Do You Need an Online Store? - By Brady Freeman

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the second quarter of 2006, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, was $26.3 billion, an increase of 4.6 percent (±1.7%) from the first quarter of 2006. Total retail sales for the second quarter of 2006 were estimated at $984.9 billion, an increase of 0.9 percent (±0.3%) from the first quarter of 2006. The second quarter 2006 e commerce estimate increased 23.0 percent (±5.4%) from the second quarter of 2005 while total retail sales increased 6.6 percent (±0.5%) in the same period. E-commerce sales -Quote taken from http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/data/html/06Q2.html

The above listed information should be a real eye opener to anyone questioning the possibility of opening an online store. In short we see a 23% increase in e-commerce sales for the 2nd Quarter (April-June) 2006 over the same period in 2005. $26.3 Billion just in that time frame alone.

There is good reason for this activity. The online e-commerce business is open 24 hours a day and provides an opportunity for people to avoid the hassle of driving around searching for the best deals. We also have seen a sharp increase in fuel prices that lends a helping hand to doing business online.

You are probably asking yourself now "How can I get a piece of this action?" There are several ways to get involved with e-commerce without spending a bunch of money. One of the most popular methods is opening a store on ebay.com or one of the several other sites offering an online store to its customers.

The down side of this is that the bulk of your time will be spent finding sources of products that sell well on the internet. You can spend hours searching for the right place to buy products to sell. The most important thing to remember is there is a market for just about any product as long as you place the product in the right places. The most important thing in choosing a product is finding some that have a high profit margin or find a niche (product specialized for a particular market with low competition).

There are also several companies that are set up exclusively to liquidate products for manufacturers. They typically will sell items in bulk at a deep discount. If you have room to store inventory this may be the route for you.

Now, you also have the option to use companies that will dropship products for you. This option will allow you to sell products without the hassle of storing and shipping the items. Most of these companies have a built in charge for the service of dropshipping.

There are also Government auction sites. These sites primarily sell products ranging anywhere from houses and vehicles to jewelry that have been seized by the police. You can also buy liquidation products from our very own military. Most of these sources are not very well known but can be a great source for niche products to sell in online auctions.

Working at home can be fun but it does require work. I think that you can see the opportunity is there for the taking. It could be used as a source of secondary income but if you are persistent and study you could make it a primary source.

Brady Freeman -- I have been working at home with a succesful business for 2 years. If I can do it anyone can. I also provide an updated list of wholesalers and Government auction sites that I use at
http://www.dropshipexpertonline.com