Online Store, Is It A Good Business?

**Admin** Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:58 am

Do you know that there is a new online shopping portal launched by Pos Malaysia? Postme is a virtual shopping place where you do your shopping without leaving your home. With an Internet connection you will be able to purchase items and get them delivered to your door step by PosLaju. Although the items listed are quite limited, it will slowly be added based on the demands from consumers. You also become a merchant in this portal simply by paying a nominal fees and you are set to go! For details please refer to the link below:

http://www.postme.com.my

In the international arena, Ebay leads the martkeplace by selling anything under the sun! (practically anything). The biggest item ever bought on Ebay was a luxury boat!! You can also get your latest gadgets or apparels from big merhants like Apple and Gap. For international trade, the most acceptable currency is Paypal. A paypal ID is easily obtained by signing up to the service and validating your identity with a debit or credit card. For us in Malaysia, we can pay using a money transfer or deposit if the seller are also Malaysian. You can apply for a virtual shop by paying a monthly charges to Ebay. Look at live virtual store from Malaysian sellers below:

1. http://stores.ebay.com.my/IPOH-MARI-STORE

2. http://myworld.ebay.com.my/shahizanhashim/

3. http://stores.ebay.com.my/The-Penang-Bookshelf

There is also a wholesale market like AliBaba.com for those who are interested in the wholesaling activities. The potential for online store is definitely there. However, before starting an online store, you may want to do the following assessment:

1. Identify your product, market, and competition - the simplest rule is to look for wanted items via hot stuff, trend and highly searched for, with less competition

2. Time and resources - You will be spending a lot of time on the Internet, something very different from that of a brick-and-mortar type of business. There must be a proper planning to do market research, sourcing, and selling.

3. Start small - In Ebay or any other online shopping portal, it is recommended that you start selling at a small scale. This is to look at the response and also a good way to test you marketing strategies as define in step 1. If you can start without a store, do that first until you feel comfortable about the operation side of it and also the financial part i.e. working capital and cash flow. Once your business is stabilised with steady demands, you can subscribe to an online store which will give you more credibility and exposure to the rest of the world.