Last week, we introduced you to the new online business being launched by CityMax.com staff – also known as the E3 venture (Employee Entrepreneur Experience). We determined the company bylaws and discussed what kind of business had the best chance to grow.
This week, we looked at a variety of products to sell, from event tickets to tennis rackets, and finally voted them down to the top three. After a bit of discussion, we may have reached a decision. Check out our criteria below – what would you have voted for?
1. High-end Pens
- We determined that these were easy to sell in bulk quantities, with a 2-3% markup for each pen
- High online search volume for custom pens, as well as the top manufacturers
- Very easy to ship
- However, due to our lack of any existing relationship with a supplier this product earned few votes in the final evaluation
2. Car Wax
- An extremely expensive product that generates repeat customers
- High online search volume indicating great demand
- Easy to ship
- Market is largest in the USA
- High margins
- Better sold in high volume
- Easily branded
- Manufacturing – possibly homemade, which would mean not scalable and a low production rate
- It is a product our staff feel they can get behind
- Potentially a strong product, if supplier issues are clarified
3. Baseball Bats
- One of our members has developed a potential relationship with a supplier
- High online search volume
- Great market opportunity for Little League teams, semi-pros, beer league teams, trophies
- Free drop-shipping
- Easy to out-source production
- Small order sizes possible – no inventory back up
- Fully customizable: baseball bats can be branded easily
- High agreement among board members (CityMax.com staff)
After some debate, the E3 group reached a consensus – custom baseball bats appear to be our best option. Up next week: we research market opportunities and our competition to see if our business model is viable.
Stay tuned…