Our partner, Vladan Nikolic, together with his partner Milenko Halugin, has launched Boft network in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2018. Vladan has kindly shared his experience with Boft, from a first website visit to current expansion plans.
Who I am
I work in the international logistics industry. My partner, Milenko, works in the pharmaceutical industry. Together we own a small company, which owns and operates a couple of vending machines selling snacks and coffee. This seemed like a good fit for us to diversify our revenue while not spending too much spare time.
We didn’t do extensive research before deciding to invest in Boft – we took the risk, because we felt we had good potential for this product in Serbia. In Serbia, they say “Neka kaplje” which means let it drop (money)…
Learning about Boft
In 2018, we took part in Venditalia – a vending expo in Milan. When I was researching participants, I came across Boft. It was something new – I knew that there was nothing similar in our country. We tried to google similar brands, but Boft had the largest international network, which to us seemed like a sign of popularity and product quality.
Making the decision to purchase the kiosk
Social networks are very popular, and there was no product like Boft that could capitalise on this trend in a fun and interesting way. When it comes to innovative products, I believe it is vital to not spend too much time analysing the opportunity and instead, sometimes take the risk and seize the moment. That way, you have a first mover advantage.
We didn’t do extensive research before deciding to invest in Boft – we took the risk, because we felt we had good potential for this product in Serbia. In Serbia, they say “Neka kaplje” which means let it drop (money)…
The only decision we had to make whether to buy a lower price, higher royalties’ package or a higher price, lower royalties’ one. In the end, we went for the latter – paying a bit more in the beginning, but less in license fees in the long run. If you have some extra cash, I would advise you to do the same – It’ll allow you to break even faster, and start investing in your network expansion sooner.
I cannot recommend future partners enough to negotiate, negotiate and never give up. Often, it will take some explaining and persuading for a mall manager to approve Boft, a concept which he might not have seen before.
Selecting a location: why it is important to negotiate
We contacted four malls; UŠĆE Shopping Center, the biggest and the most popular mall in Belgrade, was the first and the only one to reply. We definitely got lucky here. I think if we hadn’t gotten this spot, we would have tried to call them to persuade them.
Those negotiations weren’t without challenges – we were first offered a rent of 800 EUR, which is too high. We managed to cut it in half (now we pay 400 EUR) by being persistent in our negotiations. We told the mall that Boft takes less than 1 square meter, and demonstrated that Boft is an international franchise and a trendy product, and it will help the mall attract the young crowd. I told them that if they give us the location, they earn additional 4800 EUR a year, if they don’t, they earn 0, because there are few who are willing to rent such a small space. Then, they agreed to cut the rent to 600 EUR, but I still persisted. I told them that in other cities the rent for Boft is no higher than 200-400 EUR. That seemed to have persuaded them.
I cannot recommend future partners enough to negotiate, negotiate and never give up. Often, it will take some explaining and persuading for a mall manager to approve Boft, a concept which he might not have seen before.
We are planning to launch more locations in Belgrade, and are now in negotiations with several other malls for that. I am sure Boft will also take off there, as we proved the viability of the concept in USCE.
Launch and first clients
In the beginning, people were scared to print Instagram photos because they didn’t want to put their username in the machine. Therefore, they first started with just selfies and pictures from phone memory.
However, as a month went by, more and more mall visitors became accustomed to the concept, and got more comfortable with using all the functions of the kiosk. It is important to provide your clients with a low-risk, low-investment introduction to the kiosk. You can have promotion people next to the kiosk, which can give out promocodes for free pictures. It’s cheap and effective: once they see that it’s a cool product, they tell their friends and come back for more.
Marketing
We started it ourselves – we took a lot of beautiful pictures with Boft photos around the city and put them on our Instagram. Then, we promoted it for a bit. This year, we have hired a freelancer which ran our social media (FB and Instagram) for a couple of months, and then showed Milenko how to do everything, since he has more free time now.
It is hard to determine whether it will have any impact on sales. I believe a good location, a visible spot and some early on-site promotions should be mostly enough to generate good, steady revenue.
Time spent on Boft and future plans
All I do every week is sorting money, transferring it into a bank account, and writing e-mails to malls (to get a new spot). So I do not spend more than 2 hours weekly. The maintenance of the machine is done by our friend who lives in Belgrade. We are planning to launch more locations in Belgrade, and are now in negotiations with several other malls for that. I am sure Boft will also take off there, as we proved the viability of the concept in USCE.