Feedback required on idea for a business?

Question

I have a very simple idea for a business. This MUST have been thought of by loads of people before, so do you know any organisations that do this?

The fundamental idea is that buying in bulk gives you a discount. So if you want to buy... say... an iPod as a christmas present, you sign up to a website, saying "I'm looking for an iPod some time in the next two months." If, for example, 1000 people want to buy an iPod, then you bulk buy 1000 units, take half the discount and pass the rest on to the customers. Of course, it would only be possible with certain products or services.

If you know of an organisation that do this, let me know. If there are none, I suppose I'll have to set one up.

EDIT: I forgot to specify the actual mechanics of payment. You sign up to the website with your credit card details, you order the product you want and the date you want it (i.e. a month's time), the system automatically gives you the bulk-buy discount when enough people have ordered the same product.

Answer 1

I think this has already been done a couple of years ago , the problem they had is although someone might want something ' in the next few months ' there is no guarantee that they will actually buy it so what happens is you get say 1000 hits of people saying they want to by an iPod , so you go out and but 1000 iPods at 40% discount and offer then out with 20 % discount and only 500 actually buy them leaving you with 500 units which you have to mark down just to move them and break even if you're lucky , the only way this would actually work is to be paid up front by everybody as this guarantees sales , but i think you'll find that people will be less inclined to pay money up front and then wait for delivery since it's easy enough to buy now pay later e.g. catalogues

Answer 2

Where I live there is a company called E-shop that does this with computers and computer supplies. You can visit the site at www.eshop.gr (but the site is in Greek). It works well for them, but there is also a limited availabilty and variety here (I'm on an island) so that might have something to do with their profitability. It is a good idea because there is absolutely no overhead, but it may be hard to get the word out and to gain trust of people. You need to think about when you will take customers' money. Will you require a deposit? It will be unlikely that people will give you a deposit unless you have a physical facility (store) so that they can see you are a legitimate business. If you do not take money up front, you will have the problem of needing to fork over all the capital to purchase the goods. And then what happens if the customers back out after you have already purchased them. So that is something that you should think about when going into this type of business.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

You need to study economics and marketing.
The reality is that it's not that easy to acquire a 1000 customers.
The cost of setting up the operation and marketing it to potential customers would easily cost more than any profit you might expect to make.

All business start-up are risky

Answer 4

the assumption of regionally funded risk-free practices is vast, community human beings understand and care approximately their section. toddlers being in contact in community initiatives and in taking duty for the place they stay is solid too however the criminal ingredient of young toddlers, or absolutely everyone, carrying pepper spray or any weapon, won't paintings. This suggested, there is surely a loss of community policing or maybe nonetheless there are some hitches right here it is not a nasty thought and a solid place to commence. don't be placed off, in simple terms seem for advice on the criminal ingredient first and ask community human beings what they think of - in the event that they are your 'paying purchasers' (or maybe non-paying) then the only thank you to be certain if it rather is of activity to them is to ask them. solid success.

Answer 5

who is to say that all 1000people will actually buy after saying they will
who is to say you will actually get a decent enough discount to make profit?
will people be willing to wait while you get all your orders?
will people be willing to buy something they dont avtually have a price for (cant negotiate discount to pass on if dont know how many you need)
will people pay upfront for something that you dont actually have

sorry to rain on your parade but these are just somethings i thouht of when thinking about your business

Answer 6

That's the basic action of retailers and there's millions of them all over the world.

Answer 7

Simple. Go onto any sales web site they do it already.