This is a business idea that should appeal to the kid in you.
Pedal cars look just like child size vehicles, only they have no engine; you have to pedal them like a tricycle or bike, and children love to play with these pretend cars, trucks, airplanes and more.
You could start your own business by selling these popular pedal cars.
Get them straight from the manufacturer and you can make a good profit, plus you can have them drop shipped so you don't have to stock inventory and do the shipping yourself.
You probably have never met a child that wasn't excited to play with these toy cars. I know it's been fun watching a little neighbor boy having so much fun pedaling his car up and down the sidewalk.
What makes them so special is that they are sturdy like a bike and they are usually made of metal just like an adult size car.
They also come in many forms such as; fire trucks, taxis, sports cars, airplanes, and many more designs.
Most of the designs are similar to older model vehicles, but not always.
You might be saying to yourself, "Why would people spend the money on something like this, when battery operated cars cost just about the same amount of money?”
This is a good question.
Many baby boomers are reaching the age of Grandparents now and they have fond memories of these fun toys that were very popular in the 40s and 50s.
Often times when they were young, they could only look at them admiringly from afar, because they were a bit more expensive than a simple bike then.
If aware they even exist now, parents and grandparents would love to purchase them as gifts for their children and grandchildren.
The appeal of these pedal cars is that they look similar to adult size vehicles. Children love to pretend that they are driving cars, and these little cars have steering wheels and four tires and they are just so cute.
Parents like the idea that they are very hard to tip over like a typical Bike or Trike and their children get healthy exercise, pedaling all over while enjoying them.
Wouldn't this be an fun and creative niche marketing business idea?
Toys always sell very well and this is something that you don't see a lot of in stores these days, especially well made pedal cars.
Opening a well-stocked Web store would be a great way to sell them.
You can contact the wholesale makers and distributors, and most of them are happy to drop-ship the pedal cars to your customers.
The American Red Sedan in the picture on the right is one of the pedal cars available from the American-Retro company.
And these companies are usually more than happy to offer good warranties on their cars too.
These little cars are quite sturdy and made to last many years if well maintained.
Make sure that you offer parts for them too, just like bikes they can have parts wear out on them too, after years of constant use.
Some parents might even want to make their child's pedal car unique by adding some special bells and whistles for them too! This gives you more avenues for income and repeat sales, and helps you build good relationships with your customers.
If you decide to sell these online, make sure that you keep up with all of your sources on what is in stock and available on a regular basis.
Provide clear large pictures for your customers and as much information about the cars and any guarantees that come with their purchases, also make your Web store easy to order through.
It is a good idea also to provide an 800 number, just in case your customers want to call and ask questions or they may prefer to place orders this way, instead of on the Internet.
You will probably notice that some parts of the year you will have more sales than others have, just like for bikes.
During the end-of-year Holidays and when the Spring season comes around expect to have a lot more business.
This is a business idea that has minimal start up costs, you should only need funds to build your website and set up a dedicated phone line with a toll free number.
The best way to market this business idea is with an online store, and an example of this is
PedalCar.com.
But the smart way to go about it is to build a website with some great content about these cars and start to get traffic to the site first.
Think about all the things you could write about; the benefits, the fun ways to use them, types and models, some nostalgia facts, etc.
If you just put up a store, it’s harder to get traffic because you haven’t followed basic internet marketing principles and if you don’t get traffic you don’t get sales.
Once you have some steady traffic flowing, then it’s time to add your online store.
You could add an e-commerce store to your website, or you could build an eBay store which is a quick and easy e-commerce solution. Then you can send your website visitors to your eBay store.
You can also list regular auctions on eBay, and the benefit of having an eBay store is that you can attract customers from the eBay marketplace much easier than trying to compete on the web.
But inevitably you will probably want to provide both options, and as you become more internet and ecommerce savvy you will have more wisdom as to how to continue to grow your business.
You can use this business idea to think of other children’s toys that might fit into this model.
Any type of specialty toy that you would be able to stock and ship, or have drop shipped that isn’t easily available in local stores would be a good candidate.
This is a key thing to remember when considering an online store, you want to sell something that is not easily available for purchase in the regular retail marketplace.
You also want to look for higher priced items so that your profit is higher.
You will put the same amount of effort into building an online business to sell small ticket or big ticket items, so even though you may sell less, it's better to go with a big ticket item when you can.
And these are more likely to be able to be drop shipped too.
The benefits of this home based business idea are many, including minimal start up costs, having the flexibility to work at home and having a fun niche to write about and sell into.
