Where to source products for my ecommerce store?

[mumtorobbie]

I'm currently on my second maternity leave and for the last 18 months have been looking into setting up an ecommerce site selling bridal related items.

I'm from a marketing background (and a brief period as a wedding coordinator) and have tons of contacts in the press so the advertising side of things doesn't faze me but....and I'm now going to sound totally naive but I really don't know where on earth to source the products I want to sell.

I've got a very clear vision of the sort of website I want this to be and I'm in the process of applying for a business grant from my local authority but obviously I've got to have the products to sell first!

How do I go about sourcing products? Are websites like Alibaba worth having a look at?

I'm pretty sure I can make a success of this business but only if I have the right products first. Your help will be much appreciated.

[bump]

No idea but presumably wholesale only suppliers? would there be a wholesalers trade fair?

Don't know if this is much help but I used to work with bridal wear 80s and 90s and the biggest bridal fayre for trade happened in Harrogate once a year - not sure if it still does however (sorry!!)

Here you go This any good?

Also , back in the days we used to buy most of our stock from China - this appears to be one of our major suppliers still going here

I've no idea what sort of scale you're talking

A colleague's wife runs an eBay store selling fetish gear. She gets it custom made overseas - used to get leatherware made in Pakistan and when the bottom fell out of leather (sorry, couldn't resist ) she went over to getting PVC stuff made in China. She sends them photos and descriptions of the sort of thing she wanted and they sent a sample over first. Big markup and they were still one of the cheapest and busiest on eBay.

Probably not quite what you were looking for, but that's how she did it.

Esources has been really good for my two web stores (both very different - one almost a hobby). You have to pay to access most suppliers - £75 for the year I think - buy i would say for us it's been worth it.

Etsy, folksy, NOTHS, search bridal UK and you'll find a lot of small business who might like a new wholesale. Not sure how big you're talking though, ordering in the 10s or 1000s. If the later Etsy etc. no good, and best to go for china as per the suggestions of others.

Thanks for all your replies. Really helpful.

I think I've managed to rope in a business partner now so we're going to really focus on getting things moving now.

Will have a look at the bridal fair. Might be a good place to start if nothing else.