Buying Wholesale Handbags and Selling them for a profit

Buying and selling handbags might not be the first thing which comes to mind when you think of a great business but the numbers indicate otherwise.

If, like me, you've studied business then you'll be familiar with SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The idea is that you look at a new business idea and see if it makes sense before you commit to going ahead.

Whilst this might work for traditional businesses, the rules are different when it comes to online businesses and I'm going to prove it by 'taking a handbag' to traditional thinking.

So let's assume we are going into the handbag business and our business model is that we'll find handbag wholesalers, buy handbags at wholesale prices (or below wholesale prices) and then resell them at retail prices on ebay or via dropshippers. Here's an attempt at SWOT

Strengths

1. Plenty of demand. Approximately half of the population are women and hence at some stage in their life, it is reasonable to assume they will need (or want) a handbag.

2. Multiple sale opportunities. As any lady will tell you, you can never have too many handbags. My wife has several but I know she'll want more - and more. Handbags seem to have an almost magical draw to women.

3. Built in obsolesce. In the same way that car manufactures change the shape of models every year or so, handbags go out of fashion in months - so you have to buy another one. Of course not all women can afford the latest style and so you can make very good money buy purchasing wholesale stock of last month's model and then selling them on at a profit.

4. Premium pricing. A good handbag costs a small fortune and you are paying a lot for the brand. This means that there are great profit margins to be had if you can buy brand names at low prices.

5. Cross sell opportunities. Women who buy handbags, buy accessories and associated products as well. Luggage jewelry is a good example. Charms and other personalized items also fit will with the sector.

Weaknesses

1. Competition. Finding wholesale handbag distributors, buying handbags and then reselling them is not exactly a new idea (the good news is that most people are not very good at it and don't know what you'll soon know).

2. Fakes. There are a lot of fakes around but that's OK because you'll soon know how to make sure you don't get ripped off.

Opportunities

1. There are lots of opportunities to sell wholesale handbags for a profit. ebay is the obvious route to market but there are many more.

Threats

1. There are very few threats, this is a growing and perpetual market - the only real threat is that someone else will get your customers. We can help!

To sum up, many of the SWOT items look good. The main thing to remember is that making a business out of wholesale hand bags is not a unique business idea therefore many people would skip this opportunity - they'd be wrong.

Some numbers

According to my research, there are over 3,200 searches executed on the major search engines for handbag related queries every 24 hours. It's a fair assumption that if people are searching on Google they are also searching on ebay and want to BUY handbags.

If you are going to make money in the handbag market - especially the luxury brand handbag market, then you need to find wholesale suppliers who can provide you with the best deals possible.

Most people think that you make your money when you sell handbags but the real potential for making money comes when you purchase. This might not make sense at first but if you think about it, the market will only stand for a certain maximum selling price for any handbag so this is the maximum you can hope to get on your 'top line' for a sell.

Now, there is technically no minimum price which you can buy handbags at wholesale - if you are lucky, you'll find a wholesale handbag supplier who is liquidating stock and you'll get them for next to nothing. Every dollar you shave off the price of a handbag at wholesale is another dollar in your pocket - or on your 'bottom line'.

The key to a successful handbag business is to find the best wholesale suppliers. I cover how to do this and much much more in my ebook "Real Wholesale Suppliers". Why not check it out.