Newbie E-Commerce

[Deleted2BB3x9]

New to E-Commerce? Me too. I've decided to start this thread to give back to this amazing community, provide some value and hold me accountable so I don't get lazy lol. First of all, I'd like to thank Biophase and JasonR for your E-Commerce Threads, they are a great source of motivation and a goldmine of value. Thanks.

Now a bit about myself: I'm Ben. I'm new to the forums, I posted a thread about starting a content website a while ago but I've decided to switch gears (It just wasn't my thing). So I've decided to go with E-Commerce. I also have experience in copywriting so that helps, E-Commerce is like a giant mail order catalog. But the bottom line is I'm a newb. I've never started a business before and pretty much haven't accomplished anything yet. So, I'm starting this thread for those who really haven't started to take action yet. Hopefully this thread will be able to show how I go from Zero to Hero.

Basically the only thing I've done so far is pick a niche, but I must say IT'S A KILLER NICHE. I don't want to reveal too much but I'll say that is has no competition whatsoever (except big box stores but I'm confident I can outrank them) and 100,000+ searches a month. I've also written down a list of the distributors, there's 50!

I also have some questions, should I contact the distributors before customizing my site? (Just so I can find out the margins) and what kind of licenses and permits do I need? Should I register my business before contacting the distributors? I'm in Canada.

I can't wait to hear everyone's feedback! I'll keep you updated!

P.S. I will be using Bigcommerce.

P.P.S. Here's a summary of what I've done so far :
-Learning copywriting (handwriting an hour per day)
-Learning SEO
-Researched and picked a niche
-Signed up for Bigcommerce trial
-Registered domain name
-Bought a NUANS report for corporation name

 

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[Deleted2BB3x9]

I just submitted my certification of incorporation with Corporations Canada, I should hear back soon if it gets approved.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

So while I'm waiting for the incorporation process to finish I figured I would mess around with bigcommerce, improve my design and get used to the backend. While I was doing this I found a great series of tutorials on how to use html and css in bigcommerce. No previous programming experience is needed, I was able to understand after just watching the first video, so I figured I would share it :

Part 1 : BigCommerce HTML and CSS Tutorial Part 1:

Part 2 : BigCommerce HTML and CSS Tutorial Part 2:

Part 3 : BigCommerce HTML and CSS Tutorial Part 3:

 

[Vick]

Do you have your product ?

 

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[Deleted2BB3x9]

Well I just received my certification of incorporation so now all I have to get is a business number, then i'm going to contact the distributors, they're are a lot of brands though, how many samples should I request?

Edit: Unless you meant do I have my product in my niche? My niche is actually just a product with many different models.

 

[Vick]

Get the product first.

All that other stuff can be done later.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

It's already done lol, but I get what you're saying, I just wanted to get my corp registered in case the distributors asked, but I guess I could have contacted them before, anyway that's what i'm doing right now.

When you say get the product what do you mean? Is it so I can start taking pictures and making product videos? The only problem I see so far with my product is the massive amount of models available.They're are over 50 distributors and most of them have about 20+ models.

 

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[theag]

forget seo

find a product with margins that can sustain paid advertising costs and can be built into a funnel down the road

btw, if an ecommerce niche has "no competition" in 2014 you either researched it wrong or it sucks...

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Thanks for the tip, after I finish emailing the distributors I'll have some margins, and my cpc is 0.76¢.

It does have competition but no site is dedicated specifically to this one product, the competition is mostly big box stores (walmart, bestbuy, etc.) they're are also some niche sites (big store with many types of products) who sell them but they don't rank very high.

I'm confident it will sell, i've also done some research on ebay by just watching some auctions, most of the products were sold in under a week, so there is demand.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

The only things i'm worried about so far are the margins and the vast amount of models.

 

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[Vick]

You asked about samples. Which tells me you haven't contacted any suppliers yet. Which means you don't have a product yet. You just have an idea of what the product is. And did some research. The product should be finalized and ready to sell tomorrow before doing all the fun stuff. Like the website.

Get your product completed first.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

If I am dropshipping should I still get some inventory just to start off? I don't really have the capital to stock anything yet, the products are pretty expensive, it's about 100$ for the most basic model, i'm only 16.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Anyway, so I just sent some emails to the big companies in my niche using biophase's email script. There's a lot of distributors so I just contacted the main companies and if they say no, I have an entire list of alternatives.

 

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[Vick]

Oh your drop shippin. Well I don't necessarily mean to stock the product. Just finalize what your actually going to sell first.
Don't you think you should at least check the product out before selling them to people?
And why were you asking about samples then?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention I was dropshipping, but yeah I think I should, it will help with writing descriptions and getting familiar with my product. My only concern is the amount of models, should I check out every model? And I was asking about samples because you were talking about getting my product, so do distributors normally give out samples for free or will I have to buy them?

 

[Vick]

Ask them

 

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[Bowden]

Why incorporate when you don't even know how to get samples?

Not trying to be harsh, just trying to understand your process here.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Well in Canada you can't get an llc so the only limited liability structure is a corporation, and I just figured I would go ahead and get all the legal stuff done first.

In bio's thread he says you need a business license, so I wanted to get one before contacting the distributors, instead of contacting them then finding out I need one.

Everything is taken care of, now I just need to wait for a distributor to reply to me.

Edit : Just wanted to mention I haven't registered for an HST permit yet or an import/export license, I'll get those taken care of later.

You only need a tax permit once your store is making more than 30,000$ a year.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

If anybody else has any questions, feel free to ask.

 

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[Deleted2BB3x9]

I just got my first reply from a distributor, and guess what he asked for? More specific company information.

Looks like registering the business first paid off.

 

[AlterJoule]

What exactly did you do to verify limited quality competition and yet high customer desire? What analytics have you used to validate an actual need? Also does Canada REQUIRE all of this paperwork just to get your hands on a product in order to try and sell and validate a need?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Well for checking competition I just did a google search for my keywords, there is competition but there is no site specifically tailored to this product. (I actually did find a competitor later on but it was while searching for distributors, it also has very low links and a pagerank of 0, so I'm not worried about it.)

I found the desire by using google's keyword planner, there's 100,000+ searches a month but that's not really enough to verify so I checked out ebay to see if people were actually buying. I would just watch the auctions (see how many auctions there are) and see how fast they would sell (most models sold in under a week).

I haven't really done much analytics yet but it's a real need. I don't want to say too much as it could compromise my niche but it's useful for people with apartments.

And about the paperwork, I'm not really sure, you don't need one if you want to start an online business but distributors require it so you'll probably end up having to register.

 

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[SYK]

Do some more meaty validation:

1. Build a landing page for your hypothetical product including "buy now" button
2. Build pop up form that says "sorry we're out of stock leave your email and we'll be in touch once back in stock" when a customer tries to buy your product.
3. Set up google analytics
4. Send PPC traffic to landing page.
5. Give it a few days and then analyse the results.

Opportunity to validate and start capturing email addresses.

It's not 100% water tight validation but it beats aimless googling and ebay.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

So I like your idea, I should do a real validation before fully investing into this. But how would I setup the pop up?

 

[SYK]

I used Wufoo to build the form and instapage for the landing page. There are plenty of other options out there though.

 

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[XOthermic]

My advice,

Stop wasting your time with this. OUTSOURCE this technician task: Focus on strategy/ and building sales/ marketing of your product.

I fell into this trap. I'm very proud of what I accomplished but as I look back as a business minded I realized that I'd do things differently now.

However, knowing the basics does help. You just don't need to learn all that B.S. man.


Example from my own experience. My website ran on magento 1.6 when I started it now runs on 1.9 and is set way differently to the point where it's not even efficient for me to fix and change things on their.

But

you know what is effecient? is me selling, negotiating and closing deals. My experience from the beginning continually builds and is useful (maybe not relevant as much).

DM me for questions.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I just finished setting up my landing page, it was just a simple design and some pictures. It was a great opportunity to try out my copywriting skills though.

I used instapage and set up a button that redirects to a wufoo form where I asked them to enter their email address so I can notify them when the store opens. Thanks for the advice SYK!

Google analytics is also set up and I set up an adwords campaign targeting around 20 keywords, my budget is 25$ a day.

Let's see how many leads I can get!

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I just got my first lead! I've had 42 sessions on the landing page and 19 clicks on my "Visit the store now" button. The button bring them to a wufoo form where I tell them the store is currently under construction but they can enter their email to be notified when the store opens and to receive a coupon as one of my first customers. My conversion rate is 5.26% right now. Can anybody tell me what's a good conversion rate and how many leads I should be getting?

Edit: now analytics is telling me I have 25 sessions and instapage says I have 71 views?

 

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[chrischapman]

get all the legal stuff done first.

Why do you want to get legal stuff done first?

Have a reason for everything you do. Are you doing it to save on your already growing tax bill or are you doing it because it is busywork which makes you feel like you are doing something important?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I know getting the legal stuff done first was very "Wantrepreneurish" but I think I had a valid reason. I anticipated that distributors would ask for company info, and they did.

I am making progress, and still learning at the same time. Tommorow I'm going to call a distributor who contacted me, first thing in the morning. I'm already starting to see a change in my mindset, I've still got a long way to go, but I am dedicated.