New venture/Ecommerce or BTL?

[waiteu2]

Bit of a long intro but here goes.
Been in the construction industry 30 years and own a business refurbishing/maintaining hotels for the last 10 years or so.
Obviously with the current climate things have changed and could be a while before business returns to what it was.

The sticking point is im not sure if i want to go back to travelling the length and breadth of the country regardless.

Now the Mrs and i have long since talked about running an online shop in one form or another or possibly get back into the BTL market which ive not been involved in for the last 20 years.

Financially we have the luxury of time to develop a plan to go either route however at this point we are favouring the online shop.We work together full time so that isnt an issue.

As an aside neither of us are slouches and are prepared to research and put the hours in to drive a new business forward.

We have a decent budget to invest either way so im thinking £5k or so to start an Ecommerce venture or up to £100k to use as deposits on 1 or 2 BTL's

Any input much appreciated as you can tell suffering from a little brain fog at the moment!

[jonamv8]

Two very different options with two very different investments. Difficult to add much unless u get more specific.

How about 20 different e-commerce sites 5K each, hundred K total – hope one of them turns out well!

What do you Filmore comfortable with?

[VEX]

One for DSLiverpool for the ecommerce side.

But basically, on the ecommerce side, if there is something you are passionate about and / or have great experience with that can be capitalised that is you focus for the business.

I have been fortunate, that i am in a industry that i enjoy, can sell to and 6months in its starting to take off.

V.

[waiteu2]

jonamv8 said:

Two very different options with two very different investments. Difficult to add much unless u get more specific.

How about 20 different e-commerce sites 5K each, hundred K total – hope one of them turns out well!

What do you Filmore comfortable with?

Could work but i was thinking one Ecommerce site which would require continual spend in the form of Google ads etc.. This would in effect become the full time job. Big believer in that you get out of something only what you put in.

I'm only in the ideas stage at the moment but thinking initially branded clothing/try to be a little niche etc but realise competition is huge but the initial £5k is flexible and i would want this to grow and not expecting to sell immediately.

Im comfortable with BTL but think id be needing a lot more than 1 or 2 as it would again need to become my main source of income.

Edited by waiteu2 on Wednesday 20th January 22:02

[waiteu2]

VEX said:

One for DSLiverpool for the ecommerce side.

But basically, on the ecommerce side, if there is something you are passionate about and / or have great experience with that can be capitalised that is you focus for the business.

I have been fortunate, that i am in a industry that i enjoy, can sell to and 6months in its starting to take off.

V.

Thanks Vex.
The brand and what id actually sell is currently what we're thinking about just now.
Im in the service industry at the moment but like the idea of selling product/s, What that product is is the tricky bit.
Looking at best selling items on Amazon etc. just aware that its a mega competitive market and as a newbie to Ecommerce if we dont get it right first time i'll be throwing the cash away.

[DSLiverpool]

Your £5k won’t touch the sides for developing a brand in clothing.

Even if your pals with Joe Swash it’s hard to get interest without a very strong usp.

Have a think about your f&f can any of them give you an advantage with products or services that you can leverage?

[waiteu2]

DSLiverpool said:

Your £5k won’t touch the sides for developing a brand in clothing.

Even if your pals with Joe Swash it’s hard to get interest without a very strong usp.

Have a think about your f&f can any of them give you an advantage with products or services that you can leverage?

Thanks DS

Had a feeling £5k would be chump change but thought it would initially get a website in place maybe to start selling basic leisure wear/printed T's.
I have a pal coming up to retirement with a business selling school/college sports kits. Limited website and no advertising just existing contacts and Sunday market type of thing.This is where the clothing idea originated as he does enough to live off but no more than that.

[DSLiverpool]

waiteu2 said:

Thanks DS

Had a feeling £5k would be chump change but thought it would initially get a website in place maybe to start selling basic leisure wear/printed T's.
I have a pal coming up to retirement with a business selling school/college sports kits. Limited website and no advertising just existing contacts and Sunday market type of thing.This is where the clothing idea originated as he does enough to live off but no more than that.

£5.k is more than enough for your webby and to start selling kit you have an angle advantage on but to start clothing brand from scratch it’s a struggle I wouldn’t try.
The sheer number of people wanting to start in ecomm persuaded me to start a new e-commerce club to help people do it, I’m astonished with the great diverse ideas people have.

[waiteu2]

DSLiverpool said:

£5.k is more than enough for your webby and to start selling kit you have an angle advantage on but to start clothing brand from scratch it’s a struggle I wouldn’t try.
The sheer number of people wanting to start in ecomm persuaded me to start a new e-commerce club to help people do it, I’m astonished with the great diverse ideas people have.

Thats a polite way of saying thats a **** idea so get your thinking head on!

Appreciate the feedback and will devote some time thinking of products first before i jump into anything.

[waiteu2]

Looking more and more into the Ecommerce side of things.
Dropshipping in particular.
In simple terms is it a case of finding a supplier.Uploading products to Amazon/Ebay etc. and then chucking a fortune at advertising.
Would i need a website or even a brand to do this and could i reasonably expect any sales initially.
Would an account such as Shopify automate a lot of this and id handle returns etc personally?

Just trying to get my head around the first steps

[skilly1]

If you import an existing Amazon / ebay product it will just be a race to the bottom. You need to find something unique.

How about rental of products. Someone I know bought 11 inflatable hot tubs, with gazebo etc and rents them out for £160 every 3 days. Fully booked since Nov.

[loafer123]

The Dropshipping rush reminds me very much of the Dot-Com shares boom, but the idea above about leveraging your hotels FF&E supply chain is an excellent one, and one which might just work.

Can you get hold of nice chairs/curtains/rugs etc at cheap prices because of who you are and therefor generate super margins?

I was chatting to one of my clients the other day, a hotelier, and he was saying how he can get curtains made up, measured, steamed and in for half the price of most people - can you do the same, for example?

[waiteu2]

skilly1 said:

If you import an existing Amazon / ebay product it will just be a race to the bottom. You need to find something unique.

How about rental of products. Someone I know bought 11 inflatable hot tubs, with gazebo etc and rents them out for £160 every 3 days. Fully booked since Nov.

Thats interesting. I know it will be a constant push competing with thousands of others all doing the same but train of thought would be initially to use it as a learning curve to find my feet.

The rental suggestion is a good one so will have to have a look at that in more detail.Thanks

[waiteu2]

loafer123 said:

The Dropshipping rush reminds me very much of the Dot-Com shares boom, but the idea above about leveraging your hotels FF&E supply chain is an excellent one, and one which might just work.

Can you get hold of nice chairs/curtains/rugs etc at cheap prices because of who you are and therefor generate super margins?

I was chatting to one of my clients the other day, a hotelier, and he was saying how he can get curtains made up, measured, steamed and in for half the price of most people - can you do the same, for example?

Possibly.
I do have relationships with furniture suppliers/art suppliers etc who only deal with contracts not retail so maybe something i could explore.

[VEX]

If it helps.

DSLiverpool advised me on this and one of his specialist indepent contractors helps with the build for under £2k.

Now, it has absorbed more money than that in my time, advertising and stock profiles needed to get some suppliers on board, but it is starting to stand on its own now and only 6months in.

www.americanaudioco.uk

We are branching out already, probably 6 - 12 months ahead of schedule, but while boyant its a good time to do it.

V>

[VEX]

waiteu2 said:

I have a pal coming up to retirement with a business selling school/college sports kits. Limited website and no advertising just existing contacts and Sunday market type of thing.This is where the clothing idea originated as he does enough to live off but no more than that.

Could you capitalise on this friendship, with a view to taking it over. He keeps all his contracts and sales markets, you re-develop his website and use that as your specific route to market.

Helps you learn his industry without the specific investment, but also grows his market for him and ultimately puts you in a prime position for a buy-out earn-out exit stratergy for him when he wants to reduce his time or investment.

Edited by VEX on Friday 22 January 16:40

[waiteu2]

Thanks VEX

The site looks very good indeed and cogratulations for getting it off the ground.
Ive a couple of ideas which i'll explore.
With regards to the friends business im pretty certain he just wants out as he's well past retirement age and has mentioned in the past he'd love to sell.
I'll ask him for figures etc but looking at his accounts turnover is relatively small.

Some food for thought

[hotchy]

Make weight plates. Seriously I can't find a fitness website online thats not constantly sold out, even at astonishingly high prices just now. Infact just stick them on amazon because there even more astronomical.

[DSLiverpool]

Laughing - my TikToks have just done hot tub hire and fitness equip. Someone watching me

[waiteu2]

DSLiverpool said:

Laughing - my TikToks have just done hot tub hire and fitness equip. Someone watching me

Ha its certainly not me! If i were social media savvy i wouldnt have needed to start this thread.

I have googled both though !