Quote:
Originally Posted by katlupe
In the beginning the manufacturer contacted us to sell their strings in our store because we had signed up with a musical instrument distributor (does not sell to the public or allow them access to their site until you pay them and join). The second brand of strings we just added, we contacted them ourselves but the contact info came from the distributor.
Can you find the manufacturer of the products you want to sell by Googling them? I have also found manufacturers on the Thomas Directory. Personally, I'd rather go directly to the manufacturer than the distributor as that cuts out the middle man.
katlupe |
I don't mean to be vague in the descriptions below. At this point, I don't want to post too much on a public forum until I've abadoned my personal attempts.
The first idea would be selling a particular subset of common products from major manufacturers that I find to be difficult to locate consistently. No one on the web or ebay is currently marketing to this niche that I could find. P&G would be one of the main suppliers, but I don't believe they sell direct in any quantities I could deal in. I have found some distributors for convenience stores, but they only deal in a few common products, not the full line, and I need to buy the oddballs. I think I need to find a grocery-store level distributor that is willing to deal with a small company, although the select products I would buy in case lots.
The other idea is selling a few key plant species (my wife is a gardener). We've had a little more success in finding some pricing. Went to the local home and garden show this weekend and a very small bare-bones vendor had some species for half what I paid at a good price, and still below any quantity-discounted vendor I could find on the web. One of them had a tag with the source grower, so we're pursuing that.
Lastly, I rebuilt a travel trailer over the summer. I found prices for RV parts and accessories to be all over the place. Now, some people are selling small lots of surplus they bought at auction, but others consistently have very low prices. They have to be buying at even less in order to sell at a profit. I did quite a bit of research here, and that's where I experienced the "wall" where you can't get any info without a state vendor license, and most want further proof that you are an established business, which is kind of a chicken-or-egg situation starting out. I found most sellers to have terrible customer service and next-to-no knowledge. I think I could do better, if I could just buy from the same sources.
The key with all three ideas above is that they are areas where I or my wife (or both) already have an interest and experience. They are also areas where, worse case, we use the products ourselves so it isn't like we would go out of business with an inventory we had to unload (up to a point). And they are areas where we perceive that the market is not serviced well, at least in some niche aspect.
I have past experience in business management, but always as a wholly-owned distributor of a manufacturer, so I never had to worry about where my product came from. It's a little different working backwards from choosing the market and then sourcing the product.
Right now, my planned course of action is to get a business license with the state. That seems to be key to getting access to a lot of info.
My wife and I both have web design experience, so we can invest some time in the storefront with next to no cost (wife is a homemaker now and I'm a sys admin for a web-based organization).
Maybe we'll have to make up some ads and invoices, or "sell" some products to relatives with different last names in order to buid up some faux legitimacy.
)
~*~Erin~*~
