Is It Worth The Time And Money to Buy an Online Business For Sale
What if I tell you that you can start managing your own online business without building it from scratch? Yes, you heard it right! You can save yourself the hassle of putting all the resources from the start by purchasing an online business for sale – in short, a ready-made online company.
With that said, let's look at how we can do this and how buying an online business for sale differs from starting a new online business from scratch.
Buying online business vs. Starting a new online business
Many people dream of running an online business, but the Time, Energy, and Skills required to build an online business put them off. Little do they know that there is another way out – you can buy online business to fulfill your entrepreneurial dream. But the question here is; is it worth it?
Let's discuss.
Starting a new online business online from scratch is a huge undertaking; it requires you to figure out a niche, design a website, write content, market your services, and build an email list. It could be a repetitive process till you make a good client base. That's the reason many established entrepreneurs spend months and years trying to mark their name and build a profitable business.
Buying an online business allows you to skip past the initial stages of building a startup, such as Cash flow constraints, inventory management, traffic generation, etc., and takes you straight to managing part of a business. You will not have to be worried about spending months and years to build a profitable online business.
Source: burst.shopify.com
You will not have to do product research and can directly buy a company that has already proven profitable. There are a couple of platforms where you can search out for these online businesses.
If you are already working online in a particular industry, you can buy existing businesses related to your specific niche to get more market share. It would create an opportunity for you to dominate well within your market.
But it could not always be the case! While the idea of managing a pre-existing business is tempting, it could be risky as well. An upfront investment usually is higher as compared to if you start a new online business from scratch. You may have to deal with all those inefficient systems and processes which are outdated. So, keeping the inherent risks under consideration, you should exercise caution and perform due diligence before you plan to buy an online business to make money.
Buying an online business for sale: Pros & Cons
If you plan to buy a small online business or any legit online business, you must consider all the advantages and disadvantages that come with it. So, let's explore the upsides and the downsides of purchasing an online business.
Source: istockphoto.com
Pros
- The first and foremost is that you will not have to work tirelessly to build a brand; someone has already done it for you. There will be no need to strategize launch campaigns because the business will be already up and running. You will get to know what works for the company, which can save your time in such a way that you will not have to go through a couple of failed experiences before you succeed.
- If the online business is of eCommerce model, you will not have to be worried about sourcing, be it dropshipping supplier, wholesaler, private label supplier, or manufacturer. The sourcing system and the systems such as shipping and fulfillment, logistics, and return policies will already be in place.
- One of the most significant advantages is that there will be no need to make many arrangements for generating traffic to your website. A loyal customer base would have already been established; you will have to manage them according to their needs and requirements. Probably there will be an email subscribers list, which you could use further for email marketing. You will not face many difficulties in generating an online business sale.
Source: istockphoto.com
- A skilled workforce (employees) will be available to you when you would buy online business. They will know how the system works, the issues customers face, and how we can resolve them. So, make them feel comfortable during the transitioning phase, and they will be your valuable assets within your company.
- You can get financing in a much easier way as a lender can always see the growth rate and the track record of that online business in which you are interested.
- You will get total control of the digital assets which you can use to maximize your business growth. Furthermore, Intellectual property such as patents, copyright, and trademarks will be all under your ownership.
Let's discuss some tradeoffs which you have to consider to get a full picture.
Cons
- An upfront cost could be high, so you might need to develop a more convincing plan to get your funding approved. Whereas if you start an online business from scratch, you can do funds management as per your business requirements
Note: You can look out for some best ideas for an online business for students under the cost of $500.
- It could be hard to change the existing processes if they are an integral part of the operation. If the employees are comfortable with the previous practices, you will have to apply some effective change management techniques to alter their working pattern.
- It could be a very time-consuming and tedious task to find the right online business – it requires many investigations, research, and two ways communication between you and your seller.
Source: burst.shopify.com
- A seller can withhold some critical information about the business until the purchase process is complete. Since it is an online business, some piece of information might come as a shock to you – so stay alert and do your due diligence.
- Evaluation of a business can go wrong as you will not get to see and analyze it in person.
- You might not be able to change some previous decisions which have been made by the last owner.
- You might get stuck with your poor choice of business for a while till it gets resold.
Final Thoughts
We have discussed some significant advantages and disadvantages of purchasing an online business for sale. It does have some risk involved, but if you perform due diligence, you can be an owner of your online business that has the potential of making good money.
Source: burst.shopify.com
Since online business is also about how your website will attract visitors, we must discuss how you can change your website's design after purchasing an existing business.
The first step that is required to change your website's design is to make a prototype.
Wondershare Mockitt is a design and prototyping tool that will help you customize your web design of that existing business you would purchase online. Or you can also completely modify the layout using some amazing features of Mockitt.
With Mockitt, you can create different projects on different screen sizes, be it Mobile, Web layout, Tablet, or more. It allows you to work on your web browser; you can save extra bytes on your hard drive.
Mockitt runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is super easy, and the interface is clean and uncluttered. It has a massive library of widgets and icons, which you can use to build a design for countless types of business websites.
Mockitt allows you to collaborate with your stakeholders on its platform so you can share your design prototype and get their feedbacks
So you can use Mockitt whenever you feel like changing the design of your existing business website. You do not need to learn the software prior; register with Mockitt, and start using it. It is as simple as that.
But keep one thing in mind, look out for those niche-related businesses of which websites you can easily redesign. You should also know that there are many platforms to buy and sell online business where you could get some professional advice on your choice of options. So, make sure you find a suitable broker to get the best deal out of these platforms.
