Need Help on e-commerce

[ssactionsports]

I need some help on deciding what to sell on my next e-commerce website. I tried paintball and airsoft, but all of the big paintball and airsoft retailers have already been established, and it was a lot of work for a little profit. I need something that is just coming out in the market, something new. Like a new type of product. (By the way, I only have $3000-$5000 to invest, so something in that price range would be nice)

[greggomatic76]

You don't have to have a completely new product to compete. There is a book i would recommend if you have the time called Blue Ocean Strategy. It talks about how you can start a busienss or tweak a current business plan by changing the focus just a little bit. You could probably read a synopsis on wikipedia or something, but after that book I spend some time tweaking my main business model and saw some pretty sweet results. Instead of competing in a bloody battle with my main competitor, I opened up a whole new arena of almost the same product and honestly we really don't even compete any more. I get the people that usually wouldn't buy from him...and visa versa.

[Stefan King]

I agree that reading Blue Ocean Strategy is a good idea for e-commerce entrepreneurs. Ideally you negotiate to be the single distributor of a product in your country, but that is hard to do and takes luck. If you can't pull that off, you can redefine market boundaries to create uncontested market space. Blue Ocean strategy is about that.

I recommend you don't compete on price if you have direct competitors (webshops with the same product). Instead, try to have features in your shop that the competition lacks, like allowing customers to review and rate the products. That will give you extra credibility.

Contact me if you want more advise about e-commerce strategy. I'm curious how your shop will turn out. Good luck!

Stefan King
stefan.t.king (skype ID)
+31 6 18845517

[bnslauren79]

hum, well what about a gift shop? I think that nowadays this kind of business works well.

[bnslauren79]

anyway, try to make a good e-mail marketing for your business, it can works for you, in order to get more and more customers. there are some good online books for learning some tips about how to make a good campaign with e-mails. good luck!

[Uta]

Baby milk power!

[castello48]

Hey .... what about a custom tee-shirt site, where people can design their own shirts? You can buy a shirt press and all of the ink for less than $3k.

Whatever you decide to sell, please let me know if you need help in creating a Merchant Account and Credit Card processing capabilities. I have been in this field for years.

Good luck!

[mthomas]

Looking into selling a new product that just hit the market is significantly more risky. For these newer products, you don't know if they will catch on or if customers will demand enough of them.

Selling existing and established products can be a lot safer since you know there is already a demand for the product and it is profitable to market. If there is an issue where existing competitors are already crowding the marketplace too much, than perhaps the barriers to entry are too high for this particular industry. In that case, changing your industry would probably be advisable, but you should still consider selling an existing and established product.

[newnew]

Water pipes


I am thinking about buying some wholesale water pipes from this company in China
but I am not sure if they are legal to bring in to the states? What are the laws on water pipes, bongs, and pipes?

[SIMPLEROBB]

Hey .... what about a custom tee-shirt site, where people can design their own shirts? You can buy a shirt press and all of the ink for less than $3k.

Whatever you decide to sell, please let me know if you need help in creating a Merchant Account and Credit Card processing capabilities. I have been in this field for years.

Good luck!

Go Cafe Press!!!!!!!