Neck Ties
If you don’t have a lot of space, or want to start a business with very limited capital this could be an ideal starter business. As long as we have office jobs and interviews there will be a demand for ties, even at the peak of the dot com boom when everyone was starting to wear casual clothes for work; ties were still sold by the millions.
Typically ties will sell for 2 reasons, as a gift or as an impulse buy. Either way the design and the quality are important particularly if you do not have a big brand behind you.
Don’t compete on price with this product. You are not going to get $100 a tie without a big brand name, but equally you don’t need to be down at the bottom end of the Ebay range selling for $3-4. If you sell too cheap then customers will assume you have poor quality items, and you will be doomed to a life of low margins, fighting to find large orders or lots and lots of single orders just to eke out a small profit.
In terms of marketing your ties, you can start with any of the following approaches, or a combination of several of them: -
Ebay
Website
Networking
Trade shows / exhibitions
Men’s fashion shops
Ebay is very competitive but should not be overlooked. Set up an Ebay store to keep your advertising costs low and advertise as often as is feasible. Get multiple products up and you should see some sales.
Building a website is pretty easy and shopping cart systems can be added very cheaply or even free now. Whether you are a design guru, or just starting out you should be able to put together a reasonable site with some input from your friends, or have one designed for no more than a few hundred dollars. The catch is how you get people to come to your site, I recommend reading everything you can get your hands on in terms of search engine optimisation (SEO) and internet marketing, as well as promoting your website offline much as you would do a traditional business.
Networking with this kind of product is great, don’t overlook your female friends and colleagues, many of whom will buy ties for their loved ones and will be happy to support you. The great thing about this product is that it is light and small, and therefore easy to carry some stock in your briefcase pretty much all the time.
Getting a stand at a trade show or exhibition is not cheap, but tickets to attend are usually free, or affordable as the sellers want to encourage would be customers to come and look around. Carry your briefcase with some stock in it, talk to people and you may well find buyers for either individual ties, or even better who will buy from you in bulk. Naturally as you grow, so will your budget and you may soon be taking your own stand at these events. Read industry related journals and websites to keep up to date with upcoming events and/or get an annual timetable from your local exhibition centre so that you don’t miss anything in your area.
If you are importing your ties directly then you may find local retailers who would be happy to carry your stock for you. You can either supply on a consignment basis and split the profit, or simply offer better prices for orders of more than 10-20 ties. You will need to speak to a number of shops in order to strike your first deal, and you may want to start by using the telephone. Stay away from the temptation to use email, as it is too impersonal and if you have the time then face to face meetings will always give you the best shot.
The joy of this product is that it will be comparatively easy to ship. A decent tie can easily cost as much as a decent shirt to buy, but will require a fraction of the shipping cost.
You can find suppliers on www.alibaba.com and www.globalsourcing.com and similar sites. Alibaba has 2400 results for a simple search under <ties>. You will want to speak with several suppliers and order samples so that you can check the quality, and have something to show potential customers.
Bear in mind that there are quota systems in place to discourage over supply from countries such as China. Discuss this up front with your suppliers and ask them how they usually deal with this. Stay away from suppliers who are not used to shipping to your market unless you think the potential savings are worth the extra headaches. Typically you will not have any trouble getting samples into the USA or European countries providing they are labelled clearly as samples and not of an excessive quantity.
Although this is a competitive industry, a neck tie is usually an impulse buy and by being in the right place at the right time you will make sales.
Keep your prices as high as you can, this builds the image of quality.
Consider sourcing from more developed, or unusual countries to build some additional kudos for your product.