An Introduction To E-Commerce
It Takes Money To Make Money
This article was prompted by recent conversations with some bloggers and e-commerce sellers regarding the potential of selling on the internet. In talking with others it seems that our experience is pretty typical. We’ve been selling on the internet for several years, mostly with mixed results. Recently we’ve come to believe that without a significant commitment of time as well as money, the likelihood of growing to meaningful income from selling on the internet is pretty remote. I understand that there are lots of examples of internet rock stars who became huge financial successes on the web. Etsy has published a number of stories about huge successes on their platform but even that is out of currently 5 million active sellers. I believe those stories are similar to lots of million-to-one stories like actors being discovered in community theater, or lottery winners or artists who suddenly become famous. It could happen but what is the likelihood? Here I’m going to discuss some of our attempts that had some success and others that failed almost completely.
Back In The Day
Oddly over thirty years ago we had some real success selling on the internet. At that time Google searches were a new thing. So was the GUI (graphic user interface) and the number of web sites was measured in millions not trillions. At the time we owned a successful company selling industrial equipment and supplies (B2B) into the Caribbean islands. Our youngest son was in high school and into programing and computers. One somewhat small area of our business was selling rubber stamp making equipment and supplies and it seemed there was potential putting a catalog of these items online. Our thinking was that our Caribbean customers could see what we offered and perhaps place online orders or at least help them organize an order to send in. Our son did a good job putting together the web site and we let our customers know where they could find it. It also included an order form that could be filled out, printed and faxed in (no online orders yet).
Our customers quickly took to using the web store, but something else surprising happened. It wasn’t expected, but we started getting new orders from small stamp making businesses in America. It was a market we hadn’t really had any interest in, but it turned out our web site filled a need that most of us didn’t realize was even there. While we had agreements with the half dozen large manufacturers to to be dealers for their products in the Caribbean it turned out that there were hundreds of small rubber stamp makers in America. Most were connected to small printing businesses or office supply retailers. Many of them wanted to buy items from several different manufacturers and usually in quantities too small for those manufacturers minimum order requirement.
In less than a year we more than doubled our sales in those products. It turned out that at that time if you were to do an internet search for rubber stamp supplies the results in the U.S. were the only six. The five big manufacturers/suppliers with no real online catalogs and large minimum order requirements and us. Without even trying we filled a need that small businesses needed. Our suppliers didn’t care if we sold in America and one even hired our son to redo their website.
Over the years we’ve also operated a couple of brick and mortar retail stores with some small success but not enough to justify the time required or to really support our family. In recent years we’ve operated several e-commerce websites with all of them being mostly an extension of our hobbies. We’ve also talked to a number of online sellers about their experiences and have come to several conclusions about e-commerce and the likelihood of meaningful success online.
What Is Success – I’ve known several people who sold on Ebay for years but never considered it a growing business and I’m also aware of some big Ebay sellers. In my case one of my small online businesses is selling emergency ID cards on Etsy. That one started after I had spent six months designing and trying to launch a website for emergency contact and information for international travelers*. Now with cards I sell hundreds each month but it’s hardly a success. Because I sell them for a couple of dollars each and the postage alone costing 50¢ I rarely net $100 in a month. If you’re interested in seeing some of the cards go to Etsy and search “emergency id cards”. Several will be in the results first page.
What’s Your Idea Of Success? The important consideration is how much of an investment in time and money will be required and what level of income do you actually need going forward.
Getting Free Clicks – Instead of paying for advertising there is another avenue to getting clicks to your online store that can be free. Every online store should have a network of social pages too. Facebook, X (formally known as Twitter), Pinterest, Instagram and a dozen more and they all have free options. The only downside is that managing your social presence online can time consuming
Our Current Plan And Results.While our main online store (TheCraftsMart.com) gets 10 or 20 search engine results a day, our combined Etsy stores get between 50 and 100 visitors a day**.
In casually exploring an online store it seems reasonably inexpensive. Hosting companies offer first year plans that include a domain name at big discounted prices and POD companies have programs that cost you nothing to get started. Taking credit cards doesn’t seem to be too costly and the other details look manageable. I guess the point I’m making is to keep your eyes open and don’t fall for the internet’s promises of low cost and high income potential. Next I’ll discuss options like selling with Ebay or Etsy, “print on demand” suppliers, social media advertising and real world results.
Part 2 will get into the detailed costs involving an online business…
*This plan had endorsements and looked promising. It would have managed a secure database for individuals contact and medical records accessed by a ID Card link. Even after some PR we had only a handful of subscribers at only $2 a year.
The Intentional Travelers 