Admittedly, the more developed market means you must deal with more competition when you start your online reselling store. On the flip side, it also means you have a large potential customer base. 

A reselling business allows you to live the exhilarating life of an entrepreneur. Interested? Continue reading to learn how to start an online reselling store. 

We’ll start this guide by first establishing the fundamentals.

What is Reselling?

Reselling is sourcing items from manufacturers or distributors and selling them to others for a price. It simply means you sell off a product someone else sold to you.

Reselling, as a general term, covers all forms of goods flipping. You can classify retailing, wholesaling, dropshipping, and even distributorship as examples of reselling businesses.

As a reseller, your assignment is to make value available to your target market. Not all consumers want or can go to the manufacturers for all the products they need. But you make the value more accessible to users by purchasing and bringing the goods down to the local market.

So when starting an online reselling store, your first consideration should be making value accessible to those who need it. Understandably, profit is your primary motivation, but you’ll only achieve that when your customers can get value from you.

The more value you make accessible to people, the more you’ll get in return. But making goods available in physical stores isn’t the only way to give value. 

You can also provide a value-add for customers through ecommerce. With an online store, customers can buy items from you and have them at their doorsteps.

Why You Should Start an Online Reselling Business

Many benefits can accrue to you when you start a reselling business from home. Below are these advantages and why you should consider starting an online reselling store.

You Can Be Your Boss or Have a Profitable Side Hustle

Many people dabble in entrepreneurship because they desire to be their own boss. They want to work for themselves and build their dreams instead of labouring away on someone else’s. 

An online reselling store is a brilliant place to start if you also have such a desire.

As a reseller, you’ll be in charge of all you do, and when your business get’s big enough, you can also start employing labour. 

However, if being your boss doesn’t interest you, online reselling is still an excellent way to earn a reasonable side income. You can make an easy profit without quitting or cutting down on your regular job volume with an ecommerce business.

Incredible Flexibility

The average ecommerce business is it has no rules. Of course, there are best practices and tips to guide you when you start your online reselling store. 

But ultimately, you get to decide how you want to do it and what you want to do in it. 

For example, unlike in physical retailing, you’re not stuck in a cycle where you must open and close shop daily. Your online store can stay open 24/7, 365 days a year, and anyone can buy from you anytime. You also determine your working time — if and when you sign in to work.

Furthermore, you can operate the business from anywhere in the world. Your target market may be people in the UK, but you can run the business from another continent. All you need is a smartphone and an excellent internet connection.

Additionally, you have inventory flexibility. While it may not be a good idea to deal in several niche products simultaneously, an online reselling business makes it easy. You can quickly jump between reselling different unrelated items on your online store.

Low Financial Risk

An online reselling business doesn’t require a significant financial commitment upfront. Most of the money you’ll spend to start an online reselling store goes into building the website. Once your online shop is ready, you can start selling with zero inventory.

• With an online store, you can sell goods you don’t have in your shop and satisfy buyers. You only need to advertise the items, and then when people order, you go to a supplier, get the products, and send them to the buyers.

• You can start an online reselling business from home and run it successfully. You won’t need to spend on acquiring a physical outlet, stocking up inventory and paying all the utility bills that come with a physical shop.

The best part is you don’t even need a website to start reselling online. If you can’t afford a proper ecommerce store, you can begin reselling on social media. You’ll spend practically nothing to set up a Facebook or WhatsApp business page. But those should only be short-term fixes until you get enough money to get a good ecommerce website.

Step-by-Step Guide to Starting an Online Reselling Store

Whether you’re looking to be your own boss or just want to make extra cash on the side, here’s how to start an online reselling store.

Plan Your Business

Every business needs a bulletproof plan to take off. A plan helps you identify the critical goals of a project and the directions to achieve them. 

Planning your business gives you a roadmap to follow when you start. At each checkpoint, it’ll tell you what to do and help you to identify the problem when things are going sideways.

• Sort your preferences and priorities before starting your business.
• Determine what you want to achieve and analyse the resources you have on the ground. 
• Define the goals you need and how you’ll get them. 
• Identify the strategies you’ll implement towards hitting your goals.

Ultimately, this process should birth a comprehensive business plan containing all your strategies, inputs, projections and expectations for the business. It’ll serve as your guidebook for the rest of your journey in the venture. 

Choose A Niche and Identify Your Market

While planning your business, you’ll need to consider your options and product reselling opportunities. The online reselling industry is broad, and you can engage in several unique niches. 

Here’s how to choose a niche for your online reselling store: 

Profitability

Your first consideration should be to pick an industry with high demand and supply for its products. Some good examples are the fashion and groceries niches. These industries supply essential goods, and they always attract large markets.

However, they also tend to have numerous players. Hence, the competition is often stiff. Instead, the best way to resell online is to explore a niche with sizeable demand but few players. 

Overall, you should consider your potential profitability margins before picking a niche. For example, if a product’s cost price is too high, you won’t be able to set high margins for profit. Plus, you should consider miscellaneous expenses like shipping and packaging.

Searchability

You must consider if the product is one users are likely to search for online. For example, only a few people will go online to search for where to buy a gun. Therefore, trying to resell firearms online may not work out.

Passion

The last important factor is developing a deep interest in whatever you want to sell. A vital ingredient for business sustenance is the owner having skin in the game. Passion for the industry and products will provide additional motivation to keep going, especially when things aren’t working out properly.

Pay more attention to the items you enjoy discussing or researching. This way, you can pick an industry because there’s an opportunity to make money, and consider if you’ll relish dealing in the niche. 

Choose Your Products

Ideally, your product preferences will determine the niche you’ll pick. Hence, you should already have a product choice in mind when selecting an industry you want to explore. But of course, you may only have an idea with no solid plan yet. In that case, you must carefully identify the products you want to resell.

Interestingly, this can be the trickiest part of the planning process. For example, if you intend to brand-specialise, you may be conflicted between two competing brands. Additionally, you want to ensure your product choice is ideal for your target market. You don’t want to pick products your potential customers can’t afford or don’t like.

You must also consider how you’ll differentiate your products from competitors, especially if they sell the same items as you. Think about the possibility of adding value to the commodities as well.

Identify Your Suppliers

Two primary forces determine a business’s profitability; demand and supply. A business can’t survive without both of these factors in sufficient volumes. So, if you have inventory but no demand for it, you won’t make sales and, therefore, no profit.

In the same way, if you have customers asking for your goods but no inventory to sell, you won’t make sales either and no profit too. But most new resellers pay too much attention to the demand forces than the supply forces. They often forget that supply can make or mar their ventures as well.

So, when starting your online reselling store, consider how you’ll get supplies. Identify reliable suppliers you can work with and notify them. If possible, sign a contract or agreement that’ll mandate them to supply you with goods for a period without fail. 

Again, don’t just pick any suppliers; look for the ones who sell top-quality goods. They are easy to identify through reviews, referrals and proven track records. Or, if you want to sell brand products, you can get supplies straight from manufacturers or recognised distributors.

Identify and Get the Necessary Permits 

You can get a reseller permit in the UK, allowing you to sell non-contraband goods without incurring sales tax. However, the permit is not a compulsory requirement for launching the business. You can still begin the venture even if you’re yet to get the license.

That said, some commodities require special licensing for possession. For example, controlled substances such as narcotics or arms require proper possession licensing. 

Primarily, you’ll need to obtain a license to possess those items according to the law legitimately. The same rule applies to reselling said products. 

Therefore, ensure you get all the necessary licenses to sell the products you want to build your business around. That will save you much trouble down the line.

Establish Your Brand Assets

With your business plan in place and the product considerations all settled; you should work on establishing your brand identity. Your brand is the image your business customers recognise and interact with. 

The brand is your business’ persona. It’s what differentiates it from others in a crowd. Hence, you must make it unique and easily recognisable. 

• The first step to that is selecting a unique business name. The name is the primary identifier for your brand, so you should carefully consider it before choosing one. It’s a good idea to pick a brand name that reflects your business’s nature, like Shopify and Woocommerce. Nevertheless, ensure that whatever you choose doesn’t incite any controversy or attract unhealthy attention.

• Next, you should create your brand logo. The logo is the brand’s face. For example, people recognise the three strips mark with the Adidas brand in most places worldwide. So pick a distinct emblem for your brand as well.

• The last step is registering your business and trademarking your brand assets once you have the name and logo. The trademark will prevent others from freely using your brand assets without your consent. 

Choose an E-commerce Platform and Build on It

Once you complete the steps with the tips we discussed above, you’re set to start your online reselling store. All that’s left is to set up shop and commence business. Setting up shop means selecting an ecommerce platform and building a website on it.

But then, there are several ecommerce platforms with interesting and unique features that set them apart. These features often influence what you can achieve with them. So, you should take the time to find the right one.

One of the best ecommerce platforms for resellers is Shopify. Its framework allows you to quickly set up your store in a few hours with little to no technical skills required. 

Additionally, it allows ample integration with social media and email marketing platforms to consolidate your cross-channel strategies. But you can also check out other ecommerce platforms.

The ideal ecommerce platform ticks the following boxes.

• Suitable for startup businesses
• Requires no technical knowledge to use
• Offers free trial period
• Has an affordable subscription fee
• Enables easy scalability

An ecommerce platform that meets these bare minimum requirements should be good enough to host your store. Hence, the above requirements should guide you when choosing a place to set up your online reselling store.

Launch and Tell the World About it

At this point, your business is ready to fly. So, do a grand launch and let your potential customers know you’re prepared to take their orders. 

Take advantage of multiple marketing avenues to advertise your ecommerce brand. Ensure to get as many people as possible to know about your new setup. Below are some promotional means you can use 

• Google Display Ads
• Google Search Engine Marketing
• Search Engine Optimisation and Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Social Commerce
• Email Marketing
• Word-of-mouth referrals

Ultimately, the best promotional approach will depend on your target market and where you can find them. For example, if your target audience spends a lot of time on social media, then you know social marketing is the best way to go. 

Product Ideas for a First-time Reseller

It’s not always easy deciding which products to resell when starting a business. It may be straightforward for people who are passionate about specific items. But for most regular people, it’s not. 

Below are some product ideas to put you on the right part in your reselling business.

Footwear Resale

Footwears are an essential commodity, and they’re always in demand. Plus, footwears are some of the biggest sellers online. So, you have a great shot at starting an online shoe reselling store.

Admittedly, many existing ecommerce businesses are in the footwear industry. But that shouldn’t be a problem for you. You have several categories of footwear and brands to choose from. 

For example, you can specialise in sneakers, gym shoes and other sports footwear. Or you may decide to resell corporate shoes mainly. 

Vintage Boutique

Clothing businesses are also big sellers in the ecommerce world as they’re always in demand, and people don’t mind purchasing apparel online. 

The clothing niche is also crowded, and it may be challenging to break through in such a competitive market. But specialising in vintage wear and uncommon items gives you a better chance. Primarily, you won’t be selling the same thing as others. Hence, you’re carving out a unique space for your business in the market.

You can resell vintage clothing and accessories. Not only that, you can generally deal in antique materials and things that used to trend but are no longer in vogue. 

Dropshipping Business

Dropshipping liberates you from the need to own inventory. This business model puts you as a middleman between the supplier and the consumer. 

Your responsibility is to get the customer’s orders and then get a supplier to fulfil the order.

Your only job in the process is communicating with the two sides. You don’t need to examine the product physically — the supplier can send them straight to the buyer after the purchase.

Dropshipping is a low-risk business model that affords you ample flexibility. You’ll only set up to market the product and handle order consolidation if an individual purchases multiple items from you.

Cosmetics and Deodorants 

Cosmetic products are generally low-cost items with low shipping fees. You don’t need massive capital to start and can set a sizeable profit margin on the products.

Additionally, there is often a massive demand for cosmetic products. Keep in mind that cosmetics include not only make-up items but also general skin care products and hair care commodities. 

Deodorants such as body sprays, perfumes and antiperspirants also sell well online. So you can start an online reselling store and build your business around these products.

Best Way to Start Your Online Reselling Store 

Reselling is a low-risk way to begin your entrepreneurship journey. You can start a reselling business with little to no capital, all you need is an online store. You don’t need to own inventory if you know how to start a dropshipping reselling venture.  

The tips above should equip you with the fundamentals you must know before getting into the business. Follow them to launch and grow your ecommerce reselling business today.

We can also help. CCN offers a reselling platform that’ll provide you with the tools to start a successful reseller enterprise. Get in touch with us.