Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

Hobbies make a great business

Many retirees find a new source of livelihood because of their hobbies. However, you do not have to wait to retire to turn your own hobby or special interest into products or services to sell on your online store.

You may be an accountant whose spare time is spent collecting records and cassette tapes (in the past) to CDs not so long ago. Or you may be a mailman who just happens to collect vintage magazines or toy robots. Or you may be a teacher whose hobby is collecting coins or stamps.

You are therefore likely to have a huge collection worth a small fortune, and many people out there would pay good money to buy your treasures. Presuming that you are willing to turn these goodies into cash, you now have products that you can sell on your online store.

Don’t worry about running out of things to sell. You can also turn your online store into a trading post, where like-minded individuals who do not have their own online business can sell their stuff. For your troubles, you get a small commission, of course.

If your special interest is not a product but a service, you can still sell your services online. Is yoga, dance, or martial arts your passion? You can offer to teach, to lecture, or to host get-togethers, not unlike the Tupperware parties that were popular decades ago. Again, all for a small fee.

Everyone has something to offer everyone else, be it a product or a service. An online store has become the best way to go. All you have to do is set up that store. So what are you waiting for? 

 

How to Give Your Man a Makeover

Face it. Most men do not have a clue about what is sexy and what is pure in the sexy looks department. In particular, the undies they wear almost always leave something to be desired.

Guys who served in the armed forces seem to be stuck, forever wearing those boxer shorts with drawstrings. Other guys never outgrew the plain white briefs, the kind that they had when they first started wearing underwear.

Then there are those guys who may not be geeks, but who still wear loose boxers with such themes as super heroes, Star Wars or Star Trek, or – gasp! – Cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck.

Besides the inappropriate undies, some men still insist on wearing white socks. This can get particularly bad when he has stripped naked save for the silly socks.

Sometimes it is so bad that the woman would rather they keep their clothes on, even during sex.

There is a plus side to the sad state of men who wear awful undies. Most men also like receiving unexpected gifts, underwear included. In addition, since undies are affordable, we women do not need a special occasion to give the hapless men in our lives the kind of gifts that they will appreciate.

You can even make a special occasion out of the gift. Tell him a few hours before that you just bought him some sexy underwear, but since you do not know if they will fit, you have to be the one to put them on him. Just to try them out, you understand.

One the two of you are alone, then you have to do the honours of pulling down his pants, then his blah undies. Then you put on the new pair of men’s thongs, or whatever it is that you want to see him in. If you bought several pairs, then he has to try them out one by one.

Of course, they fit. All you had to do before ordering them was to get his belt size. Or peek at any of his old briefs or shorts, which will usually state the size.

If you bought him three pairs, then you have to strip him three times. On the last try, tell him to show his appreciation for the terrific gift you just gave him. He should have a neat woodier after all the fittings. Now prepare to be rewarded for your kindness.

 

Determine Your Selling Environment

Selling online can be really difficult these days. With countless ecommerce stores being set up and are still on the way, competition is getting tighter and tighter by the minute. That is why you should make some move on how you can get your online shop to get ahead of the competition. However, if you are just starting, the first thing that you must do is determine the selling environment of your online venture. Basically, the selling environment is the kind of surroundings your online venture would be involved in. This is very important because it would serve as your anchor from which you start exploring the realm of ecommerce. Following are the two kinds of selling environment:

• Wholesale Selling Environment – This kind of selling environment is where eBay and Amazon are included. Basically, in this selling environment, an online store would have to compete with its low prices and offers because all the other ventures under the environment are. In this kind of surroundings, no retail venture would stand a chance unless they sell items that are just as cheap as the competition offers.
• Retail Selling Environment – The retail selling environment is where you are most likely included. This is composed of online stores and other ecommerce stores in the Web. Basically, in this kind of selling surroundings, the online merchant (that’s you) should have the right kind of mindset wherein you are directly doing business with consumers and not with other retailers.

There are more rather uncommon selling environments you could be included in; these two are just the basic ones. The point is that you should determine which selling environment your online shop belongs to. Not only wil the knowledge provide you with the right expectations and outlook, it also gives you the right niche and realm to look for help to.

Selling environment is just one of the many factors you have to determine as you start your venture. There are some others that should be considered, even by starters. Get your fingers working and look for the crucial information you will be needing. The Internet is a goldmine of these information so it should not be all that difficult for you.

Year-round versus Seasonal Sellers

While there is definitely an advantage to playing the seasons and it’s ever-increasing sale peaks, you will lose out if you focus only on products that are seasonal. For instance, if you focus on Christmas decorations as your niche, you will definitely make good money from the months of October to December, but you’re sales will be dead for 9 months.

There is a big difference between having downtime, which you can use to manage inventory, and having limited time to sell. You can either switch it up or go with a more general item that has peaks and valleys in sales but are in consistent demand year-round.

In  our earlier example of selling Christmas decorations, a better approach would be to sell holiday decorations. For late December to early January, focus on New Year items. As January draws to a close and before mid-February hits, go with hearts and roses for Valentine’s day. You get the drift here?

Another good approach would be to go with a niche that is affected by seasonality in a good way such as the apparel industry. Here, you can change up your inventory almost quarterly to go with the different spring, summer, fall and winter wear. You can never go wrong if you stay on top of the seasonal demand for different types of clothing while having your usual stock of general all-weather, all-season items like jeans or t-shirts.

The changing seasons and the holidays can help you keep your inventory fresh. Even if there isn’t much change in the demand for the types of products within your niche, you could always use the different seasons and holidays as a way to repackage or redesign the way you sell, for instance with sales and promotions you run. 

Happy selling!  

St. Patrick’s Day Expected to Bring in the Greens

While its origins are Irish, St. Patrick’s Day has become a major worldwide event with thousands of people across the globe celebrating this day of Ireland’s patron saint. A recent survey from BIGresearch has found that US retailers may be in for a big increase in sales for holiday-related spending.

According to the 2011 St. Patrick’s Day Consumer Intents and Actions Survey, anticipation for the holiday is at its highest this year compared to the past 8 years. In the US, nearly 102 million people will wear green for the holiday. A total of 52.4 percent of Americans will join in the celebrations, an increase over last year’s 45.2 percent.

“Eager to shake off the winter blues, consumers will look to St. Patrick’s Day as their first spring related celebration, meaning great things for the economy, retailers and restaurants,” said National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay.

Total spending for St. Patrick’s celebrations is expected to reach $4.12 billion. Aside from the obvious green apparel, retailers can also take advantage of the increased searches for St.Patrick’s Day decorations and holiday food.

New Law Affects US eCommerce

If you are like many online sellers today, the US would be a sizeable market for you to work with. If this is the case, then you should be aware of the new law passed late last year. The “Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act” (S. 3386) aims to protect the American online consumer certain aggressive sales tactics on the Internet.

The law looks into some aspects of ecommerce such as “data pass” or the practice of exchanging payment for customer’s billing information – including credit card and debit card numbers – with third party sellers.

The law also looks at “negative options” – this is the practice of some merchants to automatically enroll members into a paid membership club after a free trial period. The said consumers are then charged periodically until they affirmatively cancel their membership.  

The heart of the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act are the new requirements for ecommerce websites before they can charge or attempt to charge any consumer’s financial account. This includes clear and conspicuous disclosure of all material terms and express informed consent from the consumer prior to charging.

While it aims to protect the consumer, the new law is also fair to online sellers. Any violation of this law would be classified as an unfair or deceptive act and practice under the Federal Trade Commission. Penalties include a fine of up to $10,000 per violation and civil action.

You can find out more about the Act here: http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=34de7a0c-ad3e-431a-a1ad-131c5e146833

Stay well-informed of the laws that exist in your current target markets to avoid any hassle in the future.

Happy selling!

Deciding On Which Brands to Display in your Online Store

 
Hopefully by now you’ve started working on your online Shopster storefront. If you haven’t yet, it’s time to do so. Aside from putting together the content and choosing your categories, your next step is to choose the products to display on your site.                                        

There are two types of products for you to choose from: the generic, unbranded ones and the those that have a brand. The unbranded products are often cheaper and lesser known. But there is a market out there for those. For this post, we’ll focus on how to choose the brands to sell in your online store.

• Look for the latest releases. Buyers always want something new and different. When selecting products for your store, it is best to highlight the newer items that you have as these have a tendency to move faster and to sell for more. 
• Keep the classics in stock. While having the latest inventory is definitely a must, there are buyers who still want older versions of a product because they are more used to it. Compatibility with their existing system is also a consideration (ie for computer software, games and other electronic items).
• Check out reviews of certain products. It may surprise you that the latest release isn’t the most popular for certain niche markets. Find out what people are saying about certain brands to know if these have the potential to become a good sale.
• Find out more about post-sale service offerings. As a retailer, you won’t always be able to answer all the concerns or requirements of your clients. Specifically once the sale is done, you won’t be able to service repairs. Look for products that offer warranties or have service centers that could help with this issue.
• Do your market research. If you already know what kind of audience you’ll be selling to, make a list of their interests and what they might want to buy. Aside from knowing what they want, knowing the potential demand can also help you set the price.
• Think about diversity, related products and competition.  Your product offerings should present your customers with choices. Keep the inventory small in the beginning so you can focus your marketing efforts. Continue growing your product line as you grown your online store. Find products that are related to the top ones you have – accessories, plug-ins and more. Then consider competing products that potential buyers may also want to look into.

 

These are just some tips when choosing the product. The main determinant is to ask yourself questions that a typical consumer would ask. Is this product good for me? What benefits can I derive from it? Continue in this line of questioning and you’ll soon make purchasing decisions easier.

Expanding into Your Markets

In recent blog posts, we’ve talked about the importance of choosing your niche market, one that you are  knowledgeable about or at least have interest in. This can let you focus on really developing your product lines, your website’s content and choosing the right items to sell online to profit.

What if you’ve already done that and you feel like you’ve exhausted the niche to its full potential? Well, it may be time to start exploring your other options. If selling online has worked relatively well for you for one particular niche, then chances are, you’ve learned enough to start expanding your markets.

There are different ways to do this. You can expand your market by region. Meaning, target sales in other countries that you know would have a good appreciation for your products. To do this, you can offering new shipping rates in those countries. You can even focus your advertising in particular geographic location, especially if you’re doing paid marketing. The last thing you can explore about expanding into different geographic markets is the language. If your chosen market has a different primary language other than English, then you can consider translating your site and hiring someone to take on customer support in that language. Chinese and Spanish markets are a good direction to go if you intend on taking this route as these are widely spoken in so many places around the world.

The other way to expand your market is by adding on new product lines. We suggest taking it on slowly. Pick a product that is related to the item you’ve found yourself selling successfully. For instance, if you’ve become an online shoe mogul, then why not get into hand bags or ladies’ accessories.

Before you go into this, make sure you do your market research. Is the shoe market that you are currently catering to, the same market for bags and accessories? If the demographic is basically the same, then you’re in luck. You wouldn’t need to re-think your marketing tactics.

Do learn the art of cross-selling as this can help you take your new products to market. Highlight anything new you have to offer with banners to get your existing audience to take notice.

Good luck and happy selling!

Handling Problems of Fulfillment

Dropshipping offers online retailers an opportunity to streamline their supply management methods. Its effective in that retailers only need to worry about the sale, while the fulfillment of the order is up to the dropshipping company.

The biggest risk to dropshipping is that part -- the fulfillment. There are many factors that could affect this. One, your chosen dropshipper could run out of stock when you’ve already made the sale. Delivery delays could also happen. While you can’t control all of these, you can prevent your customers from being all too disappointed in the way you handle the situation.

Here are some tips in handling fulfillment problems:

• Know your products. If you need to replace an item and have to tell the customer the bad news, at least be prepared to make the sale again. Recommend a product and tell them it’s benefits. Let the customer know how similar it is with the product you won’t be able to deliver and what are its advantages over their original choice.
• Be prepared to match the price of the original. This is the first thing they would ask for. As much as possible, the price of the new product should match the older one. If you cannot give a discount on the item price (ie if it will be a loss to you if you do), stand your ground and negotiate on other terms.
• Give early notice of shipment problems. Let your customers know about shipment problems as far in advance as possible. Accept any cancellations as a result of the delay and take it with grace. Thank the customer for their business and hope that bridges are not burned in the process.
• Unavailability or discontinuance of a product should be publicly announced. This is especially true for products that receive repeat orders, such as food or other consumables. They need time to adjust and find other suppliers or products that fill their needs.

Be realistic and straightforward about your communication to your clients. It also wouldn’t hurt to offer a sincere apology for any inconvenience for them. Problems will happen, so you need to accept it and deal with it properly.

Happy selling!

 

Understanding Your Niche Market Even More

We’ve created some blog entries before discussing the importance of choosing your niche market and how to go about it. Now, we delve deeper into the online selling woods to discuss how to understand your niche better.

First, it’s advisable to look at the numbers. Find out how your niche is growing. This would help you determine if it’s worth growing your online store or staying at the size you’re in now. Let’s focus on something more specific, a personal interest of mine is gaming. Nintendo, WII, Playstation, PC games – you name it, I’ve played it. So, it’s only natural that it’s the niche I chose.

So on to the first part, tracking growth of your niche. You need to visit websites of organizations that are related to your market. For gaming, there are two websites to look at: The Entertainment Software Association (http://www.theesa.com/) and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (http://www.esrb.org/). Then there’s the NPD Group (http://www.npd.com/) , which offers more than just data on games . In the ESA website, I can find out about the industry fact such as the growth of sales – 22.9 percent in 2008 amounting to $11.7 billion, which tells me the potential for sales. It also offers demographics data, for example: the average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 12 years. This last fact will help me design the online store for a more mature audience.

Meanwhile, the ESRB website which shows the rating of particular games will help me further expand my categories with ratings such as E (for everyone), T (for teens), E10+ (everyone 10 years and up) and more.  While the NPD group offers a listing of the top ten monthly video games based on sales, which can help me construct a “best sellers” or “most popular” category.

Next thing to look at would be the individual news bits from major suppliers in your niche. Subscribe to their feed, or if you can afford it, attend industry expos and conferences. Again, for our gaming market, we have the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Here, future releases are discussed. Did you know that Nintendo is coming with a 3D handheld platform in 2010? If you’re targeting the gaming niche, you should know. For instance, for PlayStation the next big thing is the motion-sensing Move, similarly Xbox has Kinect. Those are important data that you should watch out for and include in your list of items to stock up on once they’re released. The earlier you have it in your store, the faster you can move fresh inventory. 

Next look at pricing. Some suppliers will start by selling a new product in their own website, setting the price point for the rest of the retailers. Microsoft did it with Kinect a few days ago by offering it at pre-order for $149.99. You can’t possible sell it higher than that, so you need to find out how low you can get it at wholesale and how much you can push the profit margin to the suggested retail price.

While foresight is certainly an advantage and can be done with proper research, you also need to stay grounded and find out what your potential buyers feel about certain products. Once all the hype for a new product dies down, what you’ll be left with are buyer reviews. Get a head start by studying what the market is saying in terms of product quality. This should help you limit or increase the stock that you need to get for a certain new product.

Sound complicated? It’ll all seem more natural once you get the hang of it.

Happy Selling!

Power Merchant Tip: Size Does Matter

As a retailer, one of the things you should be avoiding is getting a request for an item return and a credit card chargeback. It’s bad for business and it takes up time and costs you money. This does not mean that you should not have a return policy though. On the contrary, it would be best if you do as potential buyers/retailers of your product would be more likely to purchase from you if you have one.

What you need is to have accurate descriptions that truly represent the product for what it is. We’ve created an article guiding you on how to make good product descriptions (found here: http://blog.shopster.com/shoptalk/2010/03/creating-good-product-descriptions.html). So the next description-related item on the agenda is sizes.

This tip is particularly useful for fashion/clothing/garment suppliers and retailers. Remember, your potential buyers are unable to see the products for themselves and rely solely on your accurate descriptions before they purchase an item.

For both shoes and clothes, different countries follow different sizing and there really is no standard.

Let’s talk about shoes first. In the UK, they use English sizes. This is based on the length and is measured in barleycorn (about 1/3 of an inch). It starts with the smallest practical size, which is zero. The general formula followed is child shoe size = 3 x last length in inches – 12. For adults, on the other hand, one is the lowest size and it continues in progression in barleycorns. As such, adult shoe size = 3 x last length in inches – 25. In Australia, on the other hand, the calculation is male shoe size = 3 x last length in inches – 22.5, while for female shoe size = 3 x last length in inches – 20.5. For the US and Canada, it is similar to English sizes but the count starts at one. So for male shoe size=3 x last length in inches – 24, while female shoe size = 3 x last length in inches – 22.5

Given these calculations, a shoe measuring 9 inches with a mondopoint of 228 will measure in UK at 3 under the men’s shoe size and would be 2 ½ for women. In Australia, it would be Size 3 for men and 3 ½ for women. Meanwhile, in Canada and the US, the same shoe would measure 3 ½ for men and 5 for women.

Now on to clothing. Below is a guide which shows letter size and it’s equivalent in number sizes. It may vary slightly among manufacturers.

Size	Men	Women
XS	--	2 to 4
S	34 to 36	6
M	38 to 40	8 to 10
L	42 to 44	12 to 14
XL	46 to 48	16
2XL	50 to 52	18

To make things more complicated, there is also a difference between Italian size and US size. The US size 2 is an XS, but for Italian size, this is an M, size 36. A size 6 is S in the US, but the same size is already an L in size 40 in Italian size. To avoid difficult explanation of sizes, you can provide a simple chart which lists the corresponding sizes for each country. It would be awesome if you can detail it such that you show the letter size, the US number size for females, the US number size for males, the Italian number size for females, the Italian number size for males and the corresponding measurements in inches. It will take a lot of work to be able to plot it all as a table, but doing so would benefit both you and your buyers and avoid the hassles of misunderstanding and product returns.

Power Merchant Tip: Selling Furniture Online

Many young homeowners consider the web a good source of affordable, hard-to-find pieces that would look great in their home. That spells good news for furniture retailers. It means their target market isn’t just maturing, it is also beginning to appreciate your alternative distribution channels. 

The traditional way of selling these home items entails more cost than most products sold in brick-and-mortar stores, simply because they take up more floor space to display. This results in higher overhead cost –particularly in the areas of utility and inventory storage.

If you still haven’t explored transitioning from just brick-and-mortar to selling online, it’s high time you should. Here are some tips for selling furniture online:

As with any other sales involving furniture, you need to provide essential data that your potential buyers would need:

• Colors available
• Style
• Material
• Size
• Warranties
• Return policy
• Delivery options
• Payment options

Put yourself in the buyer’s position. You would want to know all these things before you even consider a piece to add to your home. Additionally, it would also be good to have pictures of the piece included in a set up. For instance, if you are selling a center table, place it in the living room set-up. Add a couch in the picture, some frames and a flower vase to add color. It would make the table seem more enticing and the homeowner would be able to easily picture it in his or her own home.

Be as descriptive as possible. Remember, the potential buyer can’t see or sit on the actual product. It would take more effort to close that sale. Some interior design terms might help bring across what you mean. Here’s a short list of what you can use when describing the furniture you plan to sell online:

• Art Deco – Defined by elegant lines and curves without the intricate carvings. Usually combines luxurious materials with synthetic ones. Described as elegant and streamlined.
• Americana – Materials used are reminiscent of American history, civilization and culture
• Art Nouveau – A naturalistic style which is characterized by intricately detailed patterns and curving lines such as organic forms and floral abstractions.
• Country Style – Associated with country living, often described as distressed or time-worn. Uses natural wood colors in rustic cuts.
• Classic – Designs with the classic proportions in architecture
• Contemporary – a style known for its simple and sleek line with finishes ranging from the very light to dark. A subcategory would be Scandanavian Contemporary, which is more of a popular utilitarian design in natural wood.
• Coastal – Defined by the casual and relaxed look, this style often uses natural fibres and light finishes. Colors range from vibrant blue to the tropical ones.
• Old World – A style inspired by English and French furniture. Often has dark finishes with woods like mahogany, cherry, walnut and dark oak. Has ornate carvings, glidings, lacquer or inlays.
• Retro – The furniture style of the 1950s to the 1980s, it includes accents such as modular plastic chairs, boomerang tables and Formica-topped furniture.
• Urban – Designed for smaller living spaces (such as condominiums or flats) with striking lines and shapes. Usually in black combined with bright colors – such as pink or orange.
• Victorian – Named for Queen Victoria of England, it is furniture influenced by heavy proportions, dark finish, elaborate carvings and ornamentation.

The more details you have about the furniture piece, the better.

Happy Selling!

eCommerce - The future of buying and selling

The convenience of shopping on the Internet is that it gives people more time to comparison price shop and read product reviews to make sure that they are getting a deal. Online selling has been accepted, especially by busy people. Who doesn't enjoy the convienence of buying something online and having it delivered to your doorstep a few days later?

Strolling around the malls or shopping centers can be an enjoyable passtime, but for people who live by the saying “time is money”, sitting in front of their computers and browsing the World Wide Web to buy the things they need is a huge blessing.

On the other side of the fence, online commerce is also a growing trend in the business community. Having an online storefront instead of a bricks and mortar store eliminates your overhead cost while presenting the opportunity to make greater profits. No bricks and mortar store means no rent. Furthermore, because online sellers can use dropship suppliers to ship products to their customers there's no need to carry inventory. Best of all, as the Internet is not limited to a certain geographical location your reach and target market is much greater.

In the end, both the entrepreneurs and consumers benefit from eCommerce. Customers can save time and money, and entrepreneurs save on costs and have the potential to make greater profits. This fact alone has lead some experts to predict that huge shopping malls will go the way of the dinosaur sooner rather than later. What do you think? 

Hot Trend Alert – Google Android Phones!

The Shopster eCommerce and Dropshipping Blog is all about sharing the latest tips, tricks, and trends with our readers. Well, true to this credo, here’s a bombshell  – Android phones out-sold the iPhone in the US last quarter. For everyone who has been hiding under a rock for the last year or so, Android phones are SmartPhones that run on the Google Operating System (like the Motorola Droid )

According to NPD figures , Android phones jumped past Apple to grab the number 2 place in SmartPhone sales.

While Blackberry still is king of the hill grabbing 38% of the Smartphone market, Apple’s apparently slipped by back to third place, having to settle for just 21%.

% Market Share in Handset Sales by Company

1. Blackberry – 38%
2. Android – 28%
3. iPhone – 21%

While these numbers are based on customer surveys (and so might not be the most reliable), there’s still a lot to be gleaned from this little tidbit of info. As a Retailer and/or Supplier, what you care about is this: Android SmartPhones sales are on the rise. Consumers are searching for them, and buying them en-masse. While I have no doubt Apple and the iPhone will continue to be a huge seller on Black Friday and into the Christmas holidays, there’s a new kid on the block and he’s popular!

So Shopster Suppliers: starting adding Android Smartphone’s to the Network! And Shopster Retailers: start adding them to your online storefronts and virtual inventory. These phones are the next big thing, so don’t miss out on the chance to sell them and make huge profits year.

References:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100510/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1977

Finding International Dropship Suppliers

When selling online it’s important to keep your eyes peeled for new product lines and suppliers.  The key is to be ahead of the selling curve and ensure you’re continuing to offer competitive prices to your customers.  One way to do this is to search for international manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors as they can typically offer you better wholesale pricng on the merchandise your're looking for.

Here are some tips to help you on your way:

1. Search Google. It sounds obvious, but typing in search terms like, supplier, importer, distributors, B2C suppliers, as well as some keywords specific to your product line will pull up thousands of results. Start at the top and work your way down trying to glean what you can about each company. Remember to look for contact information so you can drop suppliers an email with your questions.
2. Check major B2B market places. Online B2B market places are a perfect place to source manufacturers, importers, and wholesale suppliers. Alibaba.com is one, Shopster.com is another, these two companies are a great source for dropship suppliers as both have a huge and varied supplier base.
3. Join Industry groups, forums and other professional networks. Ask questions and start building relationships with industry insiders. It may take sometime (no one wants to share supplier info with the competition), but by building out your professional network and subscribing to industry newsletters, you’ll pick up supplier details and invaluable trade secrets. Author Tip: Once you’ve built out your network, stay-in-touch – it’s far quicker to ask someone you know a question, than to spend hours searching for it yourself. Don’t forget to return the favor either.
4. Subscribe to trade publications. Get your hands on as many trade magazines and industry publications as possible. All of these magazines feature advertisements from manufacturers and wholesalers looking for people like you.
5. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Reach out, build a relationship and if it doesn’t last forever, so what. Creating your perfect network of suppliers will require some trial and effort. It’s a learning process. All you need from your first supplier is for them to drop ship the product to your end-customer. Once you’ve managed that and are making a profit, then you can focus on finding suppliers who are a better fit for your business model or who offer better wholesale pricing.

Apple vs. Nintendo - who will win?

And It’s on! - Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo president, is understood to have told his senior executives to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the “enemy of the future”.

This comes after Nintendo profits tumbled for the first time in 6 years. With the iPhone emerging as a formidable competitor in the handheld gaming arena, an area that was once dominated by the DS, Nintendo is not taking any chances and is preparing to unleash the full force of its development and marketing might against Apple.

One imagines that the reason for this call to arms springs from the fact that Nintendo’s strategy now centers on making devices targeted towards the whole family, a huge shift away from the traditional gaming demographic (young males). Two years ago, the company claimed to have permanently changed the demographics of video games by raising the average age and the gender mix of gamers. Unfortunately for Nintendo, the very people they claim to have converted — high-school girls and men aged between 30 and 40 — still report that they would rather have an iPhone than a DS in their pockets.

Whatever the outcome, gamers and retailers will be waiting with baited breath, if Nintendo can deliver Mario, and the Wii, what ever they come up with next will knock our socks off.  Online sellers will profit from hot new items to sell in their online storefronts, and customers will benefit from the latest and greatest technology flying their way. For us online sellers it’s a no-lose scenario - though I doubt Nintendo sees it that way.

References:
Leo Lewis, Rivals are invading its patch, but Nintendo is ready to go to war, Time Online

Stock Talk 101

There are simple ways to track down manufacturers details, it’s actually easier than you think, and the most important thing to remember is that you just need a few pieces of info to get your search started, a name or website address is often all you need to track down the full details. Lets say there is a fashion label that you really like and would love to sell online, they sell it in your town but you have no idea where it comes from, the first way is simple: asking around.

It sounds daft but quite often if you ask the girl at the counter or get friendly with someone in the shop they may just tell you, most of the time the owner of the shop doesn't work there all the time if at all so if you ask the Saturday girl she's not bothered if you know, if you asked, "do you know the name of the company on the invoices that you get for these clothes?"

You will be surprised how many people will tell you if they have the info to spill, if they are the only one in the shop and they have to go out the back to look it up the chances are slim but it's definitely worth asking, they can only say no!

Also, keep an eye open for when they get their stock arrivals, usually a truck will pull up out the front first thing in the morning to bring in the stock. This is a good time to take a wonder past! It's not unusual for the driver to leave a trolley of boxes on the sidewalk for a while, if you can get close enough just glance over the label on the boxes as you walk by and look for the supplier's name or website address, anything you can use to look them up, maybe if the driver is friendly he may tell you the supplier as he may deliver exclusively for them. You only have to ask! Both these methods have been used by experienced entrepreneurs when tracking down specific brands. It takes a bit of confidence but it could make a real difference to your online store!

What do you Really Buy Online?

While eBay and other e-businesses have shown a solid performance in the past few years, one might ask: do people even bother to shop at brick & mortar stores like Wal Mart and Sears nowadays?

With a handful of substantial figures form the U.S. Census Bureau, online advertising firm Permuto came up with a great infographic chart analyzing the comparisons of people's purchasing habits online vs. in-store. The chart really gives as an idea which products would people rather buy from an online store and vice versa.

 
According to the Census Bureau's data, the old brick & mortar stores are still responsible for the majority of sales in most of the categories, save for a few notable categories, including books, clothing, and electronics. While Social Media and e-Commerce is the big nowadays, industry pundits still believe that most people would rather see a tangible product before they buy it. While this notion makes sense, some products always ran out of stock in brick & mortar stores causing people to shop online instead. Hence, giving online stores an edge. This chart can give you an idea before deciding which products to sell online before starting an online store.

References:

http://www.permuto.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/PER-ONLINE-SALES-R4.png

5 Tips to Sourcing Your Clothing Business

When running your own business, it is no secret that buying wholesale clothing can seriously cut your costs. When starting a small business, the most important thing to think about is making a profit and a great way to do that is to buy wholesale clothing. Here are 5 tips to show you how easy it can be:

1. Know what kind of clothing that you want to buy — Pick any designer, any style that you're interested in. Some wholesale distributors focus only on women's clothing, some only on men's, others on only children's. That's why it's important to know what you're looking for before you begin shopping.
2. Do your research — Check out the retail prices of the products that you want to resell. Start crunching numbers and calculating what your profit will be if you purchase items on wholesale and then sell them at their retail price. Look for the wholesale price that will generate the highest profit margin for you. All you need is a calculator.
3. Don't take No for an answer — If there is a specific brand name that you'd like to purchase, go directly to the source. Cut out the middle man; go to the company that actually produces the brand. Approaching brands from time to time may be difficult because they require you to meet certain standards if you'd like to benefit from their wholesale prices. If that doesn't work out, you can check out online sites like Apparel For U to find wholesale clothing on sale.
4. Remember to check out the minimums! — Most often wholesalers will demand that you buy a minimum number of articles in order for you to acquire their clothing at wholesale prices. You may have to purchase up to 100 of a certain product, or you may not have a minimum at all, but every wholesale distributor is different. No minimum = no problem.
5. Don't be stingy when shipping — Shipping wholesale clothes can take a very long time, especially after buying from international companies. To ensure that you have everything you need as soon as you need it, let them send it to your home or office. Don't forget to include shipping expenses in your pricing.

With these easy suggestions, you're already 5 steps ahead of the competition. Look for the greatest deals and do your own research. If you're still having a hard time getting started, look for other resources on how to buy and sell clothing.

Fortunately, it's a good time to get into all of this. Men have increasingly become more trendy and concerned with their appearance. Fashion has come a long way, from the 3-piece suit to the currently trendy fitted t-shirts and tight jeans. Men love clothes that highlight their physique. For the first time, men are fascinated with fashion. It's still true that women are a more profitable demographic to market to; they're always looking for something else, something new, something that appeals to their taste. Surprisingly, however, it's interesting to note that children's clothing is the most profitable. This phenomenon is due in large part to the fact that kids grow at such a fast rate and the likelihood of peer influences effecting what a child wants to wear (as opposed to an adult). Children's clothes are in demand.

With these tips, you should have no trouble getting started. Good luck!

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How to start an eBusiness

With the online retail sales steadily growing, Forrester Research predicts that e-commerce sales in the US will continue to grow at a 10% compound annual growth rate through 2014.  For those of you interested in another statistical tidbit : Forrester is also forecasting that online retail sales will hit $250 billion this year, that’s up from $155 billion in 2009. As a budding online entrepreneur, even capturing a small piece of that pie, would be a huge success.

So how do you break into this market? What steps should you take to build an eBusiness and start selling online? And most importantly, how do you do so in a manner that sets you up for success.

1. Plan your dream
Before you start thinking about all the tactical stuff you’re going to need to accomplish over the next little while (getting a website, finding products, getting your name out there etc.). Slow down and think strategy for a moment or two. What do you want to sell – you literally have millions of options, and you can’t sell all of them, so narrow your field and look for your own little niche.  A good starting point: think about your interests and brainstorm if there’s a target market that can spin out of that. Watches, Baby Clothes, Sports Memorabilia. What strikes your fancy?

2. Create a Business Plan
Next, sit down a write a serious business plan for yourself. It doesn’t need to be a behemoth of an undertaking. Simply set a few realistic goals and take a good hard look at what you’re trying to accomplish.  Is it feasible and is it a viable money-making opportunity? Consider your target market – is it too much for a small start up to tackle? If so, focus your efforts on a smaller and more manageable niche and then work on growing it out once you’ve reached profitability.  Is it too small to reach and sustain adequate levels of profitability over time? If the answer is yes, look to expand your product offering so it meets the needs of a larger market. Or look to sell something else. Then create a road map of all the tasks you need to accomplish and the due dates and milestones you’re going to attach to each one.

3. Find Suppliers
Most online sellers, don’t create their own products from scratch, they locate a wholesale dropshipper and resell those products for a profit. A significant advantage to selling on line? You can locate a wholesale supplier who rather than shipping inventory to you, will ship straight to your end customer once an order is placed. This is called a dropshipper or dropship supplier.

The right dropship supplier is a huge asset to your business, so do your research and make sure you build a business relationship with a reputable company.

4. Look for an online storefront provider
As an entrepreneur, you have many skills, you’re resourceful, you’re creative, you’ve got a good business sense, and a whole lot of other strengths and abilities that will help you succeed. Website design however, might not make this list, and frankly, it doesn’t need to. There are a number of reputable online storebuilder solutions out there. Depending on your particular needs, you can use do any thing from using their simple tools to set up your own website to hiring one of their professional designers to build a custom site for you. And these services won’t break the bank either. A good professionally designed premium template can cost as little as $1000.

Often these services also offer integrated shopping carts and order management systems so you’re not just getting a website, you’re getting a full business solution, which is a huge time and money saver (especially if you don’t have a lot of spare start-up capital).  A select number of online storefronts will have even built relationships with a host of dropshippers so you can use them to source products too.

 5. Market your New Store
Once you’ve got your inventory built out and have your eCommerce website up and running, you’ll need to spread the word, and get your name out there. This can include submitting your site to search engines, sending out press releases, pay-per-click advertising campaigns, and a number of other options.

Whatever strategies you tackle ensure you can track the performance of each one. This allows you to assess which strategies resonate with your target market and which are a drain on your precious capital.

6. Provide Amazing Customer Service
I acknowledge that this step isn’t technically a part of getting your eBusiness set up, however, its still mission critical if you want your fledgling business to survive, so it’s worth mentioning.  Providing great customer support will set you apart from the competition and encourage repeat business, which in turn will make you money and keep you in business. Enough Said.

7. Keep it Fresh
Last but not least, you’ve gone to all this trouble to create a plan, find dropshippers, build an online storefront, market your new ecommerce store, provide fantastic customer service, so what’s next? Don’t let all your hard work fall down the wayside by walking away from your business and letting it manage itself. Keep updating your product lines, your website, stay in contact with your customer base so they keep coming back and you keep making sales.

References:
Melissa Campanelli, Entrepreneur, How to Set Up an E-Commerce Site

Erick Schonfeld, Tech Crunch, Forrester Forecast: Online Retail Sales Will Grow To $250 Billion By 2014

My Own Business, Internet Business & Search Engine Marketing

Armando Roggio, Practical ECommerce, Ecommerce Know-How: Seven Steps to Starting Your eBusiness in a Recession