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[MEGA THREAD] How To Build A Successful E-commerce Brand During A Global Pandemic. Step By Step Guide...

PapaGang

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This is kind of ironic and I won't hijack your thread. But I also started a new business during this time and it is also in the dog niche. Mine is dog collars (I think it's broad enough that I can give mine away). But I am going the exact opposite of you. I am going the 100% amazon route and no branding play. I just began my website, a one page html template. :) I plan on going the China factory shipped straight into Amazon's warehouse.

I also tried to find an existing website to purchase but there was nothing with any type of sales or traffic.
I looked at doing GPS dog collars for awhile, and had kind of a crazy idea for customizing them. Love the pooch segment. Good luck!
 
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Sanj Modha

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Hi Sanj,

Nice thread, thanks for sharing!

I have a couple questions:
How do you overcome the lack of social proof on your own platform? On AMZ you obviosly have reviews and the big name with the A. Wouldn't the conversion rate on your site be relatively low since you're launching a new brand and have to acquire customers first and gain trust?

Do you use an email list to overcome this issue?

Why don't you consider AMZ as an additional sales channel for your brand? Wouldn't it be wise to launch multi-channel?

Thanks for your help!

I'll show you on a future video.
 

Sanj Modha

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I looked at doing GPS dog collars for awhile, and had kind of a crazy idea for customizing them. Love the pooch segment. Good luck!

I looked into this but after selling consumer electronics on Amazon for 2.5 years - I decided against it.

Anything with batteries is a ball ache.
 

Morgan77

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Anything with batteries is a ball ache.
Specifically on Amazon or for ecommerce in general? I’m in the process of launching on Shopify with a product including battery, I haven’t touched Amazon yet
 
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Sanj Modha

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Specifically on Amazon or for ecommerce in general? I’m in the process of launching on Shopify with a product including battery, I haven’t touched Amazon yet

Both!

Storage and shipping is a nightmare and I believe the US changed their Lithium-Ion battery laws recently.
 

Sanj Modha

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Update #2 - The theme is completed and it's super mobile optimized (very important for 2020).

The FB, IG, Google, Pinterest, and Snapchat pixels are installed and building up traffic.

Tip - Install ALL the pixels from the beginning even if you never plan to run ads on these platforms. Trust me, you'll regret it if you don't.

Phase #1 - We'll launch FB and IG first because I know the dog niche converts like fire here. Once we get momentum (conversions), we'll launch the Google and YouTube followed by Pinterest and Snap ads.

We're waiting for the product images and videos. That's another 5-7 days and then we are ready to pull the trigger with the ads.

Exciting!
 

Themisfit

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Hey Sanj, following this thread for a while now. My only problem is that I'm not a native speaker and sometimes it's hard to follow all the comments :(
So to get this straight: Looking for good selling products on the websites you showed us in your video. Check. Found some very interesting items that perfectly match the circumstances right now. They can either be very costly or cheaper portables. I believe the awareness for those products could rise even more due to the panic all over the world.
But why shouldn't I buy them from China directly? What's the point behind it? Delivery time? And how can I find a manufacturer outside of China? Why? I have so many questions, too much to ask I guess...
Hoping to get some answers here ;)
Thanks for sharing
Yep, the video is just a product idea guide. It's not how to fulfil it (at least that's not how we're doing it).
 
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Themisfit

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Why? So you're checking out the Company name and contact them directly, right? OK, makes sense. But you also said that you're not buying from China or did I get this wrong?

So how should I find a supplier that is outside China and for what reason? Already asked this before
Its made in China but we're not shipping it from China.
[
I don't talk to Aliexpress merchants or sellers. I go straight to the factories and cut out the middlemen.

/QUOTE]
 

Visionary96

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Why? So you're checking out the Company name and contact them directly, right? OK, makes sense. But you also said that you're not buying from China or did I get this wrong?

So how should I find a supplier that is outside China and for what reason? Already asked this before

He finds a Chinese supplier and ships the stock to a warehouse in the US or Europe. Everything gets shipped to customers from this warehouse to keep costs down and increase delivery speed.

So the supplier is still Chinese, it's just not being shipped from China.
 
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PapaGang

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I looked into this but after selling consumer electronics on Amazon for 2.5 years - I decided against it.

Anything with batteries is a ball ache.
haha!

Also, after looking at a number of them, there were many that used 2G for tracking. Like, who has 2G access anymore? Plus, Chinese instructions, etc. It seemed like a headache for me to get started. Was looking at components to build out and then assemble, but again that turned out to be a bad idea.
 

bandeban

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Following this journey very closely. Thanks a lot for posting!

Can you please tell us what's the plan on building up traffic now before you start your ads in about a week or so?
 

Santi M

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We're waiting for the product images and videos. That's another 5-7 days and then we are ready to pull the trigger with the ads.

Sounds great, very clear process.

How will you get the images/videos? Will they in the warehouse do them for you or you get some samples and pay someone to do it?
 
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Themisfit

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Appreciate your explanation, thanks! Will check out which opportunities we have here in Germany ;)
He finds a Chinese supplier and ships the stock to a warehouse in the US or Europe. Everything gets shipped to customers from this warehouse to keep costs down and increase delivery speed.

So the supplier is still Chinese, it's just not being shipped from China.
 

Sanj Modha

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Why? So you're checking out the Company name and contact them directly, right? OK, makes sense. But you also said that you're not buying from China or did I get this wrong?

So how should I find a supplier that is outside China and for what reason? Already asked this before

Yes, I'm not fulfilling orders from China. We're using Aliexpress for product research ONLY.
 

Sanj Modha

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Sounds great, very clear process.

How will you get the images/videos? Will they in the warehouse do them for you or you get some samples and pay someone to do it?

I've hired a photographer on Craiglist to take care of it. He's sending us 5 x images and 2 x videos and it should be ready in the next 5 days or so.
 
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Sanj Modha

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Following this journey very closely. Thanks a lot for posting!

Can you please tell us what's the plan on building up traffic now before you start your ads in about a week or so?

The day of the launch. I'm not list building or taking backorders.
 

Sanj Modha

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haha!

Also, after looking at a number of them, there were many that used 2G for tracking. Like, who has 2G access anymore? Plus, Chinese instructions, etc. It seemed like a headache for me to get started. Was looking at components to build out and then assemble, but again that turned out to be a bad idea.

There's plenty of non-electrical, functional products out there. You'll get fewer returns too.

No moving parts = $$$$
 

Sanj Modha

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How do you handle packaging? Does your manufacturer do custom packaging or will a 3rd party fulfillment service handle that?

The product and packaging is shipped to our 3PL partner. They'll take care of it.
 
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Xeon

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How much are you budgeting for the FB / IG ads?
 

Sanj Modha

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amp0193

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Storage and shipping is a nightmare and I believe the US changed their Lithium-Ion battery laws recently.

Nice barrier to entry for those who can figure out battery quality and logistics.

Batteries have been a pain in my a$$, but we've got it figured out now.
 

Sanj Modha

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Nice barrier to entry for those who can figure out battery quality and logistics.

Batteries have been a pain in my a$$, but we've got it figured out now.

That's your moat!
 

Panda__

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Once I have the product in a warehouse (I was thinking of using my house as a warehouse to start out with...is that ok?) how do I start promoting the site to get sales? You talked about setting up pixel or else we will be mad if we didn't...how do you do that?
 
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KyleBest

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Hey, Love this thread! Me and my friend are working on starting a drop shipping business for out door/camping gear. But will only use US based suppliers to be able to charge higher prices and faster shipping. I was wondering how or if you plan on altering the URL for your website so it doesn't use a shopify url? is there an option to do that in shopify already, or do you just leave the URL alone? because I would think people will see the shopify in the url and be deterred or skeptic of ordering since they know there is probably a high markup on the product.
 

Morgan77

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Hey, Love this thread! Me and my friend are working on starting a drop shipping business for out door/camping gear. But will only use US based suppliers to be able to charge higher prices and faster shipping. I was wondering how or if you plan on altering the URL for your website so it doesn't use a shopify url? is there an option to do that in shopify already, or do you just leave the URL alone? because I would think people will see the shopify in the url and be deterred or skeptic of ordering since they know there is probably a high markup on the product.
Hey, so if you haven't already, go buy a domain from somewhere like GoDaddy or Namecheap.
After you've got your domain and happy with it, head over to Shopify and you'll need to click on "Online Store", and then "Domains" in the drop down.
Click add existing domain, then enter it, and finally connect automatically, and voila!
 

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