Sourcing From Mobile Shops In China How to source and sell wholesale mobile phones and mobile phone wrist watches online There was a time, not that long past, when, if you wanted a cell phone you needed to either, go to a shop and sign up to some outrageously expensive plan or go and see a guy called Frank who was selling phones out of the back of a car and who could probably get you free cable too. As a result, phones were expensive and phone ownership was usually limited to business people, the wealthy and a group of people often referred to as yuppies.
This used to be the only group of people able, or willing, to buy a mobile phone (photo care of Dplanet)
These days all that has changed. The number of unlocked, plan free phones; or phones unattached to some outrageously-expensive plan has skyrocketed. The disconnection between the people selling the cellphones and the network providers lead to a massive groundswell in mobile phone ownership all around the world.
In fact, there are more cell phones in Iowa than there are landlines according to Cellular News and there are more than 500 million mobile phone users in China according to media and advertising blog site Sinomedia, with approximately 70% of the population choosing SMS as their preferred method of communication. More people are looking to their phones do more than just handle conversations and text messages too. The popularity of the iPhone and the Blackberry has made people realize that they no longer be tied down to a computer screen to get information from the internet. And with the current flow of wholesale mobiles from China to Europe
and the US increased functions are available to more than just the people who can afford Apple, RIM or Nokia's latest offering. The recent developments of mobile phone wrist watches are perhaps a sign of change on how we will communicate in the future.
So what does this mean for you as an eBay trader or online shop owner? Essentially it means that three new markets have just opened up, giving eBay traders and online businesses brave enough to explore them a new type of customer that they didn't have access to before.
Brand Name Mobiles Mobile phones through the ages
Most people trading mobile phones on the internet will probably be selling brand name mobile phones. What is undoubtedly the most competitive market has changed over the years with Motorola, Nokia and Apple being the darlings of buyers, and therefore sellers at some point or another over the years.
1990 Motorolla DynaTAC 800X
1995 Nokia 10011
The benefit of getting involved in this market is that brand names phones and electronic gadgets are an incredibly compelling draw for many consumers. When Apple first released the iPhone in 2007 it sold 128000 phones on the first day it went on sale to the public. This demand is also strong in the online and secondhand phone markets with many people going online to search for a new, or nearly new, ROKR, Chocolate, IPhone, Slide, Palm, Blackberry or Ocean. However as this market has been well publicized it is almost the most competed for with many sellers offering phones and phone accessories to people
2007 Apple iPhone
through eBay and online mobile phone shops making it difficult to newcomers to compete in the market. As a result if you're looking to get into this market, or just trying to get more customers and increase sales you will need to do more marketing, either through ads, articles, blogs or forum commenting to get heard over the clamor and build up a bigger profile. Unfortunately, this also means that eBay traders and online shop owners selling their products directly to the end user have had to cope with a number of mobile shops in China and other source countries, like India selling them defective products or not giving them any phones at all. To combat this you're probably better to try and go through one of the more reputable wholesalers who deal in brand name phones, like Saleshoo, or failing that order a single sample of any new phone you plan on selling online and testing them thoroughly against a new model.
The competition to sell customers hand pieces like the iPhone is very fierce on e-commerce sites like eBay
Suppliers, wholesale companies and dropship wholesale companies aren't the only one to behave unethically in the e-commerce (or e-tail as it is increasingly being called) industry and customers are being increasingly wary of products they are thinking of buying online.
If you're looking to get around this your best move is to build up customer confidence by offering warrantees and offering good levels of service.
Wholesale Mobile Phones This category of phones is potentially one of the most exciting, yet misunderstood markets on the internet this year. If you asked most e-tail operators to describe what they though a wholesale mobile phone from China looked like they'd probably described something that was cheap, had few if any features and was likely to fall apart after the third phone call.
Spider Themed Phone
In actuality, besides price, a cellphone from China doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to that description. Most wholesale mobile phones manufacturers in China first cut their teeth making cell phones for larger brands before striking out on their own. While this has only represented a small number of wholesale mobile phone manufacturers this number exploded since late in 2007, when the government relaxed the licensing conditions needed to become a mobile phone manufacturer.
Funky Dual SIM Touchscreen Phone With Lights
Dual SIM Touchscreen Multimedia Phone
This would normally lead to a price war. However, current raw material shortages, their subsequent price rises, and inflation in China means that manufactures of the cellphone in China have had to look for other ways to differentiate themselves from other players in the wholesale mobile phone market.
Instead, makers have looked to the quality and functions of the pieces they are selling and making, producing high quality, fully-featured phones. This has been so much the case that one maker even pipped the market by producing a solar-powered cellphone, a long time before more established brand names even attempted it. Most makers won't have pieces that are that advanced if you're far-sighted enough to enter this market. However, mobile shops in China, like http://www.chinavasion.com, are likely to be able to supply you with phones that have the following features: • • • • • • •
WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity Touchscreen technology Included MP4/MP3 players A video camera A still camera Room for extra memory Space for more than one SIM Card So what does it mean for you as an eBay trader or e-commerce store owner? What it means is that there are a whole range of wholesale mobiles from China that can be bought from wholesale dropship companies, like Chinavasion, with all the functions of an iPod or ROKR but for the fraction of the cost. And as it is such a new market anybody starting to source and sell wholesale mobile phones won't come up against as much competition and can position themselves as market leaders.
Putting a phone through its paces before putting it online is an excellent way to make sure you aren't selling customers a substandard product
The market is also a good one for vendors using a dropship service as many mobile shops in China will offer this facility.
However, no matter which market you enter there are going to be problems to face and the wholesale mobile market is no different. Most vendors in this market are trying to cope with quality issues when sourcing new products and consumer trust issues.
The issue of ensuring a supply of high-quality products won't be one that is unusual to most vendors who have sold on eBay, Overstock, Amazon or any other areas of the e-tail industry before. In fact, it is a common problem which most practitioners can usually get around by ordering a sample and putting it through its paces before you put it online. Another issue you may have to address is customer trust issues and gaining a good reputation. As you don't have the reputation of a known trade band to work off you'll have to build up your customers' trust in your name and your shop. The best way to build your own name as a brand is to develop a strong customer service system where you will answer customer questions from the time they are thinking about purchasing a wholesale mobile phone till after they have bought it. Another way to build a strong reputation as a trader in this category is to offer a one-year warranty to help ease any customer fears about getting a faulty product.
(For more helpful hints on sourcing and selling wholesale mobile phones go to http://www.chinavasion.com/blog) Mind Blowing Cellphone Watch In Stainless Steel
Mobile Phone Wrist Watches Another incredibly exciting and new market is that of the mobile phone wrist watch.
Mobile Phone Watch With Backlit Keypad
While the idea for cell phone wrist watches has been around in popular culture since the 1950's mass-produced cell phone wrist watches only just
started coming out at the end of last year with the largest volume not coming from traditional brands, but from mobile shops in China. Cellphone watch makers haven't discarded functionality for size and anybody sourcing these cool electronic gadgets can expect units to be packed with touchscreen and Bluetooth technology, a MP3 and MP4 player and cameras.
In fact multimedia cellphone watches and camera phone watches that anybody sourcing products from China will find it hard to find a cell phone watch that's not a mobile phone watch. The potential market for mobile phones wholesale mobile phones and cell phone wrist watches is huge, and with such a large base of suppliers you'd be foolish not to take advantage of this huge market.
Rose Li is the PR Manager for Chinavasion.com. Chinavasion.com is the world’s leading online drop ship wholesaler for wholesale mobile phones, mobile phone wrist watches and other consumer electronics. Accredited by Validated Site, ScanAlert, and Verisign, and listed in all the leading B2B directories, Chinavasion.com is the market leading online wholesale electronics shop for eBay dropship sellers and importers worldwide. For more details visit: http://www.chinavasion.com/
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Stay tuned for the second part to this twopart series on the basics of selecting a mobile phone, wholesale mobile phone or mobile phone wrist watch!!