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Building A New Product Brand From Scratch

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

JDawg

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For years I was intrigued by the idea of starting an importing business. I had an idea of where to get started, but decided not to pull the trigger until this past summer. In this thread I'll be sharing my progress, goals, achievements, and failures, and through it all I hope you can gain something from my experiences. I also welcome your input, thoughts or criticism. Thanks to all who follow along!

Background
In order to better understand where I am at today with my business, I thought I'd give a bit of background into how I got started. There were several things that contributed to my pursuing of an e-commerce business.

1) My Digital Marketing Job - As mentioned in my introduction, I learned the art of SEO at the age of 9, which led to my eventual position at a Digital Marketing Agency. So I have been constantly surrounded by successful businesses and business owners. One client in particular ran an e-commerce business and sold products on Amazon. I worked on the optimization and marketing of their Amazon store and products for quite some time, and developed a relationship with the business owner. She coached me and gave me advice hoping that I would start a business of my own. (Her business was very successful, as she did $1.6 Million in sales in 2014 with a 40% net profit margin)

2) Family & Friends - My family owns a music store, and sells those products online. So I had some previous experience with different platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Shopify, etc., and I managed most of the marketing and SEO for my family's business for quite some time. I also have a friend that runs a successful Amazon & eBay business, so I spent hours with him learning the processes that worked well for his business.

All this to say, I had experience in the e-commerce world and was surrounded by successful business mentors, so I decided to go for it. However, I wanted to do things the right way, so I took my time in the early stages.

Stage 1 - Picking My Products/Niche
I liked the idea of importing, but I didn't want to be one that just picked a product and threw it on Amazon. I wanted to build a real business. So I spent hours and hours researching different markets to find my first product or niche.

In the starting stages, I was looking for something that met the following criteria:
- Demand
- Added value to the current market
- Market not over saturated
- Profitable
- Lightweight/Easy to Ship


I'm all about excel spreadsheets and keeping track of my research, so I assembled a list (stuffed with all sorts of relevant data) of 100's of potential products in markets that I could potentially pursue.

After evaluating my options, I decided upon what seemed to be the perfect first product. Not only was it a perfect product in my eyes, but it had a plethora of related products in the same niche that I could pursue in the future.

Stage 2 - Sampling/Innovating
After deciding upon two initial products, I looked to Amazon to see the current products on the market. I read through reviews, ordered from several of my soon to be competitors, and discovered some HUGE areas that could be improved.

I then looked at Alibaba to find a potential manufacturer. I decided on 10 different suppliers who I believed would best suit my product needs. After talking with those manufacturers/traders, I narrowed down my options to 3 suppliers. I have a system that I use to determine the credibility of those suppliers so I that I don't get screwed, although there is still some risk involved.

I made a sample order from those three suppliers and decided on a winner.

Stage 3 - Building a Brand
Working in marketing, I know how important it is to set yourself a part from the rest of the competition. I wanted to tackle this in two ways - 1) selling a product that added big value to the market. 2) presenting that product better than my competition.

I decided on a company name and started my branding efforts. My initial 2 products were in the same niche as the products that I anticipated to sell in the future, so I created a brand that would encompass all of my products. I did some logo, graphic design, and package design work, and my brand was set to go. I source all of my packaging from the US, and assemble my products at my house for the time being. I am in love with my packaging, and I feel like it gives me a big advantage against my competitors. (Most of the packaging from my competitors is simply a poly bag or cheaply made packaging from China)

Stage 4 - Execution
This is one heck of a stage, as a great idea isn't great if you can't execute it.
Also note - my business is not an Amazon business, but my initial efforts are geared towards selling on Amazon.

Here is a rough outline of how I got things rolling:

1) I ordered 100 units of each of my two products.

2) Took photos of my products. Photography is a hobby of mine, so I do all of my own photography in order to get the perfect shots of my products. I don't take photos for granted, as I believe that can really impact your conversion rate.

3) Created Amazon listings. Once again, I take my time on these. A well thought out and properly optimized Amazon listing can go a long ways with ranking and conversion rate on Amazon.

4) Sent my products to Amazon via FBA fulfillment.

5) Promotions. Once the products were received by Amazon, I ran a few promotions and gave away 20 units of each product at a low cost. This was my way of kickstarting the new listing and building a few reviews at the same time.

160 combined units were remaining after the promotions. Within 2 weeks of initially launching on Amazon, all 160 units sold. This occurred in November, which is generally a good month for online sales, so I have yet to see sales numbers for the rest of the calendar year.

I was very pleased with these initial results, and decided to order again - this time with larger quantities. I also decided to order 4 NEW products that I had been developing. (I used the same process with these products as I did with the first). They are all variants to essentially the same product.

Where I am at Today
Unfortunately, long delays from my suppliers and packaging company prolonged my restocking of inventory and listing of my 4 new products. I have now determined the realistic amount of time it takes to get new inventory to Amazon FBA so next time I do not wait around with no inventory in stock.

Fast-forward to today - the new inventory has been shipped to Amazon, and I am currently waiting for it to be received by the FBA warehouse. This time I sent:

- 400 units of product 1
- 400 units of product 2
- 40 units of each of product 3-6 (These these products are more expensive than products 1 & 2)

Once these products start rolling on Amazon this next week, I will share updates on the progress of sales.


So What's Next?
Selling products on Amazon is just the first step for my business. Although I know success can be found on Amazon, I do not want it to be my primary source of sales.

I am currently designing an e-commerce website through Shopify, and hope to focus on that more in the near future. Since my background is in SEO and Digital Marketing, I am optimizing the website in hopes to eventually make the website my primary source of sales.

I've got big dreams and aspirations for this business, and I am getting closer to that reality each and every day.


Final Notes
Phew! That was much longer that I anticipated, but I hope it gives you some insight into the importing business that I have started & where I hope to take it in the future. I hope you stick around and follow what's to come!

*I've edited the title to better represent this thread.
 
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amp0193

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Sounds like you're off to a good start.

I love the action taking and the positive attitude.

Rep+
 

HyperFocus

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Great work bro, very good stuff! How are u going to bring customers to your Shopify? The conversion from Amazon to an own website isnt easy unless u want to go full extra service mode and offer them discounts etc. Is your product one that resells to the same Customer?
 

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I have a system that I use to determine the credibility of those suppliers so I that I don't get screwed, although there is still some risk involved.

Could You be so kind and provide that system You are using?

discovered some HUGE areas that could be improved.

Did you ask your supplier to improve the product or ordered the generic ones? Are you planing on improving the product?

Awesome progress. Keep up good work! ;)
 
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iAmTrade

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What is not average about your importing business again?

I missed that part...

You found a product.
You bought it, and put it on Amazon.
You sold some on Amazon, and thought your own eccomerce store would be better- you did what everyone is doing- using Shopify.

You felt like branding your product. Hmm

I want to be constructive- as such-

How are you going ti scale this past 100k a year? I say this because people either fail-BIG TIME or...(a small percentage..)makes around 100k a year and are happy with it.

I see nothing different with your business model. Come on bud! What the hell. Do you really think you'll pull in over 100k with what you have in place?!

How will you expand this all? How will you retain customers and increase profits, and market, and so on?

If you can really answer my questions- and not get stumped/not have to google it & can ACTUALLY carry it forward...than I see you making it.

Right now- *nothing* is different about your model.

[emoji6] reality sucks. So change what you do to change what you have.
 
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hughjasle

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I see nothing different with your business model. Come on bud! What the hell. Do you really think you'll pull in over 100k with what you have in place?!
Not to be contentious, but more so out of genuine curiosity in regards to your post (summarized by the quote above) and in support for JDawg (unless I'm wrong)

BUT - what's wrong with the business model being the same as the 1,000's+ who have done this model and succeeded?

I do agree that the Title of the thread is crap - but so are basically all the click bait thread titles on this forum now-a-days.

But seriously, I don't see why this model WONT bring in 100k+ if followed properly... what am I - or - are WE missing here?
 
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iAmTrade

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The model is fine. An average eccomerce site brings the owner 3.1k a month.

Statistically, you'll fail at reaching 100k. I hope you're part of the group that doesn't.

Nothing wrong with the plan/model.

But remember plans are worthless- action is gold.

Keep working on it. Hope to see more results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

hughjasle

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An average eccomerce site brings the owner 3.1k a month.

Statistically, you'll fail at reaching 100k. I hope you're part of the group that doesn't.

wow interesting stats. $3.1k seems extremely high for a business that anyone can start on a shoestring!

Even at the average, that's a powerful number. If someone can master building average ecom sites, they can be rolling.

And yes I agree with the following.
But remember plans are worthless- action is gold.
Even being average in this space takes lots of action.

+1 thanks for clarifying :happy:
 
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JDawg

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Great work bro, very good stuff! How are u going to bring customers to your Shopify? The conversion from Amazon to an own website isnt easy unless u want to go full extra service mode and offer them discounts etc. Is your product one that resells to the same Customer?

I do understand that it is difficult to convert customers from Amazon to an e-commerce website, but that is not exactly what I'm hoping to do. I am planning on adding a coupon code of sorts eventually to my FBA products in efforts to migrate a few customers to my website. But ultimately, I will be using Google Adwords and Google Merchant ads as well as organic SEO efforts to drive traffic to my website. I consider myself an expert with SEO (it's my day job) and experienced with paid advertising, so this is a very feasible plan for me moving forward.

Also - product would not be considered consumable, but it is definitely a product that customers re-order and can use multiple of.
 

JDawg

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Could You be so kind and provide that system You are using?

Sure thing! My system is essentially a list of questions I ask a potential supplier. When dealing with Alibaba, I only contact "Gold Suppliers", although this basically means nothing in regards to credibility since anyone can achieve this status in they have the money to do so. It does weed out a good amount of scammers & fraudulent suppliers, however.

Once I make initial contact with a potential supply, I ask the following questions:

1) Could you tell me more about your business?
- What is your current business address?
- What is your business phone number?
- How long have you been in business?
- How many employees work for your business?
- Can you provide any references, specifically from the US (Some suppliers don't feel comfortable sharing their client's information, while others are happy to share. This isn't extremely important, but it does create more credibility to talk to others that have dealt with the supplier in the past.)

2) Are you able to offer a sample of the product? (Most all suppliers will, but typically expect you to pay for the freight)

3) What payment options do you offer?

*I also will later ask if I can come and visit the business in person. While I have not done so yet, I am interested in doing so in the future, and it is a good indicator of whether or not the supplier is willing to welcome you in China.

Several suppliers do not respond to these questions at all, which immediately removes them from my consideration. Of those that do respond, I take the business information and cross reference it online. I look up the current address, call the phone number provided, and check to see if there are any other mentions of the business online with good/bad experiences. If all of this information checks out, I order a sample and go from there. Communication and speed of delivery is also a big factor to me of whether or not I can rely on the supplier in the future.

To date, I have ordered from 9 different suppliers and have always received what was expected. I've never been ripped off - in fact, on multiple occasions I have received additional products, free samples of other products a supplier offers, and hand written notes thanking me for my business.

I've never used a 3rd party in China to verify a supplier, although I am not opposed to the idea. But hopefully this can prove that you can still find a credible supplier without one of those services if you ask the right questions and take your time!


Did you ask your supplier to improve the product or ordered the generic ones? Are you planing on improving the product?

Yes! In fact, every one of my products are custom designed to my specifications. This is why I take the time to look at my competitors' reviews, see what people like/don't like - I also order their products to see for myself what I can improve. I do this before I reach out to potential suppliers. I then go through a series of samples until I reach a product that meets my requirements - sometimes it only takes 1 or 2 tries, other times it takes several to get it right. It just takes time to make this happen, but it is well worth the extra time & money.

This is a really big part of my business. I don't just white label a product that is already on the market - I try to add some real value by providing a product that IS better than all of my competitors.
 
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JDawg

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What is not average about your importing business again?

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts! I am in the starting stages of my business, so no, I'm definitely not doing $1 Million is sales right now. That being said, I 100% believe in my business model & believe that it will be successful in the future.

To clarify - I did not just pick a product and throw it up on Amazon.
- I spent 3 months researching before deciding on a product
- I thoroughly developed my product and brand before selling it (I am not white labeling an already existing product on Amazon/eBay)
- I put a lot of effort into my listing optimization & marketing strategies
- I designed custom packaging

I know a lot of importers that jump into it too fast, don't add any value to the market, and eventually fizzle out.

I am a strong believer in putting work into every step of the business - even the steps that seem small and insignificant.

This being said, I'm not married to my business plan. I'm always learning, growing, and developing my plan of attack as I go. I'm not in it to make a quick buck, but to build a successful business. So I appreciate everyone's input!

How will you expand this all? How will you retain customers and increase profits, and market, and so on?

I'm always developing and sampling new products as I go. I have several products that I'm just waiting for the cashflow in order to expand.

Currently, I have around a 70% Gross Profit Margin and a 50% Net Profit Margin. In these beginning stages of the business, I am using this profit to expand and develop additional products.
 

HyperFocus

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Sure thing! My system is essentially a list of questions I ask a potential supplier. When dealing with Alibaba, I only contact "Gold Suppliers", although this basically means nothing in regards to credibility since anyone can achieve this status in they have the money to do so. It does weed out a good amount of scammers & fraudulent suppliers, however.

Once I make initial contact with a potential supply, I ask the following questions:

1) Could you tell me more about your business?
- What is your current business address?
- What is your business phone number?
- How long have you been in business?
- How many employees work for your business?
- Can you provide any references, specifically from the US (Some suppliers don't feel comfortable sharing their client's information, while others are happy to share. This isn't extremely important, but it does create more credibility to talk to others that have dealt with the supplier in the past.)

2) Are you able to offer a sample of the product? (Most all suppliers will, but typically expect you to pay for the freight)

3) What payment options do you offer?

*I also will later ask if I can come and visit the business in person. While I have not done so yet, I am interested in doing so in the future, and it is a good indicator of whether or not the supplier is willing to welcome you in China.

Several suppliers do not respond to these questions at all, which immediately removes them from my consideration. Of those that do respond, I take the business information and cross reference it online. I look up the current address, call the phone number provided, and check to see if there are any other mentions of the business online with good/bad experiences. If all of this information checks out, I order a sample and go from there. Communication and speed of delivery is also a big factor to me of whether or not I can rely on the supplier in the future.

To date, I have ordered from 9 different suppliers and have always received what was expected. I've never been ripped off - in fact, on multiple occasions I have received additional products, free samples of other products a supplier offers, and hand written notes thanking me for my business.

I've never used a 3rd party in China to verify a supplier, although I am not opposed to the idea. But hopefully this can prove that you can still find a credible supplier without one of those services if you ask the right questions and take your time!




Yes! In fact, every one of my products are custom designed to my specifications. This is why I take the time to look at my competitors' reviews, see what people like/don't like - I also order their products to see for myself what I can improve. I do this before I reach out to potential suppliers. I then go through a series of samples until I reach a product that meets my requirements - sometimes it only takes 1 or 2 tries, other times it takes several to get it right. It just takes time to make this happen, but it is well worth the extra time & money.

This is a really big part of my business. I don't just white label a product that is already on the market - I try to add some real value by providing a product that IS better than all of my competitors.

Huh do you ask this in your first email? Or what do you do first?

I speak Chinese which is an advantage, but I feel like I need to learn more about sourcing first. I want the factory to create different packaging and quantities and it needs to be reliable!! Scary and exiting stuff haha!
 
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JDawg

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Huh do you ask this in your first email? Or what do you do first?

No, I generally ask this in my 2 or 3 e-mail to the supplier. I start off by introducing myself & my business, then tell the supplier the product specifications that I am wanting to source and ask if they can produce that exact product. They tend to reply with whether or not they can supply the product and the price that is associated with it. Once this is established, I proceed to ask the mentioned questions to verify the supplier.

I speak Chinese which is an advantage, but I feel like I need to learn more about sourcing first. I want the factory to create different packaging and quantities and it needs to be reliable!! Scary and exiting stuff haha!
For sure, haha! There is so much info out there on importing (quite a bit on this forum as well) that can get you rolling. There are quite a few options for packaging from China, and most suppliers will offer some form of packaging along with your product. I chose to source my packaging from the US, as it is a bit higher quality & perfect for what I was looking for, while still at a comparable price point.

Good luck and I wish you the best with your future business endeavors!
 

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No, I generally ask this in my 2 or 3 e-mail to the supplier. I start off by introducing myself & my business, then tell the supplier the product specifications that I am wanting to source and ask if they can produce that exact product. They tend to reply with whether or not they can supply the product and the price that is associated with it. Once this is established, I proceed to ask the mentioned questions to verify the supplier.


For sure, haha! There is so much info out there on importing (quite a bit on this forum as well) that can get you rolling. There are quite a few options for packaging from China, and most suppliers will offer some form of packaging along with your product. I chose to source my packaging from the US, as it is a bit higher quality & perfect for what I was looking for, while still at a comparable price point.

Good luck and I wish you the best with your future business endeavors!

Very cool! Yes my product wll have a sick profit margin too. You tell the US company to put the products in the packaging and tell them what to write on the packaging?
I will need my brand name on it + ingredients etc
 

JDawg

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Very cool! Yes my product wll have a sick profit margin too. You tell the US company to put the products in the packaging and tell them what to write on the packaging?
I will need my brand name on it + ingredients etc

Awesome stuff! I actually don't have the packaging manufacturer assemble and package my products. They simply hot stamp my PDF logo design on a box (box is a custom color/size to my specifications) and send me the packaging in bulk. I then take the packaging and assemble it myself. It's a bit more time consuming, but it works for the time being. I'm definitely working on a solution to make this more automated.

From the sounds of your product idea, you could either have your packaging printed in a different location (or labels printed if you are considering a supplement-type product) or printed and assembled by your supplier. The latter saves quite a bit more time, but can often be more expensive. It also really depends on the product that you are wanting to source. If you have any other specific questions on product packaging, feel free to ask here or PM me. :)
 
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Walter Hay

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Sure thing! My system is essentially a list of questions I ask a potential supplier. When dealing with Alibaba, I only contact "Gold Suppliers", although this basically means nothing in regards to credibility since anyone can achieve this status in they have the money to do so. It does weed out a good amount of scammers & fraudulent suppliers, however.

Once I make initial contact with a potential supply, I ask the following questions:

1) Could you tell me more about your business?
- What is your current business address?
- What is your business phone number?
- How long have you been in business?
- How many employees work for your business?
- Can you provide any references, specifically from the US (Some suppliers don't feel comfortable sharing their client's information, while others are happy to share. This isn't extremely important, but it does create more credibility to talk to others that have dealt with the supplier in the past.)

2) Are you able to offer a sample of the product? (Most all suppliers will, but typically expect you to pay for the freight)

3) What payment options do you offer?

*I also will later ask if I can come and visit the business in person. While I have not done so yet, I am interested in doing so in the future, and it is a good indicator of whether or not the supplier is willing to welcome you in China.

Several suppliers do not respond to these questions at all, which immediately removes them from my consideration. Of those that do respond, I take the business information and cross reference it online. I look up the current address, call the phone number provided, and check to see if there are any other mentions of the business online with good/bad experiences. If all of this information checks out, I order a sample and go from there. Communication and speed of delivery is also a big factor to me of whether or not I can rely on the supplier in the future.

To date, I have ordered from 9 different suppliers and have always received what was expected. I've never been ripped off - in fact, on multiple occasions I have received additional products, free samples of other products a supplier offers, and hand written notes thanking me for my business.

I've never used a 3rd party in China to verify a supplier, although I am not opposed to the idea. But hopefully this can prove that you can still find a credible supplier without one of those services if you ask the right questions and take your time!
@JDawg you are right about the Gold Supplier badge being meaningless. Thousands of buyers have been scammed by Gold Suppliers on Alibaba. Even the amount of money they have to pay to try to fool people into believing they are somehow more reliable and trustworthy than ordinary verified suppliers has been drastically reduced. For about a year it was down to $299, but now with the huge influx of "on the cheap" Gold Suppliers, the site is so much more impressive, but they have increased the price for a "Lite" version to $699.

Sorry to tell you this but your questions do nothing to help avoid scams. The answers could be just a load of BS. If scammers put BS on their Alibaba listing and on their own website, what is to stop them doing the same in answer to your questions?

The only way you might benefit from telling them you intend visiting is that if they refuse or even hesitate, you have found a scammer to cross off your list. As I have pointed out in my article Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist. it is difficult to be sure that the supplier actually owns the factory that you are visiting. Even changeable signs are used to deceive.

Your online checking out of the business has a lot of merit but is far from foolproof. I prefer to send my book readers to sites where what you see is what you get, so they don't have to keep looking over their shoulders. They don't have to pay a third party to do the verification either because those sites have done it thoroughly, not like the cursory and useless checking done by Alibaba.

Walter
 
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@JDawg you are right about the Gold Supplier badge being meaningless. Thousands of buyers have been scammed by Gold Suppliers on Alibaba. Even the amount of money they have to pay to try to fool people into believing they are somehow more reliable and trustworthy than ordinary verified suppliers has been drastically reduced. For about a year it was down to $299, but now with the huge influx of "on the cheap" Gold Suppliers, the site is so much more impressive, but they have increased the price for a "Lite" version to $699.

Sorry to tell you this but your questions do nothing to help avoid scams. The answers could be just a load of BS. If scammers put BS on their Alibaba listing and on their own website, what is to stop them doing the same in answer to your questions?

The only way you might benefit from telling them you intend visiting is that if they refuse or even hesitate, you have found a scammer to cross off your list. As I have pointed out in my article Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist. it is difficult to be sure that the supplier actually owns the factory that you are visiting. Even changeable signs are used to deceive.

Your online checking out of the business has a lot of merit but is far from foolproof. I prefer to send my book readers to sites where what you see is what you get, so they don't have to keep looking over their shoulders. They don't have to pay a third party to do the verification either because those sites have done it thoroughly, not like the cursory and useless checking done by Alibaba.

Walter

Very cool. Which sites do you mean?

I will be reading your entire thread too. Thanks for your contribution
 
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JDawg

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@Walter Hay Thanks for your input - I respect your knowledge on importing/exporting, and have thoroughly enjoyed your threads.

Your online checking out of the business has a lot of merit but is far from foolproof.
...although there is still some risk involved.

I do agree with you on this, as the methods I use do not completely ensure my protection from scammers. I mentioned in my first post that there is some risk involved in my process, and I do believe that - but to date it has worked well for me.

That being said, I am always looking for ways to improve my process, so I appreciate your comment. :)
 
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Walter Hay

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Very cool. Which sites do you mean?

I will be reading your entire thread too. Thanks for your contribution
If you read the whole thread you will learn a lot about product sourcing and importing, but you won't find those sites listed. What you will discover instead will be good reasons why I don't publish them online.

The more posts I read on the subject of importing, the more I am convinced that too many people rush in without sufficient understanding of the sourcing and importing process. For that reason it would be unfair to them to just say: "Go to 123xyz.com; it's a safe sourcing site". On those safe sites you are not likely to be scammed, but ignorance can still cost you thousands.

There are many who by sheer good luck succeed in buying and importing, and some of those lucky ones (I could name a few) go on to teach others how to do it. You don't often read about the failures, but I do, because many of them write to me for help, usually too late.

Walter
 

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If you read the whole thread you will learn a lot about product sourcing and importing, but you won't find those sites listed. What you will discover instead will be good reasons why I don't publish them online.

The more posts I read on the subject of importing, the more I am convinced that too many people rush in without sufficient understanding of the sourcing and importing process. For that reason it would be unfair to them to just say: "Go to 123xyz.com; it's a safe sourcing site". On those safe sites you are not likely to be scammed, but ignorance can still cost you thousands.

There are many who by sheer good luck succeed in buying and importing, and some of those lucky ones (I could name a few) go on to teach others how to do it. You don't often read about the failures, but I do, because many of them write to me for help, usually too late.

Walter

Thanks Walter.

I already read some last week. Will be reading everything soon. Am first finishing the book "rework", very good and concisely written. I recommend you to add it to your booklist.

To respond to your post: yes you are correct. Thats why I will first gather more knowledge on sourcing. Ive sourced before from China/Russia/Vietnam mostly went fine but some were disloyal and tried to backstab... My next company will be very serious and the production and transport need to be done well so that I can focus on growing sales and building a brand. I dont want a tard supplier make all my customers wait for weeks. For this reason I want to learn from people like you. Im thinking that I need 1-2 back up factories that could supply in case of a unreliable supplier.
 

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Thanks Walter.

I already read some last week. Will be reading everything soon. Am first finishing the book "rework", very good and concisely written. I recommend you to add it to your booklist.

To respond to your post: yes you are correct. Thats why I will first gather more knowledge on sourcing. Ive sourced before from China/Russia/Vietnam mostly went fine but some were disloyal and tried to backstab... My next company will be very serious and the production and transport need to be done well so that I can focus on growing sales and building a brand. I dont want a tard supplier make all my customers wait for weeks. For this reason I want to learn from people like you. Im thinking that I need 1-2 back up factories that could supply in case of a unreliable supplier.
You are on the right track. I have a little section in my book about the importance of not keeping all your eggs in one basket. If your one and only supplier lets you down, increases prices unrealistically or decides to stop production of that product type your business could go down the drain.

The same applies to dealing with a trader - and the bulk of suppliers on Alibaba calling themselves manufacturers are in fact traders. If their relationship with the manufacturer goes bad, where do you turn?

Walter
 
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Currently, I have around a 70% Gross Profit Margin and a 50% Net Profit Margin. In these beginning stages of the business, I am using this profit to expand and develop additional products.

Expand and develop additional products...

Do me and yourself a favor- figure out what the market size is for your product...

Than- get yourself 2-3 top keywords...and find the # of searches monthly in the region or country you service (guessing the USA).

Then** multiply that total number by- 25%

That should be your goal.

You need* to make it a priority...you need solid, trackable, manageable goals. Your goal and your earnings should be at maximizing your percentage of that total pie.

Meaning- you need to grab 25% of the market share.

In my greatest opinion it SHOULD NOT BE to expand to a long range of products.

Think about it bud. You're product is NEVER THE ISSUE.

ALL PRODUCTS HAVE A TOTAL MARKET VALUE, ALL PRODUCTS-I DONT CARE WHERE YOU ARE.

How much of the pie are you going to eat?

Do yourself a favor. Stop expanding unnecessarily. Get yourself a bigger part of the dam pie! I'll take a guess...market size for your product is 50 Million a year. 12.5 Million dollars is your goal yearly. Even 10% of the market makes you and myself very happy.

Don't screw the shit up. Think straight. No emotions- do the dam math.

Someone sells ties...makes 3 Million a year. He doesn't have the whole market but all he does is ties.

Stick to your first 2-3 products, heck get to a single one- and get your pie!

What to do after?

Decrease your dam costs. 10% cost saving=10% increased profit. I'm dam sure your supplier will be happy to work with you when your order size is oh lets say- 10,000 a week.

Make it happen, stop screwing with other bs items/products.


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Expand and develop additional products...

Do me and yourself a favor- figure out what the market size is for your product...

Than- get yourself 2-3 top keywords...and find the # of searches monthly in the region or country you service (guessing the USA).

Then** multiply that total number by- 25%

That should be your goal.

You need* to make it a priority...you need solid, trackable, manageable goals. Your goal and your earnings should be at maximizing your percentage of that total pie.

Meaning- you need to grab 25% of the market share.

In my greatest opinion it SHOULD NOT BE to expand to a long range of products.

Think about it bud. You're product is NEVER THE ISSUE.

ALL PRODUCTS HAVE A TOTAL MARKET VALUE, ALL PRODUCTS-I DONT CARE WHERE YOU ARE.

How much of the pie are you going to eat?

Do yourself a favor. Stop expanding unnecessarily. Get yourself a bigger part of the dam pie! I'll take a guess...market size for your product is 50 Million a year. 12.5 Million dollars is your goal yearly. Even 10% of the market makes you and myself very happy.

Don't screw the shit up. Think straight. No emotions- do the dam math.

Someone sells ties...makes 3 Million a year. He doesn't have the whole market but all he does is ties.

Stick to your first 2-3 products, heck get to a single one- and get your pie!

What to do after?

Decrease your dam costs. 10% cost saving=10% increased profit. I'm dam sure your supplier will be happy to work with you when your order size is oh lets say- 10,000 a week.

Make it happen, stop screwing with other bs items/products.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I definitely see what you are getting at here - focusing on a small amount of products, doing it right, and selling the heck out of them instead of just trying to sell as many products at possible.

I completely agree with you. One of the clients that I worked with at my Digital Marketing Agency sold 150+ different products and did well ($1.6 Million in 2014), but her competitor only had 5 products in the same market and easily doubled her sales. So I definitely see the value of focusing on a small amount of products and increasing market share.

The problem is - the first two products have a very small market, as it is an accessory to a larger market product, so the potential is OK, but not great. This is why I am developing a few more products to enter a bigger market while sticking with related products. So I do have a thought out plan as to the products that I am adding -- I'm not just adding products as my sole means of growing my business. Hope that makes sense!
 

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A niche, people say choose a targeted niche for a purpose.

Did you even do the math to see what % of the market you have?

Just do it. Branching out like this isn't **efficient**

Think about it- do the math.


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JDawg

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A niche, people say choose a targeted niche for a purpose.

Did you even do the math to see what % of the market you have?

Just do it. Branching out like this isn't **efficient**

Think about it- do the math.


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Once again, I understand what you are getting at. But the niche is SO small, that I already own a huge portion of the market on Amazon after just launching. (There is a very small amount of competition for these products)

25% of the market on Amazon translates to $1675 of profit/month (Which is the pace that my products sold at during November). This is very mediocre & the reason why I am expanding. These products were my entry into e-commerce, but not my end goal.

In my case, expanding is a must in order to grow the business.
 

iAmTrade

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As long as you aren't making up the numbers- feel free to choose another product and grab the 25% of that too.

Im not your boss- know that you are your own boss.

Large corporations have plenty of employees to run analytics and research to see whether expanding is a good thing- you have this forum, yourself and me.

Also- I said market share based on googles search volume- not Amazon's...

You better stop relying on Amazon and thinking its the world of eccomerce, or one day you'll find a simple code change from them will lead to your ruin.

Only trying to help [emoji6]

how about a like if you find what I say helpful? Otherwise you'll just lose another mind in helping your growth & you know more minds are better than one.

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