Starting a Subscription Website

Lauras Law

Hi all, just looking for some advice about a business I'm considering starting up. First of all, about me. Im in college. I study Computer Science. And I'd be limited in my Business knowledge. Last year I created a womens hairstyle website as part of college project. Its an information site that I now run as a part-time hobby more than anything. However I have over 31,000 registered users!

I want to start selling a product to my audience and from some research with my members I think selling shampoo and conditioner could be viable options. I would like to sell my own brand. This would allow me to expand to other products in the future if successful.

So what I want to do is this; set up a subscription website. Change a monthly fee and anyone who is subscribed will get a bottle of shampoo and conditioner sent to them each month. Similar to how Dollar Shave Club operates. There is also a unique feature I would include but I dont want to reveal that for the moment.

So where do I begin? I will be able to build the site myself. Thats the easy part! I was looking into private label hair products in China. So possibly I could get a company over there to provide the product, label it for me and send it to Ireland. But I dont know how to go about sourcing the right company, or if I'd face any importing issues. Also would I be allowed to send my product to any country in the world from Ireland? Or is there certain restrictions?

I might be in over my head with this idea but I want to explore the possibility of making a go of it! So if there is any help, feedback or advice that any Boards user can offer it'd be great!

Atlantic Dawn

It's not easy bringing in a new shampoo or conditioner brand previously unheard of, you would either have to offer something completely unique or sell it at a price point to be much cheaper than the competitor to attract customers.

Axwell

First off well done for converting a college project into a website with 31k users. Rather than just jump in giving you advice on what to do there is probably a few questions about the current setup and your experience first.

In its current setup as an information website why are people registered to use it - what is the incentive to register and what do they get out of it?

What do you get out of it - is it making you any money at present?

What is your reason for going this route in the first place - you have 31k users but no experience in online retail or a subscription business, importing products abroad or shampoo production. Not that you cant learn these or get information on them but what made you pick this as the route you want to go. Did you see the recent articles on Dollar Shaving Club and think I have a load of users I could do the same or was there another reason - and be genuine here, if that's as simple as it is then say so.

mrawkward

Assuming you can find a manufacturer of proper quality product who is prepared to supply you with own label product, this will mean buying in by the truck load. How would you finance and handle/store the product and then send it out to each customer? Would it even be profitable? Noname brands command lowest prices even if you get great reviews..... as was the case recently with Aldi or Lidl for haircare products.
If the numbers work, then move on to the real research.

Web Graphic Designer

You'd be better off going with e-maling out e-discount vouchers in partnership with the large retialers e.g. Boots, Superdrugs etc.
Lots, lots cheaper than lab testing or certification, packaging, stock, returns incuding monthly p&p costs etc.

Unless you have some USP organic patented type product that works miracles and is reviewed as such.

Moomat

Congratulations on creating such a popular website!

Converting your users into customers is certainly a good idea but I'm not too sure about selling your own brand products just yet. Perhaps go with the subscription model but include some hand picked products instead. I'd imagine private label suppliers would have quite high minimum order quantities. By using brands, albeit maybe lesser known, you would have less exposure if things didn't work out.

With a captive audience you could move towards developing your own range over time rather than just sticking a generic shampoo in your packaging.

tacofries

Well done on getting so many users in the first place, not too easy to do!

Definitely think there is some way to make a bit of money but just wondering is your own brand the right way to go about it? Really we would need to see what your website actually offers in order to advise you properly but maybe initially a strategic partnership would suit you better rather than creating your own brand. i.e. you sell the hair products of a company which would suit your target market.

One example would be that if your articles were to do with hair loss, than maybe you try to strike a deal with Viviscal to sell their products. Each time you write an article contain a link to a relevant product along with a discount code as agreed with that products owners. You could then try and negotiate a royalty for each click through or else on every product sold (won't make you millions but will at least be a source of revenue). To make it easier to get people to buy in for the first time I would try and form an alliance with a brand that has considerable celebrity endorsements just so that your potential customers will immediately have their attention grasped while also giving the products that you are selling some sense of credibility.

No matter what route you take you will definitely learn so much about how business actually works! Best of luck ��

Deadwards.com

Congratulations on the development of the site from project to potential business. As some of the others have said, the logistics of sourcing, labelling, storing and shipping your own label product could both be too labour intensive and tie up a lot of cash, never mind the complaints and returns you would have to deal with (usually around 10%).

Look at other ways to monetize the site while offering a value add service for your users. In my experience, a subscription site can turn a lot of users off without having some ultra famous celeb endorsement to 'validate' the cost of subscription.

All the best with it though, it's always great to see new business ideas posted on here, it gives everyone hope

Lauras Law

Great feedback so far and very much appreciated!

To answer some of the questions posted here:

The main reasons for users registering is to post in a forum and review hairstyling methods.

It's difficult making money from the current site. I use adsense and affiliate marketing but both have brought in a very limited amount of revenue.

My reason for the subscription model is partly because of Dollar Shave Club and other similar sites. I fully believe there is a gap in the market for my idea. I have also reseached this with my users I recieved positive feedback.

I also have a unique idea that hasnt been done by any of the other sites and I want to take advantage of this. And I do apologies that I am not giving any information on this idea. Im here asking for help without fully disclosing parts of the project. I hope people understand this.

I have access to a large, secure, family owned storage unit. So there wont be any extra cost for me from that point.

One idea I had to partly finance some of the project was through Kickstarter. But I dont even have a business plan yet so I havent really investigated financing the project.

Regarding own branding, people here might be right that it is a step to far at the moment. I would consider a branded product. But I wouldnt want to go for a well known brand. Ideally I could source something (probably from China) that is cheap, well packaged and relatively unknown so that customers would associate the product with my site.

I havent investigated shipping the products myself to customers. Again something I have never done and probably need advice from someone with experience in this area! On a side note, would I face any issues sending packages to certain countries?

Deadwards.com

Usually products would be certified for markets such as Europe with I believe a CE mark so you would need to ensure that the product meets the regulations for the markets that you intend to ship too. Check your user registration locations and web traffic locations and focus on the bigger ones first. In addition there could be customs charges if shipping outside of the EU.

Axwell

With your current reviews I assume you post a hairstyling method in detail and then recommend some products each time that you have an affiliate with that allow people to recrate that style. With that many users do you know how many convert to sales of those products - I know you said its not much revenue but what are the conversions like? If the number of conversions are low then I would question would people pay you a monthly subscription for a bottle of shampoo or conditioner. You wouldnt be specifically recommending that product would give you the hairstyle you reviewed so its less tangible than the affilate products above.

protelos

First and foremost, huge props for getting 31,000 folks on board for just a college project! I think you have 100% validated your actions without even doing much work.

There was a ridiculous article last week on "goss.ie" that had people with 50k followers on social being influencers, so with 31k without even trying you are killing it!

I was at an event last week and one of the keynotes talked a lot about how subscriptions are growing hugely and drop off is very low. Interestingly he did say people are incorporating subs into their monthly expenses, rent, healthcare, car payments, dollar shaving club....all counting as a monthly expense! Good to know for you.

On your specific situation, your big issue is keeping people engaged, converting them and wanting them to buy from you, without feeling pushed, like the beauty bloggers in Ireland!!


I think that you are underestimate your services and knowledge, 31k people came for tips and cheats on hairstyling, can you leverage that and create free content with a push to hook them in with paid tip. I would follow Bryan Harris, who seems to be the king of turning am email sign up into $$$.

I have mentioned this before but start listening to the podcast "entrepreneur on fire". He has created hype and a following and on the back of this demanded advertising. A huge amount of his guests are in the same boat, creating video's, blogs etc and converting them into paying customers on their services as oppose to products.

On the product from, i can't image you getting a generic cheap shampoo from China and flipping in on your site will hook many people, I guess people will buy once and then move back to the Boots bargain basket. Why not search out some high end natural product range, and approach them?

Dollar shaving club was a wonderful ride and that dude is a king marketer, but they never made money and unless you are going to raise $50M and are an unbelievable sales person I would look for a different bench mark.

Cianos

I don't see the point in trying to make your own overnight brand - your users are there for honest and impartial advice on beauty products. Now you're saying you'd buy in some random, unknown product from China to sell it off to your (currently) loyal userbase? Seems hypocritical to me and a surefire way of losing engagement from your users who will undoubtedly see through it and go elsewhere and probably kick up a big stink on your forums when they see you trying to sell them cheap stuff.

If you want to build a subscription business why not offer a "product of the month" to subscribers, where once a month you send out a product that is genuinely high quality and you're happy to endorse and get behind. If you were on the cusp of new and upcoming products it'd be a great way of keeping your customers interested and excited in what they're going to get each month.

Furthermore you could probably expect big subsidies on the products since you're giving the companies good exposure and potentially new loyal customers - and leveraging on that aspect further, you could sell subscriptions to each individual product. For example if someone loves a particular handcream they got one month, they could sign up to get that product each and every month, while getting the regular 'surprise' product subscription as well.

Lauras Law

Again some more great advice in the last few posts...thanks folks!

On my current site the majority of my users are from Europe, followed by Canada. These would have been the regions along with the US I'd be most interested in targeting.

As you said protelos subscriptions are hugely popular. I've also been focusing on this for some time and trying to find the right angle into this market. And from the small research I have done I believe I have found a potential gap in the market.

I mentioned already that there is some parts of my project that I dont want to reveal here at this time. If I did people might understand better how I hope to keep members engaged. I apologies that I need to withhold this information.

Just to clarify about my current website. My earlier referring to it as an information site may have caused confusion. I dont offer any advice regarding products. I dont give my opinions or write blogs. It has a forum on which users are free to discuss what they want. There is a section for users to review hairstyling method. An example of this would be a Youtube video with a new styling technique. Users then rate and review these and give their own advice. But the site doesn't review hair products.

Also if I was to go ahead with the plans proposed in my OP it would be using a separate website. It wouldn't relate to the existing site except that I would target the members who are registered their.

antoinolachtnai

DSC basically took a razor off the shelf, repackaged it and sold it in a new format with a new type of pricing. I just don't think a specialised hair product would be amenable to that. But I could be wrong. There certainly seem to be some things 'broken' in the hair care market (just from what I can see, and I know very little).

The real question I have is how you are going to develop your unique product. Do you have practical work done doing this? Or are you expecting to have the manufacturer do this research and development work? Basically, this investment is a big part of 'capitalising' a business of this type.

And it doesn't stop with the product itself. The packaging is critical. If you want to distribute in Europe, you really need to come up with packaging that will go through a letterbox, but which will also look attractive and distinctive in the bathroom. You are probably into fairly custom packaging. I would say that your investment in design and the brand is pretty important too. This is the nature of the beauty market.

I like that you have an 'Internet first' orientation for this. The first problem is how you get samples out there. It will be hard to get money for this without a lot of people having tried it first. Again, this requires cash or some access to distribution just to do the free giveaway. To sustain the growth, you really need to manage and target your database.

The second problem is how do you keep the 'stickiness', i.e., make sure they don't cancel.

It is a really interesting idea, I have to say.

tacofries

Actually Laura, IBYE.ie could be of interest to you . There is a lot of prize money and mentorship up for grabs and the application form doesn't take too long to fill out.

If you make it through to even just the county final stage than you are going to benefit massively from it. Can't recommend it highly enough!

mrawkward

If you are planning on sending your products by international mail the costs are rather steep. http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/Mobile/Postalrates/Standard+Post.htm

StupidLikeAFox

Again, congratualations on the 31k subscribers. They are probably an actively engaged audience and worth way more than 31k Facebook likes, twitter or whatever.

I would suggest you consider a model like the glossybox. They have built up a monthly subscriber base who get these "beauty boxes" every month. AFAIK Glossybox partners with leading brands meaning you don't have to source or market your own products. Im also fairly sure that the brands they are partnering with see it as a marketing expense, meaning that GB don't actually have to spend money on stock. Even if they are buying the stock they will at least be able to buy in bulk and negotiate a decent discount. This way you don't have to hold much stock either, you have a set amount of subscribers so you just buy what you need for that months shipment. They just have to say there are 30k subs this month, the partner sends over 30k products, then they box them up and distribute them out.

If you went down this route it would mean you could focus on what you know best - building the userbase, and you wouldn't have to take the risk and effort of introducing any new brand to a crowded market.

https://www.glossybox.ie/how-it-works/

Axwell

Lauras Law wrote: »

Just to clarify about my current website. My earlier referring to it as an information site may have caused confusion. I dont offer any advice regarding products. I dont give my opinions or write blogs. It has a forum on which users are free to discuss what they want. There is a section for users to review hairstyling method. An example of this would be a Youtube video with a new styling technique. Users then rate and review these and give their own advice. But the site doesn't review hair products.

Also if I was to go ahead with the plans proposed in my OP it would be using a separate website. It wouldn't relate to the existing site except that I would target the members who are registered their.

Ok so this is a bit different to what was originally conveyed. If you dont offer information or post valued content what way are you doing affiliate marketing? If people arent getting trusted information from someone as the reason they are signing up then that would be a good indication why affiliate marketing isnt working. People arent converting as the product isnt being recommended, instead its a forum where people as you said are free to discuss what they want.

If you are going to set up a different website then you need to be aware you start that with a user base of 0 and you are hoping to convert some fo the existing people registered on your other site over to this. You are saying it wouldnt relate to the existing website? So it will be around a different idea altogether? A different brand? Are you basically going to just export the list of users from your current site and then directly target them by email to sign up to the new one?

Lauras Law

I would expect the manufacturer to develop the product. Or ideally already have a range of shampoos and conditioners available. There is only a few key ingrediants required for a good shampoo. Once the product contained those I'd be happy to start negoiations with the manufacturer.

Branding is the big thing. Initially I had said I would like to create my own brand. But this could be a step to far and I am open to using an existing manufacturer brand. But I would really want to have a bottles designed to my specs. This is such a basic thing to get right but so many just get it completety wrong! And I think having the right design would be very important for the business developing.

Much like your points antoinolachtnai, how I present the product is one of the most important aspects of this project.

StupidLikeAFox, I have considered introducing something like that. Along with my monthly package if I could partner with Beauty companies (non hair related) and every so often include a surprise gift when I send out my hair products to members.

Thanks for the tip about the IBYE tacofries, I'd love to be able to enter it. I might not have enough time year as there is less than 40 days left before the deadline for submissions and I dont even have a business plan yet!

I guess first and foremost I need to source product(s). I'm finding it quite difficult so far. I've found one company in the US but the costs with them would kill the project before it even started. Hence I keep going back to look at China. I've searched on Alibaba but from reading reviews online it seems that site can be very "hit & miss" in terms of finding manufacturers. Would anyone here be able to point me in the right direction in terms of sourcing the produuct? Any "do's and don'ts" I should know about?

Digital_Guy

Hi OP,

Something isn't quite adding up for me. Could you tell us a little more about how you get your traffic, out of interest? Not looking for specifics if you don't want to provide them, but a bit about how you grew the site would be nice, and would give us more to go on in terms of providing input on how to grow and market it further.

The reason I say I am doubtful is that 31k users is a LOT of people to have signed up in the past year or less, especially as a part-time college product which I presume had no financial backing in terms of advertising and marketing. If you had said you currently had 31k site visitors per month I would still be somewhat surprised, as this is a pretty big number in such a saturated and highly competitive area.

Given that on any forum (e.g. Boards), the number of monthly visitors will far exceed the number of actual members, you must have hundreds of thousands of visits / page views per month?

Digital_Guy

Hi OP,

Something isn't quite adding up for me. Could you tell us a little more about how you get your traffic, out of interest? Not looking for specifics if you don't want to provide them, but a bit about how you grew the site would be nice, and would give us more to go on in terms of providing input on how to grow and market it further.

The reason I say I am doubtful is that 31k users is a LOT of people to have signed up in the past year or less, especially as a part-time college project which I presume had no financial backing in terms of advertising and marketing. If you had said you currently had 31k site visitors per month I would still be somewhat surprised, as this is a pretty big number in such a saturated and highly competitive area.

Given that on any forum (e.g. Boards), the number of monthly visitors will far exceed the number of actual members, you must have hundreds of thousands of visits / page views per month?

antoinolachtnai

Lauras Law wrote: »

I guess first and foremost I need to source product(s). I'm finding it quite difficult so far. I've found one company in the US but the costs with them would kill the project before it even started. Hence I keep going back to look at China. I've searched on Alibaba but from reading reviews online it seems that site can be very "hit & miss" in terms of finding manufacturers. Would anyone here be able to point me in the right direction in terms of sourcing the produuct? Any "do's and don'ts" I should know about?

Do the US manufacturer understand what you are trying to do? As a guy in a suitcase shop once said to me 'Do you want to buy? Because if you do, we want to sell, and what you see displayed are not the real prices.' I sent you a PM with a suggestion, but what you really need here is haircare industry expertise.

Axwell

I asked a few questions earlier which you haven't come back to but looking at your answers to other questions I think you are still going down the wrong route with the whole branded shampoo thing.

Here are a few thoughts/questions and comments.

It is great you have 31k users but you don't seem to be engaging with them or leveraging that potential currently and I think it is being very optimistic to think that those 31k will just convert over to a new website and want to start purchasing shampoo off you - which is essentially what you said you plan to do, correct me if I am wrong.

Content on the current site mostly comes from the users discussing whatever they want. You don't create specific content which is driving people to this website, they don't come there for expert advice, or your specific tips and content..there doesn't seem to be any USP or product as such.

The current website is a forum website with 31k registered users - no indication of daily traffic or how many active users per week/month. 31k registered users does not equal 31k active users so numbers and specifics are important to establish the true value of this mailing list you have.

Either way active or not you have access to 31k email addresses from this site - but this is effectively all you have that you will be using for the new business as you stated you want to create a separate unrelated website for this new idea. It seems with the current website you are already missing out on leveraging it to its full potential and making decent income from it with low returns on ad sense and affiliate marketing. As a first step would you not consider how you can improve on monetising from this current website and use it as a way to fund the other project?You want to create a new website which is completely unrelated to the existing one and target the users from the existing website. Potential issues right away - if it is completely unrelated then the users feel no attachment to the new site. They don't have any connection with it, no trust built up and you are basically starting from scratch. The other thing which isnt very clear - is this new website only going to be available to those 31k users on the existing website? You talk as if it is just aimed at them but the reality is if it is a totally independent website then you are now opening yourself up to everyone, not just the 31k users from the other website. So this opens you up to people signing up from all over the world, not just the locations you mentioned.

You said building the website is easy - you are a computer science student so lets assume you can do the programming, integrating payment processing, recurring monthly payments, having some support system in place to deal with customers etc etc. However I have yet to meet a developer who would be able to do all of that and be equally skilled when it comes to design. Subscription sites are ten a penny these days, so you need to look slick and stand out - grab peoples attention and make them want to sign up. I don't see any indication you are a designer or a marketing expert and have that background or those skills. Developing the website might be simple but it is also such a tiny part of what is required. You used the DSC example - Michael Dubin is a branding and marketing genius and it is the entertaining content delivery as much as the product that made the DSC so successful from day one. Have a look at the breakdown of their launch video which has over 23million views to date. The whole brand from the website right down to the packaging is vital and that costs money and you need people who can deliver, its not something to try do yourself if you have no experience in any of those areas.

On the topic of branding - initially you said "Ideally I could source something (probably from China) that is cheap, well packaged and relatively unknown". So you want something already branded and packaging that looks good and you can sell to people. Later you said this may be a step too far and you would be open to use an existing brand but would want to have bottles designed to your specs. Again is this something you know about or have experience in? I don't see anything pointing to you having this sort of knowledge or background so between the brand, the product design, packaging etc there is a huge amount of work involved and money that will need to be spent on getting that all done right. Again money will always be an issue so as mentioned above would you not look at how you can monetise better on the current website to help fund the new one?

When it comes to the product itself then you plan to ship shampoo. You said you got positive feedback from users on the current website - in response to what sort of questions? How much would they pay per month for a subscription? What would they expect to receive for that money? Is it the same product every month or different products?

When you look at all the factors involved this is a massive undertaking and I think trying to go the route or creating shampoo, your own bottles and packaging and everything else is just crazy with no major experience or funding in place. A subscription box approach lets you only have to focus on your own website and brand. Sourcing products where someone else has already done the headache of branding, making bottles, market research and everything else that you would need to be getting involved in.

Right now you need to make the best use of what you have - that currently is a mailing list of 31k people who are interested in certain types of products and brands. The most logical thing to do would seem to be taking that information and sourcing the products to setup a subscription box service based around those products and brands as well as bringing other brands in that people are less aware of to bulk up what is in the box and trying to build that up initially from the 31k people you can tap into from the current website and then trying to grow that and expand beyond that website and current user base. You could even offer a referral incentive to encourage those 31k users to get their friends to sign up.

IMO the next step should not be sourcing products but really nailing down a business plan and all the specifics. You need to have this all down on paper and have everything planned out - who you are targeting, is it a product subscription or a subscription box approach, is it for the current members only or open to everyone. You said you have 'only' 40 days till the IBYE deadline. If you really believe in this idea and that the extra element you want to include will bring added value to it then 40 days should be more than enough time to put together a proper business plan if you focus and narrow down exactly what the service is. You would be crazy not to apply but I think you would be equally crazy trying to go off developing your own shampoo product and not just taking a step back and focusing on leveraging what you have in terms of the number of users and the information that already exists on the current website. Offering them that subscription box model focusing on the products and brands they are already taking about regularly on your forum along with introducing other brands trying to grow their awareness seems like a no brainer in terms of where you should be looking initially.

All the best with it whichever route you decide to go and getting the current site to where it is at the minute.

Lauras Law

I gained my current audience through sheer persistence. I'm in college and got a large number of female students signed up. After that I continued to grow my members through Facebook and Twitter ads. I connected with many style bloggers and got some good plugs. One very popular blogger in Canada has been a big help to me and been responsible for me getting a considerable number of sign-ups from over there. I used Reddit, Telegram, Facebook Groups, etc to share my site. I've spent a lot of time on link building and getting the site ranking highly. I know a fair percentage of those signed up may never visit the site again but I'm still very proud of the fact that I have got 31k (and counting) registered members!

Axwell, sorry but I didn’t answer your question straight away as I was hoping to focus the discussion more so on the questions I had about sourcing a product for now (also thanks for all the time you must have put into your latest post :-)). I admitted in my OP that my Business knowledge is limited. But I wanted people to know I wasn’t someone completely out of her depth, hence I wanted to share what I have achieved so far.

I do intend to use the site to incorporate the latest project if I proceed with it. I would have it prominently linked from the current site, target my current members, have a thread stickied on my main forum page amongst other things. The branding and design of the site would be kept similar to my existing website. The subscription site wouldn't just be for my current members. I will target anyone within the countries I deliver to.

Design is probably my strongest skill and I'm fully confident of getting the site right. Also the branding of the bottles if I were to contribute to that; I've tested my (rough) design with my members and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Also the good thing about being in college is I have access to people with skills in other areas that should be able to help me! And classmates would be willing to help with any development issues if I encountered some.

If I was to use my own brand I would still be expecting the manufacturer to bottle it and label it. I don’t intend to do this myself! I wanted to try and source a manufacturer for the business plan. I don't think it'd be a useful plan if I don't have accurate costs reported in it. This is why I was thinking the sourcing is the first thing I should do.

As for the IBYE, if I do proceed with this idea I will do my best to submit it before the October deadline. Having read about it I do release what a huge opportunity it could be for me. But first I want to have a strong Business plan prepared and its difficult to know how long that will take me especially with college commitments.

antoinolachtnai, I'm going off a pricelist provided by the US manufacturer. But I haven't contacted them directly. I'll do that today to see if they have special rates. I am just assuming based on pricing I've seen of other products that there are manufacturers in China that could provide what I need for much less.

antoinolachtnai

The thing about the prices and negotiation is that it's really about establishing the rapport. You need to get them 'on board' with the concept to get them to open up on what is possible in terms of cost, etc. I actually think you might have better luck closer to home, someone you could more easily meet and talk to. Europe is the centre of the beauty business, there have to be people not that far from you who could help with this. There are people who have been around this block before.

makeandcreate

Have you tried a company like Stephenson personal care in Yorkshire. They provide a lot of base products for the skincare and shampoo markets, all tested, natural and organic options available. They are a manufacturer and very knowledgeable in the sector and they actually export to China.

makeandcreate

http://www.stephensonpersonalcare.com/products/liquids/haircare-bases

Axwell

My point about doing the business plan first was more about planning and nailing down the exact service you want to offer - you were talking about DSC and Subscription boxes but then also about sourcing a product and doing the packaging and branding etc for it. They are very different routes both in terms of cost and what you need to focus on and deciding which one you go with would then direct the business plan and what you need to source - be it retailers to provide products for the subscription box or someone who is going to have a shampoo product that you can white label, bottle and package and sell to your members. You seem to be decided on going with the latter though which will be the more costly one and longer to get established and to market. Fair play to you for all the work you have done so far and you seem to have a good basis for the idea.

lawred2

Lauras Law wrote: »

Hi all, just looking for some advice about a business I'm considering starting up. First of all, about me. Im in college. I study Computer Science. And I'd be limited in my Business knowledge. Last year I created a womens hairstyle website as part of college project. Its an information site that I now run as a part-time hobby more than anything. However I have over 31,000 registered users!

I want to start selling a product to my audience and from some research with my members I think selling shampoo and conditioner could be viable options. I would like to sell my own brand. This would allow me to expand to other products in the future if successful.

So what I want to do is this; set up a subscription website. Change a monthly fee and anyone who is subscribed will get a bottle of shampoo and conditioner sent to them each month. Similar to how Dollar Shave Club operates. There is also a unique feature I would include but I dont want to reveal that for the moment.

So where do I begin? I will be able to build the site myself. Thats the easy part! I was looking into private label hair products in China. So possibly I could get a company over there to provide the product, label it for me and send it to Ireland. But I dont know how to go about sourcing the right company, or if I'd face any importing issues. Also would I be allowed to send my product to any country in the world from Ireland? Or is there certain restrictions?

I might be in over my head with this idea but I want to explore the possibility of making a go of it! So if there is any help, feedback or advice that any Boards user can offer it'd be great!

link?

tacofries

Lauras Law wrote: »

As for the IBYE, if I do proceed with this idea I will do my best to submit it before the October deadline. Having read about it I do release what a huge opportunity it could be for me. But first I want to have a strong Business plan prepared and its difficult to know how long that will take me especially with college commitments.
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Just to clarify, you would be entering the best new idea category so the application would literally take you 1 hour to complete. Just trust me on this and take that 1 hour of your time to enter. You will not regret it and it could be the best paid hour of your life. It will open so many doors for you!

Also have a look at trading online vouchers, they would probably suit you as well.