There are two ways to successfully sell your invention on the
Internet. One is to launch your own site, link it with other sites,
learn how to work the search engines and offer free information to
lure visitors to your site. The downside: Setting up and developing
your own site is expensive because you need to work virtually full
time to pull in traffic. It's even more expensive if you have
to hire someone to do the programming.
The other Internet strategy is to sell your products to online
merchants who have active sites that already draw plenty of
visitors. In many ways, this is the ideal setup for inventors.
Unlike most retailers, Internet merchants can buy a few units of
the product, put them on the site and then see how they sell. If
they don't sell, the merchants haven't lost much. If they
do sell, you could win big.
What types of products are well-suited for selling online? The
ideal product is one that isn't widely sold but has a core of
dedicated consumers. For example, most people don't buy
replicas of Air Force bomber jackets, but a small group of people
do. When those people search for "bomber jackets" online,
the few sites that sell them come up as a match.
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Widely available products don't work as well online. If
products similar to yours are widely available, people may not find
your products among the many others in an Internet search. They may
be able to easily find competing products in a store, and you might
have to compete with discount merchants.
Products related to areas where there is a large amount of
Internet activity also sell well online. For example, singles and
people who are getting married have many sites that cater to them,
with which inventors can form links.
Finally, the ideal Internet product is relatively easy to
produce. Sales may be modest, and you'll probably need
To cover the costs of setup, production and patenting on your
own.
Your goals for selling on the Internet should also be modest.
Here are some reasonable goals to aim for:
- Initiating sales of your product: So that you can eventually
introduce it to broader markets.
- Establishing a base for sales to a certain market: For example,
you might launch a Web site to sell one horse-grooming product,
with the goal to eventually make the site a central spot for an
extensive line of horse-grooming products.
- Creating a sales channel to produce modest sales in addition to
your main sales channel: Internet sales can provide an extra
$30,000 to $40,000 per year.
- Generating testing data from customers: The Web can be a good
way to get feedback and testimonials.
Be aware that most inventors who sell solely online never move
into major distribution, so if you want the option of sizable
retail sales in the future, you should also sell your product to
catalogs and local retailers.
Money Matters
What kind of costs can you expect when selling online? Whether
you're launching your own site or selling through existing
online retailers, you will probably have to pay for the initial
production of your product yourself. Since Internet sales are
typically modest and not a predictor of eventual success,
manufacturers will be reluctant to give you extended terms. (One
exception: If you sell to catalogs, landing a catalog order should
generally be enough to persuade a manufacturer to offer you
favorable terms.)
If you sell to Internet retailers, you won't have to worry
about the cost of Web site design and maintenance. But if you set
up your own site, plan on setup costs of $2,000 to $10,000, plus
monthly charges of $100 and up. Also plan on spending at least four
hours per day marketing, promoting and updating your site to ensure
a consistent flow of traffic. To cut costs, some inventors simply
produce a prototype and put it online to see if it sells. They
don't produce the product until they receive enough orders to
justify production costs.
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