marketing, advertising, retailI have rented retail location and opened new company that sells used cardio equipment Treadmills, Ellipticals, Cardio Bikes, and minor bodybuilding equipment.
It’s on outskirts of downtown of big city, there’s not much walk traffic though, however there’s a freeway exit and many cars pass by every day.
Problem is i am not making enough income even pay rent at this point equipment we sell is quality and we got lifetime warranty, but not many people walk in every day, maybe 5-10 people a day walk in the store at best and most of them are people who called first, we have equipment standing outside on sidewalk and a big sign on the store, however it don’t seem to attract any walk-ins or people who drive by.
Used to have website and keep it up to date but not having much traffic (website it has to be advertised too SEO is not enough) on it so we stopped updating it.
Only advertising we do is Craigslist, there’s too much competition there and its not working as expected.
I need to find a new strategy for marketing our equipment to the potential customers, what would you suggest doing other than fliers.
Consider developing your wholesale business. Two channels occur to me.
Talk to and try to sell to (i.e., supply) stores like Sears, Target, etc. with your used equipment. Those that sell gym equipment but don’t necessarily specialize in it. You should know and approach every single one of these stores in your city and all surrounding cities and towns that are within a reasonable driving distance. You might go and talk to manager at all those stores and see if you can work out a supplier relationship with them. Or sell on consignment.
You should be intimately familiar with all the gyms in your city. You should know all their equipment managers personally on a first name basis and take them donuts and coffee. Build these relationships and see if you can do business together. They can be both customers and suppliers.
Your retail location is not worth the money if it doesn’t draw enough traffic to pay the rent. So you need to change. Consider either upgrading your traffic visibility (like moving into a mall) or downgrading it (like moving to industrial warehouse space on the outskirts of town, or just selling out of a properly licensed garage).
The one benefit your retail location does give you is credibility when you approach your prospective channel partners I described above.
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