www.PartnerUp.com - Small Business Community
 
16

Samantha Eng posted a new Web Business thread on 4/18/2011

Please give advice to an aspiring online retailer!

Looking for advice from an online retail entrepreneur, preferably in fashion but not necessarily. I know you all are busy and mostly on here looking for something (like me), but I would appreciate it if you could share some of your knowledge and expertise on the online retail business. Thank you!!
1
 
PartnerUp! Share This
Mark As Favorite
Mark As Spam Reply!
 
 
Sort Responses by : | |
451

John Walden Responded on 4/20/2011


Dear Samantha:

A great place to start as you find out more about whether you will focus on fashion in e-commerce, or another product line:
http://www.score.org/snapshotbusinessplan.html

This mini-snapshot business plan will give you and others a clearer snapshot of your business idea, or where your prospective business might be heading.

There are 3 primary methods for choosing a new business idea:

1. Follow Your Passion - Do What You Love.

2. Build a Business Using Skills and Experiences You Already Have.

3. Or, Go Into Business with Someone With Skills and Expertise -- or purchase a business or franchise.

Here's a link to a good, short article on this process:
http://www.mynewcompany.com/businessidea.htm

As you continue to work on your new business idea(s), make sure to communicate with this Score Community, ask lots of questions, and set up a face-to-face meeting with a SCORE.org mentor/counselor in your area (free of charge).

Cordially,
John Walden
1
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This Add Comment
 
 
16

Samantha Eng Responded on 4/20/2011


thanks! i will definitely check out those links. im debating between two different options, both fashion related because i'm a designer. but still figuring things out. thank you for your advice, anything will help!
1
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This Add Comment
 
 
36

Angie Shafranek Responded on 4/20/2011


I use to own a children's clothing store and would be willing to answer any questions you may have.
1
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This
 

Hi Angie! Thanks for offering your advice. My thoughts were to open an online boutique carrying a few brands of clothing, hoping for small minimums since I'm just starting out. Maybe aim for 50 styles or less on a website. I don't know how difficult it is though to market a site, i was thinking i'd do google adwords, word of mouth, etc. I don't have enough money to wait for a site to grow during 2 years then earn money. I would like to continuously grow slowly but still be able to profit even at least a little in the beginning. I was thinking to invest about $10,000. I have no experience in buying, i would just buy what I think is cute/tasteful/will sell. I'm a designer and what I truly want to do is design clothes and sell to boutiques so I'm kind of going towards that now. That was my initial idea but I thought it might be difficult so I thought buying wholesale and reselling might be easier? But it seems maybe it's not, i'm really not sure because I've never done either. So right now im figuring out what I want to do and what I should do, what is more lucrative for me right now with my circumstances, etc. I just spoke with a friend of a friend and she gave me some really great insight. She is a designer and has her own small line so her advice was very good to me. Everyone has different opinions on what they think is easier and what not.. but I'm trying to talk to people who are actually in the industry. Let me know any thoughts or advice you have. Thanks!! - Samantha Eng 16 on 4/21/2011

 
Add Comment
 
 
16

Samantha Eng Responded on 4/21/2011


thanks! i will definitely check out those links. im debating between two different options, both fashion related because i'm a designer. but still figuring things out. thank you for your advice, anything will help!
1
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This Add Comment
 
 
51

Judy He Responded on 4/22/2011


Buying wholesale and selling online is not easy. Let's say there are three parts to it: 1) product 2) technology 3) customers. All of these parts require work and money. Let's take product for example -- where are you going to get your merchandise from? Will you have to pay for it upfront? What is the minimum amount you can buy at wholesale? Where will you put it once you buy it? How will you ship it to customer once they buy it? What will you do with product that doesn't get sold? Those are just the first questions I thought of, I'm sure there are many more. I could do the same thing for technology and customers -- the point is, that it's not easy and you've already said that it's not even what you really want to do.

I don't know anything about selling to boutiques but I think that if what you really want is to design clothes and sell them, you should figure out if you can actually make things that people want. Two relatively easy ways to do this:

1) Make some stuff and in person, through pictures on facebook, or through a basic blog, get comments from people you know.

2) Make some stuff and put it online at places like Etsy.com. Google around for marketing ideas and try to get people to view/buy/comment on your items. If you can't market your own stuff, I don't know how you can market other people's stuff (assuming that both are the same amount of cute/tasteful).
1
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This
 

thanks for your advice. yes i think im going to go forward with designing clothes and selling to boutiques. and i already make clothes at home and started a blog for that too and have an etsy account :) thanks for your input! - Samantha Eng 16 on 4/22/2011

 
Add Comment
 
 
31

Edwin Gonzalez Responded on 5/6/2011


In Retail, you must plan ahead. Think about seasons.
Always keep white, black, beige, and gray in stock. Everything else is to catch the customer's eye.
If you are a designer, buy something at a low wholesale price and add design to the product increasing its value. This will also make it unique to your business.
Gain your supplier's confidence, when needed...he/she will be there to help you grow. Talk to them, and see what they are selling the most...they'll tell you.
Don't think of selling product...Think of selling groups. When people shop, they often buy what is on the mannequin because it forms a group. When displaying merchandise online...think the same.
First find out what customer you wish to target because your product and fashion will change over time. If you concentrate only on a particular product instead of the type of customer, your product/fashion will be "going out of style" at some point.

1
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This
 

Thank you for your advice edwin. I will think about everything you've said. - Samantha Eng 16 on 5/6/2011

 
Add Comment
 
 
31

Targeting Keywords Responded on 6/26/2011


Hi Samantha,

Your creativity will lead you to your goal. Since you choose a business that is related to fashion, your unique designs will bring you to online business success. Post your products to social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and to online business community such as PartnerUp. You may want to check this link online business strategy guide to learn more about the do's and don't of internet entrepreneurship.


0
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This
 

Thanks for your advice! - Samantha Eng 16 on 6/28/2011

 
Add Comment
 
 
11

Josh Tracy Responded on 6/28/2011


The best advice I could give is....

Go where there is already demand

I cant stress this enough. Ive bought and sold on eBay and done really well in selling fashion items. If you can give people what they already searching for you make your life alot easier.

Creating demand is very very hard. Its like creating convincing people that blue widgets are a great idea when everybody wants red ones.
1. Identify what people want (red widgets)
2. Get creative creating or selling (lots and lots of red widgets)

If your looking for some amazing tools for selling on eBay - I'd be glad to help - Josh
0
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This
 

Thanks josh! Actually, as a side thing I did want to sell some stuff on ebay only temporarily to make some extra cash at home. But Im not sure what to choose. How do you decide? - Samantha Eng 16 on 6/28/2011

 
 

You listen. - Josh Tracy 11 on 7/1/2011

 
 

Ask whats trending and what you they want. Not only will you have your first product - youll have your first customers as well - Josh Tracy 11 on 7/1/2011

 
Add Comment
 
 
1

Chandrashekar PS Responded on 7/1/2011


There are two options for you one is promoting personal health care product for women Check out the URL

http://goo.gl/7PLO3
For Youtube click the link
http://youtu.be/Kl1atImMhjA


OR
For Ever living Products
"In Happiness, Health and Prosperity" 

http://myflpbiz.com/foreverbehealthy

You Tube link

http://youtu.be/nHVF_aM2SOE


The unique business plan of this company is NO targets, NO recruiting, 

NO stocking, No revert back even if you don't make sales for months, NO door to door selling and the company has been going strong even 
after 16 years. 

You can get discounts up to 43% once you make more and more sales. 

Once you become member you can promote in 145 countries. 

Don't forget to  mention my ID No CHANDRASHEKAR P.S.
Distributor  ID NO  910002353984 

Just sign up without any hesitation and I am sure you will be more happy. 

Wishing you all the best.. 


0
PartnerUp! Mark As Spam Share This Add Comment
 
 
 Respond to thread
( Paste a youtube link to embed a video. eg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ )
Share on:



 Latest Business Articles

Learn more about being in business
The PartnerUp's Community's "How-To" content provides a deeper, more complete look into the topics and issues facing small business owners.



Read more..


 Explore The Community



 Helpful Resources


 
 
Home » Forums » Web Business » Please give advice to an aspiring online retailer!