Owning A Mini Mart Business

[VespaSeeker]

Hi does anybody have any experience of running a small shop house style Mini Mart , what i`m really need to know is what kind of profit margin can be expected on selling small everyday items ( coffee ,cigeretes , suger,mama shampoo etc ) .

I was thinking it would not be a higher mark up than 5% to 10% thus meaning you would have to have a daily turn over of 15,000bt to 20,000bt per day to see any decent monthly profit .

Any info would be much appreciated thanks .

[bangkokjackk]

20,000 baht turnover with a 5% margin will make you 1000 baht a day???

Is that what you mean? Doesnt sound good to me? Will you be employing yourself?

[CWMcMurray]

I'd say your estimates are about right. My wife's parents had a small store like this for quite some time.

The only items with a better profit margin were beer, whisky and cigs...

Unless you have a high turn over its never going to make you much money and even less if you have to hire some one to run it.

If it is meant as something for the folks to do to get by it can be ok, just make sure that everyone knows that if you help with the initial set up cost and inventory thats it, the store must then support itself.

You may even want to setup something where by they pay you back a certain amount every month until your initial investment is paid back.

[keestha]

Not long ago I asked an accountant who has many clients in Phuket, how high the profit margin of a mini mart is. Without even having to think for a moment, she said: 15%. But maybe she was thinking of situations like mini marts attached to hotels, who of course have a higher mark up the the typical mum and pop store an accountant never professionally gets in touch with.

OP sorry for going outside the scope of your question.......To my experience, often when Thai people have a business idea, it is: mini mart. It is a type of business you don't need any specific skills for. But for instance in the area where I live, I saw mini marts come and go. Location is extremely important, and of course there is always the risk of a 7/11 opening nearby.

[CroBiker]

Mini mart is bad idea. I suggest you contact 7/11. Speaking from personal experience, I have 8 units in 3 provinces.

They do all the work, train the staff and computerize all transactions. That way business gets resupplied in timely fashion without any hitches.

They will suggest the location, provide all appliances etc.

[CroBiker]

Oh yes, if you want to apply for franchise contact this person:

Sureeporn Chapong

[email protected]

[Boater]

Hi Crobiker

Thanks for your post, as there has been so many different posts on owning a 7 - 11

from your experience,

how much did it cost to set up each of your 7 - 11?

HOw much takings do you take per day?

What are you costs per month?

How much profit do you make a month, and how does this reflect your original investment on the unit?

Do they supply you a work permit?, can you chose the staff and how many work in the store at any given time? can you control which staff you hire and also can you work in the store yourself ( if you wanted )

Thanks

[CroBiker]

Prices of setup differs on size of each unit. Check the attachment (find someone to translate to English) and you'll get pretty good picture.

Profit depends on location, let's just say I never had it bellow 50,000 baht a month.

I never asked for work permit, we setup company under my wife's name.

You may choose the staff but they have to be trained by 7/11 and complete the course successfully.

Also, I never seen farang working in 7/11, better leave this to locals. Every transaction and article on sale is accounted for. Anything goes missing, 7/11 HQ will report them to police per your request.

As I said, read that attachment, call 7/11 folks in Bangkok and they can give you more updated information.

_B8_87__3607___3640___3609___3649___3615___3619___3609___3652___3594___3626___3660__7_eleven___3626___3656___3591__FAX_1_.pdf

[CroBiker]

On another note, those details in attachment are from September 2007, I am not sure if prices have gone up since then.

[tango]

Thanks kindly CroBiker for your sharing data and experiece wrt 7-11. Many of us, if only in passing, have most likely wondered about this topic, and thus one less puzzle in life to settle. Cheers

[comproez]

Hi Crobiker,

Thanks for sharing about your 7-11 experience.

I just have 2 questions.

Does your wife need to have a degree or show history of management skills to be eligible for 7-11 franchise?

And finally, how much involvement do you need to run your franchises e.g staff recruitment and management?

Thanks again

[Guest Bellini]

Does 7-Eleven guarantee that there will not be another 7-Eleven store within a certain distance of your own store?

[CroBiker]

Hi Crobiker,

Thanks for sharing about your 7-11 experience.

I just have 2 questions.

Does your wife need to have a degree or show history of management skills to be eligible for 7-11 franchise?

And finally, how much involvement do you need to run your franchises e.g staff recruitment and management?

Thanks again

Yes, they did ask about degree and experience but it wasn't prevailing factor when making approval decision. Bottom line is "show me the money" and rest is easy. Personaly, I am not involved at all in day to day operations and my wife has a good break too. It is much less involvement then runing own restaurant. Recruitment is done by 7/11 themselves unless you wish to recommend staff who as I said earlier has to go through training process.

[CroBiker]

Does 7-Eleven guarantee that there will not be another 7-Eleven store within a certain distance of your own store?

Not necessarily, from time to time they will send existing franchise holders offers to chip in and open new outlets in certain areas they consider. I have to say, they are greedy and some outlets are within 200 yards from each other, no guarantess really....

[lambretta]

Like most forums you can wade through piles of crap and every now and then a "golden nugget" of information will be there, this being one of them. Cheers CroBiker it's good to hear it from someone who knows first hand.

[VespaSeeker]

Hi ,thanks for everybody's input , the profit margins people mentioned were as i expected and several people have suggested 7/11 to me now so i will be looking into that as soon as my Thai GF returns from business in Bali .

The smaller minimart i am interested in is in a excelent location with very high traffic ,so much so that there are several other businesses operating outside the minimart from which rents for there pitches will cover the rental i would pay for the shop house and staff .

Thats why i was asking about profit margins as any thing sold from the minimart would be purely profit as all other overheads are covered ( well 95% anyway )

Thanks again to all posters and if indeed i do decide to enter into this little venture i will update this post as i go along ,be it succesfull or not .

[soundman]

Does 7-Eleven guarantee that there will not be another 7-Eleven store within a certain distance of your own store?

Not necessarily, from time to time they will send existing franchise holders offers to chip in and open new outlets in certain areas they consider. I have to say, they are greedy and some outlets are within 200 yards from each other, no guarantess really....

Our second 7/11 is being opened within 100m from an existing 7/11. The reason for this is that Tesco Express wanted the site. 7/11 caught wind of this and made an offer that trumped Tesco Express.

When we asked Sales at 7/11 why, their reply was that Tesco will kill their business because they have a better range at cheaper prices & we will do anything to keep them out of prime retail positions. (New facet to cluster theory?)

Funny thing, after 7/11 signed a 12 year rental contract, Tesco secured a similar lease on the building next door.

Luckily for us this particular site is fixed rent rather than a percentage of sale.

[VespaSeeker]

Our second 7/11 is being opened within 100m from an existing 7/11. The reason for this is that Tesco Express wanted the site. 7/11 caught wind of this and made an offer that trumped Tesco Express.

...

Sorry i am a little confused by your post , are you saying you now have two 7/11 franchises ?

Also you dont seem worried about the fact they are very close togethor and you will have a teso's for competition on your doorstep .

[soundman]

Sorry i am a little confused by your post , are you saying you now have two 7/11 franchises ?...

Yes - two.

No - not worried at all. The "franchises" are company owned and run. The first, in our service station, pays a percentage of sales as rent. 10 Year lease with buyout option at any time.

The second, next to the Tesco Express store pays a monthly rent (nearly double what we were actually expecting to get for the space). 12 Year lease with buyout option.

Cheers.

[soundman]

Here is some information that gives a clear overview of CP7/11 business.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[12DrinkMore]

Thank you Soundman for that link.

It has raised a few questions.

The average "ticket" presumably jargon for customer spends 70 Baht. Sounds reasonable.

The average daily take is around 70,000 Baht. So around 1,000 customers/day, this is about 50/hour. I can believe this, there is almost always a queue.

With a 15% margin we are looking at 10,000 Baht/day profit, less rent/staff/overheads.

Rent, maybe 30,000 / month, staff 9 PAX @ 6,000 = 54,000, Overheads 20,000/month.

So I guess the average store will return around 200,000 Baht/month.

But that conflicts with CroBiker, who reckons on around 40,000 Baht/month minimum income, or maybe not?

Maybe CroBiker might like to put up a few figures? We are hardly in competition as Thailand is a large country and I doubt whether we will put each other out of business, but it's good to have some concrete knowledge from somebody who has been down the path. And in Farangland the Thais will always group together and give each the low down on visas, businesses and extracting the max.....

[basjke]

Thank you Soundman for that link.

It has raised a few questions.

The average "ticket" presumably jargon for customer spends 70 Baht. Sounds reasonable.

The average daily take is around 70,000 Baht. So around 1,000 customers/day, this is about 50/hour. I can believe this, there is almost always a queue.

With a 15% margin we are looking at 10,000 Baht/day profit, less rent/staff/overheads.

Rent, maybe 30,000 / month, staff 9 PAX @ 6,000 = 54,000, Overheads 20,000/month.

So I guess the average store will return around 200,000 Baht/month.

But that conflicts with CroBiker, who reckons on around 40,000 Baht/month minimum income, or maybe not?

Maybe CroBiker might like to put up a few figures? We are hardly in competition as Thailand is a large country and I doubt whether we will put each other out of business, but it's good to have some concrete knowledge from somebody who has been down the path. And in Farangland the Thais will always group together and give each the low down on visas, businesses and extracting the max.....

Might be that you forgot to add your initial investment to the calculation.

[Mosa]

can any body pls guide me regarding getting franchise like 7-11. family mart or mini mart, i am not thai national so can i eligibal for getting any one franchise and i also want to know the detail procedure total investment in small normal mart. plss i am in tension from last two week searching website but not any clear idea, my email add is << Use PM >> , also reply me here

Edited February 13, 2011 by thaiphoon
E-mail address removed per forum rules