On Line Business

Hi All

My daughter wants to start an online business, she has some ideas on product she wants to sell but no clue with regards to where to begin, neither do I, other than research what is on the market etc.

Where to start any suggestions.... @Ace in the Hole comes to mind? Looking forward to tips

MTR

 

Best place to start is ebay. If it doesn't work there it may not work at all.

 

www.businesschat.com.au

Has been helpful for newcomers to business.


pinkboy

 

Plenty of girls use Instagram and Facebook to sell stuff and some are extremely successful doing it.

If your daughter wants to get more serious she should look at selling on eBay, which can be difficult to make money on due to the large confinement of competition. Also consider Gumtree - it's free and great for local sales. Facebook marketplace is fairly new and worth checking out.

If she wants to get more serious she will need a website and learn how to get her potential customers to visit her website and buy.

 

You can try Ebay but personally I have had little success with it. When it comes to shifting product, having tried everything online marketing wise i've come to the conclusion that if there isn't enough profit in it to sell via Google adwords you may as well just walk away. Anything you get organically via Google is just a bonus.

The other avenue is social media but it has to be very niche and develop a "cult following".

 

Thanks possums for your suggestions all good input, helpful

Perhaps I am negative but I don't think it is going to be an easy road, and seems like everyone is looking for a niche market, but this too may be very difficult and many thinking they will make millions, my guess very few achieve success.

My daughter believes there is a need for modern, funky maternity clothes...?? I don't know have not looked lately

 

After ebay takes it's 10% cut (ebay fees plus paypal fees).. hardly makes it worthwhile.

 

Modern funky pregnant women tend to just find normal clothes with lycra and styles that suit bumps (ie empire waists) rather than wear most of the terrible stuff that is out there. So she is right in a way but like most fashion it's a very competitive and might not be as easy as she thinks.

I got away with my own pants + belly belts and then a lot of lycra tops and cardis/jackets. I have very little style though

As to selling there is a lot of competition but ideas would be
- Ebay, facebook and gumtree but she will need to stand out A LOT
- local markets where she can show how her stuff is different

 

I know everything you are saying is right, also I don't think she realises the amount of dedication, persistence and hard work that will be required.

 

Yes! I would have loved something like that, I lived in Kookai for six months because there wasn't really any decent alternative I could find, especially for work, there was not much at all. She could also try ready set-up online stores like Shopify.com and set up an instagram account...

 

Good learning experience then.

 

That is a coincidence she mentioned Kookai was an option due to the stretchy fabric used
Thanks for tip

 

We tried website years ago, but was not effective at all.

Social media can be very effective marketing tool.
We started using instagram about 3 months ago, it's amazing how we can reach new customers very quickly. It contributes to about 50% of our total sales in such a short amount of time.

A total new era of doing business.

@MTR in fashion "one day you are in, one day you are out", very competitive market.

 

You made it big time kudos to you, the did something right

 

So why not let her find out the amount of work required and support her?

What's the most she could lose? 5k? 10k? probably has spent more on a holiday

 

Agreed, she is young and has way for energy than many of us more mature people. She will learn valuable lessons whether it works or not.

 

Ebay works very well, so long as it's something with a decent profit margin in it & something that is hard to find and in demand. Yes, there are fees, and yes there are stupid users to deal with, but for someone just starting out, it costs nothing to list & see how you go. We sell probably about 80% on Ebay. We've just started selling some stuff via Facebook groups...that's slow & tedious, but it does work. Again, results are not only how well you operate, but the product you are selling. Just like Ebay, it's free to list & no fees, which is good. Usually only local traffic, so doesn't have the same reach.

We've redone our website & sales are now turning over much faster there. Currently around 15%, but climbing. Some of that may be due to the marketing we've been doing on Facebook, as the website addy goes into most posts.

She can start & see how she goes. It could be great...or not, but you won't find out unless you try.

 

As others have said, eBay would be a good place to start.
It's quick and very cheap to get set up.
Even though the fees will hurt, it's good for exposure.
In the meantime, other online outlets could be set up and developed over time.

Personally, we have only ever sold mid range priced items with good margins to make the transaction processing costs worthwhile.
Our average online (website) sale per transaction would be over $500, (the majority of sales consist of multiple items).
My only advice in selling lower priced items it to try and offer as many related items as possible, and also combine them to make packages.
So many people will buy packages if you create and present them well, with just a small discount.

This is probably the way to go for the nature of the product.
@Iamnumber5 would know quite well based on his success in this field.

 

That is exactly what I am doing that is why I posted on PC, trying to help in the background as I know we have some smart savvy business people on PC who can give me the good, bad and ugly.



MTR

 

Agreed.