Let's say you want to sell finished products. In this case, it makes sense to resort to the traditional trading format, dropshipping or organize wholesale deliveries. If you want to work on individual customer orders, then White or Private label, Print-on-Demand will suit you. Will you sell services? Then study the features of doing business by subscription.
Plan your budget
And again, some helpful questions:
What is your starting capital?
Are there any legal or other restrictions or regulations regarding the selected product?
What can differentiate you from your competitors in the market?
Dropshipping and Print business owner database-on-Demand allow you to start even with small financial investments. However, if you intend to develop in a traditional business model, know that the funds spent will pay off no earlier than in a few months.
Formulate the basic principles of your work
In other words, you must create a clear logical chain of product movement:
Is there a warehouse for storing products?
How will you send the goods to the buyer?
How realistic is the possibility for you to cooperate with a supplier who plans to deliver from the warehouse to customers himself?
Study your competitors
To do this, you need to do a little analytical work and understand:
Who is your main competitor?
What is his advantage over you?
What benefit does he offer his clients?
Interestingly, almost every e-commerce niche has a company that holds a strong leading position. As a rule, this is a large business, which is incredibly difficult to compete with. Therefore, we recommend choosing a narrowly focused product or creating a completely new niche. Despite the difficulties at launch, the competition will not be so tough.
Dropshipping or Print-on-Demand is best used if you are not sure about the competitiveness of your business. This way you can always change the direction of trade if the product turns out to be unpopular.
Generate an idea and get confirmation of its feasibility
Let's say you intend to cooperate with a marketplace and place personalized toys for children in a unique design on the platform they provide.
Before you enter the market with a ready-made idea, you need to test it first. The most obvious and simple testing method is a customer survey. You can conduct it in social network groups, on forums, in communities, ask your close people. The more opinions you collect, both positive and not so, the more objectively you can evaluate your idea.
It is true that it is worth noting that no one and nothing can guarantee success (or failure). Sometimes some people achieve brilliant results where others have failed. However, below is a list of products that are not recommended for beginning businessmen to enter the e-commerce market:
food products with a short shelf life;
low-margin goods;
large and heavy items, the delivery of which is very expensive;
widely demanded products (it will be difficult to compete);
complex assortment products, electronics.