Friday, May 4, 2007

I am Canadian!! (but the US has cool stuff too!)

We are in the process of trying to figure out everything that we have to do, and we don’t have any experience! We need to figure out how to get financing, bank accounts, how to pay taxes, what are the implications of importing from other countries, how to get insurance, how to incorporate, how to write a really good business plan, how to find suppliers that people will like, etc, etc.

There are some I think we have a good handle on (we actually do have experience, I lied up there;) We both have a background in PR, we can market this thing. We both have a fair amount of experience with working online. We have very fashionably dressed babies. :)

We don’t have experience importing product from the States though. There are so many questions, like, how much will items actually cost us once we get them across the border and pay all the taxes and duty? Will a onesie cost $45 - something I wouldn’t be willing to pay and therefore wouldn’t expect anyone else to either? Do we decide not to import from the States but stick to Canadian products? There is the whole “supporting Canadian entrepreneurs” angle that I kind of like. But there are so many fabulous things from the states!!

Tell us what you think. Would a store with purely Canadian product appeal to you or would you rather see some American products that are now in Canadian dollars and you don’t have to worry about duty and such? Do you really not care either way? And finally, do you know of any fabulous Canadian businesses that sell children’s items that you think need more exposure? (Remembering that we want stuff that you can’t easily find in other stores)
add to sk*rt


2 comments:

cghng888 said...

I support an all Canadian baby stuff business. Haven't we enough good stuff here in this country? That way you'll save all thew duty too. Of course that doesn't exclude exporting to the US

Anonymous said...

If you buy from a baby product distributor that imports products then you pay a slight mark-up on the wholesale price but you will avoid the duty etc.

I love buying Canadian products, but most time they aren't 100% Canadian anyway so I not get too bent out of shape if it isn't...

If its a product I think is cute... I buy it. For example, this company... www.urbansmalls.com - I love those shirts they are amazing quality but only found in boutiques (not Toys R Us etc)... if I want a shirt that says "My Dads a Geek" or "Chicks Dig Me" for my boys, then I need to buy the urban smalls and it doesn't bother me that its from NYC because its so cute!