Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Craig, your opinion idea is simply brillant. That service alone would make is VERY popular in the fish community, I know that for sure.

I can`t tell you how many times I`ve been in a fish store only to hear the sales guy say "yeah this fish is compatiable with your corals, blah, blah..." when I know it is not. Some cheap 25$ fish could eat thousands in corals overnight and poor advice can cost the purchaser big time, trust me. Or another one where they say sure you can add copper to reduce the alage in the tank if corals are in it, you cant have ANY copper in a tank, it kills corals FAST.  This goes right along with dogs and cats, people would like to have sound advice not advice given to them by some minium wage 17 year old that really knows nothing about the subject.

 

wow i never thought about going in this direction! i like it thanks guys.

how would i get them to advertise on my web site?

Numers, numbers, numbers....! :-D

Startup Nation began as a very small site. They introduced a forum, and, believe it or not, Joel had to go out and solicit topics from a few hearty entrepreneurs who were initially involved. The problem back then was how to get ANYone interested in posting.

But because it has a fantastic "identification factor," the site began to explode into activity. It very quickly began having plenty of posts. The Sloan brothers also invested in making sure Google crawls the site as often as possible.

Now, with massive activity in only 1 year, they`ve got some clout. They can approach an advertiser and say, "Here! Look at our numbers! Look at our demographics! Look at our traffic!"

What would you pay if you could put your brand in front of 10,000 people a week (just making up numbers) ALL of whom have an active, real-world interest in exactly that product?

If you can build a site that offers credible and expert advice on how to sustain pets (aquariums, and traditional pets, along with weird ones), you`ll get some activity. Then put in a forum, but patrol it yourself to keep it always on topics.

Develop traffic and a reputation for being The Place for real and useful advice on how to find good pet stores, good vets, and so forth. I think you`ll find that advertisers start approaching you! :-) Not the other way around.

There are hundreds of these "online stores" out there selling the exact same items you will likely be selling. You must identify your differentiator. Then you must understand that you will be competing with the big guys like PetCo whether you like it or not. That`s why your differentiator must be able to generate business.

Here`s what I suggest. This came to my head a few days ago while buying a computer monitor for the office (it`s so nice to be on a 22" instead of a 12".)... Anyway...

When buying this computer monitor the sales man said, "If you like that model, I`ll give you a little inside information. This model (Pointing at a very similar style, a few models down), is made by the same manufacturing line, and is essentially the same guts as the model you want. But in this situation the brand name is less recognized, so it will save you about $200."

So how does this relate to the pet store? I am sure there are third party solutions to common problems. For example, I have algae in my tank and I plan to buy the TOPS brand because they are tops in correcting my problem. My lack of knowledge just tells me to rely on the industry best. You may know of another product of a lesser known brand that beats, compare to, or is only slightly less effective. The savings to me, may be a couple dollars.

Also, as your store grows and you open a real facility, you can add the differentiator of public involvement. You could take a product and test it against another product. To inspire people to be involved, you could make a raffle, drawing, or some other game, resulting in a winner of the correct answer to the "stunt." Maybe the prize is a few gold fish or on big events as 10 gal tank set up. The walk through traffic might make the prize cost back. It all depends on your presentation and entertainment level. Maybe go to work that day in a clown suite?

Anyway, back to the online part... It will be very difficult to beat the others on price. Beat them by creating a resource online which people will access for information, only to learn you have the products available at a reasonable price compared to all the other suppliers out there.

No matter what. When starting an online business, the marketing and all that is more important than with a brick and mortar. With a brick and mortar, people driving by can see the business sign. Online, no one drives by unless you find a way to make a connection. So make one... Every day. Not just by way of the Internet. Talk to people. Tell them about why they will come to you instead of PetCo. It`s not because of your face. It`s because you offer something better. You save them money by not buying name brands. You inform them with your test and recommendations.



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

Vincent brings up maybe the most important change that`s taken place in the past 20 years, here in the States. That`s the downward spiral of sale knowledge. As corporations move to the delusion that operational profits can replace selling more product, they also get rid of those "expensive" sales people who understand the product.

It`s left a huge gap in the overall retail market. Knowledgeable sales people, or an expert advice Web site could definitely compete with just about any existing retail company.

CraigL... great way to put it Craig. Now you know why I don`t generally do my own writing. I use a thousand words to convey a 10 word thought.  Thanks Craig. 

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

LOL!! I, on the other hand, can take only 1 word, and turn it into 40 pages!

this is great advise i cant wait to get started!!!

thanks again and keep you all posted on how it goes

 

Fishman,
I`d encourage you to go to Epinions.com if you`re not already familiar with the site. Take a look at how it`s laid out, contemplate the underlying infrastructure. Then see if you can envision a way to include something like that as a main part of your potential business idea.

We`ve all of us seen several things, with the development of the Internet. Firstly, that the world`s knowledge is growing too fast for anyone or anything to completely contain it all. Secondly, that nobody can keep up with all the new information and knowledge coming into play each day.

We also see the historic or epochal movement toward unification, globlization, and the "coming together of mankind," to bring up an idealistic way of saying things. Two trend examples are the Open Source community, and Wikipedia.

People like to attack the accuracy of Wikipedia, and the viability or supportability of Open Source. But if you think about it, mostly those attackers are people who have a stake in the closely-held para-military form of the corporate model. That`s a system that`s gradually starting to change.

Selling pets, pet equipment, health, and care information is a huge business. But there`s nobody trying to consolidate all the related data. You yourself won`t be able to do it either. BUT!...if you bring "the world" into the process, still retaining your overall management of the *process*, I think you could become very successful.