Christmas season is here again! This is the best time to come up with a business sideline and take advantage of all the spending that happens during the season. Products can be anything from food, clothes, accessories, novelty items and gift baskets. For this article I will focus on the channels rather than products. Many articles have been written on the types of products to sell, but very few have been written as to where the most effective places to sell your products.
There are 5 locations/portals where you can sell your products effectively:
Bazaars. Many successful businesses started out in bazaars. There are all year round bazaars and there are the Christmas bazaars. The 3 bazaars that are most visited during Christmas season are Karl Edward bazaar in Fort Bonifacio Global City, St. James Bazaar inside Ayala Alabang Village and Greenhills Tiangge. Of course, the most sold items are clothes and food. It is best to reserve slots as early as May (based on experience) because they easily get taken.
For those in the food business your best bets are Mercato Centrale in Fort Bonifacio, Salcedo Market and Legazpi Market in Makati.
Online market. Online business is rapidly growing in the Philippines. Sulit.com, Facebook and Multiply are the 3 portals where most of the transactions happen. Compared to bazaars the price value of deals is lesser but the advantage is that you can serve people from other places. However, in the future I am quite sure that people will realize that it is more convenient to shop online than visit bazaars or malls during Christmas season.
For online transactions, consumers prefer payments through mobile cash transfer and bank transfer. Buyers might also request for meet ups, but for the safety of the seller it is best to refuse, but if the buyers insist, meet in a places where there are plenty of people.
Garage. The biggest cost in any business is the space. It is fixed whether you have sales or none. You would be lucky to see spaces where rental fee is based on percentage of sales. And since home based location is free you can price your items cheaper. Advertising is easy, you can just send out fliers around your neighborhood or post an advertisement in your local bulletin. The best products to sell are food or old personal items. You can also initiate a street bazaars and encourage outsiders to visit your village.
Offices. Selling in the office, like selling in your garage allows you to market your products without having to pay for rent. You can bring a bag full of goodies and offer terms to your office mates. When you do this you are doing them a favor because they get to avoid all the traffic and hassle of Christmas shopping.
Group Buying sites. Sites like Groupon, Ensogo and Deal grocer have plenty of users who can see and purchase your products. To attract people to buy, you have to offer big discounts. The disadvantage of group buying sites is that you give away unnecessary discounts to customers who are willing to pay for your products at a regular rate. And the big discount you give also eats a huge chunk out of your profit.
So, do you have items to sell? Where do you plan market them?
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