Opening a Store! It's Simple... Or Is It?

This post is about another topic. Practical experience starting our small online store. If you read various blogs and instructions online, everything sounds very simple and beautiful. And according to online texts, almost for free. Maybe it works out that way for someone, but my experience is a bit different. Our idea was quite simple - we choose a dropshipping supplier, put products in the store that would be useful for regular walking enthusiasts - we sell, the dropshipper provides the product and delivery, we keep a small commission, the client is happy. Since we're in the European Union, we're planning that our customers could be all across the EU. The plan is as simple as five rubles. Just get to it!

We started with director Dave researching what would be needed to open a Shopify online store. After careful research, Dave created a little plan and we were ready to start getting busy. The first step involves legal matters - we need to understand the business form, how our store will operate, understand where and how to pay taxes, and other organizational things. Where questions about cooperation with state institutions and money need to be handled, we agreed that I'll do it myself. The good news is that we already have a company. The company registered in Latvia, SIA "Satelītu tehnoloģijas" (Satellite Technologies Ltd.), was founded almost 20 years ago. Recently, there hasn't been too much active activity in the company, but the company's status is good and stable. The company is a VAT payer and has always had good relations with state institutions. Some data in the register needed to be updated, and the company was ready to embark on a new business adventure.

The company is registered in Latvia and we'll pay taxes in Latvia. So it was necessary to research how VAT payment works if a company wants to sell goods to private individuals in the European Union. Everything seems simple - we'll choose suppliers who deliver goods from the EU and sell to customers located in the EU. There shouldn't be major problems. We started researching the VAT payment scheme called OSS VAT, which regulates the sale of goods between EU countries. The more I read, the more complicated everything becomes. More and more variables appear in our equation. Everything changes depending on where the company is registered, from where the goods are delivered, and ultimately, which country our customer is in. Questions arise - which VAT rate to apply? The one set in the registration country, or the one set in the country where the customer is located? Ah, and all of this of course changes depending on turnover - at a certain turnover level, the rules start allowing fewer variations. OK, let's try to simplify everything a bit - we'll focus on customers in Latvia and Germany and look for product suppliers with warehouses in the EU. The plan is starting to become more precise.

The next step in our plan: create the store. We registered a Shopify store, set up our virtual store (thanks to my brother Reinis for help with the visual design). Dave tried to help with the visual image, but we agreed that he would mainly work with texts and we'd leave the visual image to a professional. The store is ready, we've defined our store's identity philosophy and how we'll differ from other active walking equipment suppliers. You can find all of this at the beginning of our website. The next step, of course, was to create our profiles on social media to make it easier to communicate and reach our customers. Some time ago, I left all social media (only stayed on LinkedIn), now it was time to return. So came the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TheHokingClub), Instagram profile (https://www.instagram.com/hokingclub/), Twitter or as it's now called X profile (https://x.com/thehokingclub), and Threads profile (https://www.threads.com/@hokingclub). In these places, we'll share important news and various interesting content, but more about that in one of the upcoming blog posts.

The store is ready, showcase windows on social media are created - time to fill the shelves with products that would delight our customers, friends, and our The Hoking Club members. Dave had found some dropshipping suppliers whose services we could use. Since we're planning to start without large investments, we were looking for suppliers that wouldn't have too high subscription costs. And here we encounter big challenges. First, there aren't many suppliers who deliver goods from the EU. Those who deliver from the EU mainly focus on the luxury market segment, which is not our target audience. There are some suppliers that would fit, but they mainly focus on mass consumer goods and don't offer products that would be interesting specifically for The Hoking Club customers. Or there are large European suppliers, but their usage costs are too high for a new niche store like The Hoking Club. After long and careful research sessions and discussions with Dave, we arrived at plan B.

Plan B involves returning to a classic business model. We found a European supplier that allows ordering goods in small quantities and ordered the first products. As a result, initially the selection will be somewhat smaller, but there's also a big plus. Since we'll receive the goods initially in our small warehouse in Germany, we'll have the opportunity to test them on real walks. And all the products you'll see in the store will be real products that are in our warehouse, not some virtual inventory. We'll see how it works. The first products will be placed on our virtual shelves quite soon. You're welcome to browse and order. Soon you'll also see our experience testing the products we'll offer you.

See you at The Hoking Club store!

Mārtiņš

Translated by Dave 🍌