Physical Products: You CAN make $$
On Set 10th 2001(great timing~) I started a retail store in my home town. From 2001-(June)2009 I watched as my business fluctuate up and down, needing to sell $10,000 a month just to pay bills.
I found the Warrior Forum about 3 years ago I think while I was looking to find ways to drive traffic to my site, which didnt sell anything online at that point.
Well I hemmed and hawed for a while playing with different methods, and started to increase some targetted traffic.
Mid summer this year I closed the place down and brought the company completely online, which was the best thing I ever did.
Now one of my major sticking points was the fact that I had access to millions of items to sell, but felt overwhelmed at getting crap online. So I picked a niche based on demand, and also profit margin.
In my retail business, 30% is a great mark up if you can get it, and I managed to find items that I could buy better, and make more profit.
I catered my site to these products, and even do an ebay store to help create some cash flow and build a list of happy customers that I can then direct to my site(where I make more $$ cuz ebay sucks you dry with their fees).
My biggest piece of advice though, for those selling physical products...don't rely on 3rd party dropshippers!!!
I have direct accounts with the manufacturers and get killer prices and superb customer service, which allows me to sell at a reasonable price and make a healthy profit.
The one thing I found when I started out was that I used to see products I sold for sale online cheaper than I could by them for!
However, this takes a bit of money to do, as I had to do some buy in's. For me, there were different levels of "buy ins" and I picked the cheapest one at first. Why? Because thats all I could afford!! But I made less profit at first, built up my buying power by consistantly selling, and my "buy" price points dropped allowing me to keep the same sell point and make more $$.
Suppliers will work with you once you have proven you can sell. In today's economy, some even relax their rules in certain situations.
I do also have WD(warehouse distributors) that I can buy from as well, which allows me access to hundreds of suppliers and millions of items. The more I buy from them, the more my pricing goes down as well, its just not as lucrative long term...but for complimentary items to your niche it makes sense to build these relationships as well.
My point here is that if you want to sell physical items...go to the source first. Buying from a 3rd or 4th party "dropshipper" who has thousands of people just like you selling the same stuff for the same price just creates problems...as there is always someone willing to whore themselves out to make $1 on something in the hopes of selling millions of items(which never happens and just drives the market price down)
~keith
ps: for those who may ask, my niche is selling hot rod/high performance parts.
I found the Warrior Forum about 3 years ago I think while I was looking to find ways to drive traffic to my site, which didnt sell anything online at that point.
Well I hemmed and hawed for a while playing with different methods, and started to increase some targetted traffic.
Mid summer this year I closed the place down and brought the company completely online, which was the best thing I ever did.
Now one of my major sticking points was the fact that I had access to millions of items to sell, but felt overwhelmed at getting crap online. So I picked a niche based on demand, and also profit margin.
In my retail business, 30% is a great mark up if you can get it, and I managed to find items that I could buy better, and make more profit.
I catered my site to these products, and even do an ebay store to help create some cash flow and build a list of happy customers that I can then direct to my site(where I make more $$ cuz ebay sucks you dry with their fees).
My biggest piece of advice though, for those selling physical products...don't rely on 3rd party dropshippers!!!
I have direct accounts with the manufacturers and get killer prices and superb customer service, which allows me to sell at a reasonable price and make a healthy profit.
The one thing I found when I started out was that I used to see products I sold for sale online cheaper than I could by them for!
However, this takes a bit of money to do, as I had to do some buy in's. For me, there were different levels of "buy ins" and I picked the cheapest one at first. Why? Because thats all I could afford!! But I made less profit at first, built up my buying power by consistantly selling, and my "buy" price points dropped allowing me to keep the same sell point and make more $$.
Suppliers will work with you once you have proven you can sell. In today's economy, some even relax their rules in certain situations.
I do also have WD(warehouse distributors) that I can buy from as well, which allows me access to hundreds of suppliers and millions of items. The more I buy from them, the more my pricing goes down as well, its just not as lucrative long term...but for complimentary items to your niche it makes sense to build these relationships as well.
My point here is that if you want to sell physical items...go to the source first. Buying from a 3rd or 4th party "dropshipper" who has thousands of people just like you selling the same stuff for the same price just creates problems...as there is always someone willing to whore themselves out to make $1 on something in the hopes of selling millions of items(which never happens and just drives the market price down)
~keith
ps: for those who may ask, my niche is selling hot rod/high performance parts.
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