Forum Moderators: buckworks
I am on the verge of starting an ecommerce site.
I'll be starting off in my basement, but plan on getting some warehouse space eventually.
Anyhow, what equipment should I be buying for? I'll be in the apparel industry.
So far on my list:
1. 10" x 3,000' 2 Mil Poly Tubing Roll
I'll use this to prepack my products individually.
2. Packing table
3. see-through bins/totes for storage of like clothing
4. 4 level wire racks to store the totes.
5. printer for shippinglabels
6. labels for the totes
7. some bigger packaging for larger orders, not sure what kind of boxes to buy?
8. bubble wrap for non-apparel items
please continue this list for me *smile*
- custom letterhead reciepts to look professional
- that really thin paper used to cover clothes usually given at department stores
Tape guns, tape, box cutters, scale, tape measure, zip ties (you never know when they will come in handy), shrink wrap, few hand tools.
Boxes can be very expensive. Recycle those that you receive. Box cutter.
Some ad thing to put in your shipments. Maybe a coupon good for the next purchase.
tape for sealing packages
Floor mat if you're going to be standing on concrete basement floor for hours. May need space heater.
Nearby phone
I have a client who makes about 100K gross sales/mo doing the same thing - they have a storage space and two extra employees now to process the orders.
They are finding that much of the manual work, espeically transferring data to Quickbooks, then again to UPS Worldship would be eliminated using a cart system that transferred the data automatically. I'm researching Volusion right now, seems to be a good fit for a large inventory (you can grow into barcode scanning!)
Just to add to your list - I know that my client invested a lot in "print" marketing like thank you cards, custom labels, custom packing slips, colored shred to match the logo colors, custom gift certificates, coupons, etc.. They run a boutique so it has to look like the items come from a "luxury" shop ;-)
Then I created a few scripts that handle the bulk of this work for me. My e-mail orders are read by the script, and files are created so I can directly import into my accounting software. The development time was worth the effort, believe me. I still manually input my shipping info to the various shippers (USPS, FedEx, UPS). But each of those will allow you to save that info, so the next time is much easier - very important if you expect repeat business.
File Cabinet
Comfortable Chair - designed and rated for 8 hours or longer
Ergonomic Keyboard
Portable or cell phone
Endless supply of pens (they always walk away just before you need them)
Does that sound right? So basically when I get the order, I will then just locate the products, package them up, slap the shipping label on it and head off to the post office.
I will then also subtract the products shipped from my inventory and update the ecommerce's inventory levels (i'll have to build my own warehouse inventory application that sinks the numbers up with my ecomm app.
Start small, spend only what is absolutely necessary. Make sure there is a business. Find out what the business will require. Prioritize your needs, then spend the money.
Its very easy to spend money early on the trappings of a business before there is actually a business there. Don't fall into that trap.
SBA loan details are listed on the web. I'm shocked by how much people borrow (on gov't insured loans, LOL) to finance tiny businesses.
Last week local paper had a story about a 1,600 SQ Ft clothing store that opened using a $200,000 SBA loan. (and it wasn't in a mall)
We have a sticker for these boxes which essentially states "Packed in a recycled container. Thank you for allowing us to save a tree."
:)
That is brilliant.
We used to ship almost exclusively in re-used boxes and we also used to buy overruns of new boxes.
About once a week we would get a phone call from a customer who would say "why did you ship me a case of shampoo" (or whatever was written on the outside of the box). We would just tell them it is a used box.
But it did cause confusion, your sticker would have saved a lot of grief.
Build relationships with local business to reuse shipping supplies like boxes and packing material. Also look at CraigsList, FreeCycle, flea markets, garage sales, and thrift stores for business supplies and furniture.
Eltron/Zebra direct thermal printers are cheap on eBay, especially parallel port versions (instead of USB). Make sure you buy a direct thermal printer instead of thermal transfer.
If you have a UPS Daily Rate account, 4x6 direct thermal label rolls are free to order on their web site. Express boxes are free and can be unofficially used to ship Ground. Unmarked brown corrugated small and medium security boxes are also free, but you need to fax that order in.
USPS Priority Mail boxes are free. Some suppliers I work with ship UPS Ground and cover the USPS logo with red "fragile" stickers or the 4x6 labels I mentioned earlier.
For boxes you plan to buy, I suggest multi-depth boxes. They are more expensive, but they save storage space and allow you to reduce the box height easily.
Don't forget a First Aid Kit for when you get those paper cuts. ;)
You'll ship many packages where a one-ounce difference in weight will actually matter, and a bad scale will either result in (a) packages returned from the post office for insufficient postage, or (b) a Christmas card from the postmaster, thanking you for the excess postage you paid throughout the year.
