ForumsInternet/eCommerce

Have you tried contacting the manufacturers directly yet for the minimum per quantity order - to see if it's feasible to cut the middle man? However, at the same time you don't want to order too much and not have product move.

The manufacturers you are referring to (computer and electronic parts) are almost all in Asia. For the relatively small quantity you'd be talking about, importing these parts yourself would be not be cost-effective. You'd be better off contacting the U.S. importer and distributor of each particular item you want to sell, and try to establish an account as a VAR (Value Added Reseller) for them. Most items only have one such distributor (for instance, memory cards from about 200 Asian sources all come in to the U.S. through one company). Your best source for locating and contacting these companies would be the related trade publications. Industry trade shows are another way of meeting the people you'd want to do business with. Good luck!

If you're selling online don't always focus on price. What if you could add value to the item you're selling?

For example, you're selling a book about Fishing. What if you offered a free video download of some people fishing and giving tips?

Stuff like that goes much farther than price in a lot of ways.

Affiliate programs are also solid.

The best part is you can do most of it for free.

My 2 cents,

First, about wholesalers, in the computer industry you must go through suppliers like ingram micro, techdata, etc. Just about every technology dealer works with a wholesaler...even giants like Best Buy, amazon.com, etc. However, until your pushing $100,000 or more of product a year...you won't be eligable for discounts (and of course, not the same level as the big boys). As a rule, no manufacturer deals with end users, as it defeats their business focus of making the products...not shipping, handling returns, and invoicing thousands of customers. It's not that they don't care, it's just much more economical from the manufacturers point of view.

Second, the market is pretty saturated for online computer sales (no service), and your prices would be much higher than established competitors like buy.com, amazon.com, and newegg.com. Since you can't compete on price, I would be hesitant about investing a lot of marketing money in this business segment. On the other hand, some well targeted ads to a specific niche on Google PPC ads might bring in some customers...you do have a good domain name that might entice customers to your products. It would need to be targeted at the average joe user, because gamers and enthusiast most likely are aware of the large (cheaper) online sites.

Third, about your computer service business at LoweTree.com, I would wait until you ave built a few fanatically loyal customers as a base before you lease any strorefront. If you do decide that a storefront is required in the short term, make sure it has a good, well traveled location as to leverage your signage to make sure you get a good ROI. Also, most local customer's won't mind paying a few dollars more if you want to resell stuff to them directly...since you'll be manage the shipping, delivery, and setup...it's a value add for them (not just price as others have mentioned).

Lastly, kudos on your web design...it looks pretty sharp on both web sites at a quick glance.

Good luck and remember the number one way to grow your business is to always delight your existing customer base.

John
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Gilham Consulting
Advanced Microsoft Network Solutions
www.gilham.org

I think you may be looking through the wrong end of the telescope. You're focused on the products and the business from your perspective, and you should be looking at your target audience -- the people whose needs you want to satisfy.

Who are the customers in your "sweet spot?" Are they businesses or individuals? Where do they live? How do they make purchase decisions? What do they value? How old are they? Etc. Etc.

This is all the homework you need to do BEFORE you set up your website. You also need to have some kind of marketing plan that takes into account how people will find you, how much you're able to spend to create traffic, and what a customer is worth to you.

Setting up an online store and storefront location is like taking out a lease on some bricks-and-mortar real estate without knowing what neighborhood you're in, who lives nearby, or how much space you'll need to stock the merchandise. (You need more space for furniture than for needles and thread, just as you need a different website for software downloads than you need for selling industrial machinery.)