What Do African People Want in a Grocer?

Ldtbnguyen on 16/09/2015 - 23:56
Last edited 16/09/2015 - 23:57

Hi Guys,

A friend of mine is opening up an store (technically, not open yet) specialising in African goods (it's primarily a grocer but may expand into other areas) in Melbourne. I'm looking for any tips/advice with regards to:

  • what type of stuff should a shop like that be stocking?
  • how do you get people to want to come and shop there?
  • anything that a person going into retail and eCommerce for the first time would like to avoid?
  • who are the main players in this area in Melbourne?
  • how do you determine what's the right balance with regards to pricing?

Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • justhooked on 17/09/2015 - 00:04
    +1

    Just be careful as woolies sells a lot of African food goods now so check your pricing also a lot of expats purchase via
    Online stores so do a bit of research

    • scrimshaw on 17/09/2015 - 01:35

      Coles as well, I think.

    • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 02:18

      There will be an online aspect to the business as well but the thing I'm wondering is why are some of these online websites so attractive? Is it just price, convenience, exclusivity, everything all together or something else altogether? How do they find out about them? Is it just search engine, friends/family, word of mouth, etc…?

      Also, are African grocers like Asian grocers price wise? Namely, if something is available at an Asian grocer it is often significantly cheaper than when compared with Woolworths or Coles?

    • Kozhutki on 29/09/2015 - 06:00

      As does Coles, the majority if not all stores have their own little international section including Dutch/European, New Zealand, British, Asian, South African etc.

  • Ughhh on 17/09/2015 - 06:14

    Most of your questions can actually be answered by doing some physical research, like popping in to similar stores, checking their stock and what's making them busy or quiet. It sounds like your friend and I are on the same progress stage (clueless).

    • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 07:41

      Physical research only gets you so far (most of the time it's only within the scope of your current knowledge and the technology that you have at hand) and I think we've covered most bases. I just want to make sure there hasn't been anything we haven't missed… I'm mostly interested about niche knowledge that only people who have covered this territory would likely know.

      • Ughhh on 17/09/2015 - 13:12

        So you knew the answers to those basic questions you asked but wanted confirmation from a bunch of strangers?

        If you dont know the answers to those questions then you haven't done your preliminary research, especially the first and 4th question

        Sounds like a gamble imo

        • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 17:08

          The people who have started it up are African. They already have a limited line of stock in store and it's already moving. He admits it's a calculated gamble… None of the people involved are that naive. We've all started and have run businesses before. I just want to make sure we're thorough.

  • RockyRaccoon on 17/09/2015 - 08:00
    +6

    Opening a business based on opinions from Ozbargain?

    Good luck, see your friend in 12 months time with closing sale deals..

    Good business decisions are made based on good advice. Can you tell us which members here are

    1. African
    2. Living in the area your friend is servicing?
    3. Are prepared to pay the mark up he is wanting to make
    4. Aware of what the competition is in the mythical area your friend is going to open the store (Mythical because we have no idea where in Melbourne it's going to be located.) Toorak? Garfield? Sunbury?
    5. Experts in retail trade
    6. Accountants
    7. Not children
    8. Are even male or female

    If you could tell us the demographics of each member here, you would make more money than Scotty or your friend opening a grocery store

    • Baysew on 17/09/2015 - 17:26

      Point 4. Aware of what the competition is in the mythical area your friend is going to open the store

      List of Woolworths stores selling South African Foods

      Bentleigh
      Fountain Gate (Narre Warren)
      Ferntree Gully
      Stud Park
      Glen Huntly
      Malvern
      Beaconsfield
      Carnegie
      Scoresby
      Oakleigh Sth (Links Bus Park)
      Carnegie North
      Dandenong
      Mountain Gate

    • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 17:47

      You see it as a gamble/silly asking here.

      I see it as another potentially very useful test.

      • the people on OzBargain are clearly discerning buyers/consumers. They aren't going to turn up at your local mass market store or grocer and never look for alternatives. They are more likely to know where the best deals are coming from. Even if there is only a 1% chance of someone replying with a useful answer, I'm more than willing to take the risk of making a fool of myself to find out what that answer is in order to make a success of the business
      • I don't need to know whether you are an expert in retail trade. I just need to know enough detail about what you'd like to potentially buy and what you like. From this information I can do extrapolate a lot of other useful information that may help in deciding other future product lines
      • as I've said in others posts every single person involved in the store has been involved in running or starting their own business before. We're not that naive…
      • if you've ever been involved with starting or running a successful business you'll realise that much of it is somewhat of a calculated gamble. I'm just trying to reduce a some of the risk and turn this transaction from less of a gamble to more of an investment. I would be silly to ignore free and potentially very useful advice
      • RockyRaccoon on 17/09/2015 - 18:29

        the people on OzBargain are clearly discerning buyers/consumers

        No disagreement there.

        But you completely miss the point.

        You dont know jack s about the ones giving you advice here.

        The advice might not be "silly" it could be very good but you need to know if it's good for you.

        I may be a potential competitor who is trying to scare you off.

        I maybe a 15 year old kid who could either have no business experience or another Mark Zuckerberg (But what would MZ know about african grocers)

        When businesses survey people about ideas they have a selection criteria for who they are asking.

        That is my point as you cant tell who or what or why someone is giving you advice if you have no idea who they REALLY are.

        But that's My Opinion, go for it. As I said I'll wait for the closing bargains if you get the wrong advice and act on it.

        • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 20:11
          +1

          I guess our life experiences differ…

          One of the things that I've learnt from working with and for other people is that I can always learn something from it. Whether they've done something right or something completely wrong the relationship between cause and effect are often well known and ascertained relatively quickly.

          Moreover, I've often learnt or gained insights into some of my core interests by pursuing other interests. Hence, I look at your remark and think it's a bit odd.

          I'm going to give you an example of the type of advice that I'm talking about.

          Once upon a time my parents would only shop in certain areas of Melbourne because that was only where (they thought) they could get certain Asian groceries. If you asked most Asians in Melbourne where they could get Asian grocery items in Melbourne most people would point to the same places. However, one day my parents came across someone who knew of a strip mall which could serve them just as well and was much closer to home. They were kicking themselves because of the amount of time and money that was wasted on travelling to and from distant locations over the years. That person wasn't someone you would describe as generally knowledgeable either…

          Obvious, useful, niche information… unlikely to be picked up by technology such as search engines/predictive analysis and by people in the business, sales, marketing, and other relevant sectors who don't have the time to really dig in unless they've been specifically contracted to run a long term campaign in that area.

        • scrimshaw on 17/09/2015 - 22:15

          @dtbnguyen:

          if these guys are in sydney, they should attend the fine food expo. There could be some interesting stuff in the food industry they can learn about. Learn about what other competitors are doing and find the niche.

          Register for free here
          http://finefoodaustralia.com.au/

          Another point of interest is B2B. Rather than selling to consumers, they could potentially sell to other businesses instead — restaurants, small grocery stores, take out, Asian chain supermarkets (like Miracle), small cafes, hotels and the like.

        • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 23:31

          @scrimshaw:

          We've covered most of these avenues but not all. Thank you.

  • macrocephalic on 17/09/2015 - 09:05
    +1

    This stinks of school assignment. OP's "friend" is opening a store (makes it seem like it's a definite), but friend and OP both don't actually know what they're going to sell in said specialty store.

    • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 16:52

      Website is already online. Store is open some hours. Technically not open but stock is already selling based on small set of products that have already been imported. Would like to see increased range though… I would have posted details regarding site and store but didn't want to be accused of bias. Honestly, if you're not going to post something helpful please don't.

  • 2jzzzz on 17/09/2015 - 09:32

    Khat.

  • Cave Fire on 17/09/2015 - 10:42

    Well, these stores are sort of hard to find. The best one I've been to was a South African orientated store called Kumusha in Brisbane. The freshness of the products is what stood out, so they must have a quick import procedure. Online can be good but only if your customers prefer it to going to a shop front/phone orders. You would want to target people who buy these products in bulk, say for a whole family or some other group.

  • Scrooge McDuck on 17/09/2015 - 10:49
    -2

    What Do African People Want in a Grocer?

    Black band-aids?

    • [Deactivated] on 17/09/2015 - 20:32

      The assumption being that all africans are black?

      Edit: Black band-aid is actually a thing or rather was a thing. You learn something new everyday. BTW, didn't neg.

      • Scrooge McDuck on 17/09/2015 - 20:45
        +1

        I haven't read the thread, but I garnered an assumption in the title that African [Australian] people want different groceries to the general populace. Not necessarily agreeing with that assumption, that's the only point of difference I could deduce.

  • rompastompa on 17/09/2015 - 11:05
    +2

    This is probably not too helpful, however:

    • Why specialize in something you know appear to know nothing about?
    • Do you think it's a niche market that there is demand for?
    • While it may sound like it's a good idea, is your friend willing to gamble for such idea?
    • Is this shop purely a write off for tax reasons?

    Specialization a couple of decades a go was a great idea, where people would specifically go to you as they wanted the specific product. I think nowadays, specialization is extremely limited as most people go for convenience of the big corps as they can get almost everything in one place.

    I think the only way you'd make money in a specialized environment today, is a temporary store. Set aside several months only, make a massive 'limited time' opening/closing time frame. Advertise well. Budget the whole thing over a specific period with specific products. Sort of like those pop-up restaurants.

    Our society may go back to specialized stores, but the mass mind set of time over money over product/service needs to change.

    Good luck.

    The above is purely my thoughts only, no actual research has been conducted.

    • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 16:59
      +2
      • Why specialize in something you know appear to know nothing about?
        The people who opened the store are African. As stated in other posts, stock has already been imported and is moving in limited numbers thus far. It was his idea in the first place. I'd just like to make sure we have our bases covered.
      • Do you think it's a niche market that there is demand for?
        He has no idea but stock is already moving so yes, there is a chance that it could work.
      • While it may sound like it's a good idea, is your friend willing to gamble for such idea?
        He has other businesses and they also use the property for other purposes. It's not entirely a gamble.
      • Is this shop purely a write off for tax reasons?
        I highly doubt it based on his description.
  • jaykay on 17/09/2015 - 12:05

    if he needs to ask these questions then he should not open the store.

    • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 17:20
      +1

      Going to repeat…
      - Website is already online. Store is open some hours. Technically not open but stock is already selling based on small set of products that have already been imported. Would like to see increased range though… I would have posted details regarding site and store but didn't want to be accused of bias. Honestly, if you're not going to post something helpful please don't.
      - Physical research only gets you so far (most of the time it's only within the scope of your current knowledge and the technology that you have at hand) and I think we've covered most bases. I just want to make sure there hasn't been anything we haven't missed… I'm mostly interested about niche knowledge that only people who have covered this territory would likely know.
      - The people who have started it up are African. They already have a limited line of stock in store and it's already moving. He admits it's a calculated gamble… None of the people involved are that naive. We've all started businesses before. I just want to make sure we're thorough.

      I am going to say one thing regarding your comment though. A lot of people (especially immigrants) don't have the luxury of professional careers. They basically have no choice but to establish their own businesses in order to get by. They don't have a choice with regards to education either because they may be too old or else they may first have to worry about paying the bills or looking after their families ahead of getting an education.

      That's not to say the above paragraph is related to the people in question but you need to put things in context sometimes…

  • [Deactivated] on 17/09/2015 - 20:43

    What is your definition of Africa? Will you also include Mauritian and Rodrigues foodstuff?

    • dtbnguyen on 17/09/2015 - 21:35
      +1

      They're from the West of Africa but I'm guessing they're willing to bring anything in from anywhere as long as it is viable and is roughly in keeping with the business theme. The last time I was in the store they had a mix of stuff including foods and stuff that you would normally expect to find in a pharmacy store such as cosmetics and shampoo. They were imported from Africa as well as Asia but had a strong African feel/slant to them.

      A good example of this is food or drinks. Very distinct aroma and tastes if you've only ever been exposed to Western and Eastern stuff.

      Anything specific to Mauritian or Rodrigues food that you were interested in?

      Honestly, I don't know whether they'll stock it. I'll have to ask/check with them to see what they can viably bring this stuff in to sell.

      • [Deactivated] on 17/09/2015 - 21:41

        Not anything specific. Was just curious.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/09/2015 - 13:01

    I know a few African people. All I can offer is - although lamb is available everywhere - they're always talking about goat!

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