Stock/turnover advice

[Sarah_App]

Hello, this is my first post here so please be gentle!!!

My name is Sarah and my husband and I are in the process of developing an online retail store specialising in breast feeding accessories such as breast pumps and thier spare parts, nursing pads etc. We are at a very early stage at the moment and looking at whether financially this would be a goer.

I have been in touch with some suppliers asking for information on stocking thier products including trade prices etc. One of the manufacturers has asked us to fill in a form, which is fine, but has asked us for our estimated turnover. Now I know I can base this figure on the RRP for the products we are hoping to sell but I do not have a clue how to estimate/research into how many of each product I will be able to sell and whether I should base this on a weekly/monthly basis. Any ideas? Sorry if this is a really basic question, but not having done anything like this before, I'm a bit green!

Would be grateful for any advice any of you have!

Thank you

Sarah

 

[TotallySport]

Personally I think your almost to specialised, the baby period is very short in itself, but what percentage of people can and do breast feed and for how long. Therefore you profits projects will be much smaller than some who is selling a full range of baby products.

At the end of the day its a bit of a guess, how many do you think you will sell a week and times it by 52, then work out turn over. There is no hard and fast way to do it.

 

[PayVector]

Sarah,

I agree with TS. You would be over specialised. We have a number of baby care merchants and generally they do quite well. A lot establish relationships with local daycare centers and the like.

Why not use a drop shipper. I found within a few moments the following.

http://www.thewholesaledirectory.co.uk/baby-and-nursery-goods/

Most hold all the stock for you and will pack ship and handle returns. You get less of the overall revenue but startup costs will be about as low as you are going to get for entering this type of market.

Hope that helps.

 

[Sarah_App]

Many thanks for your replies. I realise that I would be supplying a limited niche market and that profits would be small but after doing some research I am sure that such a specialist site would be able to make some profit. I am not only planning to sell stock but to also offer advice, information and support, which is very much required since the government started the push towards breastfeeding (without offering adequate support to those who need it). I am planning on starting small, only holding a small amount of stock to see how it goes.

I have since spoken to a good friend who is an accountant and he has advised on how to work out a turnover, so looks like I will be spending the next couple of days sat at a table with a calculator!

IridiumCorp, thanks for the tip on drop shipping, I have never heard of this before but will definately look into it.

Thanks again for your advice.

 

[Chris34]

I know it's off topic but a quick suggestion for you is to set up the breast feeding site as an information site with the breast feeding products and then have a sister site selling all the other baby related products (buggies, dummies, clothes, nappies, toys etc) advertised on the breast feeding site.

You still get to keep the breast feeding site niche but you also get the chance of directing the correct type of visitors to a more mainstream baby products site. Just a suggestion.




Chris.

 

[Shopping365Group]

It's a shame that breast feeding isn't as popular as it should be ie. 100% of mothers should do it if they can. It is an essential thing not just for the bonding between a mother and child but to pass on essential things in the mothers milk that you just can not get through formula, especially in helping to develop a babies brain.

I'm glad you have mentioned that you don't just want to focus on selling products but offer advice etc. as i think this will really help to make sales and drive traffic to your site. Plus hopefully in the future alot more expentant mothers will look to use the internet to educate themselves about breast feeding and not fall for the mountain of BS out there.

With regards to your question to be honest you could put anything. I always hate questions like that on forms. Obviously you want it to be as high as possible. 1 million pounds, 2 million who knows! Like i say i would but any number down or just leave it blank. It's just a form and the supplier probably doesn't give that bit a second glance. I could be wrong though. Maybe give them a ring and talk to them about it.

 

[Page]

Remember you can always buy at retail and sell at retail to quickly test the site and demand and new products.

Might sound daft but it aint if you want to test something cheaply.

Fast to get going - cheap to test - fast feedback - low cost

If it is a goer profit will come in the long run which is all that matters - if it is not you will have found out quickly and cheaply.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Your suppliers are a great place for advice, They want to have companies buying from themselves, but dont want to loose money on bad startup's

They can assist you by telling what other companies your size might buy per month and what are good product for sellers and bad ones.

Your bank will have expected you to produce a business plan, which most good business people would probably spent a few weeks minimum checking out competition, prices and your own costs etc and why people would buy from you

 

[owas]

hi sent you a pm with a link you may find useful, I didnt want the mods to think I was being cheeky and promoting a business so I just pmd it.

 

[deniser]

It all seems a bit contradictory. Isn't the main advantage of breastfeeding that you just do it and don't need lots of expensive equipment?

 

[Page]

It all seems a bit contradictory. Isn't the main advantage of breastfeeding that you just do it and don't need lots of expensive equipment?

Ah you are not in touch with the world - everything now is to do with more shopping - walking - buy gear and more gear - gardening buy stuff and more stuff

Now come on!

 

[deniser]

Ah you are not in touch with the world - everything now is to do with more shopping - walking - buy gear and more gear - gardening buy stuff and more stuff

Now come on!

Yes you are right, I did have my children a while ago......

 

[MartCactus]

It all seems a bit contradictory. Isn't the main advantage of breastfeeding that you just do it and don't need lots of expensive equipment?

I think the idea is that you can extract the milk and use it later for when the mother's own natural built-in milk jugs are unavailable.

I recall being at a friends house making a cup of tea. His wife and baby were away. When I went to the fridge for the milk he called out "not the jug on the left!!!". I took my coffee black for the rest of the weekend.

 

[Sarah_App]

Thank you everyone for your advice, although I'm a bit apprehensive about investing our savings, I'm also very excited about this new venture!

You would be surprised at the amount of equipment available for breastfeeding mothers. Pumps (manual and electric) allow you to express milk to be given to baby if mum isn't around (if they go back to work for example), for partners to help with the feeding or to mix in with solids once you start weaning. You can also get all sorts of contraptions to help baby latch, pads to stop leaks and creams etc. You would be amazed at the amount of choice!

Thanks again for your help

 

[deniser]

Thank you everyone for your advice, although I'm a bit apprehensive about investing our savings, I'm also very excited about this new venture!

You would be surprised at the amount of equipment available for breastfeeding mothers. Pumps (manual and electric) allow you to express milk to be given to baby if mum isn't around (if they go back to work for example), for partners to help with the feeding or to mix in with solids once you start weaning. You can also get all sorts of contraptions to help baby latch, pads to stop leaks and creams etc. You would be amazed at the amount of choice!

Thanks again for your help

.

I don't think you can go wrong with being too specialised if there is a big market for the product. Good luck with it.

 

[TotallySport]

Good luck with the project, two bits of advice though, don't sell two many versions of a product that does the same thing and make sure you do your homework. Also don't expect to make money from your information for a long time, but its unlikely to subsidise any lack of sales.

those slig things seemed to be the in thing, I don't know if they still are but I would have bought one if they had been available when we had kids.