Go Green
All around us we hear about the greenhouse effect, we see growth industries in solar and wind power, we see the rise of "Green" political parties in Europe, and many governments are imposing green policies such as enforced recycling. You can't avoid it the world is going green, and if you aren't already you had better start thinking about it.
Forget about the doom and gloom, and the threats though, green technology makes sense, why burn down trees or use up all the oil when you don't have to? You don't build a new house when the paint gets tired, so why do we replace so much of what we use so readily?
There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of green gadgets out there. Items that you ordinarily use but which are resource hungry such as torches, radios and battery chargers can all be replaced with a green equivalent. These kind of items also make great gifts as many of them are still new enough to be innovative and exciting.
A bit of research on sites like www.hippyshopper.com will quickly tell you
what is available. Then you can work on where to source the items that interest
you, and once you have an idea of costs and likely mark up you can start to
think about the marketing. We would suggest the following distribution channels:
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Website
Ebay
Local newspaper
Catalogue
Party Planning
Shop
This really is a business that you can get started in with no money, no experience and no products. Do your homework, find where to buy the products, create a website and get yourself a payment gateway (Google has 5.2m hits for this term). All you need to do then is market your site which will take some practise and study and some old fashioned sweat, blood and tears but it very possible. You charge more than another retailer, order from them with no stock involved and have it shipped to your client. The value add is the selection of products that you put on your page, and the fact that you save your customers having to go looking for neat green gadgets and gift idea.
Ebay will also work, but if someone is looking for something specific on Ebay then they have probably already searched the web and know what they should be paying. If you can source some products from overseas or are prepared to hold some stock so that you can benefit from bulk purchases then this might work for you.
Put an advert in your local newspaper with a catchy headline such as "Neat, affordable, gadgets that are green. Great gift ideas". If you have a website or you go the whole hog and set up a shop this will generate business for you. People that respond to the add by checking out the website, or calling your number are looking for a gift, or are gadget people and will be looking to spend some money with you.
If you really are not willing to put in the hours hyping your website then the offline alternative is to put together a catalogue of products that you can still source off of the internet. You can design the catalogue yourself and then either print and bind it at home with a colour laser printer and home binding kit, or get a run of 100-200 printed by a local printers, which will look a lot more professional. Hand the catalogues out to friends and family and don¡¦t let them know where you are sourcing from. If they like the items and want to buy, you simply take the cash plus a %age for your trouble and order for them. You can refresh the catalogue every 2-3 months with new items coming in and items that didn¡¦t sell being dropped. Watch your business soar in October/November with Xmas coming but be careful not to allow orders too late for Xmas delivery.
Party planning can work separately to, or alongside the catalogue idea. Don't expect people to choose from the catalogue, you will need to buy some items or source some samples in order to let people touch, and play with them. This is far more real for most customers and they know exactly what they are buying. You can read how to organise party planning events here - http://www.ideas2earn.com/start_cust.htm With a product range like this you should be onto a winner, move over Tupperware!
Opening a shop, as we have said before is expensive, but with the right location, and a website to support it this could be a truly great concept. If you want to test it then try to get a break lease deal around the end of the summer period and use the run up to Xmas to test whether people will go for your product range. If the products sell well enough to keep you going then offer to take the permanent lease off of the landlord. Aim for a high foot traffic area and a smallish unit so that you do not need to carry too many lines. Allow products to sell out and wait a while before re-ordering as it gives people a reason to come in and browse.... "are the wind up torches back in yet?"
Whilst www.alibaba.com has a selection of wind up (dynamo) products such as radios, and flash lights this idea will really take a bit more digging. It is ok to charge a higher price for novelty and the "green factor", which means that you are able to find a wider group of sources. For example if you see an item on your favourite green website such as solar powered Xmas tree lights (www.solarsanta.com) you can simply write to the retailer and ask them what kind of bulk discounts they can offer, and whether they are interested in a drop-shipping arrangement with you just taking a piece of the action for finding buyers. In other words, they stock and supply, you just take the money keep your cut and pay them what they need to make a profit.
Ideally you will be able to find a mix of products that allows you to order and stock some items, as well as using bulk discounts with other retailers to provide a bigger range.
If you are interested in green issues and are a gadget person then this might be the ideal business for you. Most people appreciate the things on offer from sites like www.hipyshopper.com but would never spend the time compiling a list of what are available let alone finding sources for it.
As an aggregator you take away this hassle factor and add value for the planet, and your bank account.
This business requires a lot less paperwork than many we are suggesting as it does not intrinsically rely on importing goods from overseas.