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Selling & Delivering Chemicals from my Truck

Posted by Bud Brinkley on April 27, 2011 at 4:35pm in Business Growth, Expansion, and Current Opportunit

I live in a rural area that happens to have a good amount of residential pools and A LOT of large apartment complexes. (College Town). We have no retail pool store and the nearest pool store is a 90 mile round trip. Most folks are making the drive or cruising WalMart or the big box stores for their pool chems. There really isn't enough business here to support a brick and mortar storefront, but the need is definite, especially in this time of $4.50 gas.

I am seriously thinking about selling chemicals to folks to cover this need. I already have a good stock anyway for my service business. I do want to state that I have nothing against pool stores in general, I am just trying to fulfill a needed service in my area and maybe make a few extra dollars each month.

I currently get most of my Chems. from SCP , but I don't really seem to be getting a good discount. I am also unsure of what I need to keep on hand for stock, but I suppose I could just keep the basics, plus a few specialty Chems. for when the need arises.

Has anyone else tried this approach? What are the pitfalls, and any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

 

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Replies

  • Wes Burdine April 30, 2011 at 5:19pm
    I am glad to see this approach worked for you Matt. I was considering the same thing. Did you label it with your name, address, etc? Something simple, like a laser printed label from your computer.
  • Matt Cellura April 28, 2011 at 4:36am

    Bud,

    I think you have a great idea, and a good business sense to see a need and explore it.  There is no doubt that you will make money on this idea, but you have to think about a few things first.  Can you just sell them from your warehouse and have people come and get them?  More likely than not, you will have to make the price somewhat comparable to what they are getting online or at the stores, even thogh they are far away.  You may not make the margin that you exactly want, but also realize that if you are increasing your purchases through SCP, then realistically your price from them should go down as well.  Trust me, they will lower their price if you are buying more. 

    Two years ago, we decided to go this route for commercial pools in our area, offering very low prices on bulk purchase chemicals so that our name would be on the tip of their tongues when they needed service, as oppossed to the company that they had been using.  This year we have signed contracts and POs for over $100,000 in additional chemical revenue from this approach. 

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