E-commerce, is it really profitable?

Hi all,


I am new in this forum. I seek advice, as I am doing research to start my own business.

My big advantage is that I actually have money to start the business and to sustain myself along the way. I don’t need to work a day job while I am launching my business, and I don’t need to attract investors.


Since I am opening this business with my own money, I am looking for an opportunity with low risk, which with hard work and an initial investment could have a good chance of generating a decent return.


My eyes have fallen on ecommerce, as it looks like something you can start with a low investment and expand incrementally as revenue grows. But even though ecommerce is growing all over the world, margins seem to be razor thin and completion high. I do not know whether it would actually work.


Another big doubt I have about ecommerce is that there are so many dubious sites offering you services and promising that they have the formula to make you a millionaire. It makes you wonder if there really is anything in it for a small player, or just a lot of well, suckers like me trying to open an ecommerce, and a lot of vultures feasting on them.


So I have to questions for you wise people.


1. Is it really possible to make a decent return on an online store as a small player? Have any of you tried it?


2. The Internet is full of ‘start your own business with no money, and without quitting your day job’. What about ‘start your own business with money, dedicated only to this’. Any ideas of which industry could give a decent return with low risk?


Background:

I am educated in business and political science, I have lived in Brazil for the last four years helping foreign companies inter the Brazilian market. Brazil has market of 200 million people a large penetration of credit cards and a fast growing ecommerce industry. Should any of you be interested in bringing your business to Brazil please let me know.

What type of items are you planing on selling?

I'm not quite sure yet.

Well that is a pretty important thing, a lot depends on what you are selling if there is money to be made.

I just finished building an eCommerce site for a client who'll be selling hundreds of items. Of course it can be a profitable venture. You've just got to make sure folks know about your product and your site. So you'd need to do a fair bit of advertising. But yes. Definitely worth the time and effort, of course depending on the product(s) your selling and their quality. Welcome to TAZ Anders Kjeldsen

J.

Welcome, this board.What type of business you gone to start??

With Ecommerce, just depends on how many people know about your products and well, really buy them. There are also multiple channels as well. In the long run, it's a very unique venture.

More than that, it's about choosing the right niche. You need to choose a niche which is not too saturated, has acceptable profit margins etc.

Go with what you know. It's much easier and fun if you sell something you have interest in and know about.

The niche is important, but you will need to know what your selling. So you must also willing to learn what you are selling.

Before starting the e-commerce business you will have to be specific what kind of audience you want to address. If you will be able to know your customer base then it will help you in selecting the products. If you want to deal in everything like Amazon then you need to attract sellers because you can't just buy things and sell it to customers. You can work as a platform between sellers and customers.

It's depends on what goods you are selling and which country is your focus. eCommerce in China market is very successful.

Honestly, it sounds to me like you want everyone else to do your homework for you. Research what you want to sell, what has good margins, easy customer service, is in demand and what you are passionate about. Or better yet, come up with something new that fulfills a need that isn't being met.

FelWilson said:

Hello!
what products are best sold now? if i sell highly specialized goods, i can get a big profit?

Click to expand...

It all depends in country A product Y sell fast with high profits but in country B it does not sell at all. So depending on what you want its like mysiteguy said do your homework to see what our country needs most.

Of course. E-commerce is a massive part of shopping now and if you can manage to do it right then you can make a lot of money. Obviously, it is not exactly the easiest thing to get into because you need to make sure your website is good enough, your marketing has to be perfect and you need to sell items that will make you a good enough profit.

Creating an online store requires a couple of things to make the project a success. Building the store is easy but bringing in traffic to your website and subsequent conversions can be a tedious job. SEO, Logistics delivery, marketing etc needs to be done.