Product Sourcing, Home Business And Key Wholesale Survival Basics
Is product sourcing for home business as much of a problem for you as it is for so many others
? Product sourcing can be critical to home business success, and so both you and prospective product suppliers must take it seriously. For many, finding supply sources means wholesale, drop shipping, liquidated stock, and the like. Quite often people think only in the context of eBay, even though eBay is just one, tiny piece of ecommerce business market.What really determines your product sourcing needs? Look at the kind of business you have and the sort of products you plan to market. For example, information products such as ebooks or information delivered through a newsletter or membership are very different from the sorts of concerns you face when dealing solely with physical products. Or consider the different logistic aspects of product supply if you are a broker for an artisan's cooperative or merely brokering products to private buyers. And then, if your business is purely service based, then your product sourcing demands may lie completely outside the conventional scope of wholesale drop shipping solutions.
When we are dealing with online, retail ecommerce in the context of small home business, then product sourcing becomes even more important. That is, there is much less tolerance for error should there be supplier mistakes in inventory and delivery. The fact is, product sourcing involves more than just the relative cheapness of the product. Price is important, but if you only think in terms of price, you may suffer later on. Long term success will depend also on quality of goods, having inventory on hand to sell, and delivering your products in a timely manner.
When you engage in business, you are extending a promise of customer service to your potential buyers. When you advertise, you are essentially saying that you will provide your customer with a certain kind of experience, and when you exchange product for payment, you have made a kind of contract with the buyer. Part of that contract includes good customer service. You can have the best of intentions of keeping your promise, but if the products you sell are inferior, or if your supplier cannot get the items to either you or your buyers, then you will not be trusted, word will get around, and people won't buy from you.
Most beginners run up against two basic problems. First, how to find products and figure out what products to sell. Second, how to find suppliers. These problems may seem insurmountable, but in reality they are not hard to solve. If you are at this stage, the first step to take is to make a business plan. It isn't necessary to write a book, though some plans may turn into books. What you want to do try to answer some basic questions, such as, "who are your customers?" "What niche are you trying to satisfy?" and, "What business model do you want to use?" When you begin to answer these kinds of questions, the how and where of sourcing products will start to fall into place.
Following your basic business planning, you are now ready to think about getting products. Many people begin their search on the Internet, and I have noticed that there is more legitimate information and resources then several years ago. Even though you can Google your poroduct and find help leads, legitimate wholesalers do not generally rely on the Internet for business and so are not always easily found. Personally, I think a far more reliable strategy is stimply to call the manufacturer and ask who their authorized distributors are. This is simple and direct, and if you are honest and professional in your communication, you should get some good results.
Another solution available online are wholesale drop ship memberships. Salehoo, World Wide Brands, and Aid and Trade are three well-known examples, though you will find many others if you look. Such memberships claim to offer contact information to thousands of suppliers across many different product categories and often provide a means to network with other people engaged in ecommerce. Wholesale memberships can be helpful if they fit your business model. It is important to do your due diligence and remember that they are just one resource at your disposal. Keep in mind that successful product sourcing begins with your business plan.
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