5 Tips For Starting a Successful Reselling Side Hustle After Auto Parts Training
A side hustle is a great way to supplement your main income form. One such side hustle that you can do after auto parts training is reselling automotive parts. Individuals and auto shops look for automotive parts dealers when something on their vehicle breaks and needs replacing. If you supply automotive parts at a good price and provide good service, there will be a market for you. With the right training, you will also have the sales and technical skills to create a successful automotive part reselling business. Read on for tips on how to make this a reality after auto parts training!
1. Know What You Are Selling And Have Good Suppliers
Having product knowledge is always vital because you will struggle to sell a product that you lack knowledge of. This also extends to knowing what products you want to focus on. Being a general parts supplier is good, but specializing will help create a more loyal and centralized customer base. During auto parts training, you will learn about a variety of parts, and this will be a great foundation to build upon no matter what you focus on reselling. However, if you plan on specializing, you may need to do further research, and you can still maintain a substantial general customer base while specializing in something extensive, such as exterior body parts.
You also need to find a great supplier that will provide everything you need punctually and at a good price. These aspects are vital to the success of your reselling business. It is also advisable to source items from nearby suppliers to avoid poor service delivery.
2. Define Your Primary Target Market After Auto Parts Training
Knowledge of your primary target market will influence all other decisions you make for your side hustle. Are you looking to sell to individuals or are you looking to sell to auto shops? Your answer to this will influence if you should focus on a Business-to-Business (B2B) or a Business-to-Customer (B2C) selling model.
B2B will be focused on quantity, and customers will likely want to place larger orders, but potentially less frequently. B2C will focus on smaller purchases but may be more frequent, as there are more customers this way. They will also be more focused on convenience than B2B sales. As this is a side hustle, it would be good to focus on only one aspect in the beginning. Your training will equip you with the knowledge to do both types of business; however, further research on competitors and a gap in the market may help you decide which will be more profitable.
3. Thoroughly Research Your Competitors
Understanding your competitors will show you where their strengths and weaknesses lie. If you want to become a parts specialist reseller, this helps you identify gaps in the market and areas where your competitors are strong. When entering the market as a start-up, it is important to look for opportunities that offer something new or better than what your competitors can provide. This helps you establish a foundation to build from. For example, if no local competitor provides aftermarket performance parts, this may be an avenue where you can find success.
4. Plan How You Intend to Sell Products
It is great that you have found a gap in the market where you can succeed, and now it is time to choose how you plan on selling your products. The majority of automotive parts reselling is done on Amazon or eBay. These are two platforms you should look into and consider, as they are established websites, so it will be easier for buyers to find your parts. Alternatively, as a prospective parts specialist reseller, you can create an e-commerce website. However, because this is a side hustle, it may be difficult to maintain and build such a platform in your spare time.
5. Establish Your Shipping Methods Early
It is important to establish how you intend to ship the automotive parts to your buyers. There are several ways you may decide to do this, namely dropshipping, fulfillment, couriers, or collection by the customer. These methods each have their advantages.
Dropshipping allows you to ship directly from your supplier once a customer order is complete, meaning you are uninvolved in the shipping process. Fulfillment is where an online sales platform, such as Amazon, stores your product and ships it for you from its warehouse. Be careful with fulfillment, as you will likely have to pay storage fees. A courier is a regular shipping company that delivers goods from one address to another. Lastly, there is the avenue of customers fetching parts directly from you. For customer collection and using a courier, you will have to store the parts yourself. This can be problematic if you don’t have the space, but you’ll also have full control of the shipping process.
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