“If you love what you’re doing then thing that you love will follow. Running your own business isn’t a 9 to 5 it’s a 7 to 7 job. I enjoy it, I go home sit on my laptop and I can’t get away from it. There’s not one day that I’ve kept away.” Jeet from Blukoo.
Jeet from Blukoo sells everything to do with health, supplements and healthcare. Jeet has been trading online with Blukoo for over 3 years. They are based in north London and Jeet is helped by 2 other members of staff.
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Some thoughts from the interview
“It started from the back of the garage back home, we were there for 6 to 8 months. We started by buying just as much as we can and selling on-line. It wasn’t a fixed category, it was what we could get hold of and what we could make money on.”
“We slowly started focusing on nutrition, vitamins, supplements, herbal products and it grew from then on.”
“8 months down the line we moved into the warehouse which is 5 mins walk from where I live. It has been growing ever since.”
“When we first started off, Amazon was our bread and butter due to the fact that when we opened the account with eBay they had restrictions on how much you could list per month.”
“eBay was a slow process.”
“Currently it is eBay ahead of Amazon.”
“The good thing with eBay is that you also pay less fees than with Amazon which is always a bonus.”
“15% percent on Amazon, and if you include eBay and Pay Pal fees it is just under 15%, about 12 to 14% roughly.”
“In terms of orders, not individual items, we do about 8000 to 9000 orders a month.”
“We’re busy but we’re efficient. That the key being efficient, managing your time and working efficiently is the key to having a more relaxed environment. They are never stressed out.”
“Christmas time we will probably feel a slight pressure.”
“We have slowly starting growing with everything.”
“Recently we have just joined Rakutan, which was formally known as play.com and Cdiscount which is a market place in France.”
“It’s a matter of branching out. We are also on Amazon France, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy and Amazon U.S.”
“It’s just getting our name out their really.”
“I’m not a fan (of FBA). They charge a lot and I’m paying rent in this warehouse and paying rent in Amazon so it is basically like renting to properties.”
“If you look at my Amazon feedback, customers are happy and they receive their products within a couple of days, if they don’t we resolve it quickly and smoothly as possible and that is key really.”
“What I have seen in the last 3 years is a product which we are selling really well, sending out a lot, and all of a sudden Amazon come in, they’ve sourced the product and they have slashed the price and there is no way we can compete and are sales have dropped. It kinds of hurts that they can do that.”
“It can swing either way. If you have come up with something really good, and you’ve managed to get it on to TV and radio and your sales just jump.”
“We’ve had one product that was on ITV, some super food programme, and the next day and the same evening we over sold on that product that’s how bad it was. The manufacturer couldn’t keep up with demand just because it was on TV.”
“We have our order management system which works well for us. We’re looking at maybe changing that in the near future we might be going towards hand held devices”
“You want to be as efficient as possible. Especially in trying to make sure the customers are getting the right items.”
“when I first started off I spent a lot on my first website which wasn’t great, it was very slow, very laggy, not user friendly and I regretted how much I spent on it. I couldn’t really do anything I just had to wait until I had more cash flow. We use a platform called VS commerce and we sound a designer in the U.S. and I paid a fraction of what I paid first time round and I’m pleased with what we have right now.”
“The orders from the website are increasing month by month year by year.”
“Customers are coming back and are using the website.”
“I think that is the order. So Amazon have no restrictions so if you have 10 items of 1000 items you can list them on Amazon, so Amazon is your first place. You want to get your eBay store up and running as it is tedious getting it set up and getting your limits increased.”
“You want to start off with Amazon and eBay at the same time then push your website.”
“Entice them with offers or tell them you can get the item at a better price on your website which is hard especially with Amazon.”
“I used to work for an eCommerce business for a year and left that. I went into studying and further studying. I tried to get into the IT industry so I just thought let’s see if I can do something myself.”
Best advice: “Just work hard, day by day, push yourself. Even do reports on how well you’re doing day by day to see how well your progressing. If you love what you’re doing the things that you love will follow. It can be tough, it can be depressing or you just want to go home but those are the days when you have to pull your socks up and come together with your team or if you don’t have a team with your family. My mum comes to help every Monday and it’s good to have some family helping you. You can always trust your family, friends you can also trust, but not as much as your family.”
What do they offer?Blukoo offers health, baby care, beauty, first aid, oral and dental care, personal hygiene, pet care, sexual health, skin care, sun care, and weight loss products, as well as vitamins and supplements, perfumes, and health aids. Blukoo are committed to “healthy living” and their vision is to be an established healthcare brand. The customer is the king for Blukoo and they aim to become the first choice for the customer.
Make sure it’s viable, don’t waste your time, your effort, your money.
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