Independent online retailers meeting
Last night, I met with other local online retailers from the Montreal area. This informal meeting was initiated by Cedric, from Terroirs Quebec, a website dedicated to slow food/local food producers. It really was nice to meet other independent online retailers, and share experiences on methods, workflows, recurring problems, and solutions. We realized that we are all more or less the same…
I also met with Valerie, from Clin d’Oeil Gourmet, and Nicolas, from Dites-Vert (Say-Green, not in English yet). These companies are somewhat competitors of mine, but it’s not as if the market was saturated yet… and besides, maybe we can help each other.
We left promising to meet again at least every trimester, and to invite any other independent online retailer that wishes to join us.
To be continued… 
Hi ,
I wish I went to something like this… I am in the business plan stage of starting an online baby/kids boutique out of Castlegar, BC and am looking for some advise from those who are selling online. Would you be willing to answer any or all of these questions? I would be so grateful and will link to your page on my website for your time.
Business name:
Based out of:
Selling:
Where are your customers from? (Local %, Canadian%, American %, Worldwide%)
How many hours a week do you work? Any employees?
How many hours a week do you spend marketing?
Most effective methods?
What % of sales do you spend on Marketing?
How do you do inventory management?
Who is your target market?
What is the mark-up you work with?
What months are busiest?
How do you deal with getting rid of stock before next season?
What level of inventory do you carry? (If uncomfortable with this)…I am thinking of keeping 5-10k in stock, does that seem reasonable?
How many years until profitable?
What % of items do you have to mark down? What is the schedule (Ex. 20% for a week, then 30% for a week…)
What does your day look like (Ex emails for 1, market for 2, order for 3…)
What are the trends in business (are you growing)?
What was the hardest lesson you learned?
Any advice?
Thanks so much!
Janet Skolka
Hi Janet,
The easiest way would be to call me during business hours. You will find the telephone number on the website.
Regards