3 ms·

It's just one part of an ecommerce business. Marketing imo is way more crucial.

• WheelsAtLarge 9y ago
  True, I don't think people give marketing enough credit when starting a business. Look at the P/L of most internet businesses and you'll see that marketing and sales is the biggest expense. A company's goal is to figure out how to market a product at a profit. It's hard. Drop shipping is no different but there your margins are very thin. What most ongoing companies do is to have a retail business in place with actual products and use dropshipping to supplement it.
  • muzani 9y ago
    Marketing is the biggest expense for many companies because it returns money. Like you won't spend a million dollars in marketing if you didn't get back 1.2 million. It also cuts out from taxes, so most companies use long term marketing to 'stash money' for the future. It's not really something worth discussing, one of those things that everyone agrees is good, that everyone should max out where possible. (As long as the business model is validated)
    • WheelsAtLarge 9y ago
      You would think it's not worth discussing but I've seen many many posts on HN of people building products, and not thinking of marketing, and then being disappointed when no one uses it. Marketing and sales is the lifeblood of a company yet many people think of it as an afterthought to the product. I'm one that thinks that a marketing plan should be developed at the embryonic stage of a company not after you have a product. That's why Amazon's Bezos makes everyone write out a press release as part of a product pitch. He wants to make sure there's a compelling way to sell it to people. "Press release," never start a product without it. :)