Help the young ones?

FEEDYOURCLOSET

long time since i've been back here, and its good to see this web progress so much at such a short period of time

nowadays online shops have been rather unsucessful due to the fact that they cannot find suppliers!

some came and ask directly to me, and ask , can i know where are your goods from? they emailed me upon seeing my blogshop preorders and imported apparels.

thus, i clearly encourage people (suppliers) or middlemans(wholesalers)
to advertise more and help build more budding entrepreneurs among singapore.

p.s, i think working as a middleman is easier right now for me.
afterall, i am helping someone's business,
and yet i have no need to advertise and collate orders etc.

but the earnings are cut down much more.

but the good news is, all i have to do is use flickr, or what other people use photobucket etc, to host all my wholesale pictures there for customers to view. easy money!!

ChinChic

serious? but honestly if they get it from you or so called "middleman"... then they don't get to enjoy the manufacturers' wholesale price right?

but if we let them know of our "original" source of supply then we may lose out in the long run. it's quite tricky, don't you think? any suggestions?

swee18

imo.. i think it benefits all... example.. if the manufacturer require a min order 1000 pcs per order.. i don think those blogshop will be able to afford it.. so it is up to those middleman to purchase in bulk then sell them in smaller qty @ still cheaper than retail prices...

estilofashion

I believe it's good for such middleman for blogs that requires small quantity... I personally came across manymany blogs that are looking at just 1 piece per design and some came to me and told me that they can't seem to find a supplier that supplies in such a small quantity.

Initially, I do not do wholesales in small quantity. I only manufacture and deal with quanity above 100 pcs per colour, per design, per size.... But after seeing so many aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start, yet unable to fork out the huge capital... I've set up a shop and a e-shop for aspiring entrepreneurs to purchase the items at wholesales pricings even if they order just 1 piece per design but with a minimum total quantity of 8(of cus slightly more expensive than people who's ordering 100 pcs each design)...

In fact, I believe that since we have all gone through the stage of setting up and we all know how difficult it is, it'll be good if we can help new starters learn and let them set up their own business at the lowest cost available... And currently, I've seen blogshops that used to just take 1 piece per design from me 2 yrs ago... till now, they are ordering in quantities of 20 - 50s each design and I'm even manufacturing their designs for them...

Looking at their success, I feel happy too !!!

Cocoon

i believe it will be an new challenge for all importer and wholesalers. Firstly , the air ticket will be getting cheaper . SO small retailer will able to travle more frequently for sourcing. Secondly, due to the economic crisis, all overseas factory is force to sell in low quanttity to mantain their overhead. This make small retailer about to get exclusivity design easily access. Thus, this make bigger retailer more toughter . In fact, they will face more competitors in price and product exclusivity.

So in my opion, all goods will be in cheap and no value. Only companies having their own exclusivity products able to survive thru the new retail industry. Those havng mass products will not able to profitable and survive thru the fierce competition. Just my 2 cents opion. Anyone have any comments?

Takeshi

Many younger people set up blog shop to earn a little income for themselves. Yet, they did not know where to source for products and etc. Even if they manage to source for products, they are usually at wholesale price, large quantity and etc. Sometimes they will get cheated too. Paying for the goods, yet not manage to get the products.

Thus, consignment is a good way for them. Small quantity with small earnings. Even if they have such portal of "lobang", they prefer to go for a higher risk. Keep their capital locked in inventory and not managed to sell their products well. Some of the younger ones will rather go for a risk to earn higher profit margin. Buying large quantity and waiting to sell it at a higher price to yield higher profit.

Even when doing consignment, those consignor will mark up high price to earn themselves before they let the consignee to earn. so poor thing sia. Haix... Very hard to find good people to help in retailing industry.

I faced such things myself too. Very sad yet very real life experience.

annies.Knicknack

Hi Everyone..

I'm new here and i see all yr comments and i do have something to say. I just turn into a homemaker & wanted to set a small business sellling kids stuffs and accessories. I should say that i get very good resources from overseas and cheap freights. i was very sad the other day when i approach a push cart selling acc. i asked if she is interested to view all my acc & maybe she can get some from me since i saw some similer items she was selling. She rejected me saying she has good resources & all her items are mostly handmade which is B**%***. She is selling a pair of earing at $40.00 for a design that is similer to mine while i can sell her $10.00 (Same brand). i don't know why she is rejecting me. So you see some youngsters just refuse people to help, she can earn $30.00 for that unless she is getting the earring below $10.00. I, myself are also looking for opportunity and i hope someone can help me. Building up a business is never easy.give yaself & others a chance.

estilofashion

Hi annies, congrats for starting your own biz... Not everyone is willing to share... perhaps the person is REALLY getting below your cost? or mabbie they are too used and comfortable with what they are getting and whom they get from ?? For example myself... i've been using this freight company for years and i was told there's another company that just started up. Quite a few actually tried the new company and felt it was good and cheaper..But i still chose to stick to my usual 1.. although it is 20% more exp... i stuck to it for the next 1 1/2 yrs before i finally decided to swap over....

So ultimately it boils down to a few things :
1) Pricings (mabbie cheaper? )
2) Comfort + Confidence (I feel comfortable and used to this supplier, I have confidence in them... so why change????)
3) Trustworthy (mainly if you ask me to trust a freelance or some established factories, I'd choose the later)

It takes time to build up a business, take things slow... I believe there will someone out there who will appreciate what you are doing.

Takeshi

Hi Annie,

Congrats for starting your own biz =)) Starting biz is never easy. A lot of factors are needed for consideration. Yet by doing business, I manage to walk out of comfort zone and speak to more people. Learn to negotiate, bargain, marketing and many other skills.

Such skills are essential in life. I also managed to make many friends during this path. We shared common goals and interest. So I hope the same applies to you. I started the business with little support from people around me. Not many people supported me, which includes my own good friends and family members. Is kinda sad to feel that way. Yet, during this tough path, I met a few kind souls to help me. Giving me good supply and offer. Such people are rare to find.

So cherish them. Make your supplier like your friend. Share different retailing skills and experience. Hence, able to widen your horizon. =)) I believe that retailers in Singapore should work together. Small retailers like us are hard to survive and compete with those "Gaints" coming to Singapore. Hence, maybe we should have a networking session whereby supplier/wholesaler/retailer meet up and work out together. =))

annies.Knicknack

Hi & thank you all for all the support. I'm sure i can work thru it someday..