I’m trying to help a friend out with her company, and I thought I’d turn to a group of admittedly heavy Net users- the TM’s.
I have a feeling that the only retail that really works on the Net is for standardized products- CD’s, book’s, maybe computer components and software, video’s, maybe travel stuff.
My friend wants to build a site that sells alternative health products from under-developed countries (those ancient African health secrets and all). I think she should first develop a basic wholesale business (using a fax, email and a telephone first) to supply stores with product and forget about retail clients.
I shop online fairly regularly. Internet shopping, to my mind, is similar to catalog shopping. I am most comfortable ordering from companies with which I am familiar, but I will try out new places.
I think that any products that could sell through a printed catalog could be sold online. There are some things that I like to see/touch/smell before I buy. For instance, while I might buy a dietary supplement, (I can read the label online as well as standing in the store) I probably wouldn’t buy a lotion without being able to test it first. (How does it feel on my skin, how does it smell, etc?)
I very much appreciate the convenience of online ordering. I don’t have to wait on a telephone queue or plan my orders around times that my children won’t interrupt me. And, unlike a written order, my online order often tells me immediately if an item is in stock.
I think the Net is also suited for very unique, rare products. Types of products that only appeal to a very small percentage of people, so it’s not worth advertising in major magazines or TV. It helps if the product appeals to the kind of people who use the Internet.
For example I just bought a recumbent tricycle from a small Australian company. They have a very informitive web site, and since the company is well known in the on-line community (newsgroups and mailing lists) I felt the risk was small, despite having to pay full price up front. I’m very happy with the experience. This is perfect for selling on the web because, let’s face it, a high percentage of recumbent riders are rich nerds. I have no idea how much of their business is done through the internet, but I do know that many recumbent manufacturers now print their web page address on the bike instead of the company logo.
For this type of product you don’t need a fancy web site with a shopping cart system. Just lots of photos and product information, and phone and fax numbers. And of course e-mail address that is actually read by a human being.
Mind you, I don’t sell anything on the Net, I’m just talking as one consumer.
In addition to the above categories, I’ve bought other things off the Net from small companies. There was a pair Felco garden shears, Swiss-made and renowned for their ease of use. Bought them from a small garden-supply company based in Ohio. Also just bought an airbed (aerobed-brand?) from another garden supply company.
I’ve also bought used books from bookstores (NOT Amazon), airline tickets, made hotel reservations, my CD-Rom burner and cartoonist Phil Foglio’s stuff from his Web site.
So long as the investment cost is low, I suspect a lot of one-person operations would do quite nicely on the Net. Especially if the item being sold is something not found at Wal-Mart or other local stores.
Any retail works well on the Net, provided that you actually charge for it, and people actually want it, just like in any other form of business. All of the dot-com failures you read about are because some fool decided to make money by giving things away for free, or selling things that people don’t buy.
Of course, products and services which can actually be delivered over the Net (such as porn and software) have a definite advantage.
Clothes: I don’t know about anyone else, but I have an impossible time trying to find clothing that actually fits at the stores. Go online, and you can dictate the waist and inseam of a pair of pants at any number of sites and get clothing that actually, honest-to-gawd fits.
Plants: The local nurseries only sell what moves quickly, of course. For anything rarer, you have to go online. The Net has been a boon in this area as well.
Don’t know about airlines but for hotels the net is NOT cheaper. I have NEVER found a rate over the net that I can’t do better by calling in.
I have the advantage of working in hotels for the past 17 years. I know how they work. Whatever rate is on the net, there is always a lower one by calling and asking.
The trick is to find a helpful agent that will look. This is due to the fact no hotel can open and close rates quick enuff or track them fast enuff to put their lowest rates on the internet site.
Any kind of mail order service can work, in theory - it’s just the sales channel that changes. I’ve bought mobile phones, wine, beer and done my supermarket shopping across the web.
Another “yes” to mail order – the Internet is just a souped up Montgomery Ward catalog. If you can sell items by mail order, you can sell them by Internet (and reduce your expenses, to boot).
The other option would be items that don’t have to be delivered to the buyer. Insurance, for instance, would be a possibility (but you’d still need salespeople to get buyers to the site). Hotel rooms work very well.
Agree, especially if those specialty businesses are mom & pop operations, and not huge dot-coms. Take, for instance, http://www.4mydogs.com, a retailer specializing in products for Portuguese Water Dogs.
Geeks seem to like the ocerclocking specialty stores out there, and computer component retailers such as http://www.mwave.com seem to be doing fine.
Specialty businesses with online operations as a supplement to their “bricks and mortar” operations, such as http://www.artprintcollection.com, seem to be doing okay too.
There’s also the success stories folks who have set up the equivalent of second hand stores on eBay.