Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I want to to start an online business. I have read through the whole "how to create a successful website" here at SUN. I am ready, my head is right, I got all the tactics.....  But I have nothing to sell!

So what sells best online? 

Any ideas ...any leads?!

 

In a word...INFORMATION!!!

It`s no secret, people go online looking for information.

My advice: Create or find an in-demand information product to sell.

Affiliate programs on ClickBank are a good place to start.

Dale King

 

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I don`t think you will find any one product that sells best. I believe selling is dependent upon how you go about selling it. The main factors you want to hit are keeping your overhead low, so you can keep your final (retail) price low. The more competition you have, the harder it will be to compete. That isn`t to say that people selling products which are saturating the market (online) don`t make money.

Your personal skill of making the sale it what`s important. What are you  planning to offer that your competitors are not offering? Better customer service might not be enough. On the other hand, depending on the product industry, that might be all you need to convey.

I know this isn`t much of a concrete answer for you, but really look at the equation of your wholesale price, operating costs, and resale value. If the math works out for you, you might find your product to be a successful venture. On the other hand, you might need to crunch the numbers on several different products before you find the one that suits you.

Just remember this... If you are a fish, and you are the only fish in the stream, it`s easier to find food. If you are one fish of millions, competition becomes more difficult. Doing business online or from a brick and mortar building hold that same challenge. There is competition. If there were not, everyone would flock (um... I should say "school", because of my reference to fish.) to the new area of instant reward.

Only you can decide what you will be able to sell in the market of competition. That`s why SuN recommends finding a business you are passionate about, rather than one you are just trying to make money. Work is work. Nothing in business comes easy.


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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Good Advice! As an online retailer I have discovered that I cannot carry
items that can be found at many stores, wether brick and mortar or
online. The big guys will kill you on price because of their ability to
purchase product at lower cost. My advice is to find something unique,
very high quality, build a professional web page, and get it optimized. Go
to Ebay and find out what the top selling items have been. This will give
you an idea of what people are willing to buy online, then you can find
things that are in the same arena but different from what you can find on
ebay or in stores.

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Sharon Murphy
Owner
Northwoods State of Mind, Inc.
NorthWoods

We had a terrific topic some time ago, making a distinction between people who are in love with starting a business, versus those who are in love with the *idea* of starting a business.

Lots of people would love to kick back, quit work, get out from under the boss, and earn lots of money doing nothing. The countless TV commercials capitalize on this, taking money from the dreamers.

What strikes me as interesting in this topic is the "cart before the horse" sort of thinking. How does one get involved in starting a business, thinking it through, and getting right with the world.....without having a product in mind?

On the other hand, I can easily empathize with someone who`d like to start a business but doesn`t know how.

But a business IS a product! There`s only one reason we have the word "business" in the language, and that`s to describe the exchange of a *product* (of any kind, including the idea of a product) for money.

A much better question would be to ask yourself, "What kinds of things do I like a lot and would enjoy selling?" :-)

I am reading the book "What Sticks" [Briggs & Stewart] - I highly recommend it. Basically, when we talk about "What Sticks" in advertising the answer is that we just dont know `what sticks`, anything can work.

However, is this the case with Selling? I have a few friends for example who have tried selling expensive jewelry online and they all flopped. When it comes to buying expensive products- will customers shop online or perfer the local jewelry store?  Since the internet has been around for some time now - maybe we can look back and say "ok, this sells and this does not sell". 

So....do we actually know what sticks in selling?

 

Yes you can start an online business with products such as products for different ages like t shirts, avon products for women and elderly people.  If you need help I wil be yoyr mentor in uploading the images. 

sun group

I would start selling something that you have passion for- I think that is the most important thing (just as others have said).

I am in the process of setting up my own internet retail store, and I can tell you that it is very evident to me that the hardest and most important tasks will be:

1) Finding distributors who are willing to sell to online-only retailers.  Start from the manufacturer and move your way up (down?) the chain from there.  This is very time consuming and you should expect several "no`s". 

2) Finding products from the distributors in #1 that have decent profit margins.  Some profit margins are pretty thin- the best I have found so far in my search is in the 50% range on a $100 product.

 

I agree with selling what you have a passion for.  My passion is green living and 100% organic living.  Since that is what I am striving to achieve, that is what I decided to sell and I found a drop ship manufacturer for the products.  Unless you have drop ship or storage capability, what you sell is influenced by that as well.

Being in business like any other thing genuine involves alot of hard work which could atimes get really frustrating.

However, if you`re selling goods and/or services that you really have passion for, the HARD WORK and FRUSTRATION amount to nothing but beautiful excitement and hunger to know more and do more in that business and these bring you nothing but joy and success in the long term if you hang in there long enough.

jbjb