Starting an online retail store!

[Yankees338]

My friend's dad owns a big pet food/supply distributing businesses, and he also owns a store right next door to the warehouse where he retails many of the products he wholesales. I was at their house last night (his son and I are best friends) and the topic came up about starting an online store for the retail business. My friend and I are both very interested in launching the site. It sounds like this is what I'm going to focus the remainder of my summer on!

I definitely have more knowledge in the area of starting a business than my friend, but we would be able to work very well together. However, I do have several questions on the matter. First of all, what would be a good site to use to register the domain name and host the site? We would also need for the site to have a built in checkout center for payment (I'd prefer not to go through a separate service like PayPal). What types of legal action would we need to take? We plan on running the business as part of the retail store he owns so would all of the legal business just be reverted to that?

The greatest deal of work for this project, I believe, will be in setting up the website. We already have access to all of our products through the warehouse where we will pay wholesale. This way, our owner will make a profit as will we, and we have a fare number to use to determine expenses. This still allows for a favorable profit margin as well.

Once the site is up, we will allow customers to place orders online. Once the orders are placed, we will process them by simply sending a request across the street to the warehouse where we can store all of our inventory. I'm planning on putting together a business plan sometime within the next week. Any questions, comments, or suggestions? Please, feel free to post them!

 

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[Yankees338]

I've been giving this idea much thought recently. One idea I've come up with is this - my friend's dad currently owns the wholesaling and retail store. My friend will likely inherit the business once he graduates college and is ready. By that time, I'm hoping to have the business up and running profitably as well as continually growing. My feelings are that my friend will likely want to take over the entire online retail business because he will be running and operating the whole business. I will eventually want to move on to other things as well. Now I believe that once the site has been built up enough after 2 or 3 years, I should sell my stake in ownership to my friend. This would give me a chance to move on to other things such as either real estate or another business venture.

We will need to outline exactly how much ownership each of us will have in the website beforehand.

Another thing we have determined recently is that we will be paying wholesale for the products. While that doesn't seem like anything special, we will still have a competitive advantage. Our office will be located right across the street from the warehouse. Because of this, we will not have the expense of a location to have to store our inventory; it will be conveniently located right across the street.

I've also come up with another idea. I'm not sure if it's something currently being used by other online pet stores but it seems like a feasible option. Most pets go through a bag of food in a set amount of time. They also usually go through their medication or flea repellant at set amounts of time. We will offer customized packages of pet supplies that will ship at a pre-determined time. For instance, if my dog goes through a bag of food every month, 2 boxes of flea repellent, and 1 box of tick protection, we can set up a package that autoships 1 bag of food, 2 boxes of flea repellent, and 1 box of tick protection right to our customer's door. They will never have to worry about keeping stock of their pet supplies and we will have an almost guarenteed monthly income (they can cancel at anytime).

Once again, feel free to comment! Thanks a lot.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I've also come up with another idea. I'm not sure if it's something currently being used by other online pet stores but it seems like a feasible option. Most pets go through a bag of food in a set amount of time. They also usually go through their medication or flea repellant at set amounts of time. We will offer customized packages of pet supplies that will ship at a pre-determined time. For instance, if my dog goes through a bag of food every month, 2 boxes of flea repellent, and 1 box of tick protection, we can set up a package that autoships 1 bag of food, 2 boxes of flea repellent, and 1 box of tick protection right to our customer's door. They will never have to worry about keeping stock of their pet supplies and we will have an almost guarenteed monthly income (they can cancel at anytime).

Once again, feel free to comment! Thanks a lot.

Very good ... might want to check if its being done.

First of all, what would be a good site to use to register the domain name and host the site? We would also need for the site to have a built in checkout center for payment (I'd prefer not to go through a separate service like PayPal).

GoDaddy.com to register the name. LeaseThis.com for leasing names of a premium nature. Most domain names of any value will need to be bought in the secondary market.

As for hosting, it depends on how much scale you need. An enterprise level application would need dedicated servers in which case I recommend Rackspace.com. However, since you're starting - I would go with a shared-hosting environment until your volume dictates a move. Shared-hosting is a dime-a-dozen and cheap.

One caveat to your idea -- does it solve a need? Are you providing a service better than your competitors? Or is your idea simply an idea based on the convenience of your friend's wholesale connections?

Most businesses fail because they are predicated on the wrong premise - "how can I make money?" VS "how can I solve a need? Or do something better?"