How do you start an online store?

[Mar]

I can create the website but I'm wondering some other questions:
- How do you find suppliers?
- What types of products are best to sell online?
- Do you have to purchase a bunch of stuff and then try to sell it or can it ship from the supplier as orders come in?
- How do you find buyers?

Anything else?

[Kloubek]

You're going to have to be more specific. All of the answers really depends on what you want to sell. If you simply wish to sell ANY product online because you think you will make a big buck, then you are going to fail. Don't launch a site you know nothing about... it is the same rule with land-based businesses.

[bubbley]

It would really depend on what you are selling?

Look into dropshippers..

[Canmorite]

Check out www.karmaloop.com for ideas, they have a great online shop.

[civicrider]

yeah it depends on what you want to sell. A lot of manufactures won't sell to you, just because you are online only, if you have a store front as well they will consider selling to you, but then if they already have suppliers in your city they might not want you.

[Mar]

Originally posted by bubbley
It would really depend on what you are selling?

Look into dropshippers.. Yes, a drop shipper is exactly what I want. This type of situation causes a positive cash flow system meaning I have cash in hand before the product is shipped, that's rare in most businesses. Most times they have to obtain the item first but with drop shippers, you take the order, the customer pays and then it ships out from the actual wholesaler and you pocket the difference of retail - wholesale cost. Presto, profit.

[Rarasaurus]

Easy money! Awesome i wonder why everyone doesn't do it.
No wait i think they do, there are 1000^1000 sites like that online. I doubt you will have success unless you have something original to offer. Most those sites probably do not sell a thing.

[Canmorite]

Originally posted by Mar
Yes, a drop shipper is exactly what I want. This type of situation causes a positive cash flow system meaning I have cash in hand before the product is shipped, that's rare in most businesses. Most times they have to obtain the item first but with drop shippers, you take the order, the customer pays and then it ships out from the actual wholesaler and you pocket the difference of retail - wholesale cost. Presto, profit.

I'm pretty sure that's what karmaloop does. Sounds like a great business model, but you'll need high volume if your margins are thin. If there's competitors in your field that is...

[Boat]

Yea and how long will it take these products to reach the consumers door?

[n1zm0]

^If dropshipping for retail or w/e is anything like the aircraft parts industry, i mark my purchase order dropship A.O.G by 3:30 PM EST, fedex truck will have it to my hangar by 12pm latest next day.

however i dont think that most warehouses are familiar with a term like A.O.G means for an aircraft.

[nobb]

It really depends on what you are trying to sell. Electronics and gadgets will be a very competitive market, Im not sure about other goods.

Ive looked into drop shipping, but alot of the suppliers are from china where everything is already competitive. Sites such as dealextreme, chinavasion, etc offer drop shipping services but I imagine the margins to be extremely thin. You could probably have better margins buying stuff from dealextreme then reselling it locally on kijiji.

When a customer has a problem, you then have to talk to the supplier which could be a time consuming process (very frustrating to the customer). I think high volume sales are key...what is your plan for that?

[Kloubek]

Mar - I urge you to come up with a better business plan.

This may have worked for you 10-15 years ago. Times have changed. It is no longer a novelty to shop online - which was why many sites became successful. Now there is so much competition, you need to supply potential customers with something they cannot get elsewhere.

Simply saying you want to sell "stuff" online, and you'll make lots of money because of your low overhead and having a supplier drop-ship for you is NOT a recipe for success. In fact, it is a recipe for disaster and a quick way to lose your cash.

While there are pros and cons to the drop-ship idea, don't think that you will ever be able to get anything off the ground without a serious commitment of funds.... even if they are not directed towards inventory. Building a decent site, search engine optimization, marketing, relationships with vendors... all these things take an investment of both time and finances.

At the end of the day, if it was easy for Joe blow to put up a web site and sell, you would see every second household doing it. They don't, because it isn't as easy as you seem to think.

Here's what you need to do:

1) Sit down, and think about what kind of product you want to sell online. Ideally, this is a product you are passionate about, and for which you have extensive knowledge. If there are competitors for this, then consider what they offer and why people would sooner shop your site over their already-established operation. If there are no known competitors, then check to see if there is a market for the product.

2) Do some research. This doesn't mean talking to your closest friends. This means focus groups and things of the like. Find out from unbiased sources if they think there is a need for your product, and why or why not selling such a product will or will not work.
Spending $1000 on research is much better than spending $5000 or $10000 and hours apon hours of your time building and marketing a site, then seeking sales from customers that do not exist.

3) Once you have established a market for what you wish to sell, and what your web site will offer in order to draw in and retain customers, THEN you can worry about finding suppliers... or how the customer will get the product... and all the other details you are asking about now.

Like any business which is land-based, you need to have a business plan. Using the internet generally does not provide you any more of a leg-up than any other regular business would have with a land store.

In case you think I don't know what I'm talking about... I have been working for the same company for a decade. I brought one of our sites from $50,000/year in sales to over 1 million/year in a matter of 4 years. I know what it takes to make a business work online. Additionally, the company I work for (before they bought us out) tried things a different way. They simply threw money at it, and hoped it was going to eventually generate a return. It didn't, and they ceased operations for about six years. This is how I also learned what road NOT to take when starting up a web business.

And with all due respect, you sir, are flooring it down the entirely incorrect highway.

[Mar]

Originally posted by Kloubek
While there are pros and cons to the drop-ship idea, don't think that you will ever be able to get anything off the ground without a serious commitment of funds.... even if they are not directed towards inventory. Building a decent site, search engine optimization, marketing, relationships with vendors... all these things take an investment of both time and finances. I wouldn't need any commitment of funds because all of this stuff would be free. I build the site, I do the search engine optimization, I do all of that stuff online myself so it's free.


Originally posted by Kloubek
At the end of the day, if it was easy for Joe blow to put up a web site and sell, you would see every second household doing it. They don't, because it isn't as easy as you seem to think.
They don't do it because it would cost them $5000 - $10,000 for a proper e-commerce solution website to fulfill all their needs from accounting integration to secure shopping carts. I already run a business developing these sites for people so that takes that entire cost out of it for me. If they could make their own site and have it as professional as mine then I think you'd see a lot more of them.

However I have to say it was an interesting red with what you wrote, I'll take a lot of it into consideration and I appreciate the feedback.

[bubbley]

I agree with MAR..i have a dropshipping site with a hot new little item that hit the market a while ago..setup was just domain and of course creating the site which can be done for peanuts (i have a guy from india who does my stuff within 24 hours) and i advertised on adwords and i milked it for a couple of months..after the popularity died down for this product i did some SEO, social bookmarking, did some back link building and now its getting in search engine traffic as im ranked on the first page of google and i still make sales on a regular basis on auto pilot. I have moved on to other projects but regardless the investment is CHEAP and the returns can be MASSIVE depending on how saturated the market is etc.

Keep in mind i do this stuff on the side as i believe MAR does as well, i also outsource alot of my work..i mean if it goes it goes...the investment is small enough to go and give it a try!! Your already one step ahead MAR as you have the skill set to make the sites, id be pumping sites out left right and center if i had that skill.

[Kloubek]

Bubbley - I actually do have a site I am in the process of building. It's built actually, but I need database work. You have pm. :)

Mar - sounds like you have some things under control which I did not expect. The fact remains, though, that you need to find that "hot little item" Bubbley is talking about. If there is a demand, and you properly market the site, you should do ok...