To begin with I’ll just give a small intro about myself. I’m a wanna be Entrepreneur who is enjoying each day being a Businessman and is a Professionally qualified Chartered Accountant. Ok thats weird to me too!! :p
I worked in the industry for a year post qualifying. And after much protest from my dad and people around me I quit my job and plunged into business. Not my family business but on my own. (I still don’t understand why are people so shocked to see a CA turn into a businessman? And the scariest comment being – Dhanda hi karna tha toh itni padhai kyon ki? (If you wanted to do business then why did you study so much?) ). Nevermind, but coming from a business family, there’s a bit of a cushion that you have on entering business.
Presently I am into Retail business of Veneers, Laminates, wallpapers, floorings, plywood, interior related decorative items.
I got into business hoping to either take it to a big level or wait for my eureka moment. So after spending about a year doing what I am doing I stumled upon a thought.
In a time where fashion and tastes are changing so fast. There is this huge problem of dead stock (Stock which is either too old/ out of fashion/ not required), which the manufacturers or wholesellers are ready to sell at a lesser price “Sale” “Huge discounts”. And at the same time there are buyers who want to buy bulk (builders/ contractors) or even small quantity (consumers with a small budget) at cheap prices. “If only there was a Market place where both could meet”.
To give a few examples
-Importers import wallpapers in huge quantities of various designs and various colours. As fashion changes or after a few months, the importers are left with good quantities of wallpapers which are dead stock (similarly with laminates).
– Apparels/footwear retailers and wholesalers have huge stocks of their goods. And again after few months or years they are left with huge quantities of dead stocks that they want to get rid of.
Which they offer at huge Discounts “Sale”.
The idea is to basically create a Market place model where goods are listed alongwith the quantity available and prices. As an when a consumer places an order, the goods get shipped from the dealer to the consumer.
Why I feel this will work?
1. Who doesn’t like to purchase at cheaper prices?
2. Costs are increasing like crazy, buyers would be glad if they find stuff they need at less costs.
3. If ideas like olx, quickr, ebay are helping people and are so useful where goods are generally used and second hand and old. Then this is something which is still new and unused.
4. Dead stock sale would help the owners to free space and receive stuck up funds (both are badly needed by any business).
5. Its a very unorganised market with very few online players. The few online players are in the Readymade furniture business (fabfurnish, IKEA), but my concentration is on the Raw materials required for making interiors. (Future plan would be to start including other sectors as well).
I could be wrong at places please correct me.
Challenges:
1. Going the ecommerce way for a Non- tech guy like me. (All I know is its ecommerce, I still have to figure out the technical challenges to come).
2. Collecting data from a lot of people to put up on the site. (Wholesellers, unorganised retailers, factories).
3. Quality control of the dead stock to be sold.
4. Would people be willing to buy stuff that is old (considered as rejects).
5. Any other challenges that you think I may face?
So I need help for the following:
1. Does this idea really make sense? (Be brutal in your feedback.)
2. What are sectors/ industry/goods that can be covered as work progresses. Eg: Interiors related, Apparels, Footwear, Imitation jewellery, etc.
3. If any of this does make sense, then what should be the way ahead from here?
The current status of this entire deal is that, I have started collecting information of wholesalers who are ready to participate (in fact it does happen in many ways in offline mode). I have not yet invested actual money into this directly. But I have put in a bit of time and effort to figure out if people will be ready to participate.
Cheers to life. (y)