Online research? ie you are trying to sell the products online so are people looking to buy online?
I know for a fact their is huge market for farming supplies. I used to be involved in it during my 30's for the world's largest food company.
However farming and crofting supplies are two different things as far as the internet is concerned!
Give me half an hour and I will do some digging into Crofting supplies
Peter
Okay did not take that long for some simple research
Good points you have virtually no competition online
Bad points Their is a reason for the above virtually no one is searching for crofting supplies or anything to do with it online. Farming supplies yes but then you enter big competition.
What does this mean?
You are a first mover which is great if their is a market online. To date their is not so you have best have extensive research to tell you their is a market that will search and buy online going forward.
You will be creating a market which is expensive and hard.
Obviously we know that crofters buy products but the crunch here is are they buying them online? At the minute the answer is no as no one is targeting them.
Having sold to crofters and farmers in the past I know relationships developed over many years has a huge amount to do with it. The only way to break those relationships down is by offering exceptional value on price and service. This will be exceedingly difficult because you will not have the buying power.
You will be working on margins ie buying for x and selling for y at a mark up. You have to take the cost of stock. I know the margins in that trade from 15 years ago and they were slim then I suspect they are worse now , which means to make money you will rely on volume.
Nothing I am seeing online tells me their is volume in the market.
I am not been negative here I just hate people getting sucked into businesses that they put their heart and soul into on the web, change their website a hundred times, employ every guru under the sun and still make no money. People in web design, seo, online marketing will not tell you you have little chance of making money as it is not in their interest or in many cases their skill remit.
Like I said though I am not a website or seo guru, I am sure they will be along in a minute or so to tell you to change the site.
Peter