Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello everyone,

My company TerraBrasilis is taking off very soon. In the meantime I thought of something else that is sort of related and I would like to hear your opinion about it.

I am originally from Brazil and from time to time I think of doing something related to that country. My idea is to become a buying agent from brazilian retail stores.
I say it is sort of related to my idea because my company TerraBrasilis is an online retail store, which means I have access to manufacturers (I attend trade shows in the US and, once the company takes off, I will start attending trade shows in Europe as well). These manufacturers will be, in some cases, the same ones I will offer to the brazilian clients.

So, the idea would be to have a website in Portuguese where people would be able to communicate with me, list the products they are looking for and I would do the research here.

I am going to offer a local phone number in Brazil they can call; this number is routed to me in the US (Thanks, Skype!).

So, my first question is: do you guys believe this idea is feasible? I mean the concept only, without considering any problems I may face during the start up period.

Can you suggest ways to market the company in Brazil without being physically there? I will have to travel to Brazil at some point to meet more customers, but I would like to start without the need to physically travel to South America.

I think that`s it for now. Thanks for taking the time to help me with this one.


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Andre Costa DaCosta Chocolates, LLC www.DaCostaChocolates.com

Andre.

I am going to be very  generis here  with my answer. 

If you are satisfying a  need with a large enough market then there is no doubt that your idea will be successful (with all other factors taken care of).

Bing more specific, if I understand you correctly you want to be a middleman, offering a service to find products for others. 

My new answer is ,,,,  if you design your business correctly yes it will be successful.

There is so much I want to say.  I need to try to keep it short.

What would stop your customers from by-passing your service?

What would stop someone else from competing with you?

How are you going to keep your marketshare after you get going?

Is there a need for the service? A large enough market?? How much is your service? can the additional Market up of the product sustain marketability??

I will say if you establish your business correctly it will be profitable?  But I`m one of the few pure optimists left because I feel every business will be profitable if it is established correctly.

I hope it helped , even a little...

Mike

Mike,

Thank you very much. I will take your questions in and reflect on them. I have never had a business before (I am still stuck in the "9 to 5" mentality - but I am trying to break out of it), so coming up with such questions as yours for me is very difficult. I appreciate your help and please do not be shy...write as much as you can. The more information I am able to gather from the members of SuN, the better.

Thanks again,

Andre/TerraBrasilis


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Andre Costa DaCosta Chocolates, LLC www.DaCostaChocolates.com

Andre/TerraBrasilis

 I love your enthusiasm and candor.

Without knowing anything else about you, I know you are going to make it.

just for starters lets talk about this question....

What would stop someone else from competing with you?

Suppose that you do start your business  and it does become successful, you do realize successful businesses attract attention and before you know it others with enter your market , start a business doing the same thing as you are doing( assuming that what you want to do it not already being done).

What are you going to offer to make your customers want to stay with you as compared to patronizing the new business.   if you don`t have a competitive advantage over them then you will loose a percentage of you clients to them.  Chances are they are going to take some of your market share, it is just a matter of how much.

We will talk again soon.

Mike