[lux.sh]

Im thinking of opening an online shop for car parts but the industry is not doing so well due to economy so Im holding it off.

Any small business owners here? Please share your experience and give a newbie some know-how on how to manage well for a successful first-year.

[MrRoboto]

Do your research. market, costing, etc.

It may be a good time to start a small business as loans are plenty and at super low rates, cost of wholesale goods are down, etc. You may be able to start small and cheap to test the waters. When the economy recovers you will be somewhat established.

[BMW F22]

I personally think that it is a good time to open a small business. It gives you time to think of what others need and what you could do to improve on your operation. If you jump in when the economy is booming you will forget the small but important stuff as well as getting overwhelmed with things that could hurt your business.

You should study other, similar businesses and see how they operate. Then think of what YOU can do BETTER. You need that edge over the competition (be it price, customer service, selection, or a combination of all those things). Also don't put too much money in it right away (i.e. don't put all your eggs in one basket). And remember to put a stop-loss on it if it goes down and there is no way for it to go back up.

[SchnellM3]

That's all up to you, if you do your research and feel as you can make a good living at it then go for it. But I would also keep in mind about the other auto parts stores in the area. Around here there are a lot of auto parts stores big and small time. The number of small time store tho seems to be shrinking over the past few years.

[Kiemyster]

the best advice i can give you is see if you can get one of those cheap steel buildings assembled in a plot of empty cheap land. hook up some lights, get some soil, and grow gold.

[Cosmop]

The first year can be tight on your personal budget while you get setup and your name out there. Don't expect to get paid much at first and have a plan on how your going to pay your bills until you get the ball rolling.

[CollinsE90]

Originally Posted by Kiemyster

the best advice i can give you is see if you can get one of those cheap steel buildings assembled in a plot of empty cheap land. hook up some lights, get some soil, and grow gold.

[dth656]

just off the top of my head, you would have to look at a couple of areas:

Market
-what is the total addressable market that you are going for?
-can you segment your potential customer base (local vs. internet, import vs. domestic, etc)?
-is there a segment w/ fewer competitors (example: JDM only parts)?
-typically, what drives a "buy" decision?
-given this information, what kind of revenue are you projecting? what kind of margin?

UX/Usability
-is your website clean and easy-to-use (navigation, colors, updated inventory content)?
-is there compelling content (how-tos, forums, part specs, etc)?
-do you need a content management system (keeping part specs updated, for example)
-can you track server logs/clicks/traffic/user behavior on your site to help w/ the customer segmentation questions from above?


Fulfillment Models
-What kind of fulfillment model makes sense for your operation (big warehouse full of inventory? drop ship vendors? etc?)
-Do you even want to carry a lot of inventory on your books?


these are some of the things that you would need to think about for even the most basic business plan (you can probably find good templates online)