From Speedy Processing to Running Away with a Bucket - The Great Goose's E-commerce Diary && Summer Goose Update#
The Beginning of the Story#
Last year in July, the Goose resigned and stayed at home. Then, he gradually dealt with the unfinished building matters at home until December. During this period, he didn't look for a new job and considered it as a period of rest. In January of this year, with the release of the fantasy creature Paru 🐧, the Goose started renting servers on the second or third day of the release. He quickly deployed WHMCS and Yilong wrote the corresponding egg. However, what he didn't expect was that the initial game environment was harsh, and being attacked by DDoS attacks was very common. Later, even major cloud providers joined the war, causing the Goose to not make any money and even lose 1000 dollars. Then came the Chinese New Year. After the New Year, in March, relatives from home contacted the Goose and said they wanted to join the selected alliance in Douyin (a Chinese video-sharing app), but they didn't know how to use computers or understand e-commerce, so they asked the Goose for help. The relatives are in the e-commerce supply business, where they take clothing designs to clothing factories and sell the finished products directly to those who livestream.
Supplement: What is the Selected Alliance?#
Actually, it's a variant of Taobao customer. Merchants list their products on the platform and offer commissions. Then, any influencer can sell these products. This means that you are only responsible for pre-sales and after-sales, not for sales. If the commission is high, naturally there will be people who will sell for you. Actually, nowadays, most of the time, it's the influencers who actively approach you. Those who approach you are scammers, hehe.
Speedy Processing and Early Confidence#
On that day, the Goose went to the relative's house to study. The relative acted quickly and opened the Douyin store in just over a week. They even completed 30 orders in the novice village (selected alliance requires 30 orders in the novice village before entering). However, because the relative's supply business was doing well, they didn't have time to manage the selected alliance, so they gave up. Then the Goose thought, this thing works. There is a relatively large clothing industry chain locally, so let's do e-commerce.
Registering as an Individual Business#
The relative told the Goose not to register the Douyin store under his personal name and suggested getting a business license. It's easy for individuals to exceed the personal business turnover limit. So, the Goose registered as an individual business. I have to say, registering as an individual business is quite simple now. Basically, go to the corresponding provincial government website, submit the information, and the next day you can print the business license yourself.
Deciding to Sell Plus-Size Women's Clothing#
Initially, because the relative was in the plus-size women's clothing business, the Goose thought of selling their products directly. At first, the idea seemed good. Since childhood, I have heard about how great the local clothing industry is, so I thought the quality must be good and there must be a lot of original designs! In fact, later the Goose realized that the local clothing factories that are doing well have all switched to producing for foreign brands or have moved to the south, and the local ones are mostly imitations and knockoffs. Moreover, the hang tags, care labels, and actual fabrics used are rarely accurate. In order to complete the 30 orders in the novice village, the Goose even wholesale purchased 30 hats online! They even customized 100 bubble wrap bags! Looking back now, it's quite funny. Continuing the story, when the Goose took one of their products to take pictures, they discovered a problem - the quality was extremely poor! The Goose had a vague feeling that something was wrong. The next day, when the Goose went to the market, a stall owner directly told the Goose, "If the wholesale price exceeds 40, it will be difficult for you to sell!" It was at this moment that the Goose realized the seriousness of the problem. After inquiring with many people, the Goose finally came to the following conclusions:
- Local women's clothing is mostly imitations, following whatever is popular
- There is a high demand for plus-size women's clothing
- The quality and fabrics used are mostly low-grade
- The return rate for women's clothing is at least 70%
Switching to Selling Men's Clothing and Brushing Orders#
After conducting research, the Goose thought that there would be less competition in men's clothing. However, it turned out that the Goose was too naive. The Goose wanted to switch to selling men's clothing. Then, they started looking for sources. Skipping the middle process, they finally found a source with good quality products. Moreover, due to their relationship, the Goose was given a wholesale price for a batch of products. Then came the product photoshoot. The Goose tidied up their new house, borrowed a camera, bought a tripod, and even customized hangers with logos. Damn it, new problems immediately arose - lighting and clothing wrinkles. The Goose couldn't solve these two problems even until they decided to run away with a bucket, because an even bigger problem occurred:
- Without experience points, selling at a low price is equivalent to having no traffic. So, the Goose had to ask their all-powerful group of friends to help brush orders. They managed to complete 30 orders, which allowed them to test the durability of the packaging bags and deal with the hats they bought earlier.
- When the experience points were released, it happened to be the start of the 618 (June 18th) promotion on the platform. The Goose also registered for it and then discovered a problem. If you register, you are required to purchase shipping insurance and participate in price reductions. However, the Goose didn't have any sales or fans in the early stage, so as long as they didn't lose money, they went ahead and registered.
- The most outrageous thing happened. The platform had a price comparison system, which compared the same products. If the price was higher, it would be limited in terms of exposure. Even if you have a great product, it would be compared to a junk one. It's impossible to compete! Moreover, for men's clothing, there were many similar styles that were being sold as clearance items. It was heartbreaking.
- Fortunately, completing some tasks gave the Goose a large amount of advertising credits (used for advertising). So, the Goose created a new plan. Believe it or not, spending 253 dollars on advertising (actually only spending 3 dollars, 250 dollars were credits), they managed to sell two items! The Goose celebrated with champagne that night. If spending money can make you stronger, then it's fine. At least it means that this path is viable. But damn it, the most frustrating event happened.
- After receiving the items, both customers applied for a return and refund on the third day. It was at this moment that the Goose realized a new profession - a branch of the wool party, specifically the branch that takes advantage of shipping insurance. There are many people in China who like to take advantage of these opportunities, and there are even tutorial classes for it. It's also an industry chain.
- The most crucial part is that in order to avoid problems as much as possible, it is common to use livestreaming for local businesses. But the Goose is not good at livestreaming, so they had to give up on the e-commerce clothing path.
Running Away with a Bucket#
As of May 31st, the profit statement has been released. See the chart below. The Goose has decided to run away with a bucket. No wonder when the Goose went to the market, the merchants said that the market environment is not good this year. The Goose thought it was because they were not capable enough, but it turns out the Goose was the clown 🤡.
To summarize the reasons for running away with a bucket:
- Insufficient market research in the early stage, too much reliance on the local market
- Serious price comparison on the platform, and without advertising, it's equivalent to having no traffic
- The clothing industry is too complicated. The Goose learned about industry secrets from acquaintances, otherwise they would have been scammed even more
- There are too many wool party members
Future Plans#
The Goose plans to try another local industry. It's still in the early stages, so the Goose will see how things go before deciding whether to write about it.
Happy Children's Day on June 1st#
Today is Children's Day, everyone, be happy~ Here is this year's Summer Goose!