11-year-old Lukas Langeveld from Aalsmeer can already call himself a modern entrepreneur. From his living room the boy sells sweets that is not available in stores in the Netherlands. His marketing strategy? Tasty TikTok videos.
Aalsmeer’s living room is a candy store full of sweets that are not available in Dutch stores – NH News
Lukas proudly shows the cupboard full of sweets in the middle of his living room. He takes out a bag of cookies. “These are very popular. They are the best cookies I have ever eaten.”
The idea to start a candy shop came about because Lukas watched a lot of videos of TikTokkers who also sell candy. “Then my father and I started looking at how expensive everything is and what you have to do for it. You have to maintain your website, seal and deliver orders, and send invoices,” he lists some of his responsibilities.
Text continues below Lukas’ TikTok video
Because running a store is quite a lot for an 11-year-old, he does it together with his father Marcel, who takes care of purchasing, for example. “I am very proud. He learns a lot from it and it creates a very nice dynamic between me and Lukas,” says Marcel. Although he has to admit that the collaboration between him and his son does not always run smoothly. “Sometimes Lukas is irritated because I’m getting in his way,” the father laughs.
Lukas does not yet earn a lot of money from his candy shop, but the young entrepreneur has only been in business for about two months. At the moment, mainly friends and family buy sweets from him, but he hopes to attract more and more customers through his TikTok videos. In those videos he shows what he has in stock and he also tastes the sweets and cookies.
“If we want something, we have to buy it ourselves in his store”
If you want to make your store a success, you cannot of course stock your entire stock yourself. Despite the attractive sweets shelf in his house, Lukas manages to keep his hands off all those sweets. “But if I really feel like having sweets, I’ll just make a taste test (video in which he tastes the sweets),” he grins. “And if we want something, we have to buy it ourselves in his store,” Marcel adds.
But can the busy entrepreneur still manage to focus on his school? “This week he had tests and we really told him that he could spend a little less time with the store,” says Marcel. “Group eight is also a very important year,” the young Aalsmlander realizes. Later he wants to become an architect, although entrepreneurship is also tickling him a bit now.
Also read
Noordkop & Texel
