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I'm in the process of starting an online business. I'm very familiarized with the technology part of the business (servers, shopping carts, payment gateways, etc..)
My question are:
1. How I can start doing my research on what products sellable?
2. How to come up with a strategy?
Thank you in advanced.
Hi,
As you said that you are familiar with "technology" I would say in order to do business you should be familiar with it also, understand the flow of supply chain, as to where you would procure your products from which vendor, and how you would deliver it to your customers....
Regd which products are sellable, I guess from small products like shampoo to defense missile is sellable :) what matters to sell is do you know the market and in order to research which market is good for you identify top 3 product lines such as computers, beauty products and home furnishing.
Computers - too many competition and less margins, margins only in services
Beauty products - need to be familiar with this business line and check its margin same with home furnishing ...
I would say visit eBay, Yahoo stores and see other vendors/business owners selling and what is selling the most and see the profit margin and what kind of investment they have made...
Check Google and Overture keywords for specific product lines and see the competition to understand how much people are willing to spend on marketing and how they are selling to understand the overall ROI
It is all about connecting the dots .....
You can check out Worldwide Brands Market Research Wizard for ideas on what to sell. I have not personally used the service, but it sounds promissing. They offer a free preview at http://www.worldwidebrands.com/wwb/freepre_index.asp
If you decided to use this, please let us know what you think of the service.
Personally, I think the best strategy is to specialize in an area in which you are passionate. You are going to be spending a lot of time focusing on your business, so make it something you enjoy. That enthusiasm is bound to come across to your customers.
That said, here are a couple of sites that can provide some insight into Internet trends and industry demographics:
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/
http://www.hitwise.com
Starting a business requires all kinds of research, so you might find this article helpful since it lists a bunch of reliable online research tools and sites:
http://smallbusinesscomputing.com/ne...le.php/3526751
I have to agree with DMuse -- find something you're passionate about. You'll be spending a lot of time starting and running the business, so you might as well enjoy what you're doing. Plus, if you just sell what's hot, what everyone else is selling, you end up with a lot of well-established competition. That sounds like an up-hill battle.
I see somebody actually recommended the WWB Membership. It is great, and yes there is a market research tool they have. But not to used alone. You should do your own research. If you don't know how, you can take a look at this tutorial!
Most online businesses fail just like brick and mortars. The key is persistence which is naturally driven by passion. Check out Google Trends to see how search behavior has been recently for topics and ideas. Good luck with the research and future endeavors!
I agree interspirepro, starting online business is not easy, a lot of research involved for items and markets. Good luck for you.
A lot of research is really something others usually forget causing them to perform less effectively with their new businesses so I suggest you do a lot of research first.
You can use adwords for looking up which keywords are strong, which can also imply which products are up for selling.
I think the best way to come up with a strategy would be to read a few books on basic sales and marketing strategy and then some focused books on your industry. That's kind of a broad question so you get a really broad answer.
I have joined some of the online business sites . can i create a site on my experiences with those sites(on line business sites) . Would such a site attract traffic?..
Make money online
Can I sell somebody products even without a website of my own? Or do i need to have my own website? I do love to have small business online, because i want to work at home.
Hi,
I would also strongly reccomend you look at books, as well as websites. I know there are tons of books out there personally I like - It is possible to make money online. I do strongly suggest you throughly research everything first, then go on and decide what is best for you
Try reading .amazon.com/gp/product/1933596... which is "The AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense" by Joel Comm. And .amazon.com/gp/product/0979192... which is "A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing: Quick Reference for Affiliate Managers & Merchants" by Evgenii Prussakov.
There is no straight answer to successful marketing and you just have to keep learning and trying until you find a method that is suitable for you.
Hi,
Try weblog software. It will give your site all the structure you need, plus make it easy to quickly post new content. My favorits is WordPress, which is open source, free and easy to install and use.
Good basic information in this article on the main components you need to start an e-commerce business:
Ecom Primer: What You Need to Set Up Shop Online
From registering a domain name to making sure your retail site is secure, we cover the basic fundamentals that lay the foundation for building a retail shop online.
http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solut...le.php/3836866
The answer to your question is not easy and straightforward, you only need to learn as you go while at the same time understudying how those who have established themselves in your niche are going about it.
Hi guys! Thank's for the tips and info... I'm just new here and very interested in exploring online business... For starters this post is very useful.
:)
hi guys, I'm newbie here. I've read e commerce guide really useful.
You can narrow it down by considering products that are easy to sell online with little or no inventory
thank you for the great information.
Starting an online business can always be very tricky. First you have to research about your competitors that what they are doing. How they are marketing their products or what is their strategy.
Then try to plan something that should surpass them in every way possible and your system should also be flexible so that when you have to expand you would not have any problems doing it.
What kind or what aspect of the online business are you familiar with then I suggest you focus on that.You can also create a virtual office offering the services you mentioned you know instead of opening your own ecommerce site.
Hello
Many people believe they have to start an online business with a website. This is wrong and a dangerous mistake. Why? Websites (particularly for a novice) can take a lot of time and money to create. Why start there when you aren’t even certain you can make this work? Let’s start easier.
Go to your closet or garage. Find four or five things to sell and list them on eBay. It’s very easy to set up a seller account (and free) by following the eBay tutorials. The listing fees are very cheap compared to other methods of selling. It is an excellent place for a novice seller to start.
Now, when you make that first sale, do you feel a rush? If you don’t feel the exhilaration that comes with selling something, don’t quit your day job. An online business is NOT for you.
First of all you ought to make some research to find out the most sellable products in market. There are lots of tools such as Google Insight etc you can use to find out the hot products.
As far as strategy concerns I would suggest you to have some brainstorming first. As soon as you have an idea then just stick to the plan and hope for a better outcome. Additionally, hit the target market when you are promoting your product.
Hope this helps.
Salman
All the online sellers eventually have same/similar presentation. Whatever is new and simple soon becomes available to everyone. I can suggest you to use something new but still simple to stand out and attract customers.
I think the idea would be 3D. All speak about 3D, your customer will be easily get interested, and online sellers have none of it!
Simplest and affordable version of 3D can be an animated .gif. of YOUR goods made out of photos made by you. An animated .gif is a standard file format that should be compatible with all browsers. Its advantage is runs without asking permission. (You probably know that fancy web-sites appear quite dull when an average customer watches it having turned off java, java-script, adds-on, etc. Just because you are not known. Nobody wants to risk.).
Really, nobody likes gif running and running again. Then how to use? Whe you use magnification of an image, at the same line you can suggest 3d.gif watching.
Next question, how to make it? It is possible, even for free. (I personally, cannot tell you since it was already considered here as a "direct solicitation")
Have you considered offer it in a PM rather than a forum post that is not addressed to anyone in particular?
I think, we can use the social utility to do some research, such as facebook,myspace..the online people is huge, maybe it can give you some good ideas.
Good luck.
Well I think you are cleared with what exactly you want to start you business in. I really appreciate your decision. Doing online business is very much effective and it has a lots of benefits. I suggest you to take any franchise of a good company and it will be more easy to start any business.
Quote:
Originally Posted by interspirepro
I believe you are right. Establishing a business really needs a lot of research and hard work.
Thanks to share this information
1. what you enjoy doing?
2. what/where you're good at?
that two questions will help you decide what product you'll be selling. Remember that in business if you dont enjoy it you most likely fall out of love to it.
since you're into technology then that would be a good start. at least you know what you want..
Firstly you must make yourself visible and popular in the market.You just need to know the right method which can help you in a very effective way to do what you wish and desire
regarding your business.Make best use of marketing softwares and online internet services for easy money making schemes.Thanks.
About "What products sellable.."
One angle is to look at google's stats on search keywords. We have got a lot of signals from these numbers about what are the waves on the market.
You can use adwords for looking up which keywords are strong, which can also imply which products are up for selling.
I really appreciate the quality of your questions. These must be kept in mind before one desire to start the a business. For the list of items to be sold you can check out the market trend and interest of the local market and customers. This will give you a clear idea that what you should sell and according to that stuff you can easily check out your competitors and so can evaluate your strengths and weakness. Wish you all the best for your business.
You can narrow it down by considering products that are easy to sell online with little or no inventory
Google can be your best friend that can give you superb ideas about what you are doing and what you need to do. I mean google tells you the trend of people searching products worldwide and the specific area for which you are looking for with the help of google insight. Google keyword tool will help you to find the keywords against which the product is being being searched over the web. Hence by marketing your products against these highly searched keywords will increase your probability to get global viability and so to get satisfactory ROI. All the best for your business.
If your planning to put your business name on a product or take your business name the high street and use the name to start a offline business like a shop then you need to register your business name as if you use some else they may take you to court
If your planning to just use the business on your website just register the domain as the business name then no one can copy your name
A good place to start is actually Amazon.com. Search around for items that are selling there and you can at least narrow your search down to a more specific niche. Ebay also has a good research service at pulse.ebay.com.
Jason Green
BusinessHut