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Branded Products
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New ventures, unless they are extremely well funded you should try to avoid ‘brand aware’
or 'brand conscious' products and product lines; for example, when consumers in Europe or North America
consider the purchase of a new television they generally look for products
that have been manufactured by big-brand companies like Sony, LG, Phillips, Panasonic, etc. The problem is, the manufacturer controls the supply and price of these products. They are also fiercely competitive markets where you do not necessarily have control of your margin. Furthermore, in most instances, you will not be buying from the manufacturer, most big-brand names have regional distributors who not only take a cut of the profit but also control the price and ultimately your margin.
As a small company, if you really must sell televisions the trick is to find an aspect
or a niche within the market that is not brand conscious:
Take in-car televisions / entertainment for instance: this is a very popular product line and is well searched on the internet. Furthermore, the branding is not as strong and the customer is not generally looking for a specific brand name. There are many Asian suppliers for this type of equipment at very reasonable prices and there is no single major internet player in the regions
we have looked at.
This product-line also presents two different business opportunities; these products will retail and wholesale.
(We have done exactly this with a couple of our on-line ventures; we have initially built a retail sales site and then built a wholesale site based on the same product lines, selling to trade customers, in quantity.)
In my opinion, there are many other similar opportunities; baby products are another example of a product range that lacks the presence of any significant branding. Once again, there are many Asian suppliers selling ranges of FCC and CE certified baby related products. (FCC and CE certification are the North American and European regulators rating products for compliance with safety and quality standards).
Continue to Vertical
Markets
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