Get Branded Merchandise to Sell

I am an engineer dont know how to start

[stevegpan2]

Hi
I am thinking to sell branded merchandise and am wondering how to buy these brands, like colthings shoes
I am an engineer and do not have background on this
Helps are appreciated

[adamnichols45]

Stick to what you know best you will find it hard making any money if you have no knowledge of that area.

[shri]

Where are you based out of?

The US is fairly overcrowded unless you can carve yourself a very specific niche and find a distributor or dropshipper in that niche.

In my part of the world, we've done pretty ok with putting together brand names, given that there arent many people doing the brands that we carry, online.

A short approach would be:

1) Research a niche and find a product set
2) Find out how its being sold online, ebay / amazon / other major players in that area
3) Figure out the costs ... online store, inventory, advertising, shipping, customer service.

Repeat until you're happy you have something to work with.

Keep in mind that inventory and marketing costs are usually online / startup business killers. The rest can be minimized by doing it yourself.

[corbing]

I'd have to agree with Adam. Especially after you say you want to sell "colthings shoes"

[jsinger]

what the heck are colthings shoes?

Lesson one: For every 3 or 4 pair of shoes you sell, you'll get one pair returned. I do know about shoes, but never heard of colthings :)

[stevegpan2]

I mean "clothing" - I thought WebmasterWorld or our eyes would auto-correct the spelling ;-) I did not even recognize the misspelling until you emphasize the "colthings" ...

Do I need go to Nike and apply for an account in order to sell "Nike" shoes?

[lgn1]

Nike, would be the manufactuer, and generally only sells to distributers. You could phone Nike to find a distributer of Nike shoes, that way you avoid getting suckered by a middleman who pretends to be a distributer.

Lesson #2: Always deal with distributers. Verify with the manufactuer, that they are a bonafide distributer, not a middleman trying to rip you off.

[jsinger]

"colthings" I really thought that was some obscure but hot brand of shoes. A teen thing in another country. I wasn't trying to make fun of your misspelling.

We are an old line brick/mortar company. We buy virtually all our products direct from the manufacturers, not thru distributors.

[stevegpan2]

thanks you experts
One time I tried to email the manufacturing company, say, Nike, but no one got back to me. What are the normal approach to contact the manufacturing company or even its distributers? a list somewhere.....

[lgn1]

Phone Nike and ask for the sales rep for your area. That would be the quickest.

[shri]

Call the Nike office closest to your location and like lgn1 said, talk to the sales person. Don't bother calling the head office.

One thing is, they might have some restrictions on selling online. Some companies have different contracts for national etailors and local brick and mortar shops.

[Essex_boy]

I have a magazine in this country that list tons of suppliers selling returns for just those things.

Tell you the truth after spending an age researching the subject id say your better off not going in to that field.

[syber]

Why would you want to mess with inventory, markdowns and returns? Avoid all of that by becoming an affiliate, you'll never have to touch the merchandise. You can then leverage your engineering skills by taking advantage of XML feeds, RSS, etc. in marketing the products.

[ispy]

If your considering online sales I would advise trying to cut out the distributor altogether. Build the website, start advertising, and contact Nike directly about drop shipping and hope for the best. Speaking from personal experience going through a distributor is nothing but trouble and I avoid them at all cost. There is not that much need for the distributor middleman in ecommerce. Manufacturers already have the infrastructure to ship to multiple parties, they can just add you to the list so it does not make that much difference for your one or several items to be sent out at a time.