Several months ago I was looking into getting into a service space, the more I looked into it the less appealing it seemed to me. I decided to do something simpler, where my business' reputation isn't dependant on others.
After a long period out (or mostly out) of ecommerce I'm going back in. I was partially inspired by NFFC's diligent work on his own business and how he built it up into something quite amazing. That, and I want something permanent, something with legs and a recurring customer base.
I'm going back to where I got started online, this stuff is light, small, portable, doesn't go bad and only goes up in value. I've hung on to some of the inventory I originally had and it's wholesale value is worth about 3x what I paid for it some years ago.
I'm operating on a shoestring, it's just me and my wife doing it all. The big change since I last did direct-retail is the raise of social -- and I'm planning to lean on it hard, FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, etc.. In this space there are endless topics to talk about, we put up a blog on the site and the plan is to do a couple of articles a week and leverage them as much as we can.
Judging from the posts here, getting into retail seems to be a thing right now for us, with Chunkford & DB busy with their own projects.
Anyway, the plan with this thread is to keep a sort of business-diary -- I'll come here and post as things unfold.
Good luck LM
It's a path I'm not regretting one bit, and if I pull off what I'm now trying to do now, then it's gonna be a killer business!
Interesting and good luck LM! Keep us posted and do fire off questions here. We have been involved in e-com as well - on both sides as owner and consultant as it's something that really interests me.
Interesting this, as we've just pulled out. However - we were in a niche that ended up having too many players. It wasn't crowded when we started, but was so easy to replicate that it got killed by downwardly spiralling discounting.
I'm off the products... not the model. Good luck to all.
Yep best thing I ever did (thanks again to the core members and valued dear friends - you know who you are :-* - that helped me come to the final decision and to 4eyes for taking me under his wing and turning me into a baby geek in the first place!!). I love the retail space, every bit of it, even the downsides. I have made a promise to myself not to take on any more service work (bar some small existing commitments a couple of hours a month that will eventually fade over the next 2 years). Don't get me wrong I love the journey from concept to conversion but its now on my terms, my brands and most importantly my schedule.
The service business doesn't make sense for me anymore, it has been great, challenging, informative and incredibly valuable but I feel like I have done my time in the trenches and learn't what I need to. Now I have graduated and am in a great position to focus on my niche and put those skills, knowledge and experience into good use for my family's future rather than renting them out to others.
Good luck, I hope it works for you and it makes you happy too xx