yo. anyone out there go through the process of starting up an online shop. i need some tips, advice, warnings, prophecies. i was just thinking.

What will you be peddling?

Are you producing AND distributing these personal care items?

The only reason I ask is that I do online mktg and devel for an personal care company and we've been weighing the pros and cons of an online retail addition to our distributor ordering system for 2 years. Still have yet to convince the owner to do end uder order fulfillment. Gets quite hair when you're used to large, contracted orders.

nah, i wanna resell. i'm in the industry too but on the raw material side. we sell to supplement manufacturers but i think with all that's going on in the industry that that business is gonna get realy strict real soon.

but personal care seems kind of open and seems like something more and more companies and people are getting into

Well if you're just acting as an intermediary I'd say your biggest hurdles to surmount would be to find CC processing that's not going to cost you an arm and a leg... try finding an aggregate processor instead of a company who will gouge every authorization and sale total. I recall hearing of Peppercorn a few years back.

Also, the shipping on small orders of liquids like lotions (high weight to volume) and the like is not cheap and hard to justify. Your marketing of the products would have to be very well thought out to really give an aire of boutique I would say. Why would someone buy an analogue to Nivea or Jergens AND pay over the top shipping when they can get it around the corner?

There are SO many resources out there on how to start your store and position yourself online... especially when you have no real world/brick and mortar brand to remain faithful to.