Riley is a major reseller of closeouts and irregulars from Hanes, Gildan, Badger, Russell. Their specialty is case lots or “prepacks” and they move inventory in excess of a 240,000 items per week. Despite their high volume Riley re-packs every case in house and no item is shipped out without inspection. The Riley’s, said “We make sure the packing, colors, size, quality and the price is right for every case.”

With this due diligence already in place it only took a bit of technology to pass all of this information onto the wholesale buyer. Every product page on Riley’s site contains a detailed overview of the item (age class, fabric, quality, etc.) the contents of every prepack in stock, where it will ship from and how many cases are left.

Mike Riley one of the co-owners of RG Riley provides an overview of Riley in the video below and gives a quick demo of the real time interface.  Experience it first-hand by going to any product page on www.rgriley.com.

Linda

A: There are so many great things to be said about e-commerce that I am not sure where to begin, but let’s start with this one: E-commerce is, even today, a fairly new market; it has really been around for a little more than a dozen years.

Being able to tap such a huge market at the relative start won’t happen again in our lifetimes.

There remains a world of opportunity and untapped e-potential. Other benefits include easy access to global markets, having an automated and additional profit center open 24/7, a low cost of entry, and the ability to compete with larger companies.

Here’s how to jump in – 7 Steps.

Step 1: Notice what works: Whether it is eBay, Amazon, or your own favorite, e-commerce sites that succeed tend to do the same things right:

• They are attractive, intuitive, engaging, and easy to navigate
• They offer plenty of inventory
• They are easy to shop and check-out
• There are discounts and specials (coupons, free shipping, etc.)
• They offer great customer service

Step 2. Consider the competition. Who else sells what you want to sell? Take a look at the players both big and small. Buy some merchandise from them and ask yourself – what do they do right, and wrong, and how can it be it be improved?

Step 3. Pick your products: If you are in business and have products that you already sell, then adding them to your online store is easy: Take pictures of them, add them to your online catalogue (see below) and write some great copy.

If you don’t know what you want to sell, then consider your options. There are tons of wholesalers and distributors from which to choose. If you don’t know of any, I would suggest you surf over to my site – MrAllBiz.com – and check out the wholesale product search engine we offer. You can find wholesalers for just about any product you are looking for.

Note: The culture of the Web is one of discounts, keep that in mind, and remember that selling expensive items online is more difficult.

Step 4. Create a great site: You have about five seconds once someone finds your site to impress them enough that they will decide to poke around a bit and maybe buy something. That means your site must be graphically pleasing to the eye, unique, and useful.

Step 5. Consider drop shipping: What if you just want to get your feet wet and don’t want to spend a lot of money discovering whether this online universe is for you? Then check out drop shipping. Drop shipping is an arrangement between you and a wholesaler whereby you offer their products on your site but you don’t actually physically stock any inventory. If someone clicks and buys, notice is sent to you and the wholesaler, the wholesalers ships the product using your labels and logos, and you split the profit.

If you think this is a great way to get started, you are right. There are no products to buy and stock, no huge up-front costs, no labor expenses, etc. You can find drop shippers for most any product by doing an online search, or again, by typing “drop shipping” into the product search engine at my site.

Step 6. Build your store: There are two parts to your online store – the front end and the back end. The front end is what the world sees – your products for sale, specials, policies, and so on. The back end is what you see – inventory control, reports of what sells, etc.

You will need to find an online partner / Web host to help you build your store. Their software will create both the front end and the back end. It will allow you to create thumbnails of your products as part of your overall online catalogue.

What you want is a partner that offers

• Pre-designed, customizable templates
• Inventory support
• Easy acceptance of credit cards
• Search engine optimization
• Easy adding and subtracting of products
• Up-selling tools, coupons, gift certificates, etc.
• Real time stats and reports
• Secure transactions, and
• Plenty of support

Step 7. Handle sales: To be able to accept online sales, you will need a merchant account (an account with a credit card issuer) and / or the ability to accept PayPal payments. You will also need to be able to handle inquiries, returns, exchanges, and refunds. Don’t underestimate shipping and related costs either.

Plenty of other small businesses have made the leap to online success, and if they did it, so can you.

Today’s Tip: If you would like to know more, I recently did a webinar with my friends at AT&T called E-Commerce Essentials. You can watch it here.

Ira

A: If I think about it, there are definitely some strategies I have learned along the way – legal and otherwise – that are inexpensive while also making your business life easier. Some are well known, others are not, but all can make a difference.

And of course, being the lawyer I am, let me note that nothing beats meeting with your own attorney who is aware of your facts and situation. But this list should give you something to talk about.

1. Get creditors to leave you alone, quickly and inexpensively: Especially these days, plenty of folks are being called incessantly by bill collectors. If you want the phone to stop ringing, one thing you can do is invoke the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. Say something like, “Pursuant to the FDCPA, you are to never call me again about this debt.” (Note: This has to be made to 3^rd party bill collector and not the original creditor.)

Once they have been given notice (doing it by certified mail is even better) they have to stop calling. They may sue you, or not, but the threats will cease.

2. Often, you can do it yourself: There are plenty of times when you don’t really need a lawyer and can do it yourself far less expensively. I am partial to the do-it-yourself law products at Nolo.com, but there are other good sites out there as well, like LegalZoom.com.

Of course, it’s the basic stuff I am talking about here – forming an LLC, creating a will, etc.

3. And when you can’t do it yourself, you may only need a letter: When someone owes your business money it is understandable that you want to sue the bum. But lawsuits are messy and expensive. Many times, a strongly-worded letter from a lawyer can yield even better results than costly, complex litigation, and at a fraction of the price.

4. And if you need more than a letter, negotiate: A little secret lawyers don’t want you to know is that their fees and costs are not written in stone. You can often negotiate better prices. No, they may not reduce their hourly rate, but you can bet that paying 50 cents per copy, or $2 a page for a fax is negotiable.

5. Protect your intellectual property: If you are a creator or inventor, it is vital that you protect your IP – your copyrights, patents, or trademarks. Patents usually require legal help, but copyrights and trademarks can be registered and handled on your own at www.USPTO.gov.

Also, one good thing to know about copyrights is that they need not even be registered with the federal copyright office to be legal; they are created as a matter of law at the moment of creation. See, this sentence is now copyrighted (though registration does offer a lot of extra protection.)

6. What to do if you don’t have a contract: This was one of the more interesting things I learned in law school – sometimes you can enforce someone’s promise to you, even though you don’t have an actual contract, and you don’t even need to hire a lawyer.

It’s called promissory estoppel and happens when you rely to your detriment on someone’s promise.

Example: A contractor asks you, a subcontractor, for a bid for a project and you give a very low bid. The contractor then gets the project but you now say you can’t perform with the low bid you gave. Even though there is no contract, you may be forced to live up to the low bid price because the contractor relied on your promise.

7. Know when to throw it in: When you’re wrong, you’re wrong, and fighting will cost you money.

Today’s Tip: Put it in writing. I know you know this, but make sure you do it, always. Memories fade over time, people remember things differently, and people lie.  Writing prevents all of that from being dispositive.

The expo’s juried quilt show features hundreds of dazzling quilts. You’ll wander past contemporary and traditional quilts, wearable art, cloth dolls and more, and emerge with new ideas for your own projects. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned quilter, wouldn’t you enjoy seeing your quilts in the show? There are over $13,000 in prizes again this year!

You’ll find

* A wide range of periods (1850-1980) and price levels
* Every style imaginable, from belle epoque finery to bell bottom jeans
* European classics from Chanel, Schiaparelli, and Lanvin
* Timeless American designs by Bill Blass, Bonnie Cashin, Halston & Claire McCardell
* Wardrobe ideas and inspiration

If your online marketing campaigns send everyone to the home page, you are missing out on the opportunity to customize your Landing Pages to resonate most directly with your prospective customers. Instead of the home page, direct people to a highly relevant page that ties in with the marketing campaign that drove them to the page.

2. Calibrate Your Headlines

Similarly, make sure that your Landing Page headline uses similar language to the page that drove the visit or the copy from the referring ad. It’s critical that you establish relevancy immediately when the visitor lands on the page.

3. Get to the Important Points Right Away

Readers will often skim a page rather than read word-for-word. They rarely read an entire page. Highlight your most important points at the top of the page.

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Video Games

Though experts deemed the video game industry recession-proof in 2008, it finally began to show some weakness in 2009, as profits fell 14 percent in July from the same month last year. In efforts to counter this fall, publishers are shifting their priorities to promoting upcoming video game sequels. Call of Duty, Need for Speed and Assassin’s Creed are all games whose second or third chapter comes out this fall, though perhaps the most anticipated of them all, for gamers and analysts alike, is The Beatles: Rock Band. (Find out why at Newsday.)

Apparel

As their industry quickly became susceptible to economic decline, apparel retailers have begged designers since last year to create lines catering to today’s thrifty consumer. Designers have finally answered those prayers in their upcoming spring collections,  offering high-quality casual contemporary separates with a timeless feel.

“It’s creating a product that is buy-now, wear now,” said designer Peter Som to WWD. “At the end of the day, it’s a partnership with a retailer, and understanding what the customer is looking for, then taking that information and giving them that and something they didn’t know they were looking for. It’s the ultimate dance of commerce and creativity.” (Find out more at WWD.)

Movies

Re-releasing Disney’s cinematic classics is a selling strategy that Walt Disney created himself. But the upcoming theatrical showings of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are taking this marketing strategy to a  level beyond even 3-D, as they lay the groundwork for next year’s Toy Story 3.

A new line of consumer products, featuring Halloween costumes, DVD rereleases and toys, are set to follow the  theatrical releases.  As a result, the company hopes that Toy Story 3 will become one of Disney’s most profitable movies in years, with a level of success echoing that of its predecessors. (Find more information at the Wall Street Journal.)

Retailers, which of your tried-and-true products have carried you through the current economy? What do your customers like about them?

• End sales on credit. Require customers to arrange their own credit, by charging purchases to a credit card or arranging their own bank loans.
• Restrict credit to “good customers.” Check the credit ratings of customers you want to give credit to. Obtain permission from customers to do this.  Then, for consumer customers, contact one of the three main credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian or Transunion. For business customers, check with Dun & Bradstreet or another business credit-reporting company.

• Bill promptly. Don’t wait until the end of the month to send out bills for work completed or goods sold during the month.

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