E-Commerce Journey

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FromChinaWithTea

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I just noticed this section :) I also noticed that there are very few E-Commerce journeys.

To make a long story short; my (Chinese/American) wife and I have been selling Chinese Tea for several years now - mostly as a hobby. We have now decided to make it our main income and hopefully develop it to something sustainable.

My wife have an MBA in business, so she will be running the financial aspect of the business - and she does that rather strict :sorry:

Where we are now...

  1. We have products
  2. We have connections to get even more products
  3. We almost have our own online retail shop (done in a few days)
  4. We have pricing sorted out.
  5. We have had a lot of arguments :rolleyes:
  6. We are full of optimism.

Where we want to be...

  1. Finalize our online shop
  2. Find on/off-line resellers
  3. Develop our brand
  4. Set up our own warehouse in the US (late this year)

We are currently making a profit of $2000 a month by selling to resellers in the US, we want to increase that!
Our only expenses so far is $130 a month to Volusion for hosting our shop, and a slightly higher electricity bill as we have bought another freezer to store our Green and Oolong Tea's. So I guess we are on the right path.

I will update this thread 2-3 times a week, or whenever time allow.

As soon as our shop is ready to accept orders, I will set up several campaigns on FB, Adwords and several tier 2 PPC/CPC networks. This is my first ever attempt in online marketing, so I am really looking forward to it. Direct media buys is also something I will look in to.

With our Volusion plan we also have an affiliate program set up, also something I am excited about.

Feel free to ask or suggest if you have ideas that you think might help us.

Wish us luck!
 
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can you post the financial details here.

it would be good to know how much you buy the tea for and how much you sell it for.


I think your going to do well. selling to the end user has a much higher profit margin than resellers :)
 
We buy 500g for approx. $40, resell to distributors for $48 and sell to end users for $100 (if sold in 2oz packs)
So the margins are pretty good.

It obviously depend on what kind of Tea. Each kind of Tea have different grades as well.
 
your going about it the right way. end users is the way to go that's a good mark up :)
 
I love tea. I hope you are putting an ebook together of the various combinations and varieties along with recipies and stories for many the many family demographics. Young people stories, college stories, travel and adventure (romantic twist, etc), seniors stories All revolving around tea, healing and the 'feelings & comfort' The packaging makes for such memorable gifts. Especially when they have the little stories and history on the packaging.
 
Congrats I hope it goes well! If you master FB Ads you can make a killing with your business! Best of luck & I will be following your journey :)
 
Thanks guys!
I have been reading A LOT about FB marketing.

The possibilities seems endless.
 
Been looking at Pinterest today - looks perfect!
I am still not sure how to use it correctly :/

Should I direct upload pictures? Then it seems other people can easily navigate to my site. Or whats the best way to drive traffic from there?

I am looking for totally legit ways only as I don't want to risk my account.

Any guidance will be much appreciated.

Oh, I also possibly found a new reseller in India. Chinese Tea actually sells well there, and Malaysia too.

Our shop might be ready to accept orders within a week and I have already made accounts and deposited funds in several CPC networks. Youtube, Instagram, Google+, Twitter and Reddit accounts have also been made.
 
Neat journey OP.

I hope your online shop has a blog section. If not, you may want to consider that. I would be interested in reading about the different teas, where they come from, how to make it, etc. That would make your store very useful.
 
gtull2 said:
Neat journey OP.

I hope your online shop has a blog section. If not, you may want to consider that. I would be interested in reading about the different teas, where they come from, how to make it, etc. That would make your store very useful.
Click to expand...

Of course, I, However call it "WikiTea :)
 
do you plan on doing any seo or purely ads. good luck on your journey
 
I will do SEO for each product. Or rather, I will find a service here on BHW.

Thank you.
 
FromChinaWithTea said:
I will do SEO for each product. Or rather, I will find a service here on BHW.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

You may want to be careful with the "services". Since you have a long term business, some of them may end up doing you more harm than good in the long run.

I would actually like to see your store now (as a customer). :)
 
Make sure to ad on the pictures you post over social media networks links to your website to trademark the pics :)
I`d suggest to do on-page SEO mostly and not automated software`s and such.
 
Last edited:
gtull2 said:
You may want to be careful with the "services". Since you have a long term business, some of them may end up doing you more harm than good in the long run.

I would actually like to see your store now (as a customer). :)
Click to expand...

I will send you the link once its done.
 
FlashCavDesign said:
Make sure to ad on the pictures you post over social media networks links to your website to trademark the pics :)
I`d suggest to do on-page SEO mostly and not automated software`s and such.
Click to expand...

Should I add my pictures on Pinterest via my shop? That way my link seems to be added.
 
Not much happened last weekend, we went to Hong Kong to look at some aged Puh Er tea cakes and generally just relaxed :)
Our shop is basically done and we might try to get a few sales in the next few days.

Stay tuned for more.
 
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