New Retail Business Ideas for 2014

If you have caught the entrepreneurial spirit and you want to open a new retail business this year, you are acting at a good time. Many of the below ideas are e-commerce-based, which is an industry that is experiencing a massive surge at the moment. Just a few years ago Americans were, for the most part, terrified of buying products online. They feared identity theft and just felt uncomfortable inserting their credit or debit card numbers into a virtual form to make a purchase. Fast forward to today and most Americans have no problem buying products over the Internet. In fact, many of them are doing just that in record numbers. Now that you know that e-commerce is all the rage, here are six 2014 new retail business ideas that will help your entrepreneurial spirit sore.

Online Store

Our list for 2014 new retail business ideas begins with the online store, which by far the easiest on our list to set up and get started. Many new retail business ideas start out as an eBay or Amazon business, and thus these business owners are able to enjoy the benefit of an infrastructure (and audience) that is already established.

Or you can set up a new retail business on its own dedicated website with a web address that is completely unique. Yourstore.com can sell anything under the sun, as long as the products you sell can be obtained cheaply enough so as to allow you to turn a profit. Sounds difficult, doesn’t it? Yet it’s not once you put some resources and effort into this easiest of 2014 new retail business ideas.

Become a member of a wholesale network and get in contact with a wholesaler that will provide you with products on the cheap, allowing you to sell those products at market-friendly prices and still turn a nice profit.

There is another good idea that will allow you to sell products cheaply from the comfort of home – you can start a home-based thrift business.

Home-Based Thrift Store

Put ads in local trade papers, newspapers and advertise on local online sites like Craigslist to let the community know that you will sell others’ unwanted products for a commission. You can then sell those items on eBay or Amazon without having to purchase the products you are selling. While this can yield you a massive amount of income quickly, you can get into trouble if you don’t have clear agreements established with the people you choose to do business with. Learn to say no to items that you don’t think are worth much and use signed contracts just to be on the safe side.

Home-Based Food & Drink Services

This is one of those 2014 new retail businesses that may require special licensing, depending on where you live and mostly due to health codes, but cooking food and delivering it locally might be a good choice for you if you like to cook and take pride in your tasty concoctions. People will gladly pay for gourmet food, ethnic food and health food. Even offering health drinks is a good idea. Think of it as catering on a smaller scale.

This, like most of these new retail business ideas, can be advertised in local papers as well as online, but use business cards and network in-person for best results.

Supplements & Vitamins

Anti-aging is all the rage right now and everyone is trying all they can be healthier; which is where our next item on our list of new retail business ideas comes into play. You can either come up with your own health or vitamin supplements, or you can white label an already established one in order to rebrand it with your own marketing flare.

The supplement industry is very lucrative as you can usually charge premium prices and overhead is typically very low. If you have a desire to help people live healthier and longer, this type of retail business might be for you. You can sell your supplements online and locally, depending on how ambitious you truly are. Either should yield you good results, but both methods will really help you earn the green.

Brick & Mortar/E-Commerce Combination

With many big-name stores closing around the country, it’s clear that consumers are choosing smaller, more locally-oriented retail businesses to give their hard earned money to. Our list of 2014 new retail business ideas wouldn’t be complete without the physical store with an actual entrance, showroom and display system that showcases its best products.

If you do have the capital to start a small retail business at a physical location, you are encouraged to also set up an online business and merge the two retail businesses into a seamless experience for consumers. The latest market research shows that this is going to be a very powerful force in the coming year, especially during next year’s holiday season. Regardless of how you go about it, you now have several ways to make money this year in the retail industry. Will you go online or venture into the offline market, or do both? The future is wide open. All it takes is the first step.

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