A while back I set about building a website to offer a selling platform for the chile community, aiming for an 'Etsy' type system.
The idea came from being a chile fanatic for years, starting my own (small) sauce biz, being a member on a couple forums including this one, and trading with a few forum members who sold me sauces, powders and seeds.
It seemed that small home-based sellers and even some of the larger sellers suffer with inneficient sales systems and lack of exposure. It seemed to me that the industry was crying out for a platform dedicated to the selling/buying of all things spicy.
I took the project to the point of technical completion but due to some 'life' issues, was unable to put any marketing effort behind it, so it has sat patiently waiting for somone to pick it up and run with it for the last couple years.
Of course that someone was meant to be me, but I'm now resigned to the fact that due to circumstances beyond my control, I won't have the time to make it happen.
I'll provide a link in a second, but the basic way it operates is like this -
What do you need to own/operate this site, other than a mountain of cash? (just kidding...)
Well, not much really. The technical side is all setup for you and the operation is very simple, I'll have everything setup for you as part of the deal and I can hold your hand if needed.
So you need to know a few people who might be interested in opening a store, that would help. Then you would also open a store selling your own products through the new website, to start the ball rolling.
Then, if you presently have some customers of your own, you would encourage them to buy from your new store. Then, the other store owners would encourage their customers to buy from their stores and in a short time you have your traffic and your sales. You could contact any number of vendors, large and small, and ask them to setup a free store. As the traffic starts to build, it will be a no-brainer for people, why wouldn't they want to setup a store and add a new sales channel?
There are obviously more aggressive ways of marketing this, so anyone with enhanced internet skills, like SEO for example, could build a nice profitable niche website in no time at all.
As far as styling goes, it can be changed very quickly to suit your preferences. The website is built around Wordpress, so updating themes, adding new pages, making blog posts etc, is all very simple. For those with interest at a more technical level, it's actually WPMU running with Apache controlling sub-domains and a number of WP aps controlling everything.
Another business development idea would be if you're already a high volume seller and you wanted to use this as your brand website and offer sub-stores to resellers of your products. You could handle all the shipping, your resellers would each have a store on your website, and they'd earn a commission for everything they sold directly from their store, without having to handle product!!
Or...if you know a few like-minded chileheads, why not get together and start a co-op?
I've put a lot of time into this project but I'm willing to pass it along to a new owner and hold your hand for a while. I'm not willing to give it away however
Obviously there will be those of an entrepreneurial nature who will see the potential in this, and there will be those who don't fully understand it and think it's dumb.
As the text says at the top of this section, this isn't the place to discuss whether you think it's a good idea or a dumb one. If you think it's dumb, take a look at Etsy.com or even Amazon.com for that matter.
So I'm happy to answer any constructive questions here or via PM or email at carlh@netnet.net
Who am I? - I've been running a web design business for over 15 years and I also operate a vitamin supplement business which has been online since 1998. I know a bit about websites and how the Internet works, 'cos that's what I do. I grow my own peppers, make my own powders and sauces and have a real passion for the hobby, along with cooking and music.
Oh.... www.hotsaucecorner.com (make me an offer)
Have a great day!!
Rooze
The idea came from being a chile fanatic for years, starting my own (small) sauce biz, being a member on a couple forums including this one, and trading with a few forum members who sold me sauces, powders and seeds.
It seemed that small home-based sellers and even some of the larger sellers suffer with inneficient sales systems and lack of exposure. It seemed to me that the industry was crying out for a platform dedicated to the selling/buying of all things spicy.
I took the project to the point of technical completion but due to some 'life' issues, was unable to put any marketing effort behind it, so it has sat patiently waiting for somone to pick it up and run with it for the last couple years.
Of course that someone was meant to be me, but I'm now resigned to the fact that due to circumstances beyond my control, I won't have the time to make it happen.
I'll provide a link in a second, but the basic way it operates is like this -
- A seller comes along to the website and registers for a store account.
- The website creates a unique store for the seller and sets everything up instantly so the seller is ready to upload products and start selling.
- The seller uploads his/her products, customizes the 'about us' page, adds contact details, then enters a paypal email address for collecting money, and voila, a new website is born.
- The shopper can move around the site and buy spices, seeds, bottles of sauce, jams, jellies etc from multiple sellers.
- When the shopper has finished adding items to his/her cart, he/she complets a single checkout.
- The system then calculates who sold what and sends instant payments via PayPal to each merchant involved in the transaction.
- Then, the merchant gets an email from the system with shipping instructions to complete the order.
- The main site owner/admin can take a percentage off the top of every sale for a commission, just like eBay does. Since YOU are the admin, the percentage can be whatever you want to set it at, including zero.
- The idea is to evolve the website into a trading community, like Etsy, only for all things spicy.
- As well as the commissions, you could at some point make it a monthly paid membership website, where store owners pay you $19.95 or whatever. Or, you could keep membership free, but charge for functional enhancements to their stores. For example, people could map their own domain names to their own store for a small fee.
- There's a setup on the 'Marketplace' section where you advertise hot sauce products for sale by merchants on Amazon, and you get a sales commission via Amazon when a product is sold. (I)
- Like the Amazon example above, there's also a setup for getting sales commissions from eBay. (I)
- You can add vendors who offer affiliate commissions to the website, including Google Adwords (I)
- And much more...
What do you need to own/operate this site, other than a mountain of cash? (just kidding...)
Well, not much really. The technical side is all setup for you and the operation is very simple, I'll have everything setup for you as part of the deal and I can hold your hand if needed.
So you need to know a few people who might be interested in opening a store, that would help. Then you would also open a store selling your own products through the new website, to start the ball rolling.
Then, if you presently have some customers of your own, you would encourage them to buy from your new store. Then, the other store owners would encourage their customers to buy from their stores and in a short time you have your traffic and your sales. You could contact any number of vendors, large and small, and ask them to setup a free store. As the traffic starts to build, it will be a no-brainer for people, why wouldn't they want to setup a store and add a new sales channel?
There are obviously more aggressive ways of marketing this, so anyone with enhanced internet skills, like SEO for example, could build a nice profitable niche website in no time at all.
As far as styling goes, it can be changed very quickly to suit your preferences. The website is built around Wordpress, so updating themes, adding new pages, making blog posts etc, is all very simple. For those with interest at a more technical level, it's actually WPMU running with Apache controlling sub-domains and a number of WP aps controlling everything.
Another business development idea would be if you're already a high volume seller and you wanted to use this as your brand website and offer sub-stores to resellers of your products. You could handle all the shipping, your resellers would each have a store on your website, and they'd earn a commission for everything they sold directly from their store, without having to handle product!!
Or...if you know a few like-minded chileheads, why not get together and start a co-op?
I've put a lot of time into this project but I'm willing to pass it along to a new owner and hold your hand for a while. I'm not willing to give it away however
Obviously there will be those of an entrepreneurial nature who will see the potential in this, and there will be those who don't fully understand it and think it's dumb.
As the text says at the top of this section, this isn't the place to discuss whether you think it's a good idea or a dumb one. If you think it's dumb, take a look at Etsy.com or even Amazon.com for that matter.
So I'm happy to answer any constructive questions here or via PM or email at carlh@netnet.net
Who am I? - I've been running a web design business for over 15 years and I also operate a vitamin supplement business which has been online since 1998. I know a bit about websites and how the Internet works, 'cos that's what I do. I grow my own peppers, make my own powders and sauces and have a real passion for the hobby, along with cooking and music.
Oh.... www.hotsaucecorner.com (make me an offer)
Have a great day!!
Rooze
