What Sells Best Oneline?

MovingUp · June 2007

I want to to start an online business. I have read through the whole "how to create a successful website" here at SUN. I am ready, my head is right, I got all the tactics..... But I have nothing to sell!
So what sells best online?
Any ideas ...any leads?!

DaleKing · June 2007

In a word...INFORMATION!!!
It`s no secret, people go online looking for information.
My advice: Create or find an in-demand information product to sell.
Affiliate programs on ClickBank are a good place to start.
Dale King

iouone2 · June 2007

I don`t think you will find any one product that sells best. I believe selling is dependent upon how you go about selling it. The main factors you want to hit are keeping your overhead low, so you can keep your final (retail) price low. The more competition you have, the harder it will be to compete. That isn`t to say that people selling products which are saturating the market (online) don`t make money.Your personal skill of making the sale it what`s important. What are you planning to offer that your competitors are not offering? Better customer service might not be enough. On the other hand, depending on the product industry, that might be all you need to convey.I know this isn`t much of a concrete answer for you, but really look at the equation of your wholesale price, operating costs, and resale value. If the math works out for you, you might find your product to be a successful venture. On the other hand, you might need to crunch the numbers on several different products before you find the one that suits you.Just remember this... If you are a fish, and you are the only fish in the stream, it`s easier to find food. If you are one fish of millions, competition becomes more difficult. Doing business online or from a brick and mortar building hold that same challenge. There is competition. If there were not, everyone would flock (um... I should say "school", because of my reference to fish.) to the new area of instant reward.Only you can decide what you will be able to sell in the market of competition. That`s why SuN recommends finding a business you are passionate about, rather than one you are just trying to make money. Work is work. Nothing in business comes easy.

smurph05 · June 2007

Just remember this... If you are a fish, and you are the
only fish in the stream, it`s easier to find food. If you are one fish of
millions, competition becomes more difficult. Doing business online or
from a brick and mortar building hold that same challenge.

Good Advice! As an online retailer I have discovered that I cannot carry
items that can be found at many stores, wether brick and mortar or
online. The big guys will kill you on price because of their ability to
purchase product at lower cost. My advice is to find something unique,
very high quality, build a professional web page, and get it optimized. Go
to Ebay and find out what the top selling items have been. This will give
you an idea of what people are willing to buy online, then you can find
things that are in the same arena but different from what you can find on
ebay or in stores.

MovingUp · June 2007

I am reading the book "What Sticks" [Briggs & Stewart] - I highly recommend it. Basically, when we talk about "What Sticks" in advertising the answer is that we just dont know `what sticks`, anything can work.
However, is this the case with Selling? I have a few friends for example who have tried selling expensive jewelry online and they all flopped. When it comes to buying expensive products- will customers shop online or perfer the local jewelry store? Since the internet has been around for some time now - maybe we can look back and say "ok, this sells and this does not sell".
So....do we actually know what sticks in selling?

truetiger · June 2007

Yes you can start an online business with products such as products for different ages like t shirts, avon products for women and elderly people. If you need help I wil be yoyr mentor in uploading the images.
sun group

rlentless · June 2007

I would start selling something that you have passion for- I think that is the most important thing (just as others have said).
I am in the process of setting up my own internet retail store, and I can tell you that it is very evident to me that the hardest and most important tasks will be:
1) Finding distributors who are willing to sell to online-only retailers. Start from the manufacturer and move your way up (down?) the chain from there. This is very time consuming and you should expect several "no`s".
2) Finding products from the distributors in #1 that have decent profit margins. Some profit margins are pretty thin- the best I have found so far in my search is in the 50% range on a $100 product.

jbjb · July 2007

Being in business like any other thing genuine involves alot of hard work which could atimes get really frustrating.
However, if you`re selling goods and/or services that you really have passion for, the HARD WORK and FRUSTRATION amount to nothing but beautiful excitement and hunger to know more and do more in that business and these bring you nothing but joy and success in the long term if you hang in there long enough.
jbjb

crazydiamond · July 2007

Hey Movingup;DKing is pretty much right - this is a info media in an info age, and anything that is info is innately suited to being sold on the internet.Having said that, try this. You have a skill set - cooking, renovation, car repair, investing, needlepoint, retailing clothes to kids between the ages of 12 and 15, how to be a clown, hot organize a social activist group, how to clean chewing gum off carpets ... almost all of these things have a potential audience. Once you have an audience, find what products they might be able to use in pursuing those areas of interest. It does not have to be your own skill set - talk to people, find out what they are passionate about and why, and then try investigating if there is an audience for that interest/skill.For example, my daughter signed up and took a series of stain glass making classes. To do that, she needed a frame, a soldering iron, a glass grinder with wet wheel, and a bunch of other stuff. People need to buy those things. So start a website on that, and sell those things... In fact, have a series of such websites for different interests, and they can all use common infrastructure - hosts, design, payments handling ...That is one way. In general, remember that products that cannot be commoditised are tough sells remotely. If the price tag is high, or the support/warranty is critical, or the product has vague specifications, or if the market is unclear - such things are more of a challenge to sell. People want to touch, smell, feel, test the product, and they want to look in the eyes and guage the dress, language, appearance of the person doing the selling. Thats tough to do online- not impossible, just tough !Another option is something which has a more ephemeral value. Entertainment is a prime candidate... The value is completely in the eye of the beholder, and a lot of entertainment can be sold on-line. Books can be serialized, articles can have some value, humour can attract a real following if you have the talent... Tougher as a rule, but an option. For that matter - start an on-line humour club, it does not have to be you with the talent. Become an impressario.Hope that gets you thinking a bit - be creative. Do NOT permit yourself to begin critical analysis until you have maybe ten to fifteen ideas. For every one you shoot down, come up with two more. Carry a small notepad with you, so that when the spark strikes from something you have observed, you don` t forget it !

What Sells Best Oneline?

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