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Does Philly international have an essentials shop?

Where can I learn about the essentials for starting an online shop such as logistics, warehousing, payments etc.?

  • What I am talking about is an online shop selling toys for example, or camera equipment. Do I need to buy and store the good before selling, or are there companies that I can order from, when I get the online order. Anyone with a good example of a business case here?

  • Answer:

    Here is a mini guide (feel free to suggest improvements peeps) that will give you a brief overview on how to start an e-commerce site with little hassle early on. I would say the best resource to learn about e-commerce is Quora. If this guide isn't helpful, then I suggest doing this. Think of all the various aspects of your proposed e-commerce site. Then Quora up those aspects and learn about each one in depth through all the questions that are already posted up here. Now on to a quick starter guide!   1. Choose a (read: one) product that is difficult to find in the US. For example, a very niche product that you can't really find is something called Dokha. It's a middle eastern tobacco smoking product that is legal in the USA, but just difficult to find. (Note: I'm using Dokha as an example, because it was the first niche product I could think of. I'm not aware of any the relevant trade laws regarding importing it into the USA). Focus on only that product for the  near term. No variants, no accessories, just the one product. Also make sure people want this product. I know Dokha was in huge demand by international students who couldn't find it easily in the States. 2. Identify a manufacturer or distributor who meets the following criteria: A. Is reliable- This could be difficult to determine, but once you talk to a few of them you'll have a better idea. Test their product out so you know you're not shipping out crap. B. Have drop-shipping capabilities: This is so key. You don't want to deal with inventory housing at all. Obviously that is one of the pros, but the con is that responsibility for all fulfillment is going to be on your distributor, which gives you very little control over the process. Check out this question, it has lots more information on dropshipping. 3. Use a site like FoxyCart or Goodsie. Super simple to set up and maintain. Set up a good domain name and redirect your store page to that domain. Now, for the most part, the "technical" part has been taken care of. Again, you're going to cede some control over to those e-commerce platforms, but this is to keep things simple for you. You don't want to worry about payments not working, SEO measures not being implemented correctly, and security being compromised.  Again, lots more resources out there about simple e-commerce platforms, so I'm sure you can find a platform that works best for you. (check out the new Onepagerapp site. Super easy with e-commerce now added) 4. Once your online store is setup, and you have a distributor ready to go you only have one task to worry about for the next few months. Market! Check out this question for more insight on how to market new e-commerce sites. Good luck on your venture! If you have any specific questions feel free to shoot me a message.

Monil Kothari at Quora Visit the source

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Other answers

I'm a big fan of proving out the sales model before optimizing logistics. Investing in operations at the outset is expensive and time consuming, and unless you're looking to make this a competitive advantage somehow it is a distraction that most newborn businesses can do without. This is the formulaic stuff that can be easily figured out later (although you definitely want to map out some options to confirm your business model makes sense). Focus on the art of selling. Build a nice looking website and figure out how to market it. When you make a sale, high five yourself and order product through Amazon so you can then send it to your new customer. Do everything yourself rather than waiting for the phone to ring. When you're totally overwhelmed to the point where your customers know it, outsource something.

Ken Johnson

There probably isn't a single book that can teach you everything you need to know. My suggestion is to learn as you go. So for basics learn, how to set up an online store, how design elements impacts conversions, SEO, title tags, H1 tags, inbound traffic through blogging, social media marketing. I'm assuming, you have identified your product/ products already to start. For payment gateway, depending on your location, I would strongly suggest Paypal to start with.

Bharath Balakrishnan

If you are looking for a good general overview check out this book - The Six-Figure Second Income - How to Start and Grow a Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job - http://www.amazon.com/Six-Figure-Second-Income-Successful-Business/dp/0470633956/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309471404&sr=1-13

Jen Burkhardt

Cash flow is key when it comes to running a store. Buying and storing inventory will tie up cash. Then you run the risk of that inventory getting too old to sell at a decent price and you have to sell it very cheaply. There are some vendors that will drop ship directly to your customer. These are few and far between, but it would be worth the effort to investigate before you jump into inventory.

Steve Daly

Have you considered Amazon Fulfillment?  You can ship your goods to Amazon's warehouse, have them handle the storage and logistics of delivery and payment.  Far easier than going through all the steps yourself.  You might first consider selling some products on your site through Amazon associates or another program, just to get an idea of what sort of traffic you will be generating and what kind of sales you can start to expect.

Andrew Leyden

I think you've started in the right place by asking this question on Quora!  It depends on how big your business is.  To be completely honest, the best way to operate any business is with minimal expenses.  If its something small enough to start from home, then stick with it until you need to expand. Assuming you already have figured out where the product is going to come from, then for logistics and warehousing there are many third party options that cater to smaller businesses where you can be clear on a fixed cost per item shipped.  These logistic centers will have a unified courier account with UPS or FedEx which will allow you to take advantages of economies of scale.  They will handle all pick pack, shipping and receiving for you for a single fee.  You will need to receive orders from your customers from your office, forward the "pick tickets" to the third party warehouse and they will fulfill the picking, packing and shipping, as well as provide a packing slip for your customer which can include any information you want listed such as a customer service number. For payments, if you are selling direct to consumers, you will need to get an account with PayPal, Visa, Mastercard.  Each will take a percentage of the sale as a fee.  The set up and processing of these accounts is quite easy and they have great customer service people who can help should you encounter any problems. But try if possible to do all of this on your own from your home first to really get a feel for the whole business as well as a way to minimize your cost.  Your going to need every piece of margin / profit you can make!  Good Luck!

Basil Farano

Experience is very important, when you run your business, then you will know what are your advantages and disadvantages, and then make improvement. For selling toys, you can cooperate with some toy factory, you know many e-business companies will not set up warehouse to store goods; they have cooperated with factories or resellers. As for seeking online orders, you need to do more work on online promotion, let more people know your products and websites. You need to have several good channels for logistics and secure payment on your online shops.

Steve Wang

Work for Amazon or some clones of Rocket Internet (Lazada for example) to have insight. Goog luck with your shop!

Tuong Nguyen

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