Finding distributors, setting prices, making a profit, many other questions....

[pinkyandthesheep]

Hello,

I'm very new to this business running thing. I opened an Amazon store back in March and this has really been my first business venture ever.

I've always wanted to run a small business. Currently I sell mostly video games on Amazon because I know a decent amount about them and such.

My biggest goal is to have a retail shop in my town selling games and movies, and other items like that.

But I'm only 20 right now and don't know hardly anything about business or how to do this. I've been buying my inventory through auctions on ebay, trying to spend as little money as I can to still make money but it's really difficult and a lot of times I either barely break even or lose money...

I want to look into finding a wholesale supplier or distributor, but I don't know or where to look or even what to really say to them, because I highly don't anyone is gonna wanna do business with someone who isn't making money....will they??

I think also I should expand my inventory into other products but I don't know what to look into or how... Also, I live in Alaska so I feel like shipping anything up here in bulk is going to cost a fortune, which I do not have.

I don't know how to make enough money so that I can eventually open an actual physical store, which is my biggest goal for right now.


Aside from running a retail game store, I want to run some sort of Music venue, and art gallery, or some sort of artistic "collective" if that makes sense.

That Idea is not clearly fleshed out just yet but my town doesn't really have many places like that and I always think about how I want there to be a place where artists can meet and work together and network and share their work.


I have multiple Ideas for businesses but I know it would be better to focus entirely on one before venturing to another. I just honestly have no idea how to start or really anything about business.

I'm taking an intro to business class right now, and I'm debating on switching my major to business or at the very least minoring in it but I don't know what to study or if that really is helpful..

Additionally.... I'm going to be taking a pretty heavy load this coming semester for school and it's going to be hard to juggle school and my Amazon business.

I'm a little impatient because I want to get things off the ground I want to open a business NOW but I'm having troubles, and maybe my impatience is not helping

Honestly... I know I am young and don't know much but I WANT to know and I WANT to learn so bad.

So, any advice that anybody has would be so appreciative because I don't really know anybody well enough who runs a business that I can ask questions to.


Thanks

[billbenson]

I want to look into finding a wholesale supplier or distributor, but I don't know or where to look or even what to really say to them, because I highly don't anyone is gonna wanna do business with someone who isn't making money....will they??

I think this is where you should start. And plan on breaking even on every sale for a while. Find a distributor that will sell a product to you at some discount and sell at retail. Do it on the side as a hobby business. Do something else to make money.

Over time, you can build up volume and ask this distributor for better pricing. When you get enough volume, you can try to bypass the distributor and become a distributor yourself.

It's important that you research the sales plan of the actual manufacturer before you decide on a product. Do they sell and set up distributors or do they only sell direct or through one or two master distributors.

I would start online even if you intend to be a B&M company. Your risks are much lower. Don't get me wrong, you can spend thousands on web design and marketing, but IMO your risk is still lower.

Oh, and distributors will deal with you as long as you are reselling. You don't need to tell them your age or experience. Just say I need a quote on this for resale. They don't know who you are.

[Paul]

I agree with all of what Bill said. An online business is a great way to learn about the basics of business, some of those lessons you have already learned. It also can of course evolve into a full scale enterprise.

Its great that you understand that you are young and don’t yet have enough knowledge or experience. You are young so I would recommend spending the next couple of years learning as much as you can in school and in practice with your online business. If you are thinking of store front retail you might want to get a job in a store. Just observe what goes on. Try to rotate into different areas to observe the various functions of buying, display, merchandising etc. and even some administrative functions if you can. Even a little bit of hands on experience in any area is valuable.

Another great way to learn and to source out goods and suppliers is to attend trade shows. At the big ones all the suppliers you could ever hope to see are all in one spot. Of course there are different trade shows for different industries. Being in Alaska I don’t know how easy that will be. Typically the big trade shows are in the major cities, L.A., NY, Chicago

You are already learning a lot about retail from your online business. I would extend that with some formal retail theory. Learn about margins, markup, cash flow etc.

You are very young but you know where you want to go. That is excellent! Thank of the next few years as training. Stick with this forum for questions. There’s a bunch of good people in different businesses that can be helpful along the way.

[pinkyandthesheep]

Thank you for the advice!

Okay so, how exactly would I go about researching the sales plan of the manufacturer of the product I'm interested in selling? Is that stuff easily accessible? Where do I look? Their website?

One issue I have with selling video games on Amazon is that it is SO competitive that I can't really set my prices to their retail value because then I will never sell anything. This is the main reason I'm looking to sell something else.

But I don't really know what that is. I guess you guys aren't gonna give me all the answers, gotta do some looking for myself at what will sell well.

Thank you again for the help!

[pinkyandthesheep]

Paul,

Thank you for the advice. Really helped a lot.

I knew for a long time that I wanted to run a store or some kind of business and for the past few years since I think... 2011, every summer I would start up on eBay just selling things but then I would lose my motivation and stop. And so back in March the inspiration struck and I basically told my self, "You NEED to do this". And I've been working at it since then and maintaining some level of drive that I hadn't had before. Which, I think is reaaaally great amount of progress for me

It's true I'm young and want to learn and experience what I can to get where I want to be, I just get frustrated because it's hard sometimes for me to see the big picture from where I am right now. I want instant gratification haha, which is not usually the case for business, you gotta try and try and fail and fail and then maybe, just maybe you'll make it

Yes... unfortunately there aren't many trade shows here, so I would most likely need to fly out but that is something that I've been considering lately.

learn learn learn that's all I want to do. And I will definitely stick with the forum, easy place to ask questions and read about other peoples experiences.

Thank you both very much I appreciate it so much!

[ActionMan]

Hi Pinkyandthesheep! Love that user name and I love your spirit. You might be young but you already know a lot more about business than I did at your age.

If you want to PM me your email address, I'll send you some information which will help you with setting up wholesale accounts and also how you can go about figuring out what to sell on Amazon.

[japzmyvatalent]

hello

i am just like you. Im 28 , single mom of 2 kids. I started venturing into the business world last year. i started reselling, laundry business, make ups, etc.

business is like trial and error. whats important is that never give up. start small on something that you really love doing. It always is a trial and error, and always is a room for improvement :)