Posts Tagged web business owner
Three Steps To Starting Your Drop Ship Business
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Home Based Business on June 24th, 2009
A drop ship based business is one of the best and easiest ways to make money online. Many people even make their full time living running a drop ship business. While there are no guarantees that you’ll be successful and there are always risks, getting started the right way can help increase the chances that you’ll do well.
Here are three steps to getting started with your own online drop ship business:
Step One: Research
If you’re going to have a successful drop ship business, you have to do some legwork from the beginning. You have to research products. You want to find a product that is in demand, but that isn’t being sold by everyone else. You want to choose products you’re interested in, as your level of interest and passion will directly contribute to how well your business does.
One of the most important things to research, however, is the drop ship wholesale vendor. You want to choose a vendor that’s reliable. You want to choose a vendor who has the right product. You want to choose a vendor who will ship the product to your customer in a timely fashion.
Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy finding the right drop ship wholesale vendor. In some cases, you might have to try several different vendors out before you find one that you like. One shortcut is to use an online drop ship wholesale vendor directory. These directories consolidate information about a variety of suppliers, and put that information at your fingertips.
Step 2: Planning
The next step in creating a successful drop ship business is planning. You need to approach this business the way you would any other business. You need to develop a well though business plan that takes into account things such as marketing, long-term profits, and the supply chain.
While you don’t need a lot of capital to start this kind of business, it can be helpful to have some money in order to invest in marketing plans. This is, in part, where the business plan is most useful. You can present your business plan to potential investors, increasing the chances that they’ll support your venture.
Step 3: Marketing
Finally, it’s time to sell your products. This may involve creating a website, purchasing advertising space in print or other media, or a number of other types of marketing efforts. From here, its’ just a matter of following your business plan and processing your orders as they come in.
Drop Shipping – Carefully Consider The Following
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping on June 24th, 2009
If you were going to open a new retail store, you certainly wouldn’t do it without first spending some time doing market research. The same principle holds true if you want to start selling a product online with drop shipping. The fact of the matter is that the online marketplace can be very competitive, and there are things changing so fast that you really need to be on your toes.
The first thing you need to think about when you’re getting started with drop shipping is your product. You want to make sure that there’s a market for your product. You also need to make sure that the market for your product isn’t saturated with competitors selling the same or similar product. You also want to make sure that the product you’re selling isn’t outdated or near the end of its product cycle, or you may find that the demand for the product drops so fast that you really won’t be able to take advantage of your sales.
The next thing you need to think about is your order fulfillment system. This is an advantage that you have over traditional retail stores. Because you’re getting started with drop shipping, you don’t have to maintain an inventory of products to send to customers when they order. When a customer pays you for a product, you turn around and send a portion of that payment to your drop ship wholesale supplier, who then sends the product out your customer.
For this reason, it’s important that you choose the right drop shipping supplier. You want one that will provide quality products. You also want one that will ship on time. It’s your reputation on the line, and if your customer isn’t happy they will complain about you, not your supplier. In many cases, your customer will even assume that you have a warehouse and that you are actually handling the product yourself.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that a successful drop shipping business takes some of the same kinds of things to be successful as a traditional business. You have to be dedicated. You have to work hard. You have to really invest your time and energy. In the end, there are risks, just like there are with any business. If you’re patient and diligent, however, those risks will turn into rewards.
Starting your own online business
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 23rd, 2009
How many times have you heard somebody say, “I’m going to sell stuff on the Internet!” The rough economy has made this proclamation even more common, as out-of-work and marginally employed individuals come out of the woodwork, looking for something to generate income.
The competition is fierce, and there are more people than ever trying it–but at the same time, starting your own online business has never been better. Yes, you read that right. Even during today’s recession, Internet sales are booming. There are plenty of advantages to having a retail outlet on the web, not the least of which is that Internet-based shopping save the customer time and money as compared to shopping at the mall. The price of a gallon of gas is going up again, and consumers are looking to keep those trips to a minimum. And in the middle of the financial crisis, the advantages of online shopping are even more pronounced. As a result, the business of Internet retailing has both a downside (lots of competition), and an upside (consumers looking for bargains).
There are millions of retail outlets on the Web today looking to get in on the rising business model of a home-based business, but only a relative handful are successful. Far too many others go out of business for one reason or another, and in the end, are stuck with a basement full of inventory that gets used as Christmas presents for the next ten years.
One of the most important elements of success is finding a good network of wholesale suppliers, and finding a niche product that isn’t already being sold by thousands of other online retailers. Come up with a short list of retail ideas, and do some quick searches on that concept. See who else is selling it, and for how much. If there are five or ten other retail shops selling it online, then you’re still in good shape–but if your search turns up thousands, then you’re going to be invisible. Even if there are a few other outlets selling the same thing, don’t give up. The idea here is to make your idea different enough to make a difference in who gets the click-through that gets the sale.
Internet marketing is about getting the right product, creating the right image, and specifically targeting your potential audience effectively. If you can reach your audience effectively, you are nearly there. Now all you have to do is give them what they want with solid choices to choose from and a way of enticing them to buy, such as with sales and other attractive techniques. Starting small and then building upon your idea step-by-step will help those sales increase in this bewildering virtual marketplace–and it will get you the experience you need to build your business later with more product and more targeted marketing techniques. Getting the web to work for you rather than being intimidated by it is much of the battle for the new home based entrepreneur.
International or local sourcing?
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Wholesale, Wholesale Sources, eBusiness on June 23rd, 2009
The internet is a fascinating world all its own. A bewildering array of sites can be had on virtually any topic, but what about getting product for your new Internet-based retail shop? It’s an intimidating prospect. Should you go local, or should you go international, where there are countless wholesale outlets that can get you the product you want and at unusually low pricing compared to their domestic counterparts here in the states?
The good news with importing lower cost goods to your outlet is that they are often at much lower cost than the same item even at a local wholesaler’s bargain basement prices. And many of them are of very good quality and visually appealing. Foreign retailers cater to their local markets, and their items are often marketed visually to their clientele in different ways than their American counterparts. And that difference can make them more appealing to an American audience with slightly different tastes. But the bad news with foreign sources is that there are taxes, customs, and higher shipping costs associated with buying their products, and there is always the worry that the items you want to sell might not be legal to sell in America for different reasons. Radioactive uranium-based jewelry looks great, but it will never get past the Geiger counter in customs! And then there is the issue of time with foreign sources that enters the picture as well. Your product will take longer to get to you. Overseas shipping is complex. If you are shipping small, lightweight products, you may be able to use a flat-rate FedEx box, which depending on what you’re shipping, can be very cost-effective. You can fit a lot of earrings, bangles and necklaces in one of those boxes! But if your product is larger, the flat-rate FedEx adds too much cost to shipping, and you may need to purchase enough volume to ship by container.
On the other hand, local sources have their positives and negatives as well. The local source can skip the shipping costs altogether if you can pick it up yourself, and you can inspect the product and get a general feel of the quality of the merchandise by looking at it yourself, rather than a picture on a web site. And you don’t have to worry about time to get your product to market. And even better, you can develop a relationship with the local wholesaler that is far more personal than a foreign merchant, and that can pay big dividends in the long run.
Should you use a local or an international source for drop shipping? Take your pick, but it is buyer beware in both cases. Do your homework and be careful. Get some advice from wholesaler forums for more information.
Starting An Online Business With Drop Shipping
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 19th, 2009
If you’ve ever seen a commercial on television advertising that you can sell products without ever having to handle them, it’s probably talking about a drop shipping online business. The good news is that you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars paying for information from the people on TV. Instead, you can start an online business with drop shipping with a relatively small investment, some hard work, and a little bit of knowledge.
The first thing you need to do if you want to be successful is to plan appropriately. While you might be anxious to jump right in and get started, you need to approach your online drop shipping business the same way you would any business. You need to work up a good business plan. While drop shipping means that you don’t have to worry about things like warehouse space or buying a starting inventory, there are plenty of things you need to consider.
For example, you need to carefully develop a marketing plan. An online drop shipping business means that you don’t have to put out money on a standing inventory, but you will have to spend some money on marketing. Know what kind of marketing you want to do, and develop some specific ideas for marketing campaigns. From search engine marketing to social media marketing, there are many methods you can use to get the word out about your products. Choosing the right methods is key to getting started right.
You also need to choose the right products. You want to choose products that have a specific market, but not ones that are being sold everywhere else online. Just because someone else is selling the same products doesn’t mean you can’t sell them too. However, the more competition you have, the harder you’ll have to work at your marketing efforts to sell your products.
Choosing the right wholesale suppliers is also integral to the success of your online drop shipping business. You want to choose suppliers with a solid reputation, who produce quality products, and who ship on time. After all, it’s your reputation that’s on the line. A wholesale supplier can make or break your business, so be careful about who you pick.
Finally, you need to remember that your online drop shipping business will take time to grow. You’re not going to be a millionaire overnight. In addition, many small businesses fold within the first few months. How well you’ve planned for your business can make the difference, and keep you from being just another failed online drop shipping business.
Trade Shows and Wholesale Suppliers
Posted by Bob in Wholesale, Wholesale Sources on June 19th, 2009
Locating wholesale suppliers is one of the necessary steps in starting a retail business, even if that retail business is exclusively located online. One of the best ways to find wholesale suppliers in your particular field is to visit trade shows.
No matter what industry you’re involved in, there is probably a trade show you can attend. There are trade shows for sporting goods, for electronics, for comic books, for pet supplies, and even for airplane parts. Wholesale suppliers attend trade shows in their given industries, and this is one of the most useful venues for you to actually meet a suppler face to face. Some trade shows, such as the E3 trade show that takes place in Las Vegas every year, have even become something of a spectacle and have made national news headlines when manufacturers launch new products.
But, how do you locate a trade show in your industry? There are several sources you can check with in order to find out what trade show or shows your industry relies on:
Start with your industry’s trade organization. Just about every industry has one, and if you’re not already a member you should become one. Trade shows are just one of the many benefits you can get from joining your industry’s trade organization. Even specialty industries, such as board game makers, have a trade organization you can hook up with.
Another obvious way to find trade shows in your industry is to check local venues’ schedules. This is, of course, the most tedious and time consuming way to find trade shows. You should save this method as a last resort.
There are also a number of trade show networks and organizations that exist specifically to supply trade shows with the materials they need, and to connect them with various venues. You may have some luck finding trade shows this way, as well.
Ultimately, don’t forget that your goal is to find wholesale suppliers. If your industry has very few trade shows, or if you can’t attend the trade show for your industry, don’t sweat it. There are plenty of other ways for you to find suppliers that can provide the products you need for your business. Consider looking into an online service that will connect you with wholesale suppliers, for example, or check with various trade magazines in your particular field.
Financing your wholesale purchases, Part Two
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Home Based Business, Wholesale, eBusiness on June 19th, 2009
In an earlier discussion, we talked about the wisdom, or folly as the case may be, of using your personal credit cards or personal lines of credit to bankroll your wholesale purchases. Doing so ultimately drags down your personal credit and limits the amount of credit available. But the biggest reason of course, is that sometimes it just doesn’t work. You just can’t be taken seriously as a business person if you’re not using business accounts.
It is possible to get a credit card in the name of your company. First of course, you must make yourself an official company, preferably through incorporation or by forming an LLC (limited liability corporation). Having done so, you are now a legitimate company and can apply for legitimate company credit. Whether you’ll be approved for it is another story entirely, but at least you can apply. It may take a few months for you to build up your business credit, and initially, you may even have to make a personal guarantee. There are a few differerent types of business credit you can obtain.
Your wholesaler may be able to provide you with a line of credit. Although sometimes the wholesaler provides this directly, more often, it is arranged through a third-party finance company. The interest rate may be high, but it is fairly easy to get approved for this. If you’re using it only for short-term debt and paying it off quickly, then the high interest rate shouldn’t bother you that much.
Once you have become a little more established, you can get a higher limit on your corporate credit card, and you may also be able to go to your local bank and apply for a line of credit, probably with a much lower interest rate than that offered by the finance company or the wholesaler.
Remember too that business credit is determined differently from personal credit. Your personal credit rating and FICO score is recorded automatically by the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax). Whenever you pay a bill, your creditor reports your activities. You don’t have to do anything for that to occur. But with business credit, there are different credit bureaus (Dunn & Bradstreet, Experian Business, Equifax Business, and Business Credit USA). You need to actually register with these agencies under your business name in order to build a business credit profile.
Going out of business sales: are they good for profit margins?
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Home Based Business, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources, eBusiness on June 18th, 2009
It sounds like a dream come true for the online start-up: someone else is going out of business, so I should “get while the getting is good,” so to speak. While this might sound great, are you really looking at this objectively? There can be a down side to the idea; here are a couple of things to consider.
The first thing to consider is the hype of the sale itself. Don’t get sucked into the hype without checking into the price of the item elsewhere. You could try eBay or another source for the same item to see if the sale hype is just that, or if the item really is worth the low closeout price to be had. Often, closeouts sound great, but they are not really all that low compared to other outlets. But don’t give up; you might be able to salvage a real deal yet. If the going out of business sale is really just that, you can use the hype to your advantage and get the manager to deal with you, especially if you give him some incentive for taking the item off his shelf.
What you need here is a little tact and a lot of diplomacy. Go to the manager and ask for a price reduction, and be sure to mention that you are looking at a number of items on his shelf and wonder if you can take them off his hands if he agrees to sell you a serious quantity of his items. This way both of you win: he wins because he recoups his inventory costs, and you win because you get better deals for the effort.
Another consideration is that the item might not be the latest version and it may be difficult to sell. Make sure you do some research on the resale value of the item before you take the hype; you don’t want to get caught with a shelf lemon on your site that might not ever sell.
Going out of business sales can be great for profit margins, but it is a buyer beware opportunity, and not to be taken at hype value. Be cautious with sale opportunities to increase profit margins.
Accepting Credit Cards is a Must for all eCommerce Businesses
Posted by Andrea in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 11th, 2009
Almost 75% of all Americans use some form of plastic to make purchases. Any b2b, or b2c ecommerce business almost certainly needs to accept credit cards in order to maintain their presence and flourish on the net, it is as simple as that.
When you first start your business you will find that most merchant account providers will be weary about providing you with an account. Merchant account providers consider risk when opening an account similar to the way a credit card company accesses the risk of opening an account. Merchant providers will be responsible for dealing with charge backs so they do not want to do business with a merchant they feel is a risk. Risky merchants are ones who have just opened their business or merchants who reside in fraud-rampant areas (the Islands, Africa, etc.). Adult service providers will also have a hard time getting merchant accounts because of the rate of charge backs that are common.
A new business owner can try getting a merchant account but starting with a provider such as PayPal may be easier. PayPal works in a similar way to other merchant account holders but is far more lenient with who they will offer merchant services to. For example a new business can open a merchant account with a credit card and a checking account with PayPal while other merchant service providers will check credit and business history before offering an account.
Sticking with PayPal for the long term might not be the best idea overall as many merchants have found PayPal to be flaky with dealing with fraud and other business issues but the company is a good way to get a business started with offering credit card payments.
After several months or a year most businesses will find getting a merchant account to be a fairly easy task and all they need to do is shop around for one that fits best for the business in question. Credit card processing services usually handle business in one of two ways. They either charge a fee based on a percentage of the sale or they charge a specified dollar amount. A business that deals with low cost products will want to look for a processing company that charges a percentage of the sale rather than one who charges a dollar amount. Businesses that have large ticket items (computers, televisions etc.) are better of with a company that has a specified transaction fee as a percentage cut would be more expensive than a previously agreed upon transaction charge.
Visa and MasterCard providers are the most popular with online business owners as most people use the above two to purchase their products. America Express and Discover are less commonly used and also garner higher processing rates so most small business owners will find it is not worth their while to deal with those companies. Finding a service provider is all about knowing your business, your products and your customers.
Ecommerce Tip - Simple Ways to Keep Your Customers
Posted by Andrea in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 11th, 2009
Customer retention is one of the corner stones of business. While getting new customers in should be an important part of a business’ growth plan keeping the customers needs to be equal as important if not more important.
The first step of retaining customers is keeping them happy. A happy customer will come back to do further business with your company. A customer who feels cheated or who has a negative experience with your business won’t be back. There is far too much competition on the internet and customers can always go elsewhere. While you can never keep everyone happy you can do your best to keep the majority of customers comfortable and secure with their transaction.
Offering specials is a great way of getting new customers but it is also a good way to keep customers loyal as well. Shipping costs are a big deal breaker for some customers. No one wants to pay exorbitant shipping costs so if you can keep your shipping lower than your competitors you will get more customers and retain them. Free shipping is an enticing offer that few people can refuse.
A solid and generous return policy also helps to retain more customers. I’ve discussed return policies in depth before but it is worth repeating. A return policy can help customers feel secure and comfortable shopping with you. Your return policy will help you keep customers around by making them feel comfortable with repeated purchases.
Customer service is another big building block in customer retention. Your customer service needs to be well above average for customers to continue to come back. While most customers will never have to contact you the ability to do so makes them feel comfortable. Keep your contact information easy to find. Don’t hide the phone number or e-mail address in some random page. If the information is upfront and obvious on your website customers will feel as though they can contact you at any time if there is a problem. Once those customers do contact you do your best to answer their questions quickly and accurately.
Finally deliver on what you promise. A lot of small businesses make the mistake of promising things that they can not do within reason. Don’t say you ship packages daily if you only ship them three times a week. Don’t tell a customer you can work with them on prices if you really can’t. When you don’t deliver customers will be annoyed and they won’t be back.
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