whatbizopp.com

Today I want to share with you what is, in my opinion, the most fundamental money-making secret of all...

It's something that's used by all the top famous household name companies in the UK - Tesco, Argos, John Lewis, Next, Marks & Spencer and Currys to mention just a few.

And better still you can use exactly the same secret to make big money for yourself in your own smaller but still highly lucrative way.

So what is this money-making secret of success?

Well, things that might come to mind are that they are household brand names, have stores in almost every town or slightly controversially (but let's not get into that here!) have access to a pool of free labour if they want it.

But actually it's none of those.

In my opinion, the multi-billion pound business success secret of these companies is down to one thing...

They are masters of product sourcing.

They don't make anything. They're not investors or product developers. They just source things that other people make, add a margin, and sell them into a hungry market.

And not just that. They source at the lowest possible prices. And then sell the products on in a way that is convenient, attractive, even enticing - in brightly lit stores with slick presentation - to generate the highest possible added value.

It is, if you like, a classic buy low-sell high business model.

Now you might not think you could copy Tesco and many other successful retailers' business models and enjoy the same superlative profit margins that they do (albeit on a more practical scale)...

But you can!

Here are a few pointers on how to become a master product sourcer:

First of all, what sort of products should you source?

The answer is fairly simple .... consumer products. You don't want to be messing about with commodities, parts and components, industrial machinery and that sort of thing. Consumer goods enjoy a massive demand and are simple and straightforward to source.

And what sort of consumer products exactly?

Well this is important. You don't want to be competing head-on with the likes of Tesco by sourcing exactly the same products they source. You need to look for something different and something unique. Preferably something you can make your own.

If you can, try to find a new product that no one else has discovered yet. You might even start a new product craze. Do some research to get some ideas. Look at what new trends are trending and try to find something that fits.

Consumer products like electronics, household goods, toys, gifts, gadgets and clothing would all be a good place to start. They don't call for any previous experience or expertise.

And where should you do your product sourcing?

This is another question that's easy to answer... abroad.

There are two very good reasons for this: firstly, consumer goods can be sourced incredibly cheaply from overseas, particularly from the Far East. Couple that with the fact the UK is in worldwide terms a high priced/high living cost country and that means your profit margins are potentially massive when you source from there.

Better still, there are lots of products produced abroad that aren't obtainable or on sale in the UK. So you get to find that all-important exclusive product that you can make your own.

To show you what I mean, I've been doing a bit of research. And in just five minutes on the Internet I found five products which I think you could source and sell very successfully for high profit margins.

Take a look .....

* Memory foam mattresses and pillows have been around a while now. But I've never seen them for PETS before. I think any enterprising business could make a business out of buying these for $3 and selling them for £20+. Click here for details

* Educational toys are generally good sellers. Here's a clever one (a variation on the mega-successful Rubik's cube of the 70's). Could this be a big hit in the UK for you? Details here

* Energy saving is in fashion right now. Here you can buy plug-in smart meters that record how much energy an appliance is using and what it's costing you for just $1.50. I've not seen these on sale in UK shops yet.

* LED products are some of the hottest products of 2012. Here you can buy LED toilet seats (think about it, it kind of makes sense!) for $6. I think these have great potential as a novelty product selling for many times more.

* Here you can buy the national flag of almost any country for as little as 68 cents a time (that's about 43p). With the Olympics, Jubilee and Euro 2012 coming up these could sell like hot cakes for a tenner a time.

Of course, you should always confirm there's a hot market for a product BEFORE you consider buying stock.

If you are confident there's a proven demand, where and how do you sell?

I'm not suggesting for a single minute that you open a chain of supermarkets right across the country as a way to sell your products. (If anything, that's the one negative in the business model used by Tesco and friends. Because running retail stores - building them, running them, staffing them and so on is very expensive.)

No, what you need as are some really low cost, cost effective ways to sell on the products you've sourced as a product sourcer.

Fortunately there are plenty of those to choose from nowadays...

By using eBay or Amazon you can plug into a massive ready market for your sourced products at relatively little cost.

Or you can set up your own niche website.

Or you can do mail order selling or direct selling.

Or even set up your own 'pop up' shop (which is basically a kind of low cost temporary shop) or even a good old back-to-basics market stall.

And if you wanted a bigger business you could even sell wholesale.

All these are really low overhead, cost effective ways of selling. You can even run them part time, and sometimes from home.

Other resources I highly recommend you check out if you're interested in product sourcing are our Secret Source Directory, which has just been completely updated for 2012.

And if you fancy having all the hard work done for you in terms of identifying the specific hot products to buy and sell then check out The Source Report.

by Nick Laight Business Opportunities Expert Nick Laight is the editor of What Really Makes Money and helps ordinary people find simple, workable home business opportunities. You can sign up for his free weekly eletter here: Name Email

• 7 Re-commerce opportunities made for recession
• Beat the Recession With Guerrilla Marketing Tactics
• The Money-Making Secret of The Most Successful Retail Businesses (and how you can copy them from home!)
• Why good old market stalls are making a comeback