$180,000 sales revenue in one year from home-based online retail franchise
Just 15 months ago, Bryan Black from Oxted, couldn’t have imagined he’d have his own online retail business that is set to make over $180,000 in sales in just 12 months of trading. But that’s his guess, and it’s a conservative one.
“I’d been working four days a week selling campaign management and email marketing software, but that came to an abrupt end and I wanted to build up another income stream,” said Bryan. “I heard about this amazing opportunity to build my own business in the massively growing market of ecommerce and liked the idea of being able to do so from anywhere in the world, working flexible hours.”
With Platinum Business Partners, Bryan (with some initial help from his daughter) set about building his online retail business that would enable him to source products that he would never touch, to customers he would never see, via established ecommerce platforms like Amazon and Shopify.
"I heard about this amazing opportunity to build my own business in the massively growing market of ecommerce and liked the idea of being able to do so from anywhere in the world, working flexible hours. "
“It just made sense to me,” added Bryan. “I could use some of my experience in database and email marketing and also some working knowledge of digital marketing and the terminology. But I could also learn new skills, which was exciting.”
So what has Platinum Business Partners taught Bryan?
Well for a start, Bryan had no idea what products to sell and how to even research viable products that customers would want to buy online in numbers that would give him the additional income he wanted.
The online and offline training, coupled with one-toone mentoring, introduced Bryan to a formula for product selection success.
Bryan added: “I didn’t know where to start initially as I didn’t have a particularly strong interest in any products beforehand. However, I looked at all of the categories that we were taught would work and narrowed it down to Sports and Outdoors. By simply following the system and the training, we came up with two product concepts and put in my first order at the end of June.”
By September, Bryan had a folding shovel and mess kit containing portable pots and pans that were perfect for campers available to buy in Amazon.
Platinum Business Partners had also provided a system to help him come up with a brand and logo, which Bryan received feedback on from his fellow Business Partners to make a final decision. “The branding and logo creation was actually great fun,” added Bryan. The folding shovel has been a roaring success for Bryan, with more than 2,000 units sold to date and generating a 20% net profit. The mess kit is also doing well, consistently selling between five and seven units a day on average.
Bryan is now focussing on his two new products – marshmallow sticks and a lightweight double hammock – and improving his marketing strategies by outsourcing product listing optimisation and taking advantage of Google AdWords mentoring within Platinum Business Partners franchise system.
"The process with Platinum Business Partners has been great. Just being able to access people with experience and to have someone on the end of the phone makes a real difference. It’s also saved me a huge amount of time and effort and I wouldn’t have got this far on my own in a million years! “
Bryan has lots of new product ideas and his goal is to launch two more by the end of the year. He’s on track to make $180,000 in sales by the end of his first trading year and can see how soon, he’ll have made back his initial investment and start-up costs and be making c.£3,000 net profit per month.