Buy inventory first or design website first? How long did it take you to start?

[nursingmom]

I'm currently debating whether I should have the inventory before designing a website or design the website and start buying the inventory. I'm wondering how long it takes to launch a website. I don't want to have a huge inventory and not working website for months. I'm thinking about creating the website on my own with dreamweaver. how did you start?

[marisa]

I'd say create the website first. This way you could begin to get the word out about your business and possibly generate some interest.

I've always done it that way!

[CawMama]

I sort of did them both at the same time. During the time I was working on my site, I was also looking for new products. I found that, ordering inventory about 4-6 weeks prior to launching my site, gave me enough time to get all of my inventory in. HTH

[CawMama]

Oh...by the way, my site has taken approx. 6 weeks to get to the point that I feel it will be ready to open. But, I'm not building from scratch, I'm using SKP from Watersweb (so I don't have to do any html coding).

[kokonutmama]

I don't see any reason not to order your inventory and then start designing the website. It took me months to find the sources and have my inventory shipped, during that time I built the website and then built another one, too! Why wait for your goods when your goods can wait for you? Some systems make it really easy to set up a web store, too. Depending on what you need and your skill level it could really take barely any time at all. If you hire someone to do it for you it'll go even faster!

[cafechi]

i have bought some of my inventories and am building my website at the same time.

i am designing it myself and just have a few quirks to go before i'm ready to start adding the products. i ordered business cards, thank you notes and postcards so i can include them with orders.

while you are working on your website and getting it out there, you'll probably have to take pictures of your products, etc so there are quite a few things you can do in between.

good luck!

[lorelei]

I'd at least start the website first, so you can get some stuff going for the search engines, etc.

[geishagirrrl]

if you are going to strictly be selling online then some companies won't sell you inventory if you don't already have a site... each company is different.

[ima-06]

It depends. (Doesn't it always?)

It depends on:
- what your cash situation looks like,
- what your payment terms will be with the manufacturer of your inventory,
- what the lead time will be with the manufacturer once an order is placed,
- what your advertising lead time will be,
- what your experience level is with running a business and creating web sites,
- and so on.

If you want to go into more detail about those things I would be happy to elaborate. I am typically partial to Web site first and inventory later.