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- Dec 30, 2023
- 5
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Hello,
I've been here a while looking at the forum after reading TMF , and I'm very interested in E-commerce business models. I run a service at the moment, and I want to try sell products.
Various posters on here call the thing they sell *WIDGETS* because we don't discuss our exact niches because then everyone will do it and it's no longer a niche.. So I'd like to ask some questions about selling *WIDGETS* in a small-ish scale way, to test it out as a side business.
I have a service business currently, not exactly fastlane in terms of making crazy amounts of money quickly, but it's a good business. I'm busy, people are happy with the work we do, and I'm gradually raising prices and turning away crappy jobs/customers because I have enough work to be able to do that.
I recently met a friend of a friend, and he has a very successful E-commerce business selling a product which is imported from China, repackaged, improved in various aspects, and marketed in very intelligent and effective ways. He (I've heard) drives a top end sports car, has made money in a day which takes me months to earn, and while I don't know if envy is the right word, there's something about all of that I want a part of. My business is in a sense time-limited, in a way which the E-commerce model is not, in terms of potential sales and money made in a day.
So I would like to trial an E-com website and market a product, maybe a few different ones in vastly different niches, and just see how it goes. Anyone with experience in this business model can you please tell me:
I've been here a while looking at the forum after reading TMF , and I'm very interested in E-commerce business models. I run a service at the moment, and I want to try sell products.
Various posters on here call the thing they sell *WIDGETS* because we don't discuss our exact niches because then everyone will do it and it's no longer a niche.. So I'd like to ask some questions about selling *WIDGETS* in a small-ish scale way, to test it out as a side business.
I have a service business currently, not exactly fastlane in terms of making crazy amounts of money quickly, but it's a good business. I'm busy, people are happy with the work we do, and I'm gradually raising prices and turning away crappy jobs/customers because I have enough work to be able to do that.
I recently met a friend of a friend, and he has a very successful E-commerce business selling a product which is imported from China, repackaged, improved in various aspects, and marketed in very intelligent and effective ways. He (I've heard) drives a top end sports car, has made money in a day which takes me months to earn, and while I don't know if envy is the right word, there's something about all of that I want a part of. My business is in a sense time-limited, in a way which the E-commerce model is not, in terms of potential sales and money made in a day.
So I would like to trial an E-com website and market a product, maybe a few different ones in vastly different niches, and just see how it goes. Anyone with experience in this business model can you please tell me:
- What are your biggest problems with this business type - I am guessing problems with suppliers, delays to shipments, not having enough stock to meet demand and then having unhappy customers.. If you don't have stock, does shopify have a feature where someone can buy with the knowledge it will take X days or weeks to ship?
- How much of your time does running it all take up? What are the biggest time-sinks? Am I naive to think once the stock is bought, and the store is set up, I can leave it on its own and just reply to emails in the evening, and do a run to post packages early morning before work?
- How big can the business get with as few employees/workers as possible? What are pros and cons of bringing people in VS solopreneur'ing it
- Any general tips on the E-com model would be appreciated, I know there's lots of experienced people here
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