Starting an online baby gifts shop, where to start-help needed please

Babygifts

Hello Guys,

Well I am very new on this entrepreneur path and would appreciate any advice given. I want to start an online baby gift shop. It basically supplies baby gifts with a twist. This is my first business venture, so I am having difficulty in accessing suppliers based in Ireland that supply wholesale baby clothing such as bibs, t-shirts, hats, onesies, socks and etc. I am also having difficulty in relation to packaging of my proposed products. I do not where to start, I have been searching the internet in relation to packaging but cannot find suitable gift boxes for my products.

Thanks for any advice any one can share:D

91011

i don't want to put a dampner on it, but the online gift market is quite small and very crowded. it will take 2/3 years to get traction.

Read the regular columns in the sunday business post (or maybe its the sunday tribune) about an online baby gift shop and its travails into the uk market.

As for good packaging, you'll have to go to uk suppliers www.wbc.com (or .co.uk) is a starting point

Babygifts

Thanks so much the reply 91011. I checked out the article and you have given a lot to mull over.

Thanks

gavney1

Hi Baby Gifts,

We're a well enough known discount retailer (8 shops in Ireland). We tried in the last year or so to get something out of our website.

Out of our 6 departments (Ladies, Mens, Household, Hardware, Curtains and Babies) - Babies did by far the best online (but by no means spectacular). We are discontinuing our website however, as it is just too hard to keep track of what we have in store which led to too many instances of customers paying for something online, and then us having to refund them. Result- pissed off customers, which was damaging our name.
If you're set up purely for selling online though (and can then keep track of you inventory), you shouldn't have that problem.

There is lots of potential for selling baby and maternity stuff online (and there's lots of websites out there). The reason (I presume) is that there's lots of mothers stuck at home with young infants who can't get into town, so they buy online.

If you're targeting GIFTS however, might not be the same effect (as it won't be the pregnant mothers buying) - however there should still be a good market for it.

Baby stuff isn't the best seller online (electronics, health and beauty, perfume are the top ones I think). But it's quite a good one.

If you want names of some suppliers, PM me and I can give you a few. If they are unwilling to supply you, I could buy the stock for you if you wish under our name and I'll add 5 or 6% to the price. We would be able to get a better price than you also as we buy in bulk, and have a well established relationship with our suppliers.

Anyway, best of luck

gavney1

Not sure how you're set on getting a website btw.

But don't fall into the trap of people who say "you need to pay 7K to get a good website".

There's no hard and fast rule with websites. You could be paying someone in Ireland 7K who is just getting someone in India to do it for him for 2K. All he does is give the specifications that you decide on.

Answer is, you just have to do a good bit of research into it, and gain some basic understanding of the whole field. Find out what CMS is, what a PSP is etc...

Or maybe you're well able to make you own website, hard to tell from you opening post, and I'm wasting my breath!