If you’ve got some good retail experience (or not), and an eye for finding products that people will buy, then selling physical products online may be a good alternative income stream for you.

When it comes to selling physical products online, you can sell your own, or you simply sell someone else’s products.  You can sell your product on Etsy or Amazon, or set up a store on your own website.

Keep this in mind though…this may be a more labor intensive stream of income than many.  Here’s a good story about the trials and tribulations of selling your own product if it becomes a hot item.

Virtually anyone can sell physical products online.  To be profitable, you don’t have to be any sort of expert like you do if you are going to sell a digital product, like a newsletter or a how to course.  All really have to do is find a product that people want or need.

Also, there is nothing that says you have to sell only products that people buy once.  One great idea is Dollar Shave Club.  Razors are clearly a product that people need to buy more than once.

One thing you also don’t need to worry about when it comes to selling physical products is someone stealing your content.  That’s a risk involved in selling a digital product.  Some of your clients who buy digital products from you may share with friends or family, or even steal your ideas and pass them off as their own.  This robs you of income.

Here are some quick tips for selling physical products online…

Pay close attention to successful online businesses

You really don’t need to get super creative when it comes to internet marketing.  Just look for businesses that are doing well in their industries, and copy some of their tactics.  How do the advertise?  Do they offer a newsletter?  What do they provide in their newsletter?  What incentives do they use to get you to buy?  Etc.

Offer one particular product as the symbol for your overall business

Many new online sellers will try to sell everything on their website, including the kitchen sink.  Instead, what you should do, is initially focus on one particular product that serves a need, and that you consider yourself to be an expert about.  This is basically a form of niche marketing.

You would then have a basic niche offering, and if it sells well, you can perhaps build an entire brand around that niche product.  This could lead to selling products related to that niche.

This does not mean you need to create a new product altogether.  Perhaps you just put a different spin on something that is already in the marketplace.  Give it a catchy phrase or look, and you are off and running.

It might also be a good idea to simply sell products created by other businesses, and have them ship them as well.  As your business grows from selling these products, you can then create your own.

Learn from people who have successful brick and mortar stores

Have a look around your community.  What are the businesses that are doing well?  What are they selling?

It’s a great idea to talk with successful store owners, especially if they also sell online.  They’ll be able to give you a good idea about how to price your products in relation to how much you pay for them, how much they spend on advertising, packaging, mailing, etc.

Final Thoughts

Successful retailing is all about the numbers.  Therefore, you’ll need to educate yourself quite a bit before getting your feet wet if you intend to sell physical products online.  Think like a normal, successful brick and mortar store owner thinks, and you’ll be off and running.

Learning how to think that way is the hard part.

That concludes my little series of posts about multiple income streams.  Obviously, I have more expertise in some areas than others among those that I’ve covered.

With that in mind, I encourage anyone interested in developing another stream of income to ask me questions.  If I don’t have the answers, I can probably at least steer you in the right direction.

The bottom line is that the possibilities are limitless, and there is no time like the present to get started.

Let’s get to it!