Online Business startups? experiences

[Flukester]

stock is only the start, it gets very expensive, and very hard to drive traffic to your site unless your products are unique and people rave about them online

my advice would be try and start without help of bank, start small, test the water with products, just a handful, and plough money back into more product lines... you can avoid the bank alltogether.

one thing though, do it legit, register with HMRC and pay your dues, or you could be in for nice fines later.....

i've been quite lucky with online ventures to date, with all of them doing more than ok... you just got to have the ideas and the drive to work 80hr weeks

edit: treat every customer as you would like to be treated and word of mouth gets you a long way, even if you are out of pocket by helping them

 

[Jambo]

good advice so far, I'm glad these forums don't turn into the typical "let's just **** this guy off" responses! Thanks....

There is only one other website that solely deals in what I want to sell, the website will be great quality so that's a good tip to offer and yeah, mentioning that I will not be massively discounting items is another good tip.

With your emails... did you find more success from personal addresses or a business address? The suppliers for these items are totally limited, the main manufacturers distribute their items through maximum 2 companies (from my research) so maybe more of a personal feel...

It's mad isn't it, I want to sell their items and they wont help me at all!

I'll keep trying!

Dan

You never mentioned about the bank. Are you applying for a loan?

It will add to your credibility a little bit if you email from a relevant domain. As has been mentioned you will need to pay up front for any stock. Usually this might be for the first few orders but if you can, then suggesting that you are happy to work with them on the basis of a pro forma account might help to convince them.

I recently started a new website where suppliers usually won't supply online only. I had to create the website first and then convince them. You really need to show them your vision as much as you can and I can't stress enough how important price is. Another thing that might help is if you can speak to a sales agent who usually covers a specific region. The agent can sometimes be easier to convince as they will be on commission but they still need to be able to justify it to the supplier.

 

[Flukester]

It will add to your credibility a little bit if you email from a relevant domain. As has been mentioned you will need to pay up front for any stock.

deffo good idea with email, but I'd be tempted to not run credit accounts... I know a lot of business do but I only sell to people willing to pay up front also so cash flow is never a problem.

this imo is the very best way to run a small sized operation, and a way to make sure you don't expand beyond your means

 

[Bulldog14]

deffo good idea with email, but I'd be tempted to not run credit accounts... I know a lot of business do but I only sell to people willing to pay up front also so cash flow is never a problem.

this imo is the very best way to run a small sized operation, and a way to make sure you don't expand beyond your means

It actually even goes a little further than that. In most Western countries a supplier may not provide a line of credit to a buyer unless the buyer passes a credit check and is approved by the authorities/agencies in charge. It is in most cases illegal to simply provide another company credit based on the whim of the seller. Not to say it doesn't happen and I've been party to 'looking the other way" more than once, but in general any respectable business will not extend credit to another unless it is approved by the powers that be. If a sale is lost then so be it.

 

[Scrutinize]

the only reason I don't want to specifically go into what i want to sell is because there's people on here who'd have it set up by next week and may see it as a good idea... say it's brass instruments - selling mouthpieces and valve oil, i have ideas of how to market it, initially it would be word of mouth and maybe some adverts in specialist magazines... i want it to be online only so that i'm not paying for staff or huge amounts of storage etc, might have to pay for seo. initially though it's getting the illusive 'prices' so I can work out myself the profits likely to be made etc..

I understand, but could you answer the following

Main thing we need to consider here as a niche product is your profitability and sustainability.

Are the items?

a) High value and only require low volume sales to generate a healthy profit after overheads / taxes. (High value and low margin requiring high volume is not good for start ups with low investment capital due to holding / buying sufficent stock)

b) Low Value and require substantial volume sales to generate profit. (Issue with logistics and again stock management)

And;

c) What is the risk of product failure and projected return volumes.

Do you understand the market and demand for this to get decent market penetration. You have to ask the question, why is there only one other website doing it? It this because demand is low or costs are too high?

If this is a new product is it potential untested demand?

What would stop a competitor setting up to sell over night if they see a big market once you get going? Could you secure distribution rights?

Lots of very well established on-line music retailers who could add this to their product lists.

If it is a specialist product then do retail stores sell it. Could be hard to attract business from these with musical instruments and ancillaries. You r local one may not do but other ones may.

How much research have you done into the product and market?

 

[Bulldog14]

I understand, but could you answer the following

Main thing we need to consider here as a niche product is your profitability and sustainability.

Are the items?

a) High value and only require low volume sales to generate a healthy profit after overheads / taxes. (High value and low margin requiring high volume is not good for start ups with low investment capital due to holding / buying sufficent stock)

b) Low Value and require substantial volume sales to generate profit. (Issue with logistics and again stock management)

And;

c) What is the risk of product failure and projected return volumes.

Do you understand the market and demand for this to get decent market penetration. You have to ask the question, why is there only one other website doing it? It this because demand is low or costs are too high?

If this is a new product is it potential untested demand?

What would stop a competitor setting up to sell over night if they see a big market once you get going? Could you secure distribution rights?

Lots of very well established on-line music retailers who could add this to their product lists.

If it is a specialist product then do retail stores sell it. Could be hard to attract business from these with musical instruments and ancillaries. You r local one may not do but other ones may.

How much research have you done into the product and market?

Well put. I think if the OP can come up with answers to these questions that are more than just "Yes" and "No", and then generate a business plan based on that, that potential investors will then sit up and notice.