How to get first 3 customers in E-Commerce?

[xavier776]

Hi All,

I am aiming to start a toy rental business. My target market are moms with children between ages 0-5yrs old. As you can imagine, cold calling is not ideal.

I thought about starting out with family members and I asked my sister. She said it was a great idea. I then proceeded to ask if she should like to be one of the early customers and give a deposit. She said she didn’t have the money. I then told her to tell her mom friends.

I then went through my Facebook messenger messages and messaged the photographer that I used to take my son’s 1yr photos. She seemed interested and asked how it would work. I told her how it’ll work and then she became silent.

My target market hangs out on Facebook and I’m members of almost every imaginable mom group there is on Facebook. All of the groups ban promotion and if they don’t then you have to pay to market your services/product.

I was thinking next would be to reach out to mom blogs and email the owner of that blog and see if they would be interested. What do you think?

I’m trying to get three customers to at least give a deposit. This would show I’m on to something. I just finished reading Noah Kagan’s The Million Dollar Weekend and decided to take a chance on myself.

This is a problem I’m solving for myself and I know I’m not the only parent out there that wants this as a solution. I plan to be customer focused and solve the actual problem.

Thanks!

 

[gellmannamnesia]

@xavier776 Why deposit? I personally would think it’s weird to pay already if the product isn’t even available immediately, at least for this type of product.
If you just want to test the waters / see if demand is there get Helium10 and analyze your niche on Amazon FBA and see what private label sellers are making on Amazon. If that’s not enough for you order a small batch/ an MVP and offer yourself via FBA.
But don’t go around asking strangers if they want to buy a product against a deposit, it won’t happen (if your sister wouldn’t do it…strangers will be even less likely to do that.)

 

[xavier776]

@gellmannamnesia It’s not something that’s sold on Amazon. It’s a service more than a product. The idea is to have packages of a few set of toys based on the child’s age and development stage. The parent selects the package appropriately for their child’s age. They get the set of toys. Use them for about three months, then send it back to us for another set of toys.

 

[613jono]

@xavier776 Have you ever tried taking away a child’s favorite toys every three months?

(And I’m here assuming that you’re not some weird psychopath that enjoy the screams and emotional trauma of children.)

 

[xavier776]

@613jono Good point. I’m not a psychopath lol. I think every child is different. Sure they have their favorites. This is something to consider.