Advices for setting up of an online shop

[brendali]

Hi all,

I have been reading from this forum for quite some time now and really admire those who had started out from scratch. Guess you guys have experienced a lot. I humbly ask for some sharings to help me build up on my online shop.

I have started on selling handmade products such as cards, wedding favors, party banners etc since beginning of the year. Business is really slow but I figured mostly due to my lack of time as I am still looking after my 2 kids.

I hope to use the remaining of this current year to build up my products variety before fully move into selling next year when I can send my kids to school.

I'll be grateful if some can share about some of my concerns :

1) I'm planning on importing US partywares to sell online. However, I see most pushcart retailers here seems to get their products mostly from HongKong/China etc. Is it really a better place to source? But I'm concern about their qualities as I don't have much capitals to make mistakes.

2) Those selling Sanrio and Disney's stationeries at pushcarts. I've been seeing quite a few seeling at neighbourhood pushcarts with favors going real cheap as in below a dollar. I'm hoping to find suppliers to get products to integrate into my profile as well but anyone has any idea whether I will get into trouble if I 'mix' them with US authentic products? Cos I did register my business so I want to be real careful

3) Moving into pushcart sales. Frankly speaking, when it comes to gifts, I guess nothing beats to seeing and feeling it before buying. So i would hope to move into cart sales as soon as I can. I read that some consign their items, some gets part time salegirls etc. With minimal time and capital (I know, that doesn't sound like a good thing for running business) can anyone recommend me whether it's better to start with consigning goods (considering mine are paper products) or weekend pushcart/flea market?

Hope I'm posting at the right place..

Oh one last question :
Where do I find the info on the premium membership etc?

[christinewsy]

Online will only be another channel for customers to find you. You will still need to do marketing on your products awareness and exposure.

Try bazaars first if you are looking at low capital set up with the least commitment. As carts requires heavier capital cashflow.

Consignment should only be done if you are confident of collecting the money back. =) i have blacklisted a few boutiques in far east plaza for defaulting payment and i give special acknowledge to such companies by posting them prominently on my website for customers to view.

For mixing china made disney etc. products, 1stly you might still run into issue if someone complaints you to CAD or even complain to the agent locally.
But china do produce quality products but of coz at higher prices. the cheaper the price, the lower the quality. It's standard everywhere.

To do a better marketing, is the strategy and how to do it, refer to books? don't think i can teach that much over here......

[brendali]

Thanks Christine..
I guess using consignments might end up having more loss then profit considering having to make the effort to change for payments etc right.

I did went to check out the made in Hong Kong authentic Disney products but felt that there's still difference in the quality. Guess if don't put together won't feel much difference, but when mix, it becomes quite obvious. Didn't even think that local distributors might complain.. haiz~ think i must be more careful with my choices and decisions.

[christinewsy]

To sell such items with registered trademarks you will need to 1st register with some kind of a govt body or with the distributor. But for what i know as long nobody complain, you will be ok....

complain not in the quality of the product but the fact that what you selling bears their register trademarks.

[ling3577]

there are many stalls out there selling non authentic stuff and earning big money . but they do save enough in case disney one day decides to wipe them out . i guess its a matter of time . especially when you wanna expand your business , you will think twice cos you may get more attention on yourself ! =(

i heard tt Sanrio has got no distributor in singapore , dunno how true is that . this means hello kitty and friends are safe now ... disney is quite risky ...

"pirated" stuff do bring in big big cash ! but high risk involved . i have friends who sell real and fake kitties last time when it was hot ... but lucky that he stopped just in time before all the raids came ... cos somehow he know the original sanrio well enough to tip him on raids ... =)

[brendali]

Ling,
Oohh... your friend is real lucky. But if like what you say singapore no distributor for sanrio then who requested for the raids? I guess that's when networking really come in for the extra 'benefits' such as tip off right.

Sorry another question :

Actually I know a lot of online sellers do not register there business with ACRA. Is it really a 'safer' way? cos under the rules there are some business that really need not register. I did becos I wanted to do some trading but now feel that there's more concerns than having 'no law'.

[christinewsy]

Most people who sell online do not register due to many reasons and these are a few below:-

1) they are students below age of 18.
2) They are moonlight and wish to keep a low profile
3) Taxing issue
4) too much hassle

[pokerface]

marketing wise - you can try "hinting" your relatives and friends (those who you think are similar to your target customers in terms of age, gender, buying power, occupation, etc) about the products you want to bring in, see how's their response and acceptance like. this can help you gauge e.g. how to price your products. hope that helps