GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Difficulty in Marketing Application-Specific Mainstream products?

deef-thp · 09-29-2005, 11:45 AM

Hey everybody, who?s up for some business related discussion? :P

I?m having a little trouble deciding whether or not to pursue a venture. Here?s the situation: I?m presently doing all the IT for a multimillion-dollar industrial supply store located in Canada. It?s a small company, but very successful in it?s field.

The company has been around for almost 20 years and is well established with suppliers and product. The only problem, product wise, is that the company is focused entirely around pneumatics (air). This means valving, fittings, tubing and hose, etc. All of it is proper ?contractor grade? materials. You know, professional equipment. The issue is that, because of the nature of the products, less than 5% (I would estimate) of ?surfers? would be interested in the inventory. It?s very ?niche.? :P

My goal is to take the company online and expand its distribution further into the United States and Worldwide. This would come in the form of an online shopping cart with database of items, nothing out of the ordinary.

How would you suggest connecting those involved in the fluid and air power industry to the site? Obviously, buying any sort of traffic would be useless (I would imagine) due to the extreme niche aspect. This type of concept isn?t completely new. Look at a page like http://www.digikey.com, they do exactly what I want, but in the discrete electronics sector. They also appeal to a very small number of design engineers, but are extremely successful with online sales. McMaster-Carr is another site (http://www.mcmaster.com/), but they focus in mechanical components and metals.

So, what?s your suggestion? I appreciate any input whatsoever (constructive criticism, please). I consider a lot of you to be ?Pros? with marketing and online sales. I appreciate your business, and have similar goals. We?ve just got slightly different product lines to move :P

CLIFF?s NOTES VERSION (for people you don?t want to read my mini-essay):
- How would you connect industry professionals (design engineers/purchasers) to a mainstream site selling a single, fluid-power, product base?

Thanks again, guys!

09-29-2005, 11:45 AM
deef-thp Confirmed User Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 371	Difficulty in Marketing Application-Specific Mainstream products? Hey everybody, who?s up for some business related discussion? :P I?m having a little trouble deciding whether or not to pursue a venture. Here?s the situation: I?m presently doing all the IT for a multimillion-dollar industrial supply store located in Canada. It?s a small company, but very successful in it?s field. The company has been around for almost 20 years and is well established with suppliers and product. The only problem, product wise, is that the company is focused entirely around pneumatics (air). This means valving, fittings, tubing and hose, etc. All of it is proper ?contractor grade? materials. You know, professional equipment. The issue is that, because of the nature of the products, less than 5% (I would estimate) of ?surfers? would be interested in the inventory. It?s very ?niche.? :P My goal is to take the company online and expand its distribution further into the United States and Worldwide. This would come in the form of an online shopping cart with database of items, nothing out of the ordinary. How would you suggest connecting those involved in the fluid and air power industry to the site? Obviously, buying any sort of traffic would be useless (I would imagine) due to the extreme niche aspect. This type of concept isn?t completely new. Look at a page like http://www.digikey.com, they do exactly what I want, but in the discrete electronics sector. They also appeal to a very small number of design engineers, but are extremely successful with online sales. McMaster-Carr is another site (http://www.mcmaster.com/), but they focus in mechanical components and metals. So, what?s your suggestion? I appreciate any input whatsoever (constructive criticism, please). I consider a lot of you to be ?Pros? with marketing and online sales. I appreciate your business, and have similar goals. We?ve just got slightly different product lines to move :P CLIFF?s NOTES VERSION (for people you don?t want to read my mini-essay): - How would you connect industry professionals (design engineers/purchasers) to a mainstream site selling a single, fluid-power, product base? Thanks again, guys!