Forum Moderators: buckworks
I have a very beginners' question: are you, ladies and gents that contribute to WW's e-commerce section, are you running e-commerce sites where you sell merchandise that you actually own/produce? Or is the business in e-commerce simply to build front-ends/web pages where you sell the products of others (like wholesalers or producers) who deal with the client and send them the merchandise?
Thanks a lot for the help
Is there resources online about how to go about becoming a reseller?
it's about (more or less) culture/travel. So it does not relate to anything tangible that can be sold
There's this thing called the "travel industry"...
[edited by: callivert at 11:12 pm (utc) on Mar. 31, 2009]
it's about (more or less) culture/travel. So it does not relate to anything tangible that can be sold
Not to mention:
- air tickets
- hotel reservations
- tours
- cell phone rental
My main problem is that my market is small, and still very competitive. I used to have Expedia affiliate advertisements and I made only peanuts with that. Considering that sites like Expedia/Orbitz rule the air/hotel reservations, I got discouraged from that market really quickly. And I think a lot of visitors to my city actually drive to here.
As for books, long ago I also did the Amazon Affiliate sales thing, to even lesser success.
Since these early days of experimenting with affiliate sales, I got disappointed and stopped, and switched to AdSense instead.
Maybe I should look at avoiding the affiliate business model and selling directly myself to clients.
[edited by: MrHard at 7:00 pm (utc) on April 15, 2009]
are you running e-commerce sites where you sell merchandise that you actually own/produce? Or is the business in e-commerce simply to build front-ends/web pages where you sell the products of others (like wholesalers or producers) who deal with the client and send them the merchandise
myweb:
I understand that high traffic is key for commission based, but I get about 1000 uniques a day, I think that's not enough.
[edited by: MrHard at 9:43 pm (utc) on April 16, 2009]
Where to find manufacturers. At trade shows, trade publications, internet research, going into a store that sells an item you like and looking at the brand on the bottom and then looking them up online, brands other online stores are selling.
The more you buy the better price you will get and the bigger your profit margin. But buying more takes more space which costs more to store things. The less you buy the more important each sale will seem and the more time you can spend on customers rather then inventory, financials and bureaucracy.
Most places calling themselves manufacturers are not manufacturers, but rather places that ship in from asia cheaply in bulk and resell the products of others.
Like anything else there is a long downline of middlemen trying to make money between the true source of somebody making something from scratch which they truly own and produce and the customers hand, unless you are similar to an artist making and selling your own stuff or an author writing novels.
I have found a wholesaler of particular widgets that can be sold online. However, I have no idea of the success of other selling these widgets online, basically, I need to do market research, but I am not sure how?
Also, is there pointers that someone could give me on how to approach the decision GO or NO GO for a certain widget e-commerce market.
I was thinking of doing a competition study: list all my target keywords, list competition for these keywords, research to see if I could rank higher for these keywords.
Is this a good idea, or should I just go for it regardless of what is out there already?
Thanks a lot
However, I have no idea of the success of other selling these widgets online, basically, I need to do market researchIf it would cost more than $500usd, it will not sell easy. If it will cost $10 your ROI would be very low.
I was thinking of doing a competition study: list all my target keywords, list competition for these keywords, research to see if I could rank higher for these keywords.
This website (webmasterworld) is a great tool and info center for me right now. I'm on it every day reading the posts.
Not a wise approach when choosing an ecommerce commodity. First you have the item to sell. The keyword list can always be expanded and reversed.
Not sure if I understand / agree: I already have an item to sell, how do I know it is a good item to sell? I read some posts here and some people seem to argue that having a niche is key [webmasterworld.com] or that you need to be interested/knowledgeable in the widgets you want to sell.
What if this is not true, what if I am not interested in the widgets at all, but I have a good supplier so I can sell them? Will this be good enough or will that cause my doom? And how do I even know that the widgets are salable, a part from the fact that there are tons of other merchants selling that online already?
Agree that having a niche is great, but it's not the ultimate and only way to succeed.
If all vendors on the block sell cold drinks, it's an indication that it's summer outside.
