How Does a Small, Home-Based Business Do Market Research in the US

Factual Questions
1

I’m thinking about selling stuff (let’s call them Widgets) on the internet as a one-person business (plus any free help I can get on the side). Since I’m expecting this business to rather investment heavy, I need to do some budgeting/planning before I take the plunge.

However, I’m stuck on trying to figure out how much I could expect to make, on average. The particular type of Widget that I’m planning to sell doesn’t seem to have a lot of hard data–it tends to be either sold in bulks far larger than I’m capable of producing, or be lumped under other similar products. I’ve tried emailing a couple of web-based sellers, but I have no idea if I’ll ever hear back from them or if my email has just been dismissed as spam before it even got opened.

I really, really don’t want to spend a couple thousand dollars setting up a small business and then have a room full of product that I can’t move because I didn’t do the research. I know there’s no fool-proof magic ball I can look into, but if I could have a rough neighborhood estimate, then I at least would be able to figure out whether or not I could ever be in the black.

2

You can buy market research reportsthat cover major industry sectors. (Not to imply endorsement of this or any other resource.)

Of course they’re going to be broad and not tell you specifically about your widget, but it’s a start.

Have you done a competitive analysis of the other widget sellers? Have you checked with possible widget buyers? It sounds to me like something that “tends to be either sold in bulks far larger than I’m capable of producing, or be lumped under other similar products” is basically a commodity, and commodities only have three selling points – specifications, price and delivery terms. Assuming the specs are equivalent, the big determinant is price, with delivery terms being a tie-breaker.