 Where to find wholesale or cheap products online.Published Date: 2008-09-18 22:54:22 WorkOnInternet.com
So you have decided to set up an online business. Where will you get your products from? There are many ways to source products at low prices some of the more popular ways we will discuss here: Drop-shipping. Where you list products on your website for sale and when you receive an order another company actually ships the product. You then receive a commission from that sale. This is one of the easiest businesses to establish because all of the product sourcing and shipping is done for you. Usually drop shipping companies will handle all the product information, pictures and content for you so even your online work is very minimal . Sounds simple right, what are the negatives? This could be the business for you but keep in mind you are selling products for someone else rather than building a long term business of your own. Secondly you don’t have control over shipping so you can never one hundred percent guarantee to your customers that products will arrive on time if at all, if there will be damage, quality is OK etc. Wholesalers. This is where the big boys play. There is almost no replacing the concept that buying more means getting cheaper prices. When you buy in bulk there are less costs associated with shipping the item, production costs and so on so you can then pass these savings on to the customer. The things you have to ask yourself with wholesale are what to buy, where to buy? when to buy? How much to buy? What to buy? Hopefully by this stage you will have already decided what product areas or area you will focus on. Generally you should try to find an area that you like or have some experience in that you will enjoy and will put more effort into making it work . You also want to find products that are not saturated in the market. The best situation is finding a niche market where you don’t have to compete with thousands of others . Where to buy? When buying wholesale you can try to get as close to the manufacturer as possible as any middleman between you and the factory will add their margin. The problem is that the factory will only accept orders for very large quantities making it very difficult for the average business to place orders with them directly. It will also limit your ability to invest in a range of products instead of just buying a large quantity of a single product. The next tier are trading companies. These are the sharks of the wholesale world. The idea of trading companies is to buy in bulk then resell to several customers including their margin. Trading companies could be a good solution however it is very important to find a good one . Always keep in mind that trading companies do not always care about getting the best price from the manufacturer, or know very much about the product in the first place. They are often unable to find the best factory, best price and ensuring quality control. Another way is to find an online wholesaler. These are becoming more and more common and have the advantage that their margin is potentially smaller. They have a larger range of goods that you can easily review from the comfort of your home or office . Again, there is a tendency for these companies to have the same issues as drop shipping companies if they don’t deal with the end users. Their prime motive may not include quality control or price. For the new starter however, these are generally better options as you can find many people dealing with them already online and you are able to access a much larger range of products quickly and easily . When to buy? This is quite important as at different times of the year prices fluctuate. Normally around April/May companies are placing their biggest orders with the factories and the factories will be in full production mode from this time until later in the year. Also watch out for currency fluctuations for example the US dollar decline against the rising Chinese Yuan . How much to buy? The more you buy the cheaper it will be , and this will also determine where you can buy from . If you want to buy in small quantities, how will you test the market, even internet wholesalers will generally expect a minimum purchase of 6 to 24 units depending on the value of the item. It is strongly recommended to look for companies such as twift.com that don’t have a wholesale minimum and allow you to purchase single units at a time. This way you can test the market first later ordering larger quantities for possibly greater volume discounts if you are able to deal directly with the factory. Congratulations you have your products and are selling online. A few tips to keep your business inventory organized : Try to keep batch records. For example if you order the same product multiple times make sure you have a system so you can trace back any single item to when are where it was purchased . Also, deal with companies that either deal with end users themselves, or can demonstrate that they know about your products and have the ability to monitor quality, assess the factory properly and will be reliable in terms of certified products, genuine non counterfeit products and timely shipping etc. You must make sure that you can be confident of your resupply if you are to hold low stock levels. Good luck in your business! Alex is the content writer with Twift.com, which can literally save you 1000s from your normal shopping spending . http://www.twift.com . Check out what others are calling a revolution in online shopping .
Home | Submit Article| Article Topics | Article Archives | Newsletter | Business Directory | Contact US |
