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New Products and Concepts
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Markets are not generally made on the internet – Existing markets are made more efficient and less expensive!
Don’t be fooled into thinking that a new, possibly great, idea will sell on the internet.
Consumers tend to use the internet to save money on products and services of which they are already aware.
We once purchased 10,000 units of a product called SimSafe.
SimSafe was and still is a great product. It is designed to download
and store the information from up to eight mobile phone SIM cards, which it
does admirably. This was going back a few years and, at the time, there was
no other product like it on the market.
However, we made three fundamental errors: we got drawn in by a new
and innovative product, we got over excited and paid too much and we
naively purchased way too many units. Because of it's innovative nature we had to try and create a market
for the product, the high price made it impossible for us to
wholesale the product and the high volumes meant we were lumbered with a
large quantity of a slow moving stock item – dead money sitting on the
shelves. It took us almost two
years to recoup the initial investment and at the time the $100,000+ we
invested was a make or break amount of money that nearly put us out of
business.
Testing your market on eBay
eBay is a great and inexpensive way to test your product on the internet. There is a longer discussion on eBay later on in this publication but, for the time being, if you are unsure how well received your product will be on the internet, eBay could be the answer. Before committing large sums of money you can purchase a limited quantity and test your market on eBay. To give your product a fair chance pay special attention to your title-text, product descriptions and product images, all of which, if well presented, will dramatically increase your final auction totals. eBay is much the same as the internet retail market in general, in that, if people aren’t looking for it, you will struggle to sell it. If your product is a little obscure use your ‘title-text’ to tie your product into more mainstream markets so your auction will be presented when more popular eBay searches are carried out.
Continue to Small
Initial Orders
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