Forum Moderators: buckworks
The thing that is bugging me is "is there any point in small guys trying ecommerce in 2006"?
I mean, there are a zillion sites out there - getting hits from Google is bloody hard.
You are driven therefore to PPC - which can cost you most of your profits.
Idiots in Nigeria trying to constantly steal from you.
The big boys really own the market nowadays, they have good fraud measures in place - better thwn ours, they have exclusive deals with google to pay less on their PPC than the small guy.
I mean most of the stuff I may want to buy is on amazon anyway - their prices are LOW, there isn't much point even shopping around IMO, you order from Amazon and it arrives, free shipping ect. And if you want a cheap item try Ebay.....
The google sandbox really kills most new stores for a year anyway.
I an thinking of seeing my wife again, sitting infront of the telly and getting a life - no more money to adwords, ect, ect.
</rant>
would you be worried if someone fresh came into your area as competition or would you know that they would last a year or two and fail?
depends on the market niche...you have to research the situation. it's just like traditional markets...in some areas a few companies control the market. newcomers try to break in and once they get noticed by the established companies...you will may have to deal with such things as a temporary price war to beat you down.
in other areas the small guy has all the advantages...your question cannot be answered absolutely...too many variables.
Sic! And it also holds true that internet-business isn't that far from old-economy at the basics:
1) What are the specific needs of your customers you are trying to fulfill?
2) On what fields can you fulfill these needs better and quicker than your collegues (formerly known as competitors)?
In [webmasterworld.com...]
Brett refers to this long-tail-thing. Worth reading for starters. Maybe one of the moderators can post the url of the original text.
And, yes: patience is required. Why not take the sandbox as a chance/advice to stick to elaborating unique content for a whole year.
It is still a promising situation, especially for younger people if you start from inside a paid job untill you can stand on your own feet and before a family eats up four fifth of your income.
Itīs only ten years since this whole thing started, in a century from now hopeful epreneurs will be daydreaming, if only they had gotten into it during the first twenty years, the good old days?
It is hard to get started and it should be hard. That means it will be worth more when you get there.
I've got a web site up and running and am very technically adept. Now I want to sell products online.
My primary questions are:
1) Do I need to actually ship products or can I purchase from someone else and have them ship to my customer.
2) How do most small eCommerce sites handle fulfillment? Do they ship right out of their homes?
3) How do I find a supplier/distributor of products so that I can be competitive?
If someone could point me to a good online resource regarding these questions I would be eternally grateful. Thanks!
People center on traffic and quantity too much in the beginning. You're not going to have traffic for a long time, so don't worry about it. For the same money, it's a lot easier to sell one "Exercise system", vs. 1000 designer coffee mugs in the first year.
Think price per and market the hell out of it.
in a century from now hopeful epreneurs will be daydreaming, if only they had gotten into it during the first twenty years, the good old days?
we will all be dead, so it should be easy for them to take our place.
A good friend of mine started a site in December with $80.00. For the month of December it gave a 200% return. For January and February sales have increased greatly. By the end of March, her initial $80.00 investment will make over $1,500 for the month of March and ROI will continue to grow, (If she holds her tongue right :)).
Those who have responded to this thread have said it takes a lot of time to make an online business profitable, but I think it takes a lot of time to figure out WAYS to make a profit on the net. Once you figure out a way to profit from the net you can tweak that method and apply it in the appropriate industries.
Following the flock will not get you far.
The trick is finding the niche, often you just stumble upon it. Then you need say to yourself, hey, I can do this! Then you set your vision and get busy at achieving it.
