About LFS....

[juanico]

i do not know, whether it applies for the average delhi customer, but i prefer to pay more for quality fish/plants/products than paying less for dusty crap.
i think a shop should offer products in all ranges from cheap to more expensive quality to satisfy needs of all customers.

as parthapratim already mentioned...one or more show tanks are important to drive customers into the shop.
furthermore it always makes an good impression if the shop is clean and orderly...not many in delhi are...

i think the biggest problem of the lfs in delhi are their suppliers...my impression is most of them rely on 1 or 2 wholesaler...
if the wholesaler has stocks, all lfs have stocks...but all have the same stock.
if the wholesaler has no stock, all dealer tanks are empty as well.

try to get a good reputation, it pays off in the long run.

just my 2 cents
juanico

[parthapratim22]

Its now turned into a general LFS review thread...and Punnet I think you can easily understand what your prospective customers want from a LFS...not only good fish or plants but sure you wiliness to share information, how you display a tank, and you LFs cleanliness...

I can give you an example...my friend, not a hobbyist, one day she went a shop with me...I think that shop is the most clean shop in hyderabad, whatever I have seen here...she told you should buy all your fishes and plants from here...also that shop had a good collection of Discuss in a clean tank, a planted semi-display tank...moreover his all tanks are clean...this proves, a customer always wants to buy from a clean shop.

I think display tank can bring you good volume corporate tie-ups, where you can put your margin reasonable % more than a household customer or hobbyist...rather hobbyist are more dangerous in India

[puneet]

thanks 4 ur wishes...

[devansh]

puneet- you already have a good established family business, i would advice you is not to jump in this LFS business just because your are a hobbyist, business is purely a commercial venture where your stress will only be increasing sales, being a hobbyist does give you an added advantage in terms of knowledge but that is not all, its is more important to know how to increase profit then to know the fish profile in detail.
i had an LFS here in New friends colony - his shop rent was about 70,000 coz of the location & initially he got a very good respond to, is customers belonged to upper class & he used to sell a 1k worth aquarium for 10k & still made good sales, but his business lasted only 2 years- selling gold fishes on a small scale could not provide for him.
prices in Delhi are sky high & availability of good fishes is less, most of the famous LFS have been in business for many years & have a very good "network" of suppliers & customers, if you do start an LFS do not assume you will profit in first few months , establishing trust of common man is not easy & takes a lot of time, supposedly if a person goes to laxmi nagar where he can buy at cheaper rates why will he buy from you? you need to give him better value for money.

i am not trying to de-motivate you but simply saying that in starting it requires far more effort then we imagine.

[SCORPIO]

I think if a hobbyist starting a aquarium related business, it will be good for hobby. He will take care of live stock and also the hobbyists. The initial price of fish is Rs. 35 but a reputated L.F.S. selling it in Rs. 250. If he sales fish in Rs. 100 pair then what is going wrong. Once I have so irritated by the behave of L.F.S. owner and I have planned to open a shop to provide all items on good price. My duty timing is from 8am t0 2pm. So I am free after 2pm. But later I throw away the idea.

If you are going to open an aquarium shop, dont think about the profit up to one year.

[parthapratim22]

puneet- you already have a good established family business, i would advice you is not to jump in this LFS business just because your are a hobbyist, business is purely a commercial venture where your stress will only be increasing sales, being a hobbyist does give you an added advantage in terms of knowledge but that is not all, its is more important to know how to increase profit then to know the fish profile in detail.
i had an LFS here in New friends colony - his shop rent was about 70,000 coz of the location & initially he got a very good respond to, is customers belonged to upper class & he used to sell a 1k worth aquarium for 10k & still made good sales, but his business lasted only 2 years- selling gold fishes on a small scale could not provide for him.
prices in Delhi are sky high & availability of good fishes is less, most of the famous LFS have been in business for many years & have a very good "network" of suppliers & customers, if you do start an LFS do not assume you will profit in first few months , establishing trust of common man is not easy & takes a lot of time, supposedly if a person goes to laxmi nagar where he can buy at cheaper rates why will he buy from you? you need to give him better value for money.

i am not trying to de-motivate you but simply saying that in starting it requires far more effort then we imagine.

What you have said here, maximum is common for every start-up business, might be not that much visible in others, but those who everyday analyze about price, quantity and quality of LFS they can say the same what myself and you have said here...you are a well wisher of Puneet as me also...and I am sure we are influencing only 1% of Punnet's thought process...

[Zakk]

I have done a lil research cos i was looking to set up a good store locally as well. what i could figure out was this

Find a good farm where you can get fish @ 4 to 5 five rupees a piece. Most of these farms are up north towards kolkatta, down south in chennai and locally (kerala)

Turn over you can expect only after the 4th month onwards.

I'll be very honest with you. if you intend to make money selling fish, you need to not educate the customers. experienced hobbyists will not loose fish unless he is redoing his stock list or has a crash or doin a new setup. all LFS make money from people who add Golds, Balas, Gourami in a 20gallon tank. Not serious hobbyists.

If you are willing to look the other way for monetery gains, you will make money else you will run into losses. you dont need to do much. 40 tanks, 10 large airpumps, 40 sponge filters, unlimited fresh water. there is money to be made if you are willin to keep a clean shop. out here, am not liked by most LFS cos i end up kicking their rear ends when it comes to fish keeping. i have seen people buy parrots, golds, plecos, kissing gourami and when asked if he has a 100 gallon tank to house all these fish he smiled and said no its a 2 foot tank. which in all possibility is a 12 or 15 gallon tank. These are the people who keep LFS's in the running. Not people like me who dont buy fish for months on end cos i hardly ever lose my fish. All the 4 shops here respect me but dont like it cos they cant make money off me.

[marsaiko]

If you are going to open an aquarium shop, dont think about the profit up to one year.

Would be great if you can please share the statistics(in sample numbers) regarding this point.
Thank you.

edit* Just saw Flemings post, it gave some insights.

[Zakk]

Ok if you want figures i got some for you

Terminology index:

CP - Cost price
SP - Sale Price
BP - Bulk Price (Above 20 pieces)
WP - Whole Sale Price (100+ pieces)

Name CP/Pair SP/Pair BP/Pair WP/Pair
Danio 3 15 10 7
Gold (local bred) 5 25 20 15
Widow Tetra 10 30 25 20
Rummy Nose 15 40 30 25
Pleco - Common 10 (single) 30 (single) 25 (single) 20 (single)

[parthapratim22]

I'll be very honest with you. if you intend to make money selling fish, you need to not educate the customers. experienced hobbyists will not loose fish unless he is redoing his stock list or has a crash or doin a new setup. all LFS make money from people who add Golds, Balas, Gourami in a 20gallon tank. Not serious hobbyists.

A layman LFS is doing this, because we dont think the other way, if we educate our customer he might upgrade his setup...if we say a Biotope is far looking better than a normal goldfish tank...sure he will ask what is biotope you will 1st educate, then will sell some cheaper cichlids and will say you take a 3ft tank...but condition apply you should have a good looking biotope tank for display in your store. then after some days from cheaper cichlids to Fronts, Lemons whatever you want you sell....moreover if you can educate you can make your customer upgrade 10 times and 100 times costlier and 100 times profit...I dont think in Delhi you have customer reluctant to pay for up-gradation...

But sure you dont expect Housewives will upgrade from Golds to Cichlids...