how hard is it to start a baby carrier or diapering business?

[caedmyn]

I'd love to start an online store that carrier carriers or diapers made by others, but it seems like it might be easier to start a store making carriers or diapers I've made myself. Once you figure out a design, how hard is it to actually start selling things/find customers and keep the business going? Or if anyone has started an online store carrying ready made carriers and/or diapers, how hard was that to get going and attract customers?

[medaroge]

woah, buddy. I breifly considered this and I really think you would do best to buy a company that is already in operation (I know Attached to Baby just sold and I think Freehand either sold or is in the process). I think the online market is saturated with carriers and diapers. I think there are probably lots of untapped local markets though. Whats it like where you live? Not to be a downer, its just my opinion, and I pretty much only look at carrier and diaper sites so maybe thats why I think the market is saturated, lol! I eventually went with Barefoot Books, which is an established company that allows me to resell the products (kids books). So a lot of the start up work is done for me and I get the brand recognition, etc. of the company.

Anyway, thats just my two cents! Good luck on whatever you do!

[Azik's mom]

If you are a member of TBW (thebabywearer.com) there is a whole discussion of this in the business forum.

[nursingmom]

If you sell products made by others, profit margin is small... but you won't be spending time making the product. If you make the product yourself, the profit margin is high and you can try to wholesale.

I think diapers are saturated... but that's just my opinion after doing research on how many diaper companies exist out there.

I think internet market is very competitive. Several of my competitors have closed down their business. I'm just as new as you are trying to see what I can do to bringing business.

What I would recommend is research all the carrier and diaper companies out there (wholesale and retail businesses) and see if you can find a niche.

If you are making the products yourself, you can sell on Etsy or contact all the retail stores to see if they want to buy wholesale.

[Night Owl]

Have you found an under-served area of the market? For example, if you live in an area that is very unaware of cloth diapers, but would be receptive to the idea, then selling existing diapers to them would be an excellent idea.

On the other hand, if you know that a segment of the cloth diaper market has a problem or need that none (or few) of the existing diapers address, and you can create the solution, then this would be the route to go.

If you are just wanting to sell something online, and cloth diapers or baby slings are your choice items -- but you have no idea who you're selling to -- then you need to start doing your research. Otherwise, you will have no idea how to reach your market or how to set yourself apart from your competition.

[duckmom]

Originally Posted by nursingmom

I think diapers are saturated...

:

pun intended? sorry, I just can't stop laughing...

[caedmyn]

I think I might make a few wool sleep sacks and try to sell them. I was thinking that I'd make a couple for my new LO and then I thought I'd look to see if there were a bunch of ready-made ones available...there doesn't appear to be much out there and what there is is really pricey so I might be able to start something there with less expensive wool sleep sacks. We'll see...