To help answer this question check out idea hotspots.  Lisa Suttora of WhatDoISell.com coined the term “idea hotspot” to refer to anything or any place that “provides you with an unending source of new product ideas, of market trends, of developing niches, and product line education. It is a fertile ground for product ideas.”  These hotspots help keep you in touch with what people are looking for, what they are buying, what’s hot, and what’s not.

If all of your ideas come from one or two places you are limiting yourself.  Keep your eyes, ears, and mot importantly your mind open.  Always, be watchful for new ideas whether you are at home or out-and-about with family or friends.  Here are just a few idea hotspots you can check out.

Home or office – We buy things for our home or office all the time.  We want our space to be more inviting, cheerful, or carefree.  We decorate for the holidays or entertain our friends regularly.  A good idea may be sitting on the corner of your end table.

Newspapers – You can get ideas check out the lifestyle section, business section, and sports sections of local and national newspapers.  Check out what the big stores are advertising.

Magazines – There are hundreds of magazines available that cover niche products, hobbies, and markets.  These can be a great source of ideas for niche products.

Malls and local retailers – Keep your eyes and ears open when you go out shopping.  Look around the stores and see what they are selling, what are the specials, and discounted items.  See what the other shoppers are buying and what are they talking about.  The local mall can be a hot bed of ideas.

Trend spotting websites – Check out trend tracking web sites like pulse.ebay.com, www.trendwatching.com, www.influxinsights.com, and www.trendhunter.com.

Upcoming movies – TV and movies drive product trends.  If you know what the upcoming shows are you can stock up on related products before they become scarce.  Imdb.com maintains a list of movies that is going to be released in the coming year.

Carry a notebook of some kind with you, whether a PDA or spiral notepad, and write down your ideas as they hit you.  If you’re like me you forget stuff all the time.  I’ll come up with 10 idea then forget 9 of them before I have a chance to invetigate any of them.  Write down your ideas so you don’t forget them.

No related posts.

The #1 question asked by online retailers is “What should I sell online?“  The simple answer is “sell products that people use every day, not ones they see every time they browse the internet.”

The reason your selling stuff online is to make money.  Lots of people know what they want to sell online, but have no idea if they can actually make money.  Market research is the only way to know.  Market research is the process of gathering information about a product to determine if you can make a profit selling it.  You need to know things like the amount of demand for the product, how much competition is there, how much interest is there in the product, what keywords are people using to search for the product, and how much can you sell it for.  After you’ve gathered all this data you need to analyze it to figure out if you can make money with this product.  The analysis can also help you determine where the product fits in your product strategy (up seller, cross seller, loss leader,  etc…).   Repeat the research and analysis for each product you want to sell.

It is important to record everything you find.  You will be gathering a lot of information.  Its just too much for anyone to remember every detail.  So record everything to make the job of analyzing it much simpler.  When your done with your analysis keep a hold of all the data you gather.  You will want to use it 6 months or a year from now to compare against the new data you’ve gather for the product to see how much things have changed.

Demand is the number of shoppers searching for a product.  Shoppers enter various terms into the search engines, like Google or Yahoo, trying to find the product they want.  They may try many different search terms until they find just what they are looking for.  We need to find out how people are using the search engines to find the product we want to sell.  There are a number of web sites available that track the number of searches made and the search terms used.

Competition is how many other vendors are selling the product we want to sell.  You want to find out how many vendors are selling the exact product, how many are selling similar product, how many are selling exact and similar products, what similar products are they selling, which are the most popular vendors, how are the popular vendors presenting the product, and which vendors feature the product.  You need to get online and going into the competitors stores.  Act like someone shopping for the product.  Use the Google, Yahoo, and other search engines and enter the terms you saved when determining the demand for the product to find more vendor.  Use any other search term you can think of.  Investigate all the vendors you find.

Price is what you need to sell the product for to make a profit versus what your competitors are selling it for.  Determine the lowest price you could sell the product for and still make your desired profit.  How does this price compare to the competitor prices.  If its a lot higher then that may not be a good product to sell.  If its a lot lower then you may have a winner.  You can raise the price to be more comparable to competitor prices and earn more profit from each sale.

Keywords are the search terms shoppers use to find the product in the search engines.  All those search terms you found while determining the demand for the product are your keywords for the product.  Use these keywords on the web store pages for the the product.  Google will find these keywords on your product page and include the page in the search results for those keywords.  Finding and using the right keywords for a product is incredibly powerful in bringing search engine traffic to your store.

Advertising is how you let online shoppers know about your product.  If you are going to sell online you will need to advertise your product some how.  Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is the most widely used methods.  Go to the main PPC search engines (Google, Yahoo, Overture, and FindWhat) and look at the competitor’s ads.  Use all the keywords you’ve found so far looking for how many are advertising with those keywords and what do the ads look like.  If there are a lot of advertisements then there is a lot of competition.  Look at the competitor’s ads.  Use ideas from the ones you like the most to come up with your own ad.

Analysis is where all the above data is brought together and considered as a whole.  You have to look at all of the data collected for Demand, Competition, Pricing, and Advertising, and make a decision on how they all balance out.  There is no simple method or process for doing this analysis. Here are a few things to consider while analyzing your data:

• Not enough demand vs competition means there are not enough buyers.
• Too much competition  vs demand means not enough profits for everyone.
• Too much advertising drives up the price of PPC ads.
• Competitor prices too low means you will make little to no profit selling the product.
• Not enough demand vs advertising could mean a declining market.

Market research can be a long tedious process.  Take your time when doing market research.  Your business will have a much better chance of success when you do it right.

No related posts.

You need to pay close attention to the condition of any items acquired through a liquidation sale.  The items may be new or used.  According to World Wide Brands, brand new products that are still in the box, never having been opened, are more the except than the rule.  The items are being liquidated because the owners did not want them.

Before you buy any liquidated item make sure you understand why they are being liquidated.  Possible reason are:

• The manufacturer made too many.  They over estimated the market or some manufacturing problem occurred.
• The wholesaler purchased too many units.  They over estimated the market, the item did not sell well, or someone order 10,000 units instead of 1,000.
• Left over from last season.  Product demand has dropped to virtually nothing because everyone wants the latest and greatest item instead of last years.
• Item was returned to the manufacturer or wholesaler.  Returned items that are in good shape may be thrown into a liquidation lot that gets sold off at the end of every season.
• Items may be purchased from a company close out sale.  I’ve worked for 2 companies that went out of business.  All company assets ended up being sold to liquidators for pennies.  The liquidators junked everything they thought they could not sell and sold everything else.  The first company even sold 35 computers to another company who was looking for a cheap way to set up a new data center.  I was lucky enough to earn a little extra income helping this company refurbish those computers.
• The manufacturer or wholesaler are going out of business.   Be very careful with this one.  If the manufacturer goes out of business then any manufacturer warranties may  no longer be valid.

Liquidation is not a renewable source.  You may find a great selling product.  But once that product is sold out it is gone. You’ll need to find another source if you want to sell any more.  These items can be good for up selling, cross selling,  and as loss leaders.  Use these inexpensive items to bring customers into you store with very low prices.  Then display your more expensive, high profit margin items next to the item to encourage your customers to buy the other products.  Also, display complementary items and accessories to encourage cross sales.

Liquidators are not drop ship companies.  They will not ship product directly to you customers one item at a time.  When you purchase a liquidation lot then products are sent to you.  Just like with wholesalers you need to store these items and package and ship them to your customers.

Liquidation sales should not be used as the sole product source for you business.  But can be a valuable resource to fill out your product line and help draw customers into your store.

No related posts.

Buying in bulk will allow you to get goods at lower prices.  This will give you a competitive edge in price driven markets like the internet.  With lower costs you can offer more attractive prices to your customers.  Experienced online shoppers will check out several different store looking for the lowest prices.  They are trying to get the best deal they can find.  Paying wholesale prices for your products lets you offer them at prices your customers will like and will help bring them back if they feel they are getting a good deal.

Using light bulk wholesaler:

1. Find a light bulk wholesaler you want to work with and open an account with them.
2. Place an order for the products you want to sell.
3. Inspect every item when your products arrive from the wholesaler.  You want to make sure none of them are damaged.  If any are damaged let the wholesaler know as soon as possible.  They will work out a replacement arrangement with you.
4. Display images and descriptions of the products in your store.
5. When a customers purchases an item, you charge their credit card the price of the item plus shipping and handling.
6. Package the item properly.  This step is critical.  You do not want the item getting damaged in any way while being shipped to your customer.
7. Ship the item to your customer.
8. You now have a happy customer who’s excited about the the item they bought.

You profit is the difference between the retail price of the items purchased and the wholesale price of the items plus a small credit card transaction fee.  For example, an item is purchased for $60, wholesale cost is $28, and the credit card transaction fee is 30¢ plus 2.2%.  Your profit would be $30.38.

$80 – ($28 + $0.30 + $1.32) = $80 – $29.62 = $30.38

$1.32 is 2.2% of $60.  The shipping fee is the cost of shipping the item to the customer.  The handling portion of “shipping and handling” is the cost of the materials (boxes, bubble wrap, etc…) to properly package the item for shipping.  These costs are passed directly to the customer.  Shoppers are used to paying “shipping and handling” fees when making purchases online.

Light bulk wholesaling works well, and is a low-cost entry into buying wholesale products in bulk.  Supplementing you product sourcing with light bulk wholesalers should be a part of your sourcing efforts if you plan to sell in a price driven market.

It’s also important to remember that light bulk wolesalers are general wholesalers.  They are general wholes who are willing to sell in light bulk quantities.  They are happy to give you better pricing if you purchase larger quantities.

Related Blogs

• Use of bulk sms software revolutionized the communication process
• Wholesale Suppliers Guide – buying wholesale | whole sale jewelry
• Can Clothing Wholesale Ship To The Customer And Not The Owner For Your Online Business? | Bump Auctions
• Directory Canyon » Blog Archive » How Good Are Chinese Light Bulk Wholesale Suppliers
• How Good Are Chinese Light Bulk Wholesale Suppliers | World Today – Business
• Go Out And Get What You Deserve! » Light Bulk Wholesale – Is China A Good Supplier
• What Is Light Bulk Wholesale?
• Is China A Good Place to Purchase Light Bulk Wholesale « besthotbuzz.com

Related Posts:

1. Where to Find Products to Sell

Core Products – These are your main products, the core of you business.  These products have a high demand from your target market and provide a solid profit margin.  These products represent a large percentage of you overall revenue.

Cross Sellers -These products or accessories that relate to your buyer’s primary product of interest.  Each of these products has a different profit margin associated with it, but each serves an important function and contributes to your overall profit margin.  These products are memory card or cash you sell with the digital camera your customer just bought.

Up Sellers -These products are more expensive, higher-end versions of a product.  Typically, up-sellers are displayed next to the regular product version, to entice buyers to upgrade.  These products can contribute substantially to your overall profit margin when buyers decide to buy the upgrade instead of the base model. These products are the 8 Megapixel and 10 Megapixel versions of the 6 Megapixel camera your customer is considering buying.

Rounders -These are complementary products that round out your product selection.  These products are part of offering your customers a complete shopping experience.  These would be the batteries and lens paper you offer along side your digital cameras.  You might not make a large profit off of them, but it’s convenient for your customers and makes their buying experience more satisfying.

Loss Leaders -These are products on which you are just breaking even or taking a small loss to draw people to your store.  Display cross sellers and up sellers around these products to encourage customers to buy other products.

Providing a diverse, well-rounded product selection can boost your sales, gives customers a motive to come back, and presents you with an opportunity to build repeat business.

Related Blogs

• CSM 10 – Analyzing the market and yourself « Fundamentals Group
• The Secret To Product Marketing Online | Earning Online Solutions
• Use Videos To Hit A Bullseye With Your Target Market | Affiliate Idol – Learn Affiliate Marketing Tips
• I run a small business. How do I conduct target market research?
• Marketers, It’s Time To Rethink Target Market Segmentation | Serengeti Communications

No related posts.

Selling these locally sourced items is a good way to get your feet wet with online retailing.  However, no single type of product sourcing should be depended upon if a retailer wants to be successful.  A good business strategy is to use multiple sourcing method to provide products for you business.  Listed below are some common prduct sources.

Local Sourcing – Local sourcing is finding products that are laying around your house and checking out the local yard and garage sales.  You could also talk to local merchants, offering to buy items that are sitting around in the back room that the store has not sold.  You could check out thrift stores and factory retailers looking for steeply discounted items.  You can often find a supply of unique items from local artisan.  Storage unit auctions can also provide items to sell.  There are a lot of options for local souring, limited only by your imagination.

Drop Shipping – Drop shipping is using a wholesaler who will  ship products to your customers, one product at a time, from their warehouse. The customer buys the item from your web store at retail price.  You direct the wholesale drop shipper to send the item directly to your customer.  You never have to touch the product, figure out postage, or worry about boxes of products stored in your garage.  Drop shipping works well when your first starting out, try to expand, or checking out test markets.  Many drop shippers will handle returns for you making your job a little easier.  Working with a wholesale drop ship does cost a little extra.  The drop shipper might charge a slightly higher wholesale price for each item sold and there is often a drop ship fee, or handling charge, for each box shipped to your customers.

Light Bulk Wholesale – Wholesalers make very little money off each product they sell so they usually have fairly large minimum order requirements, from $5,000 up to $25,000.  A light bulk wholesaler is a wholesaler who allow purchases with a smaller minimum order requirement, often $500 or less.  The wholesaler ships the items to your business where you store them until yours customers buy them from you.  You then need to package and ship the items to your customer.  You also need to handle returns from the customer.  The wholesaler will usually allow items to be returned to them for a refund or  replacement.  But your customers will need to return the item to you, and you return it to the wholesaler.  Light bulk wholesale item prices will usually be lower than drop ship item price.

General Wholesale – General wholesale is the same as light bulk wholesale except you have those high minimum order requirements.  You usually get the best wholesale prices when buying products through general wholesale.  It’s also important to understand that general wholesalers usually will not work with small internet businesses.  Small internet businesses typically don’t have high  enough sales to be worth the general wholesalers time.  This does not mean some wholesalers aren’t will to work with small businesses, as long as the minimum order requirements are met.

Liquidation/Overstock Sourcing – Wholesalers and manufacturers are sometimes left with items still on the warehouse shelves from last season.  The manufacturer may have made too many units or the wholesaler might have purchased too much.  Whatever the cause, these items are often be purchased at a steep discount.  But remember, these items did not sell last season for some reason.  You need to take that into account.  Also, there is usually only a limited supply of these items available.  Once they are gone you won’t be able to get any more.

Importing – Importing is acquiring products to sell from another country.  Bringing products into your country can be expensive.  Make sure you understand all of the related costs before importing products.  Finding importers who have already brought the products into the country can save you a lot of time and money.

Manufacturer Direct – Manufacturers typically will not work directly with retailers, but a few will.  Some manufacturers are willing to drop ship for you.  But usually they will only handle light bulk or general wholesale orders.

Related Blogs

• Drop Shipping EBay The Right Way | Free Article Directory
• IPower Doba Drop Shipping Service by selling third party products
• eBay Drop Ship – How To Start A Wholesale eBay Drop Ship Business | robeamaria.com
• guest post: drop shipping « craftMBA.com – business thinking for designers & makers
• Learn to Sell on Ebay by Buying on Ebay
• eBay Auction Headlines – How Keywords Sell Your Item | Bump Auctions
• Hospitality in Web Industry: Good Service is Good Business | Onextrapixel – Showcasing Web Treats Without Hitch
• what is a good business name for photography and graphic design and web design co? « Graphic Design Business Help « Design Help « Fast Cash Design . com
• 5 Rules of a Good Business Mindset | xForce Articles
• Free Article Directory » Use A Wholesale Drop Shipper To Make Money

No related posts.

• Earn the highest possible profit margins
• Be flexible in the products you offer to potential customers
• Effectively compete with other seller’s prices
• Acquire products to sell at the lowest possible cost

The internet is a huge eCommerce marketplace.  There are millions of products being sold everyday on the internet.  Finding the right products to sell at competitive prices is crucial to the survival of any online business.  The internet is a very price driven market.  If you are not doing your product sourcing correctly you may find many other online sellers selling the same products as you but for a lower price than what you can get your products for.  You won’t be able to compete with them.

Product sourcing is a never ending process for any successful business.  You can’t just find the product you want to sell, post it on you web store, then decide you’re all done.  Wholesale prices change over time, new products are constantly becoming available, or products become unavailable because the manufacturer or wholesaler went out of business or decided to no longer make the product available in your region.  Some products sell better during the summer than they do during the winter.  Who wants to buy Easter items at Christmas?  Online buyers want instant gratification.  They want the latest and hippest items and they want them NOW.

With proper product sourcing you are able to stay competitive.  You keep your costs as low as possible while providing the products your customers want to buy.  Staying on top of the items you sell can also help bring customers to your website and keep bringing them back.

Related Blogs

• » Wholesale Product Sourcing:
• IPower Doba Drop Shipping Service by selling third party products
• • What Ross Perot Can Teach Affiliates About Product Sourcing | Make Money tips
• Effective Business Leaderships – How It Creates A Successful Business | Business Wealth Job Creation Personal Wealth Systems
• Steps to Becoming a Successful Business Coach | Capital business management
• 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence | StopDev
• Stay At Home|Successful Small Business to Start At Home in 2010
• How to Source A Wholesaler « besthotbuzz.com
• Looking for a Real Drop Ship Wholesaler to Supply Your Ebay Auctions? | Trading Forex Futures News
• Wholesale: Steps To Find A Profitable Wholesaler And Distributor :American Family Mutual Insurance Company

No related posts.