talkmagic.co.uk

I am a young energetic lad who loves magic!

I have the idea of setting up a online magic business, however I am just wondering how I should go about it ? how would I attract the correct people? What methods shall I use to market my webpage and products ?
Any advice would be briliant

That would depend on what it is you're selling.
Can you ellaborate on your products a bit?

Hi,

Well I have managed to get my hands on:

1.Magic box sets
2.Magic finger chopper
3.Mysterious Flying Coins
4.Exploding dice
5.Any Ring (Saunders FX)
6.Floating UFO’s
7.Magic Wands
8.And other card and rope tricks

All have been brought in bulk, looking to add more tricks to the list in the near furture
However for now just looking to start off small and slowly market the a website along with these great tricks.

Invest in a lot of stock lines and expect them to move slowly but in parallel. Also spend a fortune on getting good deals on bulk stock, cultivating developers, and a massive advertising campaign.

And maybe sacrifice a few chickens.

eBay

Lawrence wrote:eBay

Unless he has a unique angle, it will be one in a sea of many.

Personally I'd say that if your really want to be successful, try to specialise in a specific area of magic and really market yourself at that area. What's going to make you different and stand out from all the other online shops? Why should I spend my money with you rather than someone else? The problem that you're going to have is that magic is already a fairly saturated market so getting yourself noticed among all the sellers that are out there is going to be difficult unless you can really appeal to a particular niche.

Tomo wrote:

Lawrence wrote:eBay

Unless he has a unique angle, it will be one in a sea of many.

No different to having a website store with no hook though, still a great many others out there offering the same; amazon for example

I do agree a unique angle or hook is the way forward

Did I mention I have a website store coming soon?

I really hate to rain on anyone's parade but it has to be done from time to time.

Whilst the idea of an online shop sounds straightforward, it's only a fraction of what’s needed for a successful business. Being young and energetic helps a little, loving magic is slightly useful, and having a bit of stock will come in handy.

However what are your business skills? Your marketing and administration skills? What sort of capital can you afford to invest, tie up long term and potentially lose in this enterprise? How are you at dealing with taxation, banks, accountants (yes, you will need one) and other professional advisers? Are you prepared for what is currently a very pleasant hobby to become the bane of your life, having to work far more hours than you expect just to keep afloat until even the word ‘magic’ becomes distasteful?

How well can you deal with customers? Not the nice kind who place orders, pay up and say thank you but the ones who bitch, moan and generally make your life hell if the deck of cards they ordered at 11pm last night didn’t get pushed through their door by 8am this morning? How about the ones who lie through their teeth and swear that an item didn’t arrive, or if it did it was broken even though it’s obvious they broke it through their own stupidity? How about when you don't have an item in stock but a customer states that your website said otherwise? Check the recent threads elsewhere on TM for more depth on those and similar topics from a customer's point of view. The sad truth is that, in the eyes of most customers, you will only be as good as your last order and customer loyalty is a very rare and fragile thing these days.

OK all the above may be somewhat extreme but a lot of them have happened to me in my non-magic business and I daresay the magic suppliers who advertise, visit and post on TM can quote even worse examples from their own experience.

Yes, magic can be fun and very rewarding but a business is a business and no quarter is given, no excuses are believed, no prisoners are taken – it can be dog eat dog and you will get opposition from the existing suppliers who have been around for years and who rely on trade in magic for their livelihood.

After all that, best of luck !

OW!

But yeah, a fair point well made.

Hi,

If you are looking for setting up online marketing of your magic products , for that you can think for ebay , amazon store , also google , yahoo , bing paid services , like adsense , ad word. It will be definitely prove fruitful for you ..




May my advice help you

To be honest, you'd probably be better getting a stall at a good car boot sale or market (maybe an indoor market). The kind of stuff you're talking about selling would sell better with a good demo and sales pitch.

Just realised how old the thread is...whoops.

Living in the past!

Nevertheless, certainly a useful suggestion - thank you!

Website promotion used to rely on clever coding, now it relies on hard currency me thinks...