Internet Retailer - Internet Marketing » business planning

Other product sourcing techniques

admin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:21:38 +0000

Businesses for sale
If you would prefer an improvement project rather than a new start-up, there are always great opportunities to purchase already established businesses. I search several ‘business for sale’ listings on a regular basis. I have bought two established but struggling businesses in this way and using the internet marketing techniques detailed later, turned them into profitable income generating companies.

Examples of this type of listing can be found at the following sites:

http://www.businessesforsale.com

http://www.daltonsbusiness.com

http://www.bizbuysell.com

Check eBay Listings
Still struggling! Look at eBay auction listings paying particular interest to any auctions that attract high volumes of visits and/or high numbers of bids. Busy auctions obviously suggest that the product is sought after and will therefore sell well if you can find a regular and decent supply of that product.

Local Businesses
Look around you; everything you see, apart from the general flora and forna, is for sale. If it is sold then there must be a market for it! I often look for inspiration from local trades people, businesses in my locality that do a good local trade but lack the knowledge and desire to take their product / service onto the internet. Often relationships can be built with these businesses where, if you can build an internet market for their product, they will hold the stock and in some cases complete the fulfillment of the sale. For example, I discovered a business that manufactured and sold handmade ceramic tiles. I was able to negotiate a deal with the business owner where I received a 33% discount on their product range and when I made an internet sale I provided them with the customer and order information and they would complete the sales process. As it was my site that took the money from the customer the business owner raised a monthly invoice for all completed orders. After expenses my business made 25% on sales and held no stock and provided no fulfillment. We no longer run this operation as we were able to sell the website to the owner of the ceramic tile business after approximately 18 months on-line. We made good profits in the interim and finished up with a generous lump sum when we sold the website on.

For further ideas, a lot can be learned from searching the top-500 sites and looking at the movers and shakers lists on Alexa. You can also use Alexa to analyze competitors and potential markets for traffic-trends to indicate how profitable particular product lines might be.

http://www.internetretailer.com/, which despite the similarity in the domain name is not associated with us, is another excellent source of information. If you are looking for proof that internet sales are on the increase, look no further. They also provide regular articles that provide some invaluable market sector analysis, which is great for helping to choose new and exciting product lines.

Technorati Tags: business planning, Product Selection, Product Sourcing

Time Management

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:22:48 +0000

Do you ever wake up in the morning overwhelmed by the amount you would like to achieve and at the end of the day feel under-whelmed by what you have actually managed to complete? If this is the case you could probably benefit from a good time management process.

I recommend the use of lists; list all the tasks you would like to achieve and then give each task a priority based on how important it is that you finish the job.

Using a unit measure of say 30 minutes (1 unit = 30 minutes) give each task in your list an estimated unit value based on how long you think the task will take to complete. If your work consists of lots a small tasks like phone calls or trades you may wish to use a smaller unit of time (i.e. 1 unit = 15 minutes)

Try to break down tasks with large unit values into smaller easy to complete sub-tasks. I normally work with a maximum unit value of ‘5-Units’ or 2.5 hours

You also need to establish how many hours of the day and how many days of the week you can commit to your work. This will give you the average number of units in your working week. Try to build-in some contingency units, unexpected things can always crop-up and it’s important not to fall behind on your schedule. Also, try to be realistic about how long tasks are going to take, underestimating the time a task is going to take and falling behind on your schedule can be both frustrating and demoralizing.

Some e-mail applications like Outlook have built-in task management applications, where possible use these facilities to keep on-top and up to date with your workload.

Technorati Tags: business plan, business planning

Get Your Finances In Order

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:36:46 +0000

Essentially, what makes a company successful is the same whether you operate on the internet, on the high street or out of a spare room in your house. We have spent years trying to work out what makes successful people successful. Single-minded determination and a willingness to knuckle down and do some hard work are important characteristics. However, the most disturbing fact I have discovered is that generally speaking, being successful often involves forgoing some of the things success will ultimately bring.

Unless you have a mountain of cash behind you, being frugal is key to the success of your business venture, living a life of fast cars, large houses, casinos, partying, night-clubbing and chasing the opposite sex is not conducive to building a successful business. You must look for ways to conserve your money in both your business dealings and your personal expenditure. Before starting your business find ways to minimize your personal out-goings, so in the important early stages of your venture you can reduce the personal drawings you need to take from your business.

If you would like tips on reducing personal expenditure, the below site is packed with great money saving advice:

Motley Fool US
Motley Fool UK

Technorati Tags: business plan, business planning

Preparation

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:31:01 +0000

Preparation maybe boring but it is one of the most important aspects of starting any new venture, if you fail to prepare – be prepared to fail. In our opinion, every business should write a business plan; essentially a business plan is a structured process – an analysis of the work that needs to be completed to achieve specifics goals, the sum of these goals being a successful revenue generating business. A business plan will also provide forecasts of the financial rewards you expect your efforts to achieve. These pages are essentially a generic structured process that can be modified to suit your own business model. Sections that are not required can be removed and the sections that are left can be tailored as required. This will leave you with an impressive business plan that if followed; the resulting company will build into a successful internet business.

It is very important to plan meticulously and work to a set of achievable goals, set milestones and strive to reach those targets. There is no point putting a lot of hard work in if you don’t know what you’re working towards. Setting both personal and business goals will give you direction and purpose, making them realistic and achievable will maintain your interest and the likelihood of your success.

Technorati Tags: business plan, business planning