How to start a grocery shop in Uganda. A grocery shop is a shop that sells food and other household items.
Often called supermarkets, grocery shops are go-to sources for a home’s food needs.
Grocery shops also sell important kitchen utensils, disposable items, cleaning materials, candy, alcohol, soft drinks, and self-care items.
Today, we are going to look at how one can start a grocery shop in Uganda. Here is a full guide on how you can start your business.
Step 1. Carry Out Market Research
Like all other businesses, before starting a grocery shop in Uganda, you need to look for a place that has customers for what you want to sell in your grocery shop.
You can only tell if a place has customers after carrying out research in that place. This is where market research comes in.
Market research according to Investopedia is the process of determining the viability of a new service or product through research conducted directly with potential customers.
Market research allows a company to discover the target market and get opinions and other feedback from consumers about their interest in the product or service.
Many people skip this step because they see it as a waste of money and time, but the truth is this step is so crucial if you don’t want to waste your money starting up a business in a place that has few or no customers at all.
Market research helps you seek out the best places where your business can thrive.
Without doing market research, you are likely to start your business in any place which may or may not have customers and this is risky.
To be on the safe side, it is good to take time and inspect the place where you intend to start your grocery shop. See how the place is. Is it suitable for your grocery shop?
Step 2. Make a Grocery Shop Business Plan
Each business requires a plan so does the grocery shop.
A business plan can include what want your grocery shop will supply (products and services), how many workers your business will require(Executive summary), your marketing strategy and analysis and a budget.
A business plan is crucial if you plan to solicit money from sources like banks, venture capitalists, government grants and many more.
A business plan also shows your seriousness as a business owner and other businesses can easily decide to work with you after seeing your business plan alone.
If you require a professional business plan, you can get yourself one here at Fiverr.
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Step 3. Find a Good Location for your shop
Grocery shops are highly influenced by their physical location. Should you get this wrong, it can all be over before it even starts.
As you are thinking about starting a grocery shop, a place where to locate your shop should also be on your mind.
A nice place for a grocery shop should have some of the following characteristics;
- Accessibility: The area should be accessible by anyone.
- Security: It is good to put your supermarket in a secure place.
- Site location: A supermarket thrives in densely populated areas or streets.
Step 4. Raise Startup Capital
Starting a grocery shop requires startup capital. You as a business owner need to raise this money before starting your business.
You can get your startup money in four ways;
- Raising the money yourself from your personal savings
- asking for help from friends and family
- Getting a loan from the bank
- Asking for money from venture capitalists.
Note: Startup capital should not be a limiting factor for your business. If you don’t have capital yourself, you can apply for a loan and get capital from the bank.
Most banks in Uganda have business startup loans that have a very low interest attached to them.
If you need a venture capitalist, we have a list of venture capitalists who can sponsor your grocery shop. See the list now.
See Currently Active Venture Capitalists in Uganda
Step 5. Find Suppliers
All grocery shops have suppliers and yours too requires suppliers.
Suppliers will be your partners in your business and a good relationship with them is fundamental for the success of your business.
According to what your grocery shop will sell, that is what you will look for a supplier for.
Most suppliers currently go looking for grocery shops to supply their products to them, so you may not hustle a lot to find suppliers for your grocery shop.
But if it is a first-time startup, you need to find your own suppliers who will give you the stock to sell.
If you are not sure who to contact as a supplier, you can ask the managers or owners of the neighbouring supermarkets who their suppliers are and ask them to supply you too.
You Can Find Some Suppliers Here. → Grocery Shop Suppliers in Uganda
Finding the real manufacturers of what you sell and dealing with them as your suppliers is better than dealing with middlemen because middlemen charge more than what the real manufacturers charge.
Step 7. Register Your Grocery Shop
You can not operate a grocery shop business here in Uganda without registering it and getting a licence to operate your business.
So among what you have to consider when starting a grocery shop is registering your business.
You can follow this link and register for your grocery shop now!
See what is required to register a business here in Uganda.
Registering your business gives your business a higher chance of gaining from different government projects like business grants, getting a loan from the bank, partnering with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and also some relax on the tax charged on your business if you register as an LLP (Limited Liability Partnership ).
So registering your grocery shop adds a big value to your business and its credibility and legibility.
Step 8. Set up Your Grocery Shop
After doing all the above, you have to set up your grocery shop for business. You can carry out steps like cleaning the place, painting the room, placing products on shelves, and much more.
You need to display your products so well that all your products are easily seen on their shelves by customers without first consulting an attendant.
Smartness should be enforced in your grocery shop. No one likes buying products from a messy place.
Paint the walls of your room with colours that blend well with the general outlook of the supermarket.
Step 9: Hire Workers
Most grocery shops have more than one person operating them.
If your grocery shop is big, you will need to hire workers.
This job is normally handled by Human Resource Managers but if you are starting and you have no managers in your business yet, you can hire yourself.
The workers in your grocery shops are the keys to success or failure.
If you hire lazy and rude workers in your grocery shop you will have no customers coming to your supermarket.
In the same way, if you hire untrustworthy workers, your business will always keep running short of products and money.
As you hire workers, look for those who love doing what you are going to hire them for. Where necessary, hire workers who are qualified for what you want them for.
Don’t hire a worker based on feelings but rather qualifications. Don’t hire your brother to work as a cashier if he isn’t qualified, he will ruin your business.
See the mistakes you should avoid when starting your grocery shop.
See Mistakes To Avoid When Starting A Business
Step 10. Promote Your Grocery Shop
Last but not least how to start a grocery shop in Uganda is promoting your grocery shop. People need to know about your presence so you need to update them about your presence, you do this by advertising.
There are many ways how you can promote your grocery shop, but the most commonly used methods of promoting businesses in Uganda are through Radio, Newspapers and TV.
From personal experience, Radio and TV are the best means of business promotion used by almost all businesses here in Uganda because the majority of people in Uganda here have a TV or Radio.
You too can get a TV now at a very cheap price here at Jumia.
Jumia Uganda Sells Quality HD TVs at Cheap Price. Check Out Some Now!
There are other ways of promoting your shop like using banners. This method is cheap but localised. Other means of advertising may be through social media, google ads and much more.
Your Turn…
That is all that is required on how to start a grocery shop in Uganda. Grocery shops are good and profitable.
Thinking about a business and managing a business are two different things. If you have never started a business and have no idea what it takes to manage a business, let us help you.
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