In today’s post, I’m going to “bust” 3 of these myths!

Myth #1

To successfully source wholesale products on Amazon you should look at an Amazon hot list, find a product that has a Top 1000 ranking; then locate the wholesale supplier for it, sit back and watch the profits roll in…

Myth BUSTED

While it is valuable to know what products are top ranked on Amazon, sourcing wholesale products using this method will only lead to frustration and competition. When you use product rank IN ADDITION to other KEY pieces of data, THEN you’ll have have what you need to source products with profit potential on Amazon.

Myth #2

Amazon is already selling all the ‘good’ products.

Myth BUSTED

While Amazon DOES want to be the earth’s biggest retailer, they don’t want to source and stock all that inventory themselves.

They’re looking to 3rd party merchants to fill out Amazon’s product categories. Fortunately there are an abundance of products that meet this criteria and plenty of room for new products in each of Amazon’s categories!

Myth #3

Sourcing profitable wholesale products for Amazon is the same as sourcing wholesale products for any other marketplace (or your own website).

Myth BUSTED

While there is some crossover, it’s important to understand that selling on Amazon is a COMPLETELY different business model than selling on eBay or from your own website.

• The economics are different
• The customers are different
• The criteria for selecting profitable wholesale products are different

Criteria that makes the difference between sourcing a winning suite of products to sell versus those that don’t.

Sourcing the RIGHT Wholesale Products to Sell on Amazon is a step-by-step course that shows you SPECIFICALLY how to source profitable products to sell Amazon.com.

This comprehensive, but easy-to-understand course will take you from the beginning fundamentals of market research and wholesale sourcing on Amazon, all the way through to expanding your business. We have students in the course with annual revenues up to $7 million dollars per year who have learned sourcing techniques that have grown their business an additional $3 million per year.

The Amazon Revolution

Whether you’re just getting started on Amazon or you’re an established seller, the money is in the sourcing! Amazon is looking for online merchants who can bring variety and selection to the marketplace.

Learn this skill and it will provide you with a thriving business for a lifetime.

-Lisa

The post MYTH BUSTING: 3 Amazon Wholesale Sourcing Myths appeared first on WhatDoISell.com.

A weekly TV show to help you source better products, get more inventory and expand your eccommerce business?

Introducing SmartSourcing TV! , a brand new weekly on show that will  show you how to tap into new opportunities in sourcing, navigate the world of wholesale sourcing and build a robust product line to expand your online business!

Whether you sell on Amazon, eBay your own website or one of today’s many marketplaces SmartSourcing TV will help you take your business to the next level with better product sourcing.

In the first episode of SmartSourcing TV we’ll talk about how to leverage the age of innovation. Never before in the history of retail have their been more new products coming into the marketplace.

You’ll also get an Action Assignment at the end of every episode so you can earn while you learn!

-Lisa Suttora

The post Introducing SmartSourcing TV! appeared first on WhatDoISell.com.

Read through the list below and see if you recognize yourself in any of these scenarios…

Changing just one of these bad sourcing habits can add thousands of dollars and more to your bottom line every year!

Stuck in a rut selling only low dollar, low margin products. Why turn $1 into $11 if you can turn $50 into $100?  Sure, in the first scenario you’re getting a 1000% markup.  And in the second scenario you’re getting 100% markup. But you need to sell a heck of a lot of $10 products to make any real income.

Does this mean you should never sell low dollar/high volume products? Not at all. If you have a high volume, low margin product that’s in-demand, go for it!

If you’re a start up with limited inventory budget, you need to start somewhere.

But long-term, if your Average Sales Price per item is below $25-$30 dollars, you must bring in some higher ticket inventory increase your profit margins and your revenues.

Selling dicey products. Are you building your business on real inventory or are you lured in by “get rich quick” inventory? A couple years ago a “hot” way to make money online was to sell secondary market medical test strips. People were driving hundreds of miles a week to meet up with “a guy in a parking lot” to get their inventory.

Did these people make money? Some did.

But many others landed themselves in big trouble for buying stolen inventory or selling test strips that were grey market or out of date.

Don’t ever compromise your integrity for the lure of fast “easy” money.

If you’re going to build a real retail business you must:

• Know how to source products wholesale

• Learn the correct way to use suppliers who will drop ship (and no they’re not all evil con-artists) (they’re also not the ‘Easy Button’ answer).

• If you source inventory using retail arbitrage, master that method

Ultimately, the success of your business depends on what you sell.

Surface sourcing. Ever feel like all the good products are taken and those you sell have little to no profit margin?

While price compression and competition are a fact of life in ecommerce, if you’re only selling the top 2-10% of products in your niche, you need to dig deeper into that category and find the products that:

• Not everyone is selling

• Can’t be found in every brick and mortar or big-box store

And they’re out there!

This is one of the biggest things you’ll learn in both my Sourcing the RIGHT Products Wholesale to Sell on Amazon Course (for Amazon sellers) and Power of 10 Product Sourcing (for eBay merchants and website owners)  -  how to look for pockets of opportunities in niches, sub-niches and micro-niches.

Once you learn how to see product sourcing differently, you’ll start to spot product opportunities that have been bypassed, missed or ignored by other online merchants who are surface sourcing.

Ignoring product trends. This one is a business killer. How can you source the products your customers will buy if YOU don’t keep your finger on the pulse of the product trends in your category?

• What’s up and coming

• What buyers are spending their money on

• How technology has changed the products you sell

Without understanding consumer trends, when you pick up a supplier catalog, how will you know what to order?

If you want to be successful in retail, you have to care about product trends. And remember, there are product trends in every category. Even a basic category like light bulbs!

Thinking you are your customer. Would you buy a $700 ice cream maker, a $100 jar of hand cream or a $700 Mahogany Dog House/Nightstand/End Table. Amazon buyers do!

As an online merchant it’s critical to understand your target customer. But placing your value judgements on what people will or won’t buy limits what you‘ll source.

You may think that the neon blue/stop yellow nail polish is the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen, but there are millions of fashionistas out there waiting for someone to bring it to the marketplace!

Which of These Resonates With You?

Even if you see yourself in all five bad sourcing habits, don’t worry they’re ALL fixable!

Recognizing these limiting sourcing practices is the first step.

Replacing them with profitable sourcing habits is the next step.

Which one is your “gotcha”?

-Lisa

Final TWO Days!

In celebration of the launch of SmartSourcing TV, save 20% on all SmartSourcing Products through 10/25.

Sourcing the RIGHT Products Wholesale to Sell on Amazon course.

Power of 10 Product Sourcing

Sourcing Products at Tradeshows

Use Coupon Code: smartsourcing

The post 5 Very Bad Product Sourcing Traps appeared first on WhatDoISell.com.

It’s a fact. Amazon.com is the worlds fastest growing ecommerce marketplace.

And if you sell products online in 2012, you need to have a sales channel on Amazon.

Right now you have a unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor and bring these products to the Amazon marketplace.

Click here for more information.

The post Sourcing the RIGHT Products Wholesale to Sell on Amazon appeared first on WhatDoISell.com.

Even though you’re running an online business, it’s important to understand that building supplier relationships is one of the most  important success factors you can have!

There are many ways to locate legitimate wholesales suppliers. Trade shows and trade publications to name a few!

Suppliers are motivated to work with sellers who know how to move their merchandise. So once you make that supplier connection, don’t treat your supplier like an anonymous vendor.  Spend some time building a relationship with them.

It won’t happen overnight, but the more you get to know them and they get to know you and the needs of your business, the stronger your relationship will become.

As a supplier gets to know you,  the more likely it is that they’ll want to work with you. You’ll also be first in mind when it comes to letting their accounts know about the good deals, new products and special purchases.

When you initiate contact with a new supplier, focus not only on finding out what the supplier has to offer you, but make it a two-way street. Suppliers are in business to sell their products, just like you are. But ultimately, product sourcing is a people business (just like any other business).  And as you build supplier relationships, you’ll find that your effort and investment will be returned ten-fold.

The post Creating a Winning Partnership with Wholesale Suppliers appeared first on WhatDoISell.com.

Most people approach this backwards. They find a product they want to sell and then look for someone to buy it.

Unfortunately, that method rarely works. And when it does, you might search for years to find the right buyer.

However, these five mindset shifts will help you approach product sourcing differently.  And put you on the path to answering “What should I sell?” or “What else should I sell?”

Mindset Shift #1: When you start looking at what people WANT rather than “what to sell” your entire perspective on product sourcing changes.  To do this you must look outward, turn on your “receiver” and OBSERVE what is going on in the hearts and minds of the consumer.  Read what they are reading, listen to what’s being said. 

The biggest mistake you can make when sourcing products is to sit at your desk and “try and think of a product to sell”.

Mindset Shift #2: Consumer trends are indicators of what the buyers will be purchasing next.  No matter what category you sell in, you have to make it your business to know what trends are happening in that industry.  If you sell lamps, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of what type of lamps people are buying.  What new styles of lamps are coming into the marketplace?  What’s being featured in the consumer magazines?

If you skip the step of studying the trends, you’ll likely go straight to the step of marking down products that didn’t sell.  Why?  Because you weren’t paying attention to the trends and didn’t source the styles your customers want now.

Mindset Shift #3: Stop chasing mainstream products with the goal of selling what’s ALREADY hot.  If you’re just starting out, look at what’s currently popular and then “take a step to the left or right” and look at related products and niches.

Yes, iPods are hot and everybody wants to sell them.  But thousands of successful home-based businesses have been built in the multi-BILLION dollar iPod RELATED products industry.

If you’re already in business, focus on looking for new product innovations and then expand your reach by delivering additional products that appeal to your existing customer base or grow the scope of your target market.

Mindset Shift #4: Always offer different levels of the same product, i.e., entry level, mid-range and deluxe versions.  If you’re not offering different levels of products, you’re eliminating entire groups of customers who would otherwise purchase from you.

Without vertical versions of products, your customers don’t have the option to buy an upgraded or deluxe version from you.  Your goal should be to give your customers choices.  To offer options they might not even know exist – that is, until they find it in your store.

Mindset Shift #5:  Always test market products before buying inventory in bulk or making any long-term product line decisions.  Testing is the ONLY way you will know DEFINITIVELY whether or not a product is right for YOUR business.

Buy a few units representing different styles, colors and brands of products and see how your customers respond.  They’ll vote with their wallets as to which they like best.  Once you’ve tracked your test results, THEN expand on what works.

Product sourcing can be one of the most fun, creative aspects of running your business, when you do it right!

Get step-by-step training on exactly how to source the products buyers want with  Power of 10 Product Sourcing.

The post 5 Product Sourcing Mindset Shifts appeared first on WhatDoISell.com.

“Sell what you know and watch the profits roll in.”

“If you are passionate about it, your customers will buy it.”

Have you heard this advice before?

While these catchy phrases do make for great inspirational sound bytes, unfortunately they are not solid business advice.

In fact, all three statements leave out one important factor for success…

You can only sell what you love, sell what you know and sell what you are passionate about IF people are interested in buying those products.

If no one is buying,  it doesn’t matter how much you like a product, you won’t make money selling it online.

Here’s the Profitable Approach

Find products that sell and be open to new passions.

Let’s look at an example:

Adele has a love of decorative plates.  Her house is filled with an impressive collection.

She thought this passion might translate nicely to an eBay business.

Because she loves decorative plates so much, Adele was sure that buyers would flock to her listings and buy the plates she adores.

However, Adele ignored one of the important fundamentals product sourcing; she became attached to her product line.

Not only that, she didn’t do her research ahead of time on the market demand for the kind of decorative plates she was selling.

Her results were disappointing.  The plates didn’t sell well.

After several months, Adele started to think that maybe an eBay business wasn’t for her.

It wasn’t until she and I talked that she realized the business wasn’t the problem, her product was!

Once Adele went back and did her research on the market demand for decorative plates, she realized that the plates she loved were not desired by other collectors.

So, Adele went back to the drawing board. Several months later, Adele reported that she had found a new niche in the collectibles market and her business was moving right along.

But Can’t I Sell What I Like?

Absolutely!  You have to have an interest in what you sell or you won’t put energy into marketing it. And if you don’t have knowledge about your product line and passion for your offerings, your customers can tell a mile away.

But remember, there are millions of products in the world to sell.  So always keep an eye out, and an open mind for the next opportunity.

Your business will be much more profitable with this approach.

-Lisa Suttora

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While starting your online business, you’ll likely have other responsibilities – a day job, a family, commitments to your community, a home to run. Time is a premium and often the consistent actions required to build your successful online business are edged out by “life”.

For example, you have great plans to work on your business on Monday night when you get home from work.  But Monday at the office was hectic, you had to take the cat to the vet after work, and your kids had soccer practice. By the time you wrap up the day it’s 9:00pm and all you want to do is sink into your comfy chair and turn on the TV.

It’s at this point a moment of decision occurs.  Write a blog post?  Work on the articles for submittal to Ezine Articles?  Or… take the night “off” and sink into the easy chair.  After all, you’ve worked hard all day, you deserve it.

Unfortunately many people will choose the latter – and push those business tasks off to the next day.  Only the next day something else happens that prevents you from working on your business again.  Before you know it, it’s the weekend and you’re in catch up mode – trying to cram a full weeks worth of work on your business in on Saturday.

And while you may think that working on your business for six hours each Saturday is equivalent to putting in an hour a day in the evenings – it’s not.

Because you’re not training your mind to think of your business as a business. Instead  you are sending the message to your subconscious that it’s a hobby.  A hobby that gets fit in “when there is time.” And that’s a powerful determinant of the results you’ll get.

When consulting with my entrepreneurial clients, one of the first things I tell them is this:

“Treat your business like a business and it will pay you like a business. Treat your business like a hobby and it will cost you like a hobby.”

Consistent daily actions are the secret to your success. Spending an hour each day focused solely on your business will guarantee greater results then cramming it all in on the weekend and being a weekend entrepreneur.

In addition to sending a strong message to your brain and your subconscious that this is a business, it also gets you in the habit of thinking about and working on your business on a daily basis – even when you’re not actively working on it.

When you work on your business daily, your  mind will be creating new ideas, problem solving, coming up with clever new headlines, and writing your next info product even when you’re not at your desk.

Don’t feel like writing that blog post on Monday? Do it anyway. Think today isn’t the day to track your sales? Do it anyway. Cataloging and listing inventory got you down? Do it anyway… Consistent actions produce consistent results.

• The business-minded entrepreneur spends time each day working on their business.
• The hobbyist works if and when they feel like it.
• The business-minded entrepreneur tracks their market, sales, and results and learns from that information.
• The hobbyist takes a shot in the dark and hopes for the best.
• The business-minded entrepreneur knows exactly where their business stands at all times.
• The hobbyist has “a feel” for how things are going.
• The business-minded entrepreneur knows that it takes time, work, tweaking, testing, and learning to build a profitable long-term business.
• The hobbyist wants it to happen “right now” and when they get bored or frustrated, they abandon the “business” to move on to the next one—unfortunately, usually with the same results.

Consistent daily actions work like compound interest in your business.  Taken on their own, a little bit each day may not seem like a lot. But when compounded over 5 or 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year- you will be amazed at what you’ve accomplished.

So the next time you’re tempted to forgo a business task because you’re tired or feel like doing something else – remind yourself that there’s a lot more at stake here than the accomplishing the daily task.   Remind yourself that your actions are the difference between building a business or a hobby.

The post Are You Building a Business or a Hobby? appeared first on WhatDoISell.com.

First, I want to congratulate Wai Hong and his team!

This is a great example of how vision and a niche focus led to success.

Landing on Smart Company’s Hot 30 Under 30 list is no small feat. Smart Company is Australia’s leading online business site with news, information and resources site for Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners, and business managers. Each year they publish a list of the hottest and most successful up and coming entrepreneurial businesses in Australia.

And this is a pretty amazing list when you look at the demographics:

• The entrepreneurs had to be 30 years of age and under
• Their business had to have at least $1 million in annual sales
• This year’s recognized business owners have $100 million in combined revenue
• They employ well over 600 people
• On average, their start up costs were under $100,000 and in most cases their companies have been in operation for less than five years

What makes this story even more remarkable is that Wai Hong started selling on eBay Australia just under 3 years ago and today owns a business that boasts ten niche websites with projected revenues of  $1.5 million dollars this year!

And that’s why OZHut is the first case study in the Want to Have Success Online? Find a Niche and FOCUS! series, because it all started with a niche.

When Wai Hong Fong first became a member of my 2008 Business Growth Group, he had just completed our exclusive Holistic Business Review on his up and coming business. At the time, he was working with a relative on the business, and when they went on vacation for a month, Wai Hong was in charge of the store. He had a big vision for the business, but didn’t have the clarity as to how it would all happen.  The Holistic Business Review provided him with the organization, clarity and next steps to expand his business online.

OZHut started on eBay, like a lot of online sellers do, selling a variety of different products. The “variety store” model was working for OZHut, they were successful on eBay – but it soon became apparent that some product lines were making money and some were not. Some were easier to sell and ship and some were not. Certain items had a higher rate of return and others had a low return rate.

If you sell in the variety store model, you’ll find that your results are the same.

Wai Hong had already been thinking in terms of starting a niche websites. But with several successful products, the question was – which one to monetize on a niche site first?

The first thing I recommended he look at was which of his products on eBay were the most successful? Which had the highest profit margin? Which were the easiest to source, stock, ship and sell? Which products would lend themselves best to a niche website?

Wai Hong  immediately went to work to identify the right product line for a niche site and shortly thereafter, OzScopes was born.

Today, OZScopes is Australia’s leading niche telescope store. And after cementing that niche success and systematizing the process, Wai Hong went to work to build the next niche site.

Today the OZHut network of niche stores consists of ten niche sites, each focused on a separate niche. From the telescope niche to the baby pram niche, to a niche gadget store, Wai Hong Fong and his team focus on one thing – creating success one niche at a time.

When interviewed on his niche strategy for the Hot 30 Under 30 List, this successful 24 year old entrepreneur said:

“While others are seeking to build large online departmental stores, we’ve found that focusing on specific product niches via dedicated stores allows us greater SEO and online marketing leverage to create a strong presence in those markets,” he says

It all gets back to the 7 Reasons to Find a Niche and FOCUS. Had Wai Hong tried to build a department store site, he would not have realized success as quickly, clearly or definitively.

However by  focusing on a profitable niche he was able to:

1. Become a destination site in a niche

2. Know his market

3. Source the products his niche customers want

4. Clearly brand the business

5. Maximize his advertising  resources

6. Build a site that Google likes

7. Leverage his time and resources, and take actions specifically focused on niche success

Start With ONE Niche, Then Lather, Rinse and Repeat

It’s important to note that while Wai Hong Fong and OZHut stores have achieved massive niche success with sites in ten different niches, he didn’t build them all at the same time.

If he’d attempted to build all ten at once, spreading 10% of his efforts across each of his 10 sites, he’d still be trying to get the first one off the ground.

Instead he started with one niche site and a sole goal of making that niche site profitable.  It was only when that site was up, running and profitable that he turned his sites to the next niche.

How about you? Are you trying to build a business in multiple sites simultaneously?

If so it’s time to pick the most profitable one or the one with the most potential and put your energies into that site. Put the other one on the back burner for now.  Once the first site is up, running and generating a steady income, then you can focus on the next site.

Coming up next in the Want to Have Success Online? Find a Niche and FOCUS series find out how having an expertise in one niche can be monetized several different ways.

-Lisa

The post From $0 to a $2 Million Dollar Success appeared first on WhatDoISell.com.

My answer to this question is always the same and it applies no matter what you sell or where you sell it.

Your best opportunity for creating a successful business on the Internet is to…

Find a niche and FOCUS.

* If you’re a jack of all trades, master of none, it’s time to find a niche!
* If you’re spreading yourself thinly between three different eBay stores and 12 different types of products and none of them are up and running profitably, it’s time to find a niche.
* If you’re selling information products on health and fitness, starting an eBay store that sells used computer parts and trying to monetize a green-cleaner website all at the same time, it’s time to find a niche and focus!

Over the years, in working with thousands of online sellers in11 different countries, selling in more than 2300 different niche markets, sub-niches and micro-niches – one common thread runs through the most successful businesses…

Each one is succeeding in a niche market.

You see, once you’ve identified a profitable niche to serve, you can monetize that niche many different ways. But without that niche identified you’ll find yourself chasing market after market, opportunity after opportunity, never making any traction or money.

Many would-be business owners find themselves dabbling in multiple niche markets, putting in 10% of their time and attention on each. But 10% effort in 10 different niche markets does not add up to a 100% income.

You need to first be 100% focused on serving a niche and maximize the monetization of that niche to enjoy a 100% income.

Because of the importance of this topic, I’m putting together a series here on my blog, showcasing some successful niche businesses and explaining why they work. Additionally I’ll be explaining how you can implement this in your business.

So let’s start first, by talking about 7 business reasons why you should find a niche and focus! (Note: There are many more reasons than this, but let’s start with 7.)
7 Reasons to Find a Niche and FOCUS

1. You can’t be everything to everybody. At first glance, this seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at the number of business owners I see trying. This especially afflicts new Internet business owners, who see the internet business buffet and want to sample everything. The problem is that this sampling goes on long past “happy hour” and into the “main meal” – the point at which you should be building a business that is hearty, focused and nourishing to your bank account.

2. The money comes from knowing your market. What does your market want? What are their problems? What are they buying? How do they like to be marketed to? Where do they hang out? It takes time to really get to know your market. If you don’t know your market, you won’t know what to sell to them and how to sell it. If you sell baby products, how to make money with Google Adsense eBooks, and affiliate products for Pomeranians, you won’t have enough time to find out about ANY of those markets. So you’ll throw a bunch of stuff up on the Internet and hope someone buys. And then they don’t. Contrast this to selling baby products, eBooks about parenting and affiliate products in the baby niche and now you’re cookin’!

By the way, I call this my Niche Monetizer Method™, but that’s a subject for a later post.

3. It takes money to monetize a niche. If you sell physical products, in order to find the products buyers want, get the best inventory and stock your store, you need to attend trade shows, read industry publications, purchase information on your niche. This alone could cost you several thousand dollars a year. You may attend the Sporting Goods Trade Show a couple times a year, subscribe to a couple sporting goods industry publications and consumer publications. You may make a few other buying trips during the year to source inventory.

4. Google loves themed, quality sites. This means a niche site with content, audio, video and products all geared toward achieving the same objective. Want to sell products in the juggling niche? Your site must not only have products, but also content to go with it. If you have a site that is not niche focused, creating a quality, themed site is impossible to do.

5. Become a destination site online. As a small to medium-sized business, you need to be a go-to destination in your site in your niche. A well optimized site, featuring the products and services that people want is the path to becoming a destination site online. If I’m a customer looking for a unique prom dress, I want to browse a site that specializes in prom dresses, with a depth of selection and a knowledgeable customer service staff. If I’m shopping an eBay store for a prom dress, I don’t want to be looking at running shoes and circular saws being displayed next to the pink frilly prom desk I’m looking at.

6. Branding for the big bucks. Focusing on a niche enables you to build a brand. Your logo, the look and feel of your store and website, your blog, all play an important role in building your brand online. In my upcoming blog series, I’ll show you some examples of online sellers who have built a strong brand – brands which is now getting people to sit up and take notice!

7. The number of hours you have in each day are limited, with a niche focus you leverage those hours. The Law of Attraction says “What you focus on expands.” Lisa’s Law of Action says “What you take action expands.” And the way to leverage your actions is to get more than one benefit from that action. For example, let’s say that you’re selling info products in the sizzling hot niche, in-city vegetable gardening. You write the eBook (or have it written), create some article marketing articles, identify your niche keywords and put together your Keyword Bank™ – you can now leverage all these actions into more advertising and marketing. The article marketing articles are now re-purposed as blog posts or tweets, your keywords are used to optimized your sales page, and the associated products you are selling on eBay. And your eBook becomes a stand-alone product or a bonus for the physical products you sell or your new home study course.

In the span of two days, you’ve leveraged the actions you’ve taken in one niche.

And of course, once you get the system down for monetizing one niche, then it’s lather, rinse, repeat for the next one!
Ask Yourself Today. “What is my niche?”

How about you? “What niche do you currently sell in?” or “What niche will you focus on?” The answer to that question is key to your next steps.

Throughout this blog series, I’ll be showcasing businesses who are monetizing in several different niche markets.

Coming up first in our series…

1. From the Variety Store Model to Rapid Niche Success we’ll look at an entrepreneur from Australia who started selling in the variety store model on eBay, but whose business really took off when he started focusing on a niche.

- Lisa

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