How to Start an Online Record Store
For someone who loves music and has the desire to start a business, an online record store is a viable choice. This is not a generic retail outlet you start by posting a few unrelated items on the shop's website and waiting for customers to click away and order products. Individuals who know plenty about music, and can find a profitable niche to specialize in, have the best chance for online success.
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Instructions
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Find a niche. Decide on a format or a style of music to concentrate on. With the increasing popularity of online shopping, there is plenty of competition in cyberspace. Big-name companies such as Amazon.com are leaders in the collector's item business, but what they don't have is a specialty. Carve your niche using a little creativity. In June 2010, Kompakt, a techno music label in Germany, found success by launching an online record store selling limited-edition records and chocolate.
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Identify distributors who can supply the specific genre of music you seek. Stay within the niche. Music wholesalers and distributors can give the best price on music for retail or online stores. Music People wholesales pop, rock, contemporary, ethnic and drama music. Allegro Corp. distributes classical, pop, world and jazz music. Most distributors provide prospective companies with their website, indicating what music they carry.
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Establish relationships with music distributors. Pay for the first orders upfront and start small. Music distributors rarely give out credit to a new enterprise; they like to have a trading history established with the company first. Once credit is established, order from the distributor on credit. The balance is usually due 30 days from the end of the month in which the records were ordered. This gives the online store a month to sell the inventory before payment is due.
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Hire a Web host for the record store. Avoid free Web-hosting offers. These "free" offers are ad-supported, and the store's website will be littered with advertisement banners. Do the homework on Web-hosting packages. Top Ten Web Hosting has a list of the top Web-hosting sites of 2010 on its website. Ensure the package purchased allows for growth so you can expand your music offerings.
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Purchase online store software. Look for software that helps with management of sales and inventory, such as Volusion, Shopify, LiteCommerce or CityMax. A responsive help desk is another key feature needed. Clients listen to music on all types of schedules worldwide. It's essential that your site makes ordering and sampling music simple any time of day or night.
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