What do you think?

It's a bit like lighting the blue touchpaper and running off to ask such an open and leading question but I would welcome some views. I am thinking of starting up a business to supply Defender bits... just Defenders, no gaylanders, rangies or anything else. I plan to track down the best bits I can find so that I only supply good quality parts so that people can trust that I won't sell crap! So here's the question, do you think there is room for this in an already well served market or is there space for good service and quality bits out there or will I be just burning up some money?? I'm thinking mail order with a Somerset based trade counter style unit? If I go ahead and set it up I will look to advertise here on this site but would like to hear your opinions first?

think you may struggle to be competitive unless you are able to make bulk orders from the beginning to get a reasonable discount from the supplier and dont restrict yourself to just one model.

Its nice to specialise but business is business whether it is parts for a gaylander or a defender.

thanks for that Bobbler, the idea behind specialising in just defenders is to try to cover just about everything you could possibly want for a defender and to try to do that across all models would mean huge stocks of parts but I hear what you are saying.

As an update to this thread, I've decided to go ahead with the business and will be moving into the unit on the 1st of December, I have started to talk to a few suppliers but will let you all know when things get up and running probably early in the new year. I would be interested to hear about the things that you struggle to find or things that you have bought where the quality has been disappointing so I can seek out an alternative.
I think I must be slightly mad to start up a business in a recession but I guess if I can make it work now then it'll grow when things pick up.

welcome to the club, we have started a Land Rover business here in Portugal - not the most cash rich country to do it in but hey ho. We got the concept of the business quite wrong at first, thinking that we could just act as a mail order/ sales outlet, but we now find that the workshop is where our most profit is coming from, it was never our intention for us to have an "open" workshop but with having our own Landies inside and working on them has brought in the Portugese owners from far and wide - it has all been done by word of mouth.

Do make sure that you have enough cash available to cover your quiet periods and do not give up!!! Best of luck.

bmp42 said:

welcome to the club, we have started a Land Rover business here in Portugal - not the most cash rich country to do it in but hey ho. We got the concept of the business quite wrong at first, thinking that we could just act as a mail order/ sales outlet, but we now find that the workshop is where our most profit is coming from, it was never our intention for us to have an "open" workshop but with having our own Landies inside and working on them has brought in the Portugese owners from far and wide - it has all been done by word of mouth.

Do make sure that you have enough cash available to cover your quiet periods and do not give up!!! Best of luck.

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The local area is well served with good independent Land Rover workshops so for me it will have to be mail order with local pick up, good to hear you are going strong, it is encouraging.

bigandyt said:

As an update to this thread, I've decided to go ahead with the business and will be moving into the unit on the 1st of December, I have started to talk to a few suppliers but will let you all know when things get up and running probably early in the new year. I would be interested to hear about the things that you struggle to find or things that you have bought where the quality has been disappointing so I can seek out an alternative.
I think I must be slightly mad to start up a business in a recession but I guess if I can make it work now then it'll grow when things pick up.

Click to expand...

Good luck and I hope it works out for you

Have you seen the number of landy parts places in the mags? That's a lot of competition. Not to mention the interweb and all the hobby traders and people just selling stuff off on ebay. Good luck.

some people used to think if it was painted orange it was a quality item - one mans idea of what's good isn't the same as the next mans

it's not a bad idea, but i'll bet you will end up selling anything - as long as it makes a profit you'll be selling it

how much for a 10 spline front diff?

ow much for a LT230 1.222:1 transfer box,

And how much for a set of seats?

Just to see what your prices are like for a giggle

That's a point. Are you gonna do new parts or second hand or both?

You've jumped into what is already a saturated market, you'd best have the best prices, quality parts & customer service to succeed ... good luck ... remember reputation is everything in business.

i will say this for u, u got balls, good luck with it. check out the wanted section on here as a quick starting point. if it is cheap and quality then every person on here will have your kit and u'll be laughing. hope it goes well for u and ill be sure to shout for a price if i need anything.

Like it's been said, it's difficult to do and succeed in it, but it's not impossible.

Good luck with it

All the best, a lot of fair points made above, but if you were willing to make a go at it and had some money to sink into it then you could be on a winner. If I thought I could get everything from one vendor, and didn't need to check EVERY item to ensure it wasn't rubbish I would go there.

Another thing that could make you more appealing to the less knowledgeable Defender owners would be proper product listing, images of all parts, a parts diagram. Even I sometimes sit and stare at a part description trying to work out if it is actually what I want because sites can't be bothered getting everything catalogues properly. Also, there is a lot of ambiguity when it comes to LR parts because there are so many cross references and "fit all" parts, listing this and explaining it all would make you a popular vendor.

You need to beat paddocks, which will be hard but I'm sure there's a way. You could charge for fitting or offer fitting on parts over £100. That could be a usp.

Thank you all for some very constructive points. To give an update on progress, which has been slower than I'd hoped, we have the premises and have almost completed the fitting out, I am looking at finding the right stock control system as I hate to order to find they don't have it, I am in discussions with key suppliers and this is most important to ensure quality. I hope to be trading in the next couple of months. To answer a few of the points raised, I will only be supplying new parts I won't be offering fitting as there are some excellent independents in the area who can do that and I am a patient person and this business can build over time, if I make nothing for a few years but build a solid foundation based on good products and good service, I will be a happy man, any success will take time and I can wait. I will let you know when I have begun my stock ordering and am ready to trade and I hope to have a parts website that will make ordering easy and clear too..... lots to do.
cheers,
Andy
http://www.defenderbits.co.uk

If yu are "box shifting" ie not adding value, Yu might struggle. A reasonable stock/VAT/ordering system is Sage, but it does not allow multiple suppliers. It does, however have the benefit of being easily available and us "approved" by tax and government bodies.
You need to to determine what it is about your business that no-one else can offer, otherwise yu will be ****ing in the wind.
Although yu say "defender only". Don't forget that a lot of parts are interchangeable between defenders and, say, discos. Don't turn down a sale or put yourself between a rock and a hard place, just to sell a unique and segmented Market.
Good luck tho.

The progress has been slower than I expected but I have now begun to trade with some basic service items and accessories and am taking my time tracking down the best quality items that I can, so I will be looking at the top end of the market in terms of quality, OEM or better. I won't be selling anything that I wouldn't fit to my own Defender. The online shop will only show items that I actually have and the pictures will be of the specific item so you can see what it looks like too.
I guess time will tell if there is space in the market for such specialism and focus on quality but for now I am happy to wait and see, if I'm wrong i'll change the plan (I haven't got a hat that I'd risk eating )

did you get accounts with britpart bearmach and allmakes