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[Ella Business]

Hi all,

I am setting up an online organic/natural products store starting with baby products and skincare and then expanding to food, clothes etc for all the family. So basically a type of one stop shop for all things natural/organic from some of the top brands in the country.

Very close to going live which is a bit scary but exciting at the same time.

I am trying to sort/finalise a couple of things which are

-Postage - can you recommend a good one or should i just start with royal mail and see how it goes

- Packaging, i am after some eco-friendly packaging which dont cost the earth and looking for any recommendations if you have any... (basically packaging to pack shampoos, creams etc)

- I will be offering gift baskets too which i will be creating myself. Do you know any wholesalers that sells baskets of different types and at competitive prices?

If anyone has any experience in this field please me know. This is my first e-commerce venture which is very exciting but also very scary too.

Look forward to your thoughts.

 

[DG web consultancy]

Parcel monkey can be useful for finding the cheapest postal services. Depends on how much stuff you ship and size/weight of packages though. A print company I work with uses DPD and Royal Mail depending on what's being sent. A retailer I work with mostly uses Royal Mail although they are just about to start using city link,

Packaging, eco-friendliness is a grey area. FSC certified paper products and biodegradable packaging is what comes to mind. The stuff Amazon use for their packages is made from recycled paper, search for filpak TT. You can either scrunch the paper yourself or use one of their machines that you just pull the paper through.

 

[Mr D]

Royal mail have business account, whereby you post then they bill you (usually monthly but basically if you reach credit limit sooner they bill sooner).
Can be cheaper than the post office counter by quite a bit over the year, and can get royal mail to collect for free if doing enough postage.

Baskets - may end up using multiple companies, there are basket suppliers around. There are also packaging companies that can supply what you put in the basket before adding the product.
For stuff like baskets you may well find weight and size wise you will be using couriers a lot.

Cheap is not always best. UPS is not cheap and I have always found to be pretty good, shifting stuff all over the world as well as in the UK.

The top brands - check with each one that you can sell their stuff. Some of the top brands have issues with selling online unless you also have a bricks & mortar store. Restricting numbers of sellers or outright refusing to sell to online sellers. Not all brands feel the same way.

The major expense for online sellers is often marketing. Getting your product in front of people when 10,000 sellers are doing similar products.
Don't forget the 3rd party sites, handy for cashflow.

Oh and food, try the food and drink expo at the NEC Birmingham in around 51 weeks.

 

[Socio South West]

Baskets.... Try your nearest florist's sundries wholesaler - a good one will have a really good selection.
EG https://www.countrybaskets.co.uk/home/baskets?p=1