e-Commerce Shops

[espmartin]

I have always felt that the return on investment for a quality online shop would be
a good income, but not sure what niche to target. I do know that a drop-shipper used
would make a good option.

So let me ask of you webmasters, have you had, or are having, successful sales from
e-commerce websites? And of you successful shop owners, what niche are your shops on?

[Bagi Zoltán]

Selecting a niche for your online webshop is very difficoult. I think people prefer purchasing online goods:
-if they don't want to try the good out first,
-they don't have disposition to buy it offline, maybe because they don't have time or they are shey.
Hence i think starting an adult webshop would be a very good choice if you are comfortable with seo, and guess you are.

[mrcrowley]

Originally Posted by Bagi Zoltán

Hence i think starting an adult webshop would be a very good choice if you are comfortable with seo, and guess you are.

Yes you will need to be comfortable with seo as i think it is one of the most competitive niches. I started an adult shop and got to 4th in google uk for a very competitive word but it took me 10 months. Don't expect any short term results you have to work at it very hard. If you choose a less competitive niche you may see a return more quickly as it won't take so long to get a decent rank.

[SkinnerW]

Can you guy's share some sources where you getting products from? (that includes adult niche) Send me PM if you don't want to post it in the forum.
You must have a large inventory and competitive prices to get people even look at your shop...

[rhyswynne]

As somebody who knows relatively little about online e-commerce (but a little from building the sites), why don't you tag it on to one of your existing, successful sites? That way you've got a bit of traffic and an audience to build on?

[TheeCommerceConsultant]

I think that adult sites is an over saturated market now and most of the importers seem to sell directly, you will have an uphill battle and your margins would be so low to compete you would have to do serious volumes.

Two sites I had sucess with.
1/ Absinth, we were one of the first importers to the uk, ended up doing 1 thousand bottles a month online as well as trade to supermarkets etc. Sold the company and made a tidy profit as well as the income from it. Dead easy promotion to a real niche market, little competition and good margins.

2/ Motorcycle clothing shop. 1st year turnover 1 million pounds, that was six years ago now, high profit margins and ship goods internationally the states was our biggest market as at the time the superbike market was growing massivly. Unfortunatly we were forced out of business by the suppliers as their shops complained too much rather than compete.

You need to find a product/s with a large niche market or invent something that everyone wants. Go for a vertical growing market. I have lots of clients that turn over more than a million a year, mostly in niche markets but each one is seeing more and more competition on a daily basis. Pathe the way make lots of money then sell up quick ;-)

I recently did some consultancy, a guy was selling products on Ebay doing about 10k items per month, when we sat down and did the projections and earnings he was taking home 500 pounds a month after all expenses, listing fees, selling fees, packaging, staff etc. Working 18 hours a day seven days a week to keep up with flea bay nonsence. At the end of the day the figures looked good but weren't, not worth the impending heart attack. Profit margin is key after all expenses are accounted for, so niche or new market where you are the leader.

Won't let you know what I think would be good as I might do it myself...