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Further
Reading ...
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Working at Home? Here's 10 Ways to Be More Productiv - Alexandria Brown
Ah, working at home... Visions of leisurely days, conference calls in comfy sweatpants, increased productivity with fewer interruptions. But the distinctions between work life and home life soon blur. You really should throw some laundry in the...
Mail Order: A Great Home Business Idea - Dean Phillips
While the world continues to go catatonic over the Internet and its endless possibilities, there's another industry quietly going about its business, racking up billions of dollars in profits, year after profitable year after profitable year....
Are you working towards success? - Doug Titchmarsh
What does success mean to you? To some people it means driving a flash car and flashing wads of cash around to show they are doing well. To others it is spending time with their family, having achieved happiness in their life. Your personal idea...
Is America Bankrupt? - Liron Rose
The US Dollar has been falling continuously in last year. The Euro, not so long ago worth 82 cents, is now at $1.27 - this is a gain of more than 40 percent in a very short time. The same goes for the Aussie Dollar: from 50 US cents to 77 US cents...
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How I Shot Myself In the Foot.. No, Wallet!
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Written By:
Palyn Peterson
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I need to let you in on some very important information. Not only will this information save you lots money, or possibly the life of your entire business, but it will allow you to increase your profits through multiple businesses.
First off, operating an online store is a fabulous and lucrative pastime, so kudos on making that decision. But before getting into the thick of it, heed my warning, you do not want to make this same mistake: only maintain one distributor for each of your online stores. Two if you MUST.
I know what you might be thinking right now, "But the more products I have, the bigger the selection will be and I'll end up selling more -- therefore I'll be making more profit!" And that's exactly what I thought at one point, too. But unless you are charging sky-high prices or maintaining an inventory of your entire stock, then this thought is only half true.
It is true that you may end up selling more, but the reality of the situation will quickly appear and you will be losing money with nearly every sale. And this is all centered around one simple, and easily glossed-over factor: shipping.
Let me tell you a true story. Many years ago for one of my businesses, I had this grand idea of creating a recreation room super store. So I found four distributors for billiard equipment and recreation room accessories, one for board games, one for pewter products and one for candles and other neat decoration items. It sure seemed like a good idea at the time; I would be able to sell people everything a person would want and need to setup a recreation room with one shopping cart. I could virtually feel my wallet getting fatter. Then reality hit when I sold my very first order.
The customer's order consisted of 1 or 2 small products from nearly every distributor I had. Through the online store's software, I had it setup to charge shipping based on the customers final price. When all of the items were tallied up, the customer was charged about $9.00 shipping, which was reasonable for the size of the order. But when I turned around to order the products from my distributors, I needed to pay $5.00 - continued below ...
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continued ...
shipping at this one, $3.00 at that one, $4.00 here and there, and $3.50 at a couple others. My shipping costs totalled nearly $20! That amount was way too much to pass on to my customer when they were just ordering a few small items. They would have cancelled their order and moved on to one of my competitors.
After that fiasco, I quickly reconsidered the direction of my business.
So if you've got great idea that would involve more distributors, try opening a second online store. There isn't any rule that says you can't run 2, 3, or more online stores! In fact, you might want to do that anyways -- having multiple streams of income is a proven way of making the big bucks.
Even if your stores are selling basically the same products, you will be able to better corner the market at Yahoo! Shopping, or whatever place you are selling.
Having multiple business will also give you the opportunity to test advertising with one store and see if sales grow or shrink in relation to the others. You could even provide links to your other stores and advertise them as "sister sites." If your customers trust one of your stores, they'll automatically trust your "sister sites."
Do you see why you should have only 1 or 2 distributors per online store? It is very important to keep this in mind for the long term success of your business. Not only that, but it gives you a valuable opportunity to create multiple income streams.
Copyright © 2003 by Palyn Peterson
palyn@futureinternetmarketing.com
Sign up for Palyn Peterson's FREE 13 day intensive email course and discover the 16 necessary basics and 5 advanced internet marketing techniques. You'll also receive a free $gift$. http://FutureInternetMarketing.com/guide.htm
This article is free to publish with resource box. If using this article, please send a brief message to palyn@futureinternetmarketing.com
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| _Additional Resources ... |
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Top 10 Business E-mail Basics - Judith Kallos
When it comes to your business e-mail communications, you need to make an impression that can lend to the determination that you are someone that will be a pleasure to do business with. For your consideration below are the "Top 10 e-mail issues...
Reduce Your 30 Year Mortgage To 10 Years Using Mortgage Cycling - Ted Kushner
With all the talk lately about Mortgage Cycling versus Bi-Weekly Mortgages which one is really right for you? Choosing the correct one could literally save you thousands of dollars and shave off approximately 20 years on the life of your 30 year...
Public Relations: The Fundamental Premise - Robert A Kelly
Public relation’s obvious values not only justify their expense, they make one wonder why any organization intent on achieving its goals and objectives would want to pursue them without the support of a first-class public relations effort. True,...
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