yx :

it’s been 4 months since the end of our minimart… time for a reflection for our short turbulent six months stint of operating a minimart (Dec 2014 – May 2015). RIP.

1. Choice of Business
   1. Retail – require manpower to be there to operate. Don’t expect to wash your hands totally off the business.
   2. Inventory – need a proper system or technology to monitor stock levels
   3. Need to continue operation on Public Holidays. Should only rest during Chinese New Year, not even Christmas.
   4. Location – need to go down everyday, even a 15 mins drive can become very long.
2. Do not count on the agent to tell you everything.
   1. Inventory check – based on stock on a particular day, counted based on selling price instead of cost price. The stock passed to us was ridiculously little, without cigarettes, we didn’t have an agreement on the inventory level that should be passed to us.
   2. The agent suggested us to resolve with the previous owners directly.
   3. Iecon – Previous owners had a Franchise agreement with iEcon, but told us no. Even on the day we signed the agreement, they were still denying it and trying to brush the matter aside. We didn’t have suppliers for a few products, eg Unilever (Persil, Lipton etc), Colgate items, resulting in Alex having to source and go down to the distributor to buy and lug the items back.
   4. Assignment. The rules, the appeal, the discussions, the back and forth, and…. the miracle on the day we wanted to confirm the contractor for reinstatement works.
3. Working with Suppliers
   1. Weekly and Ad-hoc ordering. Monitoring inventory level. Overwhelming number of suppliers…
      1. Suppliers out-of-stock (Pokka, Coke)
      2. Suppliers promotion require bulk orders (Nestle)
      3. Salesman didn’t come to write orders
      4. Delivery cock-up – need lead time in ordering (Pokka), deliver wrong items (Ellaziq)
      5. Liase with Gardenia and Sunshine to deliver on Public Holidays – whether we are closed and whether they are working
      6. Suppliers who keep pestering u to order when you don’t want to (Organic elephant brown rice)
4. Manpower and Rest
   1. Ann – could only do for Dec and Jan. Must be clear of the commitment for key manpower.
   2. Jaslyn, Jolyn, Joshua – commitment. Change of timings – half an hour late to totally cannot come… Should be clear even with part-timers on the commitment.
   3. Rest at Elizabeth’s house
   4. Lunch and toilet breaks – had to ask Er shu to help to buy lunch sometimes. some lunch is just eat plain bread.
5. Delivery – an attempt
   1. cannot ownself deliver
   2. delivered 10 bottles of oil to hobby baker at her home during cny.
6. Misc things
   1. Coins counting and changing notes
   2. Internet, Ezlink, NETS, printers, scanners, carpark coupon – dare to implement the things you believe will help in growing your business?
   3. ADT’s 3 year contract.
7. Reinstatement
   1. Return of goods to suppliers
      1. some salesman just ignore and don’t come down (Ponni rice, Jia Mei Tze Chung)
      2. Food bank only want free items. Other VWO wants to maintain 30% profit, so cannot take our items.
      3. some are good, responsible and fast to return money (Khong guan, SCA Drypers, Topseller, U-distribution, PMS, BATSMS, JTI)
      4. Still waiting for 3 cheques – Gan Sai, Vitasoy, Lim Siang Huat icecream)
   2. Specifications and Hidden costs

lx : We learnt many lessons in this short stint.

First things first, the minimart was making money, and it was a very good location, with customers streaming in and out none stop. There’s already a habit built up over the past 15-20 years, and we were sort of just harvesting them. Immediately after we took over, we were overwhelmed by the amount of goods which we needed to order, from the suppliers. Some don’t have computer system, they come to your shop, walked around and wrote the order by hand. Invoices were handwritten sometimes. We were overwhelmed by the cashier and “排货” works.

Environment

The hot humid and standing all the time environment was very very bad. The shop was big, but too cluttered and I didn’t have enough space to stretch.

Intention

We wanted it too badly and we were rash in the decision. We missed out a lot of things which crossed our minds, but were too ‘lazy’ to go through in detailed. When we know we were the only bidder, we should have bargained hard. Being good hearted doesnt do you any good in business, at least in this lesson. We could have negotiated hard, played hard to get. We were blinded by the possibility and the future. Should have sat in their shop for 1 month before committing anything. It’s freaking hard work. In some instances, when i mention we, it’s sometimes one of us, sometimes both of us, but both of us faced it together.

We wanted to renovate it, and make it into as 7-11 as we can. But we didn’t have the opportunity.

Before we took over, we had grand plans. Providing all kinds of service, but we didn’t implement all. For example, so many people asked for carpark coupons. But we weren’t motivated enough to provide this service. We didn’t see the value in building the relationship. It was not a 10c profit. it was a chance for us to build up the network of customers.

24 hours : we wanted to do it too! But manpower problems are real.

Black & White

We’ve downplayed this, trusting others the way we trusted ourselves. The minimart seller was not being outright dishonest; nor was the middleman. They were not even trying to cheat us. But the way they did things was always, of course, to be beneficial to them first, us second. Nobody was there to fight for us. It’s our words against theirs, with the middle man disappearing after the deal was closed.

This taught us to be more careful, discerning, not to be too naive, when it comes to contracts.

Experience

The lack of it makes us fight a battle with common sense alone. And sometimes the world works in ways that is opposing the typical common sense. And sometimes the lack of experience pulls us back. We knew we needed to this this and this, but we didn’t have the resources ( energy & time & lack of exposure to manpower negotiations and sources ), or we just talked ourselves out of it.

We were looking at individual items, 25% profit, and we laughed at 0.10 cents profit. But actually, the way to do this minimart biz is to provide 30,000 items, and if each makes u 25% profit on average, you got business. The problem was that we were the cashier as well, draining us of wisdom and sense. When we make a sale of 0.5 cents, we dismissed it. Especially to me, an extremist who would like to do things “at one go”. My contracts range from SGD 4,500 to SGD 100,000. It just seems to trivial to be doing sales of 0.5 cents. Our mindset is wrong from get go, and that’s the problem. The mindset determines the tone and angle, and ours was not in the right place.

Building a minimart customer base is simple. Provide any kinds of services, make friends with them, remember their names, and you will have an army of loyal customers. The idea, at least, is simple. We did our best with the 500 customers, offending a few ( they spreading to their neighbours ).

People talk!

It’s never their fault, it’s always ‘the others’. Their expectations are always reasonable. When you’re closing, people spread it like wild fire. Cos they have nothing better to talk about other than ‘the others’.

Vendors

You would think they needed us more than we needed them. Turns out we needed them more. We were at their mercy, and we were eaten alive. Those guys have been in business 15 years and we were noobs. It’s not negotiations, it’s just bully. We didn’t have chips to negotiate, no strings to pull, no intellectual advantage we could use, no monetary muscle to flex; therefore, we were purely vendors-customers relationship, and that’s the most devastating relationship of all.

There were about 25% of the vendors who took pity upon us, and treating us like their children. There are of course good and ‘bad’ people in this world. We sucked thumbs and accepted it all. We couldn’t do much but slogged forward.

Family & Friends

To those who supported us, we appreciated it, and we will probably remember them for live. Day in Day out, we were slogging, and we could remember the familiar faces amid the 500 strangers who patronised the shop. Those familiar faces made us feel relieved, safe, secured. Finally someone who stepped into the shop without a demand, without a chance of disappointing them because their favourite detergent ran out of stock. There were those who reached out and helped, and there were those who questioned our products mix. Special shoutout to @Er Shu and @Damon who helped, despite everything they’ve heard, experienced.

We have missed so many meals because of someone elses’ value system. This makes me angry, and this makes me distant. This makes me want to have revenge. God help me please.

Pride

We decided that we have to cut losses in terms of opportunity cost and stopped this venture. It’s a difficult decision to make. Customers coming enquiring about you stopping, and the worry on their faces show how much they dont care about you, but rather, “Where am i going to buy my newspapers?”. Family and friends come to say “I told you so” in 500 different ways, and of course, some idiots coming to say “Aiyo.. if earning profit why need to stop”. Whatever you do, there will be some who would come, and question your analysis, your judgement call, your intuition, and your business tactics.

At the end of the day, it was a relieve and we were sad to let it go. As in many things in life, they could have worked, but there’s just too many things done wrongly.

Aftermath

We learnt about taking commitment seriously, and we learnt the hard way how to appreciate our personal time. Time is indeed the most precious resource in this world. From then on, we learnt not to say yes to too many things, and learnt to guard our privacy and time carefully. Any day, which you can sit at home doing whatever you like, is a damn good day. We learnt that our time must be used to do something which adds value to your life ( yes rich dad poor dad and 200 other books about this topic was right. )

It’s also about letting go. It’s difficult, but we were brave to make that decision. And God gave us mercy, and a graceful way to exit this wrong path.