What are the first steps to consider when opening an online gift shop?

Question

I'm not sure where to start...or what the initial start up costs would be, any ideas?

Answer 1

The best routes to take are to research the process of starting a business as well as the industry you're interested in.

I recommend checking out the SBA, Entrepreneur, The Start Up Journal & Nolo. All 4 are great informational resources for the new/small business owner. I posted links for you in the source box.

Associations may be a good avenue to explore. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for some relevant links.

Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* Selling Online: How to Become a Successful E-Commerce Merchant by Jim Carroll, Rick Broadhead
* The Complete E-Commerce Book: Design, Build, and Maintain a Successful Web-Based Business by Janice Reynolds
* Intelligent Selling: The Art & Science of Selling Online by Ken Burke
* E-Commerce for Dummies by Don Jones
* Starting A Flower And Gift Shop by Millicent Gray Lownes-Jackson,
* Specialty Shop Retailing: How to Run Your Own Store Revised by Carol L. Schroeder

There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 2

If this is an online giftshop you can start up very little money. You will of course need to obtain a business license. Then buy inventory and a place to store it. Most people do this from home so they use a garage or a spare bedroom. One thing you could try is selling on ebay. You could save yourself a lot of money on a website by selling on ebay. Good luck.

Answer 3

You will want to first of all research the market to find out what people are interetsed in & what brand names are popular. Secondly, You will need to sit down & budget out what type of overhead you will need & how many different choice produts you will be carrying. This will then be tied into a good figure to base what your starting initial capital you will need to get things started. Let me know if I can be of additional assistance.

Answer 4

Well : first of all have Location, Businessname, needs cost
controll, must get approved by enviremental health services
knows salesmanagement materials ,carries buisness licenses
other things obeys laws & serves customers with respects ect
this meets standard buliding & safety codes
see http://www.howtorunsmallbusiness.com

Answer 5

does the online shop have a Secure Payment process..and how involved will you be in the upkeep of the store ...is there already a team of experts that will do most everything for you??

Answer 6

I can offer you the exact same opportunity in which I am involved.

You will have your own dedicated web site (URL) that will be yours alone. It will be an already-up-and-running site that will take you three minutes or less, to personalize and launch.

You will have access to over 3 million products, many of which you are already buying, all of them brand-name, all of them very competitively priced. All the paperwork will be done for you.

You will earn a retail profit of 20 percent on each sale.

Your site will accept Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards from day one. No hassle with getting that through bank (merchant services account); the servicing corporation handles that.

You will be backed by the NUMBER-ONE online customer service business, as rated by the Harris Poll, a servicing corporation with an impeccable reputation for integrity and quality, opportunity and customer and business-owner service going back FORTY-SEVEN YEARS. Online, seven years (Sept. 1999).

This servicing corporation ALWAYS pays you your retail profit and performance bonuses IN FULL and ON TIME, on the 18th of each calendar month following the month in which the business was transacted. Business that you generate in January, 2007 will earn you a bonus and retail profit check on its way to you Feb. 18, 2007.

The twenty-three different gift albums you will be able to offer, will range in price from $ 20. (your cost: 16.) to $ 500 (your cost: 400.) and include a five-pack of the $ 20. album that you get an additional discount on. They will be full-color paper albums that you can carry samples around of, with you in your car to hand out to business decision-makers, friends, family, etc.

You will be totally free to alter prices any way you choose; the suggested retail prices are merely SUGGESTED retail prices (it's illegal to "price-fix").

You will have total access to online training and tips to market your gift items to consumers as well as to businesses. These are top-notch, name-brand products that you will have access to at extremely competitive wholesale cost.

You will have my mentorship and guidance at no charge, since your success earns me a tiny little differential on each sale. The bigger your business grows, the bigger the tiny little differential total to me grows; at no cost or impairment in any way, to your bonus or retail profit. Moreover, you are free to sponsor new aspiring business owners-to-be and earn yourself the same type of differentials. This is at every level downline; not merely one or two.

In addition, you will have the mentorship and guidance of my mentors, all of whom are financially independent as of this writing based on their RESIDUAL incomes through the business I am referring you to. Several of them are millionaires (definition: earning $ 1,000,000 or more per year, each and every year; residual income); some are multi-millionaires.

You will have access to a weekly training session aimed specifically at ensuring your continued success, in a city or town most likely within seventy miles or less of your location, if you are located in any of about three-fourths of U.S. states. Mine is in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The weekly cost for the seminar which I attend, which is Monday evening at 8:00, is four dollars ($ 4.00) admission per person (guests free). That merely covers the rental cost of a hotel meeting room. The one in your city or your local area may vary, but is probably not more than $ 6.00.

Sound good? E-mail me directly. Click on my nickname. Leave me as much of your contact information as you wish. My phone number is [phone], and my voice mail is [phone]. My name is Jack Nelson, and my mailing address is P.O. Box 252 Mechanicsburg, PA 17055.