《我的回忆录》2.12~business rate给我上了第一节创业课~

一切看上去非常顺利，我们迎来了小店的第一个圣诞节，英国的圣诞节确实一个相当美好的节日，尤其是对我们玩具零售来说，让我似乎看不到任何问题，可是，我们错了。。。。。 我们的产品卖得很好，卖得很快，我和小伙伴一直忙于仓库店铺两边跑补货，根本没有时间好好看看我们的真实交易，实际上，当时已经开始有少量退货，我们没有选择调查存货并研究采购风险，判断为正常现象。当时圣诞的销售业绩看不出任何问题，我们看着数据，高兴不已，我以为我们赚钱了！就更为大胆的继续补货。直到一张business rate bill放在桌面，看着上面的数字，我才第一次真正意识到，原来开店还有这么大一项固定成本。然后就是查看合同，仔细核对完，确实有这么一项，当时因为缺乏经验，没有意识到 business rate 会对整体成本产生这么大的影响。后来我们联系了 council，确认费用情况后，安排了付款。从那天开始，我知道开店好像成本没那么低，我们赚的钱也并不是那么多，产品还有很多库存。。。 那时我才第一次意识到，销售额高，不代表利润高；店里很忙，也不代表真的赚钱。而真正的问题，其实才刚刚开始。。。

“My Memoir” ~ The First Lesson: Business Rates ~ 2.12 During our first Christmas in the UK, everything looked perfect. Sales were strong, customers were coming in, and we believed we were making money. We were wrong...... Christmas in the UK is truly a wonderful time, especially for toy retail, and at that point, I couldn’t see any problems at all. Products were selling well and moving quickly. My partner and I were constantly running between the warehouse and the shop, restocking non-stop. We were so busy that we never really took the time to properly analyse our actual trading performance. In reality, there had already been a small number of returns, but we didn’t investigate our inventory or assess purchasing risks—we simply assumed it was normal. From the Christmas sales figures, everything looked great. Looking at the numbers, we were overjoyed. I believed we were making money, so we became even more confident and continued to restock. Until one day, a business rates bill landed on the table. Looking at the figure, I realised for the first time that running a shop came with a significant fixed cost that I had seriously underestimated. We went back to review the lease and, after checking carefully, confirmed that this cost had always been there. At the time, due to lack of experience, I hadn’t realised how much impact business rates would have on the overall cost structure. We contacted the local council, confirmed the details, and arranged payment. From that day on, I began to understand that running a shop was not as low-cost as I had imagined. The money we thought we were making wasn’t as much as we believed—and we were still holding a large amount of inventory. That was the first time I truly realised: High sales do not equal high profit. A busy shop does not necessarily mean a profitable business. And in reality, the real challenges were only just beginning. Looking back now, this was merely the appetiser…