WAHM diaper retail advice

[Dahlia]

Hi,
I am new on this thread. I have been hanging out on the diaper site for the last couple of months. I am taking the plunge after being SAHM for four years I am going to open my own diaper business out of my home. I live overseas where there is very little competition so I decided to take my chances and go for it. I am putting together my business plan right now, with what little spare time I have during the day. I have also contacted some companies about importing their product in. My big question for all you diaper retailers is how much stock do I need to start out with. I am trying to figure out what my initial financial investment will need to be, nad that has a lot to do with how much stock I need to start with. Also how vast of a diaper line do I need. Can I just start out with say cpf's, a PUL cover, a pocket dipe, an insert, and some doublers. That is what i was planning to start out with. I figure if the concept of cding catches on then I can expand my line.
Anyway any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I was in retail management for years, but that seems ions ago. I hope I remember how to do this.
TIA,
Dahlia

[flminivanmama]

it depends - personally I started out ordering the minimum I could because finaces did not allow me to order more. unfortunately they still don't and it is a struggle to stay ahead of orders. if you can afford it I think you shpuld order more... also you may need to consider how shipping charges will effect you since it will cost a lot to ship product to you - so order the most you can afford whatever that may be

[Dahlia]

What would you say the minimum you need is?? People here will not buy one or 2 dipes they will buy enough to start cding. Would $10,000 worth of merchandise be enough to start out with. It sounds like a lot but with all the startup costs it is not.

[flminivanmama]

that's about what I spent to start up

[Rebecca]

Hmmm, larger orders would be good for overseas shipping costs, but I'm really happy I stuck to minimums until I could determine what would sell better for me. Some of the stuff that I thought would do well became dogs that I can't even auction for much higher than wholesale cost.

I guess I'd recommend sticking to popular brand names to start... Fuzzibunz or Happy Heiny's, Joeys, Bumkins (though I don't think they're accepting new retailers at this point), Bummis, whatever is known. FB has a pretty small min... I don't know about the rest. Having prefolds shipped from CA to NH was pretty pricey for me... about $70 freight for 3 cases of prefolds... ugh. I guess that would be about $1/dozen though.

I bet you'd do really well in Israel! Good luck!

[Dahlia]

I am actually thinking about getting prefolds and maybe some fitteds made hee. Shipping is so expensive because of their weight and I can get htem made pety cheap here. One of my largest problems is price. because we do not make dollars here and the economy right now is pretty bad due to obvious reasons it is quite hard to charge $15 for a diaper. I'm still trying to work that out. Sales tax here is also very high - 18%. There is just so much to think about and figure out before I open shop. I am afraid it just won't be profitable enough to work. I was a little discouraged after reading the thread on the diapering board about how unprofitable it is for sewing WAHM. I wonder how profitable retailing is.

I suppose because of the different circumstances in Israel most answers wont apply here.
I avtually feel like I am going to have to be on a crusade to convert people here. There aren't that many cders yet.

Well I am just rambling now so anyway thanks for the response.

Dahlia

[flminivanmama]

Originally posted by Dahlia
I wonder how profitable retailing is.

not very, unfortunately. plus every penny of profit goes back into the business to buy more product, advertising, etc.

[Dahlia]

Shouldn't that be a temporary situation, until things start rolling? Why is that? Hmmm....

[flminivanmama]

they say that for the first two years about with anything retail that you don't see a profit - that it just goes back into the business.

[Dahlia]

Let's hope so!!!