Advice on selling name brand items and using SEO needed

Okay, I have a few questions. I have a business concept that requires selling ONE type of product from several CLOTHING brands. This requires me to start out with a lot of inventory. I am in the process of learning SEO and I know I won't sell that much this year, however the product is not being sold on many online retail websites and I believe that it's an untapped market so by learning SEO and using it properly I believe I can get high ranking in the search engines. I have a few brands on board but my dilemma is for this type of business that requires having a lot of inventory, should I be committing my efforts to drop shipping or should I be buying the inventory flat out? What do all the other websites(not just clothing) that have a whole bunch of brands for their product and sell a whole bunch of products (100's) do? Do they actually BUY all that inventory? I know for a fact I wont be making many sales this year but I need a website up so I can practice SEO.

Looking at this as two points, SEO and Stock.

SEO is standard practice when having your own site, but that alone can't be relied on to bring in traffic. Thing is with search engine optimization, being such standard practice you always have someone trying to out rank you, and to be honest, if you're not on page one or at least page two, I'm not actually convinced it serves any real purpose at all.

At least that's my view of SEO, I'm sure there will be plenty who disagree : )

Regarding stock, buying in volume is always going to get you a much better price, and you will be in control of your own orders, not be relying on another party to look after your customers.

Yes, there is cash outlay to consider, along with storage space, but, if you can tick those boxes, and you're confident enough to give it a shake, then I would suggest buying in your stock would be the best way to go.

Okay, would you happen to have advice on this situation. Either I partner with the brand names and buy in bulk OR to start the business off with less of a risk I go to a site called Link hidden: Login to view and basically choose all the product I want at the best deals available. However, could this effect my chances of forming a partnership with a particular brand name later down the road since I would just be selling random brands and really good prices not being an authorized dealer but selling all authentic gear? If i did it this way, it would be a lot easier to start.

Thoughts on this?

Selling a variety of brands won't effect any chance you have of forming a partnership with a brand owner in the future, however you won't require a partnership with any brand owner who's products are openly available through a wholesale market.

The only time you will need to form somewhat of a partnership to sell a branded product would be in an instance of the brand owners product's only being sold through an authorised network.

These are mostly designer brands that will require this, and becoming an exclusive distributor, if even possible, will not be an easy accomplishment by any stretch of the imagination.

Some designer brands will only be sold through their own stores, they won't offer any distribution outside of that at all, and that is to protect the integrity of the product and the brand name, and therefore control the product price.

Those that will will distribute to exclusive retailers will make some very high demands, and you would need to establish a proven record of trading with the uppermost integrity to even get a foot in the door, not to mention a large bank account for any licensing rights.

I think sticking to regular wholesale available branded products is the way for you to go, once you're up and running you will be in a better position to know where you want to take the business in the longer term.

Cheers

Hi sburgess,

On a not so different note, if you're interested, SaleHoo offers some basic information on setting up an ecommerce store/website in our blog and resource section. Check out:

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Good luck with your business!

Thanks for the info. So when you walk into a mall and you see many retailers (some popular ones and some unpopular ones) selling designer brands, are they more than likely buying the clothing from a wholesale market or potentially buying their products from other retailers trying to get rid of their products? I also want to know your opinion of the website Link hidden: Login to view. It seems like it's a website where retailers that are selling their branded gear at discount prices. Would this be a good source to source my product from?

Hi sburgess,

After considering all factors affecting sales and profits (e.g. overhead, rental), those selling in stores in the malls should most likely be sourcing from wholesalers to compete and get the most profit.

I checked out the website and since this is actually more of an online retail store, I'd still recommend checking out wholesalers instead if you are really after 'wholesale pricing' and the best deals. Have a look at the following suppliers of outdoor sports gears and see if this will work for you:
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Hope that helps!

All the best,