Lessons Learn

  

Online Business & GST 7%Popular online stores Amazon & eBay (US), Taobao (China), Flipkart (India), Korea (Qoo10), Raukten (Japan) = transaction volume is increasing yearly.
With more smartphones and faster boardband, the online business is picking up, June 2014 Alibaba group buy over Singpost share. This will also push up delivery business.

Please take note that all goods brought into Singapore above the value of $600 per person are subject to 7% GST, including goods bought overseas for personals use.

How to boost your ranking in Google Search EngineType “ Jurong USB” first 2 link will bring you to www.jurongusb.blogspot.com
The Google spider web crawling using some of the following pointers:

1. Setup a few blogs with similar contents and all linked to the same main page

2. Inform your friends with various IP address to visit the main page and search key words “jurong usb”

3. Always update your main sites with latest contents.

Publicity of website and Blog

Pictures speaks more than words, use pictures and pointers to express concise content.
Fully utilized of various multi media platform, facebook, youtube, twitter, Wikipedia, instgram, namecards, emails, words of mouth, stomp, newsletters, posters, pamphlets, brochures, stickers decal on car & shirts…
Inject element of surprise and creativity, with out of box approach to media.   

Lessons Learnt

-          New products always price more expensive $, after a while the price will drop and discount.  It will be time consuming to constantly monitor the price.

-          Most of the customers do not know what they want, until you show them the products 

-          Single transaction with low volume, will result in tiny profit margin and loss of precious time. Lack of large scale order.

-          Focus on mass & group order, inclusive of package for children birthday party, gift packs, grassroot activities.   

-          Small niche market of consumers face uncertain long term prospects 

-          Physical stall & booth require rentals & manpower costs, operate at home and go mobile at flea market.

-          Consolidate orders from various people and save on shipment delivery fee.

Online Transaction Experience

The following are the experiences which I had encountered while doing this mini online business. Wish to share it with you, thank you for your time. 

Ordering of Goods

·  Always take note of the currencies exchange rate, place order when SGD$ is strong.  MAS review its policy on SGD$ in April and October.

·  Avoid ordering restricted items such as batteries, DVD, weapons etc.

·  Soft toys maybe light in weight, beside the weight of the goods, flight delivery also take into consider the volume of the goods. Check the prices before delivery

· Order products that are unisex, all ages can use, all races can use, black & white are prefer color that most like, free size if too many sizes require to stock keep inventory
- Avoid product with expire date  
- Avoid product with electronic parts and battery
- Avoid big soft toy that charge in volume result in high delivery fee 

Delivery of Goods

·  During peak period such as Xmas and New Year, delivery duration will be longer.

·  If the ordered goods contain restricted items, your goods maybe held at Singapore Customs.

·  Declaration of goods in the invoice should be below SGD$400, if exceed $400, GST will be imposed. If any lost of goods, you will be only compensated the amount that you had declared.

·  Electronic items maybe faulty, be prepare to absorb it and cover the price. Unless the item is expensive, return and exchange another new one will incur more delivery costs.

·  Non electronic items fetch better profits, the chance of faulty items are slim.

·  Buying insurance for delivery incur costs, the choice is depend on the goods and individual preference.

·  Express delivery is more expensive than normal delivery (no delivery on public holiday and Sunday)

·  Delivery to air is more expensive than delivery by ship which measure in 1 cubic meter (3 feet x 3 feet x 4 feet)

· IMPORTANT always check your parcels with any suspicious posion or chemical leakage.

Sales of Goods

· Take photos or download the photos of the products and post it online to your blog http://jurongusb.blogspot.com/

· Check the prices of the goods at shopping mall before determine the final price.

· Customers order in bulk can give them discounts

· Publicity of the blog via words of mouth, facebook, pamphlets, namecard etc

· Push your website to top Google search

· Compile a list of regular customers contacts and update them whenever new stocks arrive

· During Initial startup, establish networking is more important than the margin profit

·

Types of goods

·         Order goods that will be use by various age groups and race groups, example Iphone accessories, stationery

·         Order goods and gifts based on season such as Christmas New Year, Children Day.

·         Order unique goods that seldom find in the market, you determine the price. 

·         Goods related to Chinese culture may not able to sell, example Blue & White Porcelain set

·         Soft toys are big in size will incur more delivery costs even though the toy may weight 3kg, the delivery cost maybe the same as a 14kg good in term of volume.

·         Order items in bulk to save delivery costs

·         Electronic products may damage during delivery, need to charge higher price to cover the faulty goods.

·        

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Background of Jurong USB

The word Jurong “USB” is the acronym for Jurong Unique Sales Boutique, as a resident in the kampong of Jurong for 30 years; I wish to contribute my little effort to provide a service or product that will be helpful and useful to individuals need or request.  

Objectives of setting up this little online store

· To provide a cyber space to share some common interests and hobbies

· To provide a platform for unique gadget or gift that you seldom find in the markets

· To provide a cheaper alternative on the products that already available in the markets, guarantee one of the lowest price quotes.

· To provide individual product detail review and knowledge sharing.

· To collect valuable feedbacks and widen the circle of friends

· To provide the necessary technical and logistic support

· To play a part in saving the Earth, Recycle and Reuse

Procurement Phase (Triathlon)

Swim in the sea of internet, run in the jungle of malls, cycle through piles of newspapers and magazines in the quest of new and unique products.

Technical Specification Phase (Swimming)

Swim through the internet, catch the fish from various ponds and put them together to compile an information sheet for individual product and put in jurong usb fish tank.

Marketing and Sales Phase (Running)

Run through the malls and mined the average pricing from Action City, Mini Toons, Comic Connection, Toys R us, Popular, Noel, Gmarket, Ebay and many other more, after deduct away the conversion rate and delivery costs to determine the final price of the product. Run around to make delivery and meet appointments.

After Sales Support Service (Cycling)

Profit is secondary; Publicity through word of mouth is primary. Cycle between friends for feedbacks or new requests, while solving the problems for others additional experience and knowledge will follow us.

Upcoming ideas

If Miss Time permits me and Mr Opportunity look for me, I could get more products and information in the following fields.

· Collection of stamps and currencies

· Movies & Music

· Mobile Casino Equipment

· Harry Potter Magic Items

· James Bond Anti Spy Gadgets

· Healthy Lifestyle & Sports

· Singapore Souvenirs package for tourists and oversea friends

· Home Beer Brewing products

· Radio Control Toys (helicopter and plane)

· Miniature Gardening

Thank you for spending some of your time to flow through this little online store. I will add in more new products soon. If you order more, can sms/call me for discount prices

Tay Jin Hiong
Email: jurongusb@gmail.com
Facebook: jhtay@hotmail.com
Hp No: 98574537