quickest way to start a product business

[Rob2012]

I want to start atleast 5 businesses this year with the hope that one of them will succeed. I've already started a career advice business.

Now lets say I chose a product based business and to go for a lights business, everything from lamps to bulbs etc. Is this legit quickest way to start up and can it work:

Find and get in touch with a good supplier on alibaba for an industry that interest me. With their permission and help, copy over all of their products description etc onto my website which I can create in 1 week.

set up branding, social media, ebay account, amazon etc.

do SEO and run some google/facebook ads for my new website.

Sell my products with shipment time of 2-3 weeks initially, which would give enough time for the supplier to send me the products and for me to ship them out.

If I get some sales then ofcourse in future if I would do own warehouse, better images, shipping time, product design etc.... But as a starting poiint to try out a new business, what do you think? Am I missing something here?

 

[Darren Jaskowicz]

Wouldn't you be better off dropshipping and getting products sent directly to customers

 

[Deleted member 226268]

I want to start atleast 5 businesses this year with the hope that one of them will succeed. I've already started a career advice business.

Now lets say I chose a product based business and to go for a lights business, everything from lamps to bulbs etc. Is this legit quickest way to start up and can it work:

Find and get in touch with a good supplier on alibaba for an industry that interest me. With their permission and help, copy over all of their products description etc onto my website which I can create in 1 week.

set up branding, social media, ebay account, amazon etc.

do SEO and run some google/facebook ads for my new website.

Sell my products with shipment time of 2-3 weeks initially, which would give enough time for the supplier to send me the products and for me to ship them out.

If I get some sales then ofcourse in future if I would do own warehouse, better images, shipping time, product design etc.... But as a starting poiint to try out a new business, what do you think? Am I missing something here?

.

You live in a rainbow colours dream bubble, don't you.

.

 

[Mr D]

I want to start atleast 5 businesses this year with the hope that one of them will succeed. I've already started a career advice business.

Now lets say I chose a product based business and to go for a lights business, everything from lamps to bulbs etc. Is this legit quickest way to start up and can it work:

Find and get in touch with a good supplier on alibaba for an industry that interest me. With their permission and help, copy over all of their products description etc onto my website which I can create in 1 week.

set up branding, social media, ebay account, amazon etc.

do SEO and run some google/facebook ads for my new website.

Sell my products with shipment time of 2-3 weeks initially, which would give enough time for the supplier to send me the products and for me to ship them out.

If I get some sales then ofcourse in future if I would do own warehouse, better images, shipping time, product design etc.... But as a starting poiint to try out a new business, what do you think? Am I missing something here?

You missed the £100k spent on marketing.
Your competitors by the way include amazon - from whom people can order yesterday and get delivery today.

 

[Rob2012]

.

You live in a rainbow colours dream bubble, don't you.

.

please dont comment on my posts anymore, as someone who is 66 and has a racist Made in England sticker I dont really care about your opinion.

 

[Toby Willows]

please dont comment on my posts anymore, as someone who is 66 and has a racist Made in England sticker I dont really care about your opinion.

You are the racist. You’ve made that quite clear with that comment.

 

[Mr D]

You are the racist. You’ve made that quite clear with that comment.

I'm amused that someone can see a 'made in england' sticker as racist. Would hate to think what the contents of their residence has as stickers. Or how they shop.

 

[postbrexitandbeyond]

I was going to answer, but then I saw that nonsense. If a "made in England" sticker triggers you so much to the point of calling it racist, then you really need to ask yourself what's wrong with yourself.

 

[Furqan721]

I don't see any racism by adding a made in England sticker. Products made in England are the best and there is no point the original Poster has said this!

 

[lesliedocherty]

I don't see any racism by adding a made in England sticker. Products made in England are the best and there is no point the original Poster has said this!

I must protest most profusely 'Made in Scotland' is better, lol

 

[Furqan721]

I must protest most profusely 'Made in Scotland' is better, lol

Lol. Now I love trump is not a good sign.

 

[lesliedocherty]

Im Scottish, obviously, but its a bit tragic that to say, 'Made in England' or even worse 'I'm proud to be English' is deeming yourself to be a racist, why shouldn't/wouldn't you be proud of your country.
I think a bit more pride in your counry wouldn't be a bad thing. (doesn't mean you can't critise it when it fu*ks up).

 

[Simon-M]

That'll be all the lilly livered apologists that have gotten us to this sad state of affairs where flying our national flag or even mentioning the word ENGLAND in a positive term is deemed racist. It's hardly surprising that right wing political groups are getting stronger when there are people out there on our streets that hate everything about us. Sad state of affairs indeed.

 

[Novevan]

Wouldn't you be better off dropshipping and getting products sent directly to customers

Yes, I also think dropshipping is the best and quickest way to start a small business.

 

[Mr D]

I must protest most profusely 'Made in Scotland' is better, lol

For Haggis, Irn Bru and certain alcoholic drinks I'd agree. For anything else... probably not.

 

[Mr D]

Lol. Now I love trump is not a good sign.

Something to be said for the electoral college voting in such a president.

 

[Simon-M]

Something to be said for the electoral college voting in such a president.

Either that or the masses are just sick to death of the political classes.

 

[Mr D]

Either that or the masses are just sick to death of the political classes.

The masses don't elect the US president, they never have.

 

[Simon-M]

The masses don't elect the US president, they never have.

Well, it's their way or the highway....

 

[Mr D]

Well, it's their way or the highway....

Not a clue what you mean.

 

[Simon-M]

Not a clue what you mean.

Sorry mate ...thought that was CRYSTAL... but I understand it's so easy to misunderstand what others say on a forum.

What I meant was that it is THEIR system. The US that is. And they are HAPPY with that system and as such my comment "it's their way or the highway" means exactly what it says on the tin.

Sorry for the confusion old bean. They are happy with their electoral system as we are happy with ours.

 

[RSR Fulfillment (FR & DE)]

Every time we focus on more than one thing, the second thing does not get as much attention because we are still so busy with the first thing we sell, motorbike carbon. It hasn't helped that we seem constantly tempted by more mass-market stuff like vinyl wrap or cleaning products. We've binned both of them because we would need a hell of a footprint on ebay and amazon for vinyl wrap. Some of those vendors have got listings with 5,000 sales on one listing and a million feedbacks etc. The cleaning products probably requires a PR /marketing company to get us into the bike press for reviews etc. And we can't afford it. We turn over about £600k and there are 3 of us. But paying an agency maybe 500 quid a month to launch a cleaning product is not doable for us.

So finally we are starting very slowly with another very niche area in bikes, clutch slave cylinders. Probably only 5 or 6 names in Europe. Slow and steady in a niche where massive companies are not present. In 3 years I hope they will turn over about £200k. We are doing about £40k in them now, so we have had a whiff. And the conclusion is, we can't cope with mass market stuff. It has to be niche. I guess niche means loads of things to different people, you could say well our lamps / bulbs are niche because of this or that. But I don't think lamps and bulbs are niche, whatever you have for sale. It's a massive, mainstream market and I'd run a mile personally. I am not saying you should. Just that the thought scares me.

With less mass-market stuff on sale, the more chance we have of being noticed, less chance of being drowned out. When you are drowned out, you need to chuck a lot of resource at it to get noticed..in the carbon fibre industry, there are not many trading in uk, maybe 10, and fewer with online savviness (including me!), so it is easier to get noticed.

 

[Mr D]

Sorry mate ...thought that was CRYSTAL... but I understand it's so easy to misunderstand what others say on a forum.

What I meant was that it is THEIR system. The US that is. And they are HAPPY with that system and as such my comment "it's their way or the highway" means exactly what it says on the tin.

Sorry for the confusion old bean. They are happy with their electoral system as we are happy with ours.

Judging by the comments on social media and in the media in late 2016 and early 2017 there are a lot of people not happy with their system when it gives the result it gave. Though the choice was between Don and Hil. Which was an odd choice by each party too.

 

[antropy]

I feel this post has been somewhat derailed

1. Nationalism ≠ racism
2. Ageism ≠ racism
3. Let's not be too negative to the OP, we all have to start somewhere.

Back to business:

Sell my products with shipment time of 2-3 weeks initially, which would give enough time for the supplier to send me the products and for me to ship them out.

No one is going to want to wait 2-3 weeks for anything when they can either go to the shop or get it next day from Amazon, so as others have said I suggest you get the supplier to ship direct.

Take a look at Shopify or OpenCart to get a website up and running quickly but you might want to test the market but selling on Ebay first of all.

 

[RSR Fulfillment (FR & DE)]

I disagree that noone wants to wait. I think most people don't want to wait, though. There has in recent times been a slight shift in consumer perception of aliexpress. I see in my sector, motorbikes, people talk about their experiences of buying on it. I don't see it as a big threat, the real threat is when someone selling similar stuff from China rents warehousing in your country and sells without charging or paying VAT. You can't beat that and HMRC are not resourced to shut them down. So all that mass-market ali baba stuff is a big turn-off for me.

But it is clear that a minority are happy to wait several weeks for a bit of tat if they can have it for 50p including postage.

The other thing to consider is this. We drop shipped some alibaba tat for a few months as an experiment. You might say delivery is 2-3 weeks. But the Chinese will do what they want. In reality we got 5 weeks and sometimes never. We were then spending all day dealing with complaints and negative feedback. We shut it down, as 5 weeks is not that appealing, and concentrated on holding our own stock.

 

[antropy]

Well sure, when I say "no-one" I mean hardly anyone.

The other thing to consider is this. We drop shipped some alibaba tat for a few months as an experiment. You might say delivery is 2-3 weeks. But the Chinese will do what they want. In reality we got 5 weeks and sometimes never. We were then spending all day dealing with complaints and negative feedback. We shut it down, as 5 weeks is not that appealing, and concentrated on holding our own stock.

Yeah dropshipping from China doesn't seem ideal.

 

[RSR Fulfillment (FR & DE)]

Well sure, when I say "no-one" I mean hardly anyone.


Yeah dropshipping from China doesn't seem ideal.

It's the most hideous retail experience possible. You're not in control of anything really.

 

[antropy]

It's the most hideous retail experience possible. You're not in control of anything really.

If you really had to make it work, couldn't you insist all items were sent recorded?

 

[RSR Fulfillment (FR & DE)]

yes but that doesn't mean it will get there in 2-3 weeks.

I'd love to hear other drop shipper retailer experiences. I know are few are on here. I absolutely hated it. Its' personal I suppose. Or maybe it is becaseu we tried China. But regardless, how can you be happy that they are sending it to the right address, did they check the right size / colour went in the box, when I ordered it, was it already in one of their dodgy UK warehouses or is it still to be made by their 12 year old slaves, this one was faulty, what do they mean I have to send it back to them and pay for the postage? Ughh...it is not for me!