If we work according to the standard store scheme, the question is how to credit the products purchased from private traders, if we work according to the agency scheme, as if we are just an intermediary for the delivery of products from the manufacturer to the client, the question is how not to attract the attention of the inspection authorities, since it already looks like on intentional withdrawal from the law on the protection of consumer rights in distance selling.
Vadim
Hello Vadim.
It seems to me that if you have the same suppliers of products, then it is really easiest for you to conclude an agency agreement with them to find buyers and take a commission from% of sales. Plus, conclude a separate contract for the delivery / transportation of goods.
Then it would be best for you to open an individual entrepreneur with two taxation systems. Cargo transportation will be on PSN, and agency services on the simplified tax system 6%.
But, in order to avoid problems with regulatory authorities, I still recommend checking that farmers have all the necessary documents. The sale of food products is controlled more strictly than manufactured goods, and if someone, God forbid, gets poisoned, there will be a serious investigation.
Here are the documents for the sale of dairy products and vegetables
In addition, if you deliver products, your transport must comply with the Sanitary Rules for Food Trade Enterprises "- SanPiN 2.3.5.021-94. Section" Sanitary requirements for the transportation of food products ".
A sanitary passport of the appropriate type must be issued for a vehicle intended for the transport of food cargo.
The driver (forwarder) is obliged to have a medical book with him, in which marks must be entered on the passage of the relevant medical examination.
The car body must be clean, which must be confirmed
relevant documents based on the audit. That's why
special attention is paid to the procedure for washing the car body before
transportation of food products, as well as after it (requirements for
temperature of water and detergents, washing time, control after
disinfection, etc.).
Only specialized accredited organizations are entitled to wash the body of a car intended for the transport of food products.
who, upon request, are obliged to provide the necessary
documents on the appropriate cleaning and disinfection procedures carried out.
Climatic conditions in the car body must satisfy
transportation requirements for each type of product. Thus,
perishable goods must be transported in a closed body on vehicles equipped with special refrigeration units,
capable of maintaining a certain climate regime. To them
include refrigerators and isothermal trailers and semi-trailers.
Before submitting the vehicle for loading, the internal
the temperature regime must comply with the standards of transportation of the category
transported cargo, as well as sanitary and hygienic standards
body cleanliness. At the end of loading, the vehicle must
be sealed if the goods carried do not contain their own
sealed containers or packaging.
For transporting perishable goods over long distances
they may be pre-chilled or frozen if they
of course, they allow such a procedure (for example, meat, seafood, etc.).
Transportation of frozen products is carried out only in refrigerators,
capable of maintaining temperatures down to minus 20 degrees.
Hello!
We continue to publish useful tips for those who are at the beginning of the journey to create and develop a successful online store. In previous publications, we talked about how to find "your" product (and), what are its features, your business idea and .
Today we will talk about what you need to consider if you decide to sell your own products via the Internet.
Own goods and services
The Internet has opened up a whole new world for manufacturers: it has become much easier and faster to sell goods. But there are a number of nuances here.
There are undoubted advantages in implementing your own product: you yourself completely control your brand and its development, you have a chance to occupy a free niche in the market, adjust the product, taking into account customer requests, and so on. But in addition to organizing the trading process itself, you will have to invest time and effort in the production itself.
That is why you need to think ahead about how you will scale your business, how your product line will grow and change, what challenges you may face in the future, and what it will take to stay competitive and offer something new to customers.
Handmade goods store Plushkin.club
What should be your first steps in selling online?
- Evaluate the original data. Where will you get raw materials (this, depending on the type of your business, can be wholesalers or retailers, friends, or even a “flea market”). You need to clearly identify suppliers and calculate all costs.
- Decide how you will deliver orders: will you choose transport companies or stop at Russian Post? Will you send packages yourself or spend money on couriers and delivery services? Shipping is one of the key aspects of selling goods online.
- Consider the packaging of the goods: how reliable it is, how it will affect the total cost, whether it will withstand transportation.
- Completely calculate the production process: how long it will take to produce one unit of goods, how much you can make in a day, in a week, in a month. Whether you will work under the order or intend to keep a stock of goods in order to promptly send them to customers. Document absolutely everything, from production costs to the amount of time spent.
- Before selling a product in an online store, think about where you will store the product. Even if you have free space in your home, you will probably need to look for something larger as you scale your business. Explore alternatives: how much it costs to rent suitable premises, how much logistics services from a 3PL (Third Party Logistics) provider will cost.
- Timing plays a big role in selling goods online. It should be clearly stated on your website how long it will take for the goods to be manufactured and delivered to the buyer after payment for the order. You can place this information in the product description, as well as duplicate it in transaction confirmation emails. Be honest, make the process as transparent as possible, meet deadlines, and then buyers will trust you.
Working with a manufacturer or wholesaler
This option provides that you find yourself a partner to develop, manufacture and sell your product. This is a great option if you don't have the ability or don't want to do it yourself. Or you doubt that you can cope with scaling the business on your own, and therefore are ready to work in cooperation with a larger manufacturer or wholesaler who will deal with sales.
Online store of the Miratorg holding, which unites several manufacturers
However, the investment is likely to be more significant. And you will also have to be responsible for the brand and quality of the product to buyers.
What points should you pay attention to before you start selling a new product?
- You can establish partnerships with an already successfully operating company, or find a "non-promoted" manufacturer that meets all your requirements. In any case, the search for a partner can take quite a long time, so get ready for this in advance.
- Make sure that your partner is legally compliant and has all the necessary documents (licenses, permits). Ask for recommendations from those who have already cooperated with this manufacturer or wholesaler. It's a good sign if the company you're looking at also asks you for the same information to verify that your business is legit.
- Assess your opportunities and prospects for partnership:
- What will be the final cost of the product, taking into account "outsourced" production, shipping and potential hidden charges.
- How quickly can the partner send the goods?
- How is delivery and inventory management organized in the company? Is it included in the price of the product or is it an additional service? Will you control branding?
- Examine the contract: is there room for “maneuvering” in it, is it possible to make adjustments that your business needs? Can the conditions be called harsh? What exactly are you risking? -How is communication built in the partner company? How often will you be provided with up-to-date information about changes made to the product, innovations, discounts?
- What are the minimum order quantities?
- Be sure to study a product sample before signing a contract. Make sure it meets your expectations. Typically, manufacturers charge a fee for sending a sample, but you can negotiate the option that payment will be made if the contract is signed.
So, weigh all the options and get started! Remember: in the worst case scenario, if nothing works out, you can choose another direction and move on. Selling in an online store is not as difficult as it seems!
Share your experience in the comments!
Prepared by Victoria Chernysheva
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In the context of the popularization of online business, most of the ideas have significantly reduced the requirements for organization and investment in entrepreneurial activities.
An example of this is the organization of online trade in homemade food products. In the West, there are quite a large number of such enterprises. Selling homemade food online has long been considered a promising business idea. In Russia, this niche in the restaurant food market is actually not filled. This speaks of great potential and an opportunity to earn money for those who decide to implement the idea of an online store of homemade food in Runet.
Who Can Start a Homemade Food Selling Business?
Any housewife can start selling their own culinary delights. To do this, it is enough to be able to cook deliciously, register an individual entrepreneur, obtain permission from Rospotrebnadzor and the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station to trade in food products, and also create your own page on Runet. It can be either an open group in one or more social networks, or a website. But you can implement the business idea of online trading in home cooking products in another way - by creating an online home cooking service that involves the publication of ads for just the same culinary specialists who want to sell the results of their cooking activities. Therefore, a business selling homemade food can be created by both a chef and a webmaster.
Organization of an online store / service of homemade food
You can create a portal both independently and with the help of experienced professionals. This event will definitely require capital investments. Also, money will need to be invested in the promotion of the site - its popularization. In order not to worry about the delivery of food, you can shift this responsibility directly to the sellers themselves. So they can compete with each other. In the future, it is quite realistic to introduce customer service portal. This will allow you to earn additional income. The main profit of such an Internet portal will come from paying for the right to publish ads and a percentage of the products sold. To avoid problems with the current legislation, you can come up with requirements for cooks and their products - for example, the obligatory availability of licenses or permits from Rospotrebnadzor, or other departments regulating this field of activity.
conclusions
The organization of an online store selling homemade food is a relatively low-cost and very promising business. The services of such a company can be used by all Russians without exception, since it is not tied to individual territorial spaces. Chefs from different cities and regions will be able to publish their offers on the portal.
Entrepreneurs often complain that it is extremely difficult to get their goods on the shelves of large retail chains. In fact, it is easy to get into the networks, it is much more difficult to get into the shopping cart
We need not bribes, but a product
At all negotiations, I immediately say that my company is transparent and works only in accordance with Russian laws. I studied in the USA and am a citizen of this country, so I do not accept any bribes. If during the negotiations the talk comes up about the "entry ticket", then I switch to English and pretend that I do not understand what is being said. This is my principled position, from which I do not intend to deviate. Having paid once, I will not be able to refuse such payments to other networks in the future: rumors spread quickly in the market. In addition, it is possible that the unscrupulous managers of the distribution network, which I will pay for the entrance, will blackmail me in the future by threatening to remove our goods from the shelves.
I went the other way - I created an interesting and attractive product. At my first meeting with managers at the Tsvetnoy shopping center, I just brought cookies in a bag and explained what makes it special. Intrigued, they invited me to a second meeting, to which I had already brought cookies and a packaging prototype. Interest has been confirmed. For the third meeting, there was a full-fledged commercial offer with a presentation and a 3D packaging model. As a result, we signed a supply contract.
Seek personal meetings
To get on the shelves of Azbuka Vkusa, I wrote a letter to the profile category manager. On the site "Azbuka Vkusa" in the section "For suppliers" there are contacts of the entire commercial management of the company. I sent a simple and bright three-page presentation with more pictures than words. But she conveyed the emotion of my product. The biscuit caught the interest of the confectionery department and the tasting committee, and the chain gave it the green light in the chain's first 50 stores. Only after that I began to buy raw materials, rented a room and started the “Marc 100% natural” oven in my own workshop.
Alas, in most retail chains there is a high turnover of category managers, so an e-mail may not be enough. My experience tells me that a few calls to acquaintances - and you will find a way to the person you need. Seek face-to-face meetings if you are sociable yourself. If not, find someone to bribe with charm and the ability to listen/hear/sell.
Have you been denied? My principle: if you believe in the product, use the approach “if you don’t open the door, climb through the window”. Find email/phone numbers/names of people one level up. I usually go straight to the CEO or shareholder. However, before that, you always need to have proof that you sought, but you were ignored or you were refused. Therefore, save correspondence, chats on social networks, etc.
If you managed to get through the window or a friend opened it for you, decisions will be made much faster. For example, I was introduced to Andrey Gusev [general director of the A5 pharmacy chain] quite by accident. It turned out that we have a mutual friend who helped me. I sent Andrey the presentation. A few days later we met at their office and found points of synergy, although previously pharmacy chains were not included in our plans at all. A week later there was a cooperation agreement.
Use a distribution company
But personal acquaintances and an interesting product do not always attract category managers and management of retail chains. I tried several times to get on the shelves of Dixy stores, the product went through tastings, but so far without success. But since I do not accept the answer “no”, then in Dixy and in other retail chains that I could not access directly (Lenta, OK), our products will be represented by distribution companies. This is not as profitable as trading directly, since I will have to share my margin with distributors, giving them up to 40%, but so far I have no other way to get on the shelves of these stores. We will wait, collect sales statistics in other stores and through a distributor, and come back with our product again.
Finally, there is another way to get on the shelf - to enter the network for a short period using the in-out system. You can be hired for a three-month period and see how the sales go. I'm not sure that in three months you can reach a high level of sales, so I don't use this method. In addition, retail chains themselves are not very fond of agreeing to such a format, realizing that suffering will begin at the end of the term: the manufacturer will begin to persuade the experiment to be extended, sales are likely to be low at first, and internal administrative efforts for the chain are equal to the introduction of a new supplier.
Alexandra Shaforost Owner of the company "Society with Natural Taste No. 1" (brands "Marc100% natural" and "Marc & Fisa")