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How to launch an ecommerce site when you have no products?

by AndyRocksWar
9 replies
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Dear Community

How to launch an ecommerce site when you have no products?

What I know:
- there is amazon affiliate
and that's it... I don't know more, and don't seem to be able to find any more than that.

What I want:
I am actually building it already. It's a very good looking WP site with e-Commerce, Newsletter Sign Up, and Blog. I do WP sites for a living so I am doing my best to come up with a beautiful site.

My question:
If I start selling amazon products, wouldnt my conversion rate be crap because users have to go from my site to amazon's?

I want users to go through products and reviews while on my site, but when it comes to purchasing the products im scraed that if I go with Amazon I would lose tons of customers as compared if I was physically selling the products myself.

By the way, the niche I am at is Women 25 - 45. Im trying to set up a brand site that will eventually have a following for the brand and the products it sells. trying to be in this for the long run and building a nice list of women who open their wallets online

Please advice on how to start this ecommerce site while having no products of my own.

Thank you

Andy
#ecommerce #launch #products #site
  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    Creating an Amazon affiliate product store is a great way to "get your foot in the door" for almost any market. It gives you a credible looking web store to mention when you reach out to potential suppliers and other potentially beneficial partners in the space. That's the route I recommend taking whenever the top brands in the market can't clearly be dropshipped right out of the gate.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I have a couple of Amazon only ecommerce stores and it has increased my Amazon earnings. But if you don't want to go the affiliate route, dropship. Find a manufacturer or wholesaler (who doesn't sell to the public) and dropship their products.
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  • Profile picture of the author n_touch
    The only thing that I do not like about going the Amazon route is that you do not have any control over the products. You can not promote something on sale, or send coupons and discounts. This hurts when you are trying to set up a store. It will help you get your foot in the door, but it is best to get your own products as soon as you can.
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    N-Touch Marketingâ„¢
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  • Profile picture of the author DamianGil
    Being a ecommerce affiliate is great to test the waters. If you can prove sales and profits it can be a great ground-base to start expanding into your own products either by importing, drop-shipping or developing yourself a nice product that satisfies a want or complements a want of something else.

    It's fundamental that you start off by developing a powerful and sustaininable USP if you plan to do something long term.
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  • Profile picture of the author Solid Commerce
    The advice in this thread is dead-on.

    Try drop-shipping to get your feet wet. An affiliate program like Amazon's is another great way to get your feet in the door, as Dave pointed out.
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  • Profile picture of the author edarem
    Sorry, but as a customer why I shouldnt buy items directly from amazon, is there any differences and why?
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  • Profile picture of the author bigbigeye
    Hello, I am in China, would you like to sell China-Made Products? I can provide products for you to sell.
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  • Profile picture of the author SmallRevolution
    We have a few eCommerce stores that are using Amazon affiliate links.

    The idea is that we are building traffic and credibility before we approach dropshipping-type suppliers. It's a nice way to get a store up and running with a Buy button.

    The 'real' product suppliers are more impressed by an active, nice looking site than by an idea.

    However, to make serious income from affiliate sales you need to drive a LOT of fresh traffic into the store.

    This will require unique, high quality content and a lot of constant promotion. Lots and lots of promotion. We're talking at least 4 press releases each week, multiple coupon code offers, a lot of blogging and outreach .... etc.

    This in itself is a long-term commitment and requires a different marketing strategy than if you eventually want to move it to a drop-shipping model.

    A bonus with affiliate sales is that any purchase made by a Amazon customer will result in commission for you. We've found that we receive commission mostly for products that aren't even listed in our stores.
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    Build your own online store, step by step.

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  • Profile picture of the author WorldIR
    Consider selling digital ebooks or doing affiliate or referral programs to kickstart your first ecommerce biz
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