What's Stopping You?

Product sourcing is the part I worry about, I took a look in to it a long time ago, but it seemed pretty high risk.

Building the website is no problem. Fear of failure is not an option. What worries me most (about drop ship products) is finding a reliable drop shipper that will actually deliver on time. On some places like eBay, if your drop shipper flakes, you can get in trouble (even though it's your drop shipper's fault). Anyway, that's not really a problem if you have your own website. As you can directly contact the customer and explain the delay or provide a refund with little consequences.

When I was trying to enter in this niche and doing my initial research , I asked the same question to lot of people in some internal groups and gathering ... The answers varied from one thing to another but the one which popped out of everything was -


Technology is never a problem, The real pain is to figure out "how to sell the damn thing"!

For most people, the true problem is an underlying fear of failure...which causes their inaction.

There are a few problems I've observed here:

1. Failure to understand the right way to utilize dropshippers. You can't just do a bulk import and launch a site and expect search engines will magically deliver buyers to your door. It doesn't work that way.

2. Not knowing the difference between getting a SALE and getting a CUSTOMER. Everyone I come across here focuses so much on price competitiveness that they forget everything else that leads to a sale. Price isn't the only factor. How do you think sites like ThinkGeek make millions selling the same crap you can find cheaper on Amazon? Because they built a brand. If you want to get some nerdy gadget for your friend's birthday, the first place you go is ThinkGeek ... it's just what you do. But no one will remember to go to fun-nerdy-little-gadgets.com.

3. Not knowing how to re-engage customers. If you take an MER (media expense ratio) or "autopilot" approach to eCommerce, all you'll ever get is the one-time sale. It's a million times easier to sell a second product to someone who's purchased from you in the past than it is to get a new customer. And the marketing cost is zero. But you have to know how to sort through your purchase data to do this effectively, or use a shopping cart that automates it.

4. Using "cheap" or free shopping carts. A Wordpress plugin for eCommerce? Are you kidding me? You gotta have the right platform ... and it isn't Wordpress, or any other free script. Most big companies are using hosted solutions. Some are using Magento, but only the ones that have a dedicated web team, and they are using the Enterprise version not the free one. As a solo entrepreneur, you need to be focused on marketing your site, not thinking about the technology that runs it. Do you want to be customizing databases or selling products? A hosted solution is the only way to go. Plus, being on the hook for a monthly fee will help you focus. It's easy to put things off and get lazy/complacent when your life doesn't change any. But when there's an out of pocket cost - even if it's only $50 a month - you have a reason to do what needs to be done and stop throwing your money away.

5. You have to treat it like a real business. If you try to run it on autopilot, it won't work. My clients who actually take eCommerce seriously are doing $5K - 25k a week with their stores ... the ones who aren't will be lucky to make that in a year.

6. You have to be able to think like your customer. Disconnect your knowledge of your niche and talk to them the way they do. They are looking for a solution to a problem. Identify with them that you understand the problem, then sell them the solution.