How much does it cost to start an online business?
Nowadays people tend to google jobs that can turn money fast. Internet seems the famous place to be for this fast money seekers. Many people says that E-Business is a cheap business. Is it true?
Okay let make one case study : A Grocery Store Vs. An Online Bookstore.
Cost of opening a A Grocery Store:
1) Registering for a Company : as low as RM80.00
2) Rent a shop houses / lot : as low as RM1000 per month
3) Startup Capital for fill up entire store with daily groceries : as low as RM10,000.
I list down only important cost occur, If we want to detail it then it might have utility cost such as cost for printing your paper work, bills (telephone, electricity, etc..) and labour cost. So overall cost for setting up a grocery store can go as low as RM10,000 to 15,000. A bigger store more likely more cost will involve.
Lets take a look at opening An Online Bookstore.
1) Registering for a domain name : as low as RM30.00
2) Getting a web hosting provider : as low as RM100
3) Get a broadband Itnternet : as low as RM99 per month.
4) Pay some one to build you website : as low as RM1000
That makes starting a web based home business around RM1300 to 1500. If you are an IT expert or kind of guy who like to explore anything by yourself than you might skip cost number 4. You just build the store interface by yourself and that makes the cost not even near RM500.00.
I am not saying that Online business is a better choice, but actually if some one already own a physical business, than the person got more advantage. The person just need to go online! Some one who never own a business but want to sell online may have some difficulties to start. Furthermore existing business owner is more serious in making money because its what they do for a living. On other hand, many online marketers just doing it part time or just following the trend.
But this also does not mean online business cannot make serious money. Yes it can, but we must get serious also. For beginner there are many option to tryout for playing safe. Get our feed into the water first before jumping into the pool. The option also as easy as it look and many of the are completely free!. Imagine you can have your own web store fill with book with no fees and fuss. Just register to be an Amazon associates and opt for Amazon a-store. Others that we will look into it later are:
-ebay, affiliate commsion, turnkey website, google advertising and dropshipping.
Drop shipping For Internet Business
Drop ship is the choice for E-commerce start-up. When finding the suitable solution for product that I want to sell in ebay or my custom made e-commerce shop, I found out about the drop ship terms.
Many of us are unclear about the drop shipping concept. We usually understand about retail and wholesale business. Drop ship is still a business that need a product to sell but the main key to drop ship is the inventory. With drop shipping, the retailer does not keep a large inventory on the premises.Drop shipping is very beneficial to smaller retail shops, internet-only storefronts and those who primarily use catalogs for sales. Customers of these outlets don’t always expect to walk out with their purchases, so a slight delay between ordering and drop shipping is not a drawback.
Sample diagram of company that offer drop ship business stardust.
It’s like to sell an Avon products using catalogue. But now we have the Internet and the drop ship concept fully utilize the e-commerce shopping cart store front. After seeing through all the info and companies that offer drop ship business, you can sell just anything on the net with zero cost! From IT gadgets, mobile phone, kids toy, tools, fabrics and collectibles item. As I can see many of the company / manufacturer that offer drop ship products come from China, United States and UK. If you want to register with the foreign company that offer drop ship, a thorough study must bee made to ensure the company is legally exist. We cannot just email or entering their online form, make sure to call them and speak to the staff in-charge. I prefer using skype. Toll free number are very cheap in USA using skype compare to Malaysia for example.
There are some of the manufacturer that offer your own private label. Some will provide you a turnkey website that contain all the manufacturer products . With a private label and a turnkey website, you just sit down at your home and pretend to have a fully functional private company. But what if customer must ask about the product or the product have some defect when it arrived at the customer door step? Don’t worry because a fully function drop ship supplier will handle all the request. They even will give you a toll free number at your turnkey website or just put the company phone or customer service e-mail address .
As in any business, drop ship do have a risk. You cannot control the inventory and in some cases customer have already paid and we placed the shipment but the product are unavailable. Back order will occur and the customer have to wait. Just sure we communicate with the manufacturer / wholesaler about the product stock. Angry customer will ask you for a refund.
A scam drop ship site do exist. They not the real manufacturer or the product maker but just a middle man between the wholesaler / manufacturer and you, thus the price will be more higher and little profit margin for you. We will discuss further on the process to get a good drop ship manufacturer.
