Starting a sunglass booth at the flea market! Need help

[jesse1341]

Well first of all I'm new to this forum and I want to say thank you to everyone who posts here. Well I am going to rent a booth at the local flea market and I am going to be selling nothing but sunglasses. I got this idea after I had bought me and my girlfriend a pair of sun glasses at the mall. We bought both pairs for $20 + tax. When I researched the wholesale price for these glasses I found out I can buy them for $20 a dozen. So I can make a profit of $100 per dozen, sounds very lucrative to me at this moment. The great thing is that I can rent the booth for $50 a weekend and it is one of the biggest in the state of texas with over 3 million visitors a year! So I am wondering if any one else here has ever sold sunglasses. How many should I expect to sale? I have noticed there is other vendors selling sunglasses but they never have a good selection(no more than 20 pairs). I am planning to have 100's of pairs. All diffrent colors and different brands. So I would really appreciate it if anyone can give me some tips on this idea of mine, thanks in advance.

*experience in sales and customer service

[borisfowler]

No one has metrics for how many you can expect to sell. If you are a good salesmen and you have a good product, then it should sell itself. I cant imagine sunglasses would need to much selling. Either people want them or they dont. I think you should anticipate selling less than you think, just from my experience with sales.

[veikoh]

I looked on those guys who are selling them in beach. They do few deals per day, so it's not much a big business.

[Dmommy]

I think it's a great idea. I'm not sure where you're located but here in Los Angeles, sunglasses sell for $10 in booths not in a mall. $8 at gas stations. I have lots of girl friends and we impulse buy sunglasses all the time.

[rball]

cool sounds like a good thing. might not be sustainable tho

[jesse1341]

Thanks for the positive replies, I'm going to give it a try within the next 2 weeks, if it doesn't work out then I'll move on. But I really think it will.

[BenFromSoMo]

Focus on creating a brand and really engaging the customers. You could be selling much more than sun glasses, you could be selling an engaging customer experience. People will pay you whatever you want if you engage them emotionally. Don't think that because you are small you have to be small time in your creativity in marketing and most specifically branding.

[The ENTREPRENEUR]

Good Idea, however it is an idea that will make it hard to make money, yes everybody buys sunglasses but how many do you need to sell per week to make this business profitable? my guess is a lot.

[Entrepreneur88]

Keep in mind if you start out with buying 100s of different pairs of sunglasses, your start up costs will be greater and thus more pressure for X-amount of sales per day each day over a long period.

I'd do some research on whats the most popular type/brand/color and who wears them (male/female) then act accordingly and have those types/colors more abundent in stock than some random pair.
Also, it wouldn't hurt to ask at local stores/gas stations to put a display case there and restock each week, you will have to give part of the earnings to the store owners but it would be sales you otherwise would not acquire. Yes, you'll need more capital for the stands but you can make your own for pretty cheap.