Playing a musical instrument is still very popular so running a music shop could be a good choice. Our guide covers the key issues for starting and running your own business.
When you plan your music shop business it's important to make a realistic estimate of the level of demand in the area.
You'll want to confirm that there is enough demand for a new music shop in your area. First of all, check out the competition. Count how many outlets there are already in your area selling musical instruments, including second-hand shops and pawn shops. Looking on Yell.com is a quick way of doing this, and you could do further research by doing a search for 'music shops' and the name of your town, city or region on the web. If you do this, you could look at each shop's website to see the types of service they offer and the items they stock. Finally, you may want to count the number of Music Industries Association (MIA) members there are in your area by looking in the 'Our Members - Retailers' section on their website. However, be aware that many music shops are not members of the MIA - probably only around one in four.
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Bear in mind that you won't just face competition from local and regional businesses. Many music retailers sell products on the web, so it's probably essential to check who's selling the types of product you intend to stock online and what sort of prices they're charging. You'll face competition from professional eBay sellers too.
Once you have established how many other music shops there are in your area, you could visit some to get an overall impression of how busy they are and even talk to the owner or sales assistants. They may be willing to tell you how well the business is doing. If the majority of the music shops are empty every time you visit them, you may feel that there would not be enough business to support your own shop.
There may be other factors that would persuade you that your area can support your music shop, such as a thriving live music scene or a music school nearby - a lot of grassroots music venues closed in the mid 2010s for various reasons, particularly in London, so it is worth finding out as much as possible about closures and planned closures. You may also consider contacting the music departments of local primary and comprehensive schools. These might recommend your shop to their students, particularly if you offer them attractive discounts. Alternatively, you could contact local orchestras, DJs and anyone else in the music business who may use your shop.
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The location of your shop may depend to a large extent on the types of instrument that you intend to stock. A shop focusing on a specialist niche market may not need a particularly prominent trading position as it may be able to generate enough custom from word-of-mouth and targeted advertising rather than relying on passers-by. But a shop that stocks a broader cross section of musical equipment may need premises that are close to the main shopping areas to get enough custom. It may be important to have ample parking close to your business premises as customers are unlikely to want to carry an instrument a long distance.
Also check out local crime rates - you don't want to have to cope with excessive levels of shoplifting, break-ins and theft.
Once you have decided on the proposed location of your premises, you will need to confirm that you will be able to encourage enough customers to choose your shop rather than any existing outlets. Check out the competition to see:
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If you come across outlets that are targeting the same market as you, you could try to differentiate your shop from these - possibly by always being the best value or by having the best customer service or most knowledgeable staff.
The nature of your shop will probably influence your typical customer profile. A shop dedicated to supplying one type of instrument will inevitably attract customers who play or are interested in playing that instrument. If you stock a full range of instruments and you and your staff have sufficient knowledge about your products, you are likely to attract both professional and very keen amateur musicians.
Your customers are likely to have a varied range of musical ability - particularly if you run a general music shop - from absolute beginner upwards. So you should aim to stock a product range that can cater for everyone. You are also likely to have a number of parents buying instruments for their children, either as Christmas presents or at the start of school terms. It is likely that many of these customers will not really know what they are looking for and so will rely on you for expert advice.
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Bear in mind that you're quite likely to have a relatively small core of regular customers who make large and frequent purchases from you - for example local professional musicians and enthusiasts. All your customers are important, but regular buyers like these may be the life-blood of your business - treat them like royalty!
Selling online can be an excellent way of reaching new customers and boosting your sales. But setting up your own ecommerce website can be expensive and you may not be sure at the beginning whether the value of the sales you'll make online will justify the set-up costs.
As an alternative, trading on eBay or Amazon lets you get a feel for selling online but with much lower start up costs. And you may decide to keep on selling through eBay and Amazon even when you have your own online shop.
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You might already have your own personal eBay account that you use to buy items for yourself and to sell things that you don't need any more. But if you're trading as a business on eBay you're legally obliged to make it clear in your listings that you're a business seller. This means that you'll either need to register a new business account or upgrade your personal account to a business one. There's guidance in the eBay Seller Centre on the definition of 'trading' if you're not sure whether you need to register as a business seller.
If you're not already running a business and you intend to start selling things on eBay or Amazon - perhaps just in a small way to begin with - then you'll need to notify HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that you're trading. There's guidance on the Gov.uk website that gives an overview of what counts as trading and what counts as self employment. It also gives details of your tax and record keeping obligations.
Having your own virtual storefront will give your business a valuable online presence and will allow you to display all your products together in one place.
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When you sign up to sell on eBay, you have the option of setting up an eBay Shop. This allows you to create your shop using an existing template or to customise it to your own design. You don't have to choose the eBay Shop option straight away - you may decide it's best to wait until your monthly sales build up to a certain level and then upgrade.
With Amazon, you'll automatically create your own storefront regardless of the package you choose. You won't be able to customise it very much but you will be able to add your name and logo and provide some information about your business.
Before you start selling on Amazon and eBay it's a good idea to find out how much you'll have to pay in fees. Depending on the items you sell and the method you choose for selling them, your total fees can be quite substantial. And while some of the fees you pay will be linked to the number of items you sell each month, others are likely to be fixed costs which you incur even if you don't sell anything.
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Both eBay and Amazon give you the option of selling as a business seller without paying any fixed monthly fees, although it's usually more cost-effective to choose a subscription-based package unless you're only selling a small number of items each month.
The eBay website has a fee illustrator tool and a fee calculator that will help you compare the fees for different selling methods and get a good idea of how much your actual per-item selling fees are likely to be.
Uploading your inventory to eBay or Amazon and managing your listings can be a time consuming task, particularly if you're planning to sell a large number of items.
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Because there's such a huge number of items for sale on eBay and Amazon at any one time, it's very important that you do everything you can to stand out from the crowd.
Always make sure that your listings include accurate, spell-checked descriptions and that your photos and other images show the items that you're selling in the best possible light.
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