Have grocery shopping software, need clients

[mduffley]

I have a business that licenses grocery shopping software to entrepreneurs and small grocery stores.

I'm looking for a few ideas on how we can find clients. Most of our current licensees have found us just by searching on google.

I want to directly target people who would need an online grocery shopping website. Any ideas would be appreciated!

[jasaunders]

Advertise.
Target franchise lists and articles, for example Entrepreneur magazine often writes about franchises and has lists of the best ones, with plenty of advertising. Contact journalists to get press coverage in media that would be applicable to potential customers of yours.

[stand856]

how many stores do you currently work with?
how did you get those accounts?

[syia]

ask.. magazines gear towards entrepreneur to do articles about your service.. you need exposure

[mduffley]

Right now most of our clients have searched and found us on search engines. We have also done some direct e-mailing to stores that could use a quality website.

[Unreal030]

Well you did the most obvious and highest return potential options...so hmmm..let me think about it. However yes, advertising it as a great startup in an entrepreneur or business magazine would be an idea.

Even though the licensing monthly fee makes me want to throw up a little it is still much less than most startup businesses with the same potential profit margin. I mean, you mark up the prices, just like retail stores do when they get sent items by the manufacturer...so you make some profit guaranteed for every purchase. You do not buy the product unless the customer has already ordered it so you are guaranteed to cover that problem money wise. Colleges have a huge amount of students, a good amount don't bring cars and etc, groceries and dorm supplies right to their dorm is a big thing and the prices are pretty good considering the service.


I mean..thats pretty much all there is to it, its not a difficult business model. Theres really no risk of losing money unless you lose your delivery hands. Marketing is pretty much a non-existant worry as you have thousands of people packed into a couple dorm halls here and there, just slap a few fliers here and there and you have a couple hundred potential customers at least. With good service to those initial customers, more will follow.

The only difficult part is finding the people who have the time and willingness to do the deliveries. However if you advertise specifically what you need employment wise, on-campus, its probably not difficult. Most in-college jobs here offer 7-8 bucks an hour too. You say you pay yours $7 an hour, so it wouldn't be that hard to find people. Especially since in-college jobs are somewhat limited number wise.