Starting a little something with zero business experience.

[ASlabOfBattenburg]

Long time member but recently NC. Just fancied a change.

In a nutshell: I have a business idea and I've looked and looked but there's currently no website dedicated to selling this particular item. (This could be good, this could also be very bad!)

I have a personal love for 'xxxx', and I ran out the other day. I thought to myself, "I know! I'll buy some of those big wholesale packs then that way I'll not run out for ages".
Then I was musing that if I bought that much in, it'd be entirely possible for me to sell some. So I looked online and, whilst there are plenty of websites that sell these things, there is no actual singular website as of yet dedicated to "all things xxxxx" housed and sold in one convenient estore. (Think along the lines of all things handkerchiefs, or all the different types of Christmas candycanes from around the world, or all different types of pretzels, or different types of enamel badges from around the world - this type of theme)

It's definitely something that many, many people use every day or nearly every day, its a very popular type of item.

I'm waffling, sorry.

So my idea is to have a website/e-shop. My items aren't bulky, so all orders will conveniently fit through the letterbox. I'd need a logo, website and packaging label designed for me. I don't need to 'make' anything, or craft anything etc, I'm looking at it simplisticly, ie fulfilling orders by taking from the wholesale pack and putting inside an envelope box and sending off. (I know I know! Don't flame me, it's way more than this!)

I've no business experience or entrepreneurial skills, so I need all the help I can get. Where can I access support? I'm approaching this as realistically as possible - I know it'll not make money for a long while and I will start small and humble.
I want to do this because I want to try my hand at something that is new territory. I want to try this because it feels exciting to. I want to try this because I want to work from home but I know my physical and mental limitations.

As of yet the only thing I've done so far is register the web domain and I've drawn up an extremely crude business plan.
I'll be financing this myself...actually, the items aren't 'that' expensive to buy wholesale (not expensive to buy and not that much to sell RRP, either). The main costs I assume are paying for the designs of the estore and logo, the cost of packaging materials, the cost of customised labels and....? What have I not considered?

I have storage space in the garage which is dark and cool and clean.

My real worry is when to register for VAT and how it'll effect my benefits once I do so. I don't know how to work acounts and I don't know how to work taxes. So this is exactly what I mean by "I need support!"

I'm almost physically housebound and I have little social media presence (Ooof I sound like a lost cause!) How do I go about market research? Or do you think it's not absolutely necessary?

The main expense will be paying for a logo and website. When should I consider looking for someone to do this?
As I've mentioned, I've a rough and crude business plan - which is really just my musings and intentions and who to target to - and no business skills. I've paid for a web domain and I have an intended name for my website once I get round to commissioning someone to design it for me. What is realistically the next step?
I have two pre school DC but I will fit as much as possible around them.

So sorry to waffle on again but I wanted to put as much relevant information as possible in my OP. Just for convenience, really.

Thanks all.

See, my product (ha! my product) is pretty niche. It is the environmentally friendly and economically conscious product that was made because the original version of it is so destructive to our environment. Like bamboo toothbrushes in place of throw away plastic ones, stainless steel straws in place of the plastic ones etc.
So when a person wants to buy this item, it's a case of Googling for it specifically. It's growing in popularity according to some googling, and proven by a handful of ithers company's are now manufacturing their own brand.
So I thought that if Google is the 1st port of call, then I could pay for my page to be given amongst the priority, and I have chosen a web domain name that includes the search words in it. Am I on the right path, here?

OK OP I'm doing my best to think of how to offer advice.

Split it up into:

Admin

• set up self employed
• trademarks/ company name

-tax

• spreadsheets to measure sales

Brand

• get a logo
• visual identity - these are your colours and brand guidelines so everything is consistent
• create a website (but see below re the website content
• set up social media pages and start posting and following key people

Product

• get product (!)
• take pictures of product
• get packaging - boxes etc
• you will need a dispatch note

Pricing

• work out cost per unit
• work out delivery cost
• set up payment gateway eg PayPal

Customer communication

• create email templates so you can send order confirmation, order despatch, order delivered and maybe a feedback followup - suggest use mailchimp you will need to follow tutorials on how to do this.

Delivery

• how will you manage delivery?
• how will you manage returns?

Marketing

• set up Google analytics and you can search for the traffic key words get eg toothbrushes. You then set up Google ads against these keywords and you need to know these before you set up your website
• you might want to send your product to social influencers and get them to advocate for it
• post daily
• set up sponsored posts
• other marketing channels - could you put adverts in publications? Flyers?
• how will you find people?

My suggestions for tools that can help you:

Canva is free and great for doing quick design jobs and social media posts plus branded things like letter heads.

Mailchimp is free if you have less than 2000 email addresses but you will need to learn it

WordPress is easy for your website

I personally think you should focus on building a brand on social media and sell through a marketplace

If your product is niche, then by definition it's going to be harder to find a high volume of people who want to by them. So you need to make sure there is a decent profit margin in these items for this to be worthwhile.

Also, if the "trend" for these items grows, keep in mind that it's likely that bigger, more mainstream retailers will start to sell them in the not-too-distant future. If that happened, would there still be an incentive for people to buy from you? One of our local online wholefood retailers just went bust. They expanded heavily on the back of the current health trend for whole foods, but then went bust once the local supermarkets here suddenly all started stocking a decent range of whole foods and they could no longer compete.

Can't you just sell it on ebay?
Most things I search for come up with an option to buy them on ebay or amazon, and because I don't want to boost their profits I scroll to the bottom of the page/next page to the actual manufacturer and buy from them.
You won't get your item on the first page of a google search I don't think as in my view companies pay to get their item top. So how will people find you.
If you look at ebay you see people with sales of 3,000 or whatever of some small item - so it's common practice I think.
Also you need a business plan.

Write down your costs.

Initial purchase of 1000 products X
Cost of designer for website Y
Cost of packaging Z
Cost of postage
But if you have no idea if this will sell you have no idea how many items need packaging.

If you pay a marketing company it will be 000s I would think.

Speaking as a customer, it be wary of buying from a small business I've never heard of that isn't registered for VAT and doesn't take credit cards.

Getting your website on the top of google is not just a question of paying. Google have a complex way of analysing all sites and only the best get those spots. You would need to get a very good site with excellent SEO to get there.

I suspect the Ad spots that come at the top are prohibitively expensive for a small company. I used to work in the marketing department of a huge FMCG and even for us, this was an area that required careful planning.

SEO had a massive budget allocated to it every year.

Small businesses can be very successful but you need to be realistic and start with the easier stuff like Instagram, eBay etc

Actually over half of product searches now begin on Amazon anyway. Google as the first port of call is decreasing in favour of marketplaces.

Ok, let's say it is bamboo toothbrushes as that's the closest you've come to giving us an equivalent product.

At the moment, this is pretty niche but the main players - eg Colgate have recognised an opportunity and they're making them too now. So where are they going to sell them? In Tesco, of course. Because that's where people buy toothbrushes.

You don't have a product of your own. You are going to go to all the people who currently make 'bamboo toothburushes' and say "why not sell them on my website?"

So, why would they do that? Why would they do that rather than sell them on Amazon? These are the questions you should be asking before you think about what your Instagram ads will look like,

Look at the online retail world. Where are the parallels?
If there aren't any, why not? Maybe because it's not a viable business model.

PS "widget" is just a generic name for a product that's being described in the abstract as you are doing.

Thank you all. I've a stinking cold and on my period so can't think through the brain fog as of yet.
I need to brainstorm ideas, you're right. M i really have no idea other than some romantisied version of self employment. Ho hum.
I'll be back in a few days. (how I feel atm)

I just thought. Let me write this down before I forget. It'll be jarbled, sorry.

Amazon have questionable business ethics, Tesco similar.
Amazon dump 100's of 1000's of tonnes of inventory that hasn't sold straight to landfill. I'll need to ask DP where he read or saw that fact. I remember when he told me I was angry because tmI try my best recycle everything I can, I feel guilt unpacking my shopping and throwing away all the outer packaging thats 'not currently recycled' of the groceries. I do my best to be eco aware and there's one of the most widely used company just dumping millions worth of stock to the landfill yearly because it wasn't sold quick enough.
What I'm getting at is, i know business is business and money making is the heart of it but my online or 'brand' identity will be upholding to eco aware, conscious, sustainable, recyclable alternatives to everyday items. I feel there's a small scale surge of little businesses that are popping up in defense against climate change and bad practices that negativly affect to our environment. People are reverting back to supporting local businesses, supporting efforts to fight global warming, supporting fair trade and poor communities. I'm not stupid though, because those with disposable income can afford to do this more than low income and little choice. Which brings me back round to business us business and money is the heart of it..
What im saying is, if a company has come about because of some eco/environmental issue that they're trying their bit to combat, i hope they could afford to say no to supplying a big conglomerate that's part of the problem and instead go to someone like me who wants to open an estore selling sustainable and environmentally friendly products because it matters to me.
When i first thought of this, I just wanted to sell one type of eco friendly item. Now i want to extend 5o picking the best, most novel most usefull from across the range of biodegradable items and eco friendly products.
I dunno. I can't get my thoughts across well and as I said, it's all very stupidly romantic in my head. I need to give it a wobble, as they say.

Check out these marketplaces

bthechange.com/seven-must-shop-ethical-marketplaces-21834b7e3b5e

Your new suggestion of combining different eco-friendly products (assuming something like reusable makeup wipes, reusable sanitary pads etc) could be better for a couple of reasons: a broader customer base than just stocking 1 product, and a higher average spend than stocking just 1 product.

But it does mean that you would have to hold a hell of a lot more stock. Would that be possible from your house?

If you're reselling niche products from small businesses then I imagine you'll need to build a real relationship with them, rather than bulk ordering and reselling on your page without comment? Have you thought about the relationship management aspect with suppliers as well as customers?

Additionally if you're selling reusable products, your repeat business is going to be a much smaller pool than for disposables. Something else to consider.

Ok, so manufacturers/brand owners will make a deliberate choice to sell through you rather than the big corporates for ethical reasons. Fair enough. And you'll stock more than one product/range - good, for all the reasons goodwinter says.

And/but that means there are competitors out there. Here's just one: ecofriendlyshop.co.uk/ What's going to be different about your site? Why should they list their products with you? The real question is what is USP going to be? Price? Service? Range?

If you just stick this stuff up on a website you’ll be lucky to sell anything. You need to do the market research, then you need to devise a marketing strategy (this will be your biggest cost because it involves monitoring traffic etc). You also have to be able to set up a company, produce and file accounts and tax returns etc (but you can always hire someone else to do it). There are companies that will help you set up a business and provide you will all the software, help you with google adverts etc. A few friends of mine use Hubspot for their businesses and really rate it.

I wish you would actually say what your proposed product is, I don't think anyone is going to nick your idea!

OK, so the environmentally/sustainable angle is a good one but you said up-thread that your base product is easily available from the wholesaler, did I get that right? So what are their ethics, how is the product produced, where is it produced, what's the supply and delivery chain, etc etc. It's not enough for you to be ethical, every aspect of the product must be too.

Anyway, in terms of getting started, there's lots of different resources out their. But you need to be focused so you don't get overwhelmed.

So there's loads of stuff about social media and SEO, you usually just need an email (set up one specifically for this purpose) to access it. Set yourself a target of x hours a week reading about how social media works, for example.

A basic website/logo can be sourced from somewhere like people per hour, it will cost anything from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand.

VAT don't worry about - which means that some of the larger sellers won't want to sell to you. So you have to think about this. Accounts - I do my own but I'm not buying and selling goods. There are lots of cheapish packages out there for small businesses which may be worth it.

But before any of this, you HAVE to do your market research, whether that's face to face or on social media, to find out if anyone actually wants to buy your product.

Oh God this is mental. No wonder so many businesses fail.
This thread is chock full of suggestions and advice (I'm thankful to you all because I really wasn't expecting this many pointers and constructive criticism) and I think it's best I go back and write out the main points of interest as I can't possibly answer in depth.

The crash courses sound like one of the best ways forward tbh.

LonneyVonney - ha, you never know!

Additionally if you're selling reusable products, your repeat business is going to be a much smaller pool than for disposables. Something else to consider. This is such a good point that I totally hadn't thought of. I'm interested in biodegradable stuff as well, mind you.

Market research, market research, market research then. Must think now how best to do it.

Thanks again. This is like gold, honestly.