Chapter 3: What Can I Sell
Everyone who sets up an internet business has to address the question: What should I sell? And just about everyone appears to incur 2 classic errors at first:
They sell what everybody else is trying to sell: electronics, designer clothing, and DVDs. What they find is a marketplace already saturated with these products and the suppliers usually don't work in small quantities. To create any profit at all, they'd need to buy huge quantities.
They sell what they know and love. Regrettably, unless there's a significant demand for what they know and love, they will be stuck with lots of products they are able to appreciate but can not move.
The following 'hotspots' could keep you connected with what individuals are buying, what things are up-and-coming, and what things are declining in popularity. If your opinions all originate from a couple of places, you are limiting yourself so expand your thinking. You may consider taking a look at one of these simple hotspots for inspiration:
Newspapers. You will get a concept of what's on the minds of consumers simply by reading the lifestyle section, the business pages, or taking a look at the adverts the big stores are putting out.
Consumer Publications. You will find countless magazines based around specialized products and services, specific hobbies, and special interest markets. They have been a good resource for building niche products.
Shopping Arcades / Bricks-and-mortar stores. Communicate with the salespeople, & discover what is being sold. You may also source your suppliers for the boxes.
Obtain the wholesaler's name, ring them and get the name of their local distributor in your town.
Trend-spotting sites, such as Influxinsights.com, Trendhunter.com, and Trendwatching.com.
The entertainment industry, films, and television fuel product trends. Knowing what's being released in the movie industry, you can begin sourcing related products and services prior to the trend beginning.
Imdb.com maintains a list of movies that are going to be released in the coming year. So, if you are aware now that particular movies are going to be released, you can begin stocking up on related products prior to them becoming expensive, like Superman, Batman, Star Wars, and Curious George.
It's wise to own a notebook for product sourcing, be it a hand-held notebook or a PDA, to record your thoughts when they come to you. Ninety percent of the ideas you don't jot down can get lost. When you are visiting these hot spots for ideas, if you notice hundreds of ideas for products to market, you will not have the ability to recall all of them. You need to write them down in your product sourcing notebook, then return to them and begin researching.