Online Business, Selling Consumer Products
Ecommerce sales are growing day by day and it’s not since one or two years but it started happening a long time ago. I believe I received the first survey about ecommerce sales in 2003 and after that in 2004 that since 2001 ecommerce sales and eshopping started spreading like wildfire and over night people started presenting new consumer products and services. Leading Internet research firm Forrester Research predicts that total e-commerce sales in the U.S. will grow from $144 billion in 2004 to $316 billion in 2010. That is a huge number indeed and as we see the growth of online shopping market and more online business websites we also observe the new and improved consumer product quality.
The online marketplace is a great venue if you have products to sell (such as auto parts, antiques, jewelry, or food). Regular day life products from edibles to all useful stuff that you may have in your home is available online today and trust me when I saw everything I mean everything (even your door mats are available online). Internet and web has always attracted those looking for unique items or something customized just for them. This is why you find most unique consumer products online with more unique and attractive offers.
If you think you should also take your business online then you will need to take care of few aspects only and you are all ready to go online with all your consumer products and offers. It all starts when you start believing your products and your business. Consider taking wares online if one or of the things that I will discuss now applies to you. Go online with your business if you think you have high quality products. If you are creating you own products, for example designer dishes, make fudge, or sell gift baskets of wine you definitely have the idea of its quality. You may also sell regional foods such as Chicago deep dish pizza or live lobsters from Maine. Ice cream may not be good because it will melt and you will may orders from geographically far located locations.
I have seen a lot of online business with entrepreneurs just like you, and I love their websites as well as their consumer products. Many such people offering food items give unique flavors and high quality in their food, as well as personalities and business standards.
Understanding Chinese Imports of Consumer Products to the US
Many folks in the United States complain that the products coming over from China are junk. If you ask an auto mechanic what types of tools they use, they will make a point to tell you that they will not use any Chinese tools. Why you ask? Well they will tell you because they break, they aren’t durable, you can’t take them back, and although they cost a lot less, they are a waste of money.
But before we trash on Chinese goods, or make light of the reality of these products, we should also remember that this is how the Japanese started out when they were sending products to the United States, and yet, today the Japanese cars are built just as good or even better than American cars. The unions obviously don’t want you to buy anything from China, because they want everything made and manufactured in the United States.
That makes sense because it provides jobs, but we live in a global economy, and we trade goods and services both ways. We can’t expect the Chinese to buy our Caterpillar tractors, Cummings diesel engines, General Motors cars, and Boeing aircraft if we do not reciprocate in trade.
Not long ago, I met a gentleman at Starbucks and we were talking about Chinese imported products – and how they were flooding our consumer markets. We both agreed that China was doing nicely and it was perhaps a good place to invest at least a percentage of your portfolio, due to their economic growth. We got on the subject of all the products that came over in all the shipping containers from China and he said;
“China doesn’t sell products in the US, they sell products to Wal-Mart.”
Indeed, this is the common perception, but it’s not true. Let me explain.
The reality is we see Chinese goods in every industry and if you work in automotive, you know that a good number of the parts come from China, and if you work in construction you know a lot of the materials come from China. And if you work in the restaurant industry, you know that a lot of the products that you use come from China. That’s just the way things are.
Additionally, you can go to just about any store, or any major retailer and there will be Chinese goods. You can go to any mom and pop store, and half of what they sell is made in China, or it’s made with Chinese components. Anyone that thinks it Wal-Mart is the only place that sells Chinese goods is kidding themselves, and they don’t understand the reality. Indeed, I hope you will please consider this.
Tampering With Consumer Products
Tampering, as a crime, is harshly punished in the American judicial system, capable of standing as a felony on its own. Why a person tampers another’s food, drink, drugs, or similar products is mostly a mystery of the criminal mind, and could be any number of reasons. While some look to cause mild injury or discomfort to spite friends or family members, tampering with consumer products can often lead to more disastrous results, and could potentially result in a jail sentence.
Some pranks are easily construed as tampering. Putting additional ingredients into food, such as laxatives or illegal substances, can be severely punished. Tampering with drinks, including with ingredients like GHB or rohypnol, can be compounded with other charges.
The law only mildly distinguishes between what would be considered a prank and what would be considered a truly harmful act. In the end, the truly important factor in sentencing is not the intent, but the actual results. Injury caused by tampering can upgrade the crime from a felony in the second degree to a felony in the first degree. This means that even a seemingly harmless prank, if gone wrong, can lead to a jail sentence.
Threatening to tamper with someone’s food or drink is also treated as a particularly contemptible crime under the penal code. By issuing a threat to alter a person’s food or drink, a person can be found guilty of a felony in the third degree. Even though this is the lightest of tampering charges, it is still a felony. Those convicted of a felony face heightened sentences, social and professional stigmas, and a loss of the right to vote.
Tampering is a truly serious charge under the American penal code. To learn more about how to defend against allegations of this crime, contact a criminal defense lawyer.