you need for your business.
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Also, decide where you’ll get the money from. You can bootstrap—i.e. fund the business from your savings –or seek financing from traditional or non-traditional lenders.

Plan Your Shop’s Layout

Think about the layout of your store. What goes where? How should it look after everything has been arranged? The appearance of your store may be decisive if you’re going to compete with other supermarkets. It might seem insignificant, but it isn’t. Customers’ reaction to these things is often subconscious. So they’ll be attracted or repulsed by the way your supermarket looks without even realizing it.

Register Your Business

You want to be on the right side of the legal divide. Register your business with the CAC, so that you’ll be recognized as doing business legally. This may save you from trouble further down the line.

Find Product Suppliers

Hunt for vendors who supply the products you have decided to sell. You may either go to wholesalers or directly to the manufacturers. The latter is usually cheaper, but not always available to buyers who aren’t wholesalers. You will want to go for a vendor that can grant you credit facilities, just in case you can’t pay for goods upfront.

Set-Up

Secure your space; buy the items you need (including your inventory), and move in. Some of the other things you would have gotten include a computer (along with an inventory management system), electric fans /air conditioning, refrigerator, surveillance tools, showcases, shelves, chairs and tables, and writing material.

Hire Staff

If you do not intend to run the mini-supermarket on your own, you can hire staff to take care of things on your behalf. Salespeople, an accountant, and inventory officers are some of the roles you may hire for.

Final Word: Start Selling!

The secret to succeeding at this business is providing the best possible products, and nurturing great customer relationships. If you nail these two things, you will win at running your supermarket. Featured Image Source: Kimco
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This article was first published on 3rd June 2021 and updated on July 12th, 2023 at 11:17 am

ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.

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