How I Shot Myself In the Foot.. No, Wallet!

I need to let you in on some very important information. Not only will this information save you lots money, or possibly the life of your entire business, but it will allow you to increase your profits through multiple businesses.

First off, operating an online store is a fabulous and lucrative pastime, so kudos on making that decision. But before getting into the thick of it, heed my warning, you do not want to make this same mistake: only maintain one distributor for each of your online stores. Two if you MUST.

I know what you might be thinking right now, "But the more products I have, the bigger the selection will be and I'll end up selling more -- therefore I'll be making more profit!" And that's exactly what I thought at one point, too. But unless you are charging sky-high prices or maintaining an inventory of your entire stock, then this thought is only half true.

It is true that you may end up selling more, but the reality of the situation will quickly appear and you will be losing money with nearly every sale. And this is all centered around one simple, and easily glossed-over factor: shipping.

Let me tell you a true story. Many years ago for one of my businesses, I had this grand idea of creating a recreation room super store. So I found four distributors for billiard equipment and recreation room accessories, one for board games, one for pewter products and one for candles and other neat decoration items. It sure seemed like a good idea at the time; I would be able to sell people everything a person would want and need to setup a recreation room with one shopping cart. I could virtually feel my wallet getting fatter. Then reality hit when I sold my very first order.

The customer's order consisted of 1 or 2 small products from nearly every distributor I had. Through the online store's software, I had it setup to charge shipping based on the customers final price. When all of the items were tallied up, the customer was charged about $9.00 shipping, which was reasonable for the size of the order. But when I turned around to order the products from my distributors, I needed to pay $5.00 shipping at this one, $3.00 at that one, $4.00 here and there, and $3.50 at a couple others. My shipping costs totalled nearly $20! That amount was way too much to pass on to my customer when they were just ordering a few small items. They would have cancelled their order and moved on to one of my competitors.

After that fiasco, I quickly reconsidered the direction of my business.

So if you've got great idea that would involve more distributors, try opening a second online store. There isn't any rule that says you can't run 2, 3, or more online stores! In fact, you might want to do that anyways -- having multiple streams of income is a proven way of making the big bucks.

Even if your stores are selling basically the same products, you will be able to better corner the market at Yahoo! Shopping, or whatever place you are selling.

Having multiple business will also give you the opportunity to test advertising with one store and see if sales grow or shrink in relation to the others. You could even provide links to your other stores and advertise them as "sister sites." If your customers trust one of your stores, they'll automatically trust your "sister sites."

Do you see why you should have only 1 or 2 distributors per online store? It is very important to keep this in mind for the long term success of your business. Not only that, but it gives you a valuable opportunity to create multiple income streams.

Copyright © 2003 by Palyn Peterson

About The Author

Sign up for Palyn Peterson's FREE 13 day intensive email course and discover the 16 necessary basics and 5 advanced internet marketing techniques. You'll also receive a free $gift$. http://FutureInternetMarketing.com/guide.htm

This article is free to publish with resource box. If using this article, please send a brief message to palyn@futureinternetmarketing.com

---

The 10 Success Basics For Your Online Business

It's always a good time to review what's been working... Read More

Multiple Streams Of Internet Income

Make your website pay?in millionsAlthough opportunities were rare and far... Read More

5 Steps to Achieving Success in Marketing

1 Planning:When starting your marketing strategy, it is wise to... Read More

Streamlining Internet Marketing

With each new Internet Marketing (IM) Guru, there comes a... Read More

5 Ways To Treat Your Website Like An Employee And Reap The Rewards

People often come to me in a state of crisis... Read More

How Do You Make Gold Online Without A Database?

That is a great question!We all know by now that... Read More

Niche Marketing - How to Find Your Perfect Niche Market

If you don't find a niche market for the product... Read More

Internet Marketing Basics

Almost all of the articles on Internet marketing lacks coverage... Read More

Getting Targeted Traffic by Standing Out In The Crowd

Have you ever seen the trading floor in action on... Read More

Dont Tell Me What I Cant Do!

Have you ever watched ABC's hit TV show Lost? My... Read More

Building Consumer Confidence Builds Sales

Many small online business owners have yet to understand the... Read More

Marketing Your Networking Group

Several months ago I went on the cruise from hell.... Read More

The 2 Best-Kept Secrets Of The Internet

It's a difficult task creating a website that brings you... Read More

The Facts You Should Know About Internet Marketing

I wakeup this morning and see my lovely wife. She... Read More

A New Way to Profit From Your Content-Based Website

"It's a labor of love." That's how I've always described... Read More

e-Marketing Strategy: 7 Dimensions to Consider (the e-Marketing Mix)

What is e-Marketing?e-Marketing is still quite a controversial subject to... Read More

Ten Tried And Tested Viral Marketing Campaigns

Believe it or not, viral marketing did not originate from... Read More

5 Powerful Tips To Beat The Biggest Problem ALL Marketers Face

I bet you can't tell me... the single biggest problem... Read More

If you Sell a Product, Use Online Marketing, Part 1

When you offer your products via an email campaign to... Read More

How Quality Content Will Increase Your Traffic and Sales

Are you aware of how vitally important and valuable CONTENT... Read More

Internet Marketing Guide

If you are considering launching a website for your business... Read More

Success in On-Line Business

Here is a story of four traders who each started... Read More

Making Money Online: What You Really Want To Know

So you've been thinking of doing some internet marketing or... Read More

Sales Marketing: Ten Magnificent Marketing Ideas To Amplify Your Business

You can magnify and expand your business if you have... Read More

Providing Information Will Boost Your Web Site

I was at a meeting the other day when one... Read More

Want To Make Money Online? You Need To Sell What People Are Buying

For several years now, enterprising individuals like you have been... Read More

Successful Internet Marketing Without A Budget

The following excerpts were taken from an interview held with... Read More

A Simple 8 Step Formula For Testing Your Headlines

I am going to let you in on a secret?... Read More

The 10 Commandments of Guerrilla Marketing Design

Guerrilla Marketing Design is more an attitude than a system... Read More

New Form of Click Fraud Discovered

If you use PPC advertising and are in a highly... Read More

Traffic, Money, How To Get There

Want more hits to your website or someone actually buying?... Read More

Six Techniques to Triple Your Website Hits

Welcome,Over the past five years I have learnt many tricks... Read More

4 Ways In Which You Can Achieve Critical Mass

Critical Mass Website Promotion is the elite goal rarely attained... Read More