Are you an eCommerce retailer and wish to start your business quickly, and with very small financial investments? Well if so, then I suggest you turn on to dropshipping. Nothing like traditional forms of retail, in dropshipping, you don’t have to maintain a huge inventory. You just have to create an online store and showcase the products on it, rest part will be manage by the wholesaler who have products in his inventory.
Whenever a new order comes, you just have to pass it to the wholesaler, and they will deliver that ordered product to the customer. You don’t have to pay a single penny to the wholesaler till an order is placed and completed. So, in this business, you don’t have to worry about the upfront investments. This is the biggest advantage of this business.
But having knowledge of what business your doing is very important. I accept that dropshipping is easy-to-do-business, but this doesn’t mean you can operate it without its in-depth knowledge. You have to know all do’s and don’ts of this business; otherwise, you are setting yourself up for an almighty failure– and that’s apparently not what you want.
So, before opening a webstore and starting the dropshipping business, here are some essential and helpful tips for newbie dropshipping retailers:-
Tip 1: Choose Products you’re Passionate About
As the drop ship model efficiently handles all order fulfillment to a wholesaler, the retailer adds worth, if you will, through customer service and marketing.
Ecommerce marketing mainly includes writing blog posts, buying pay-per-click advertising, nurturing relationships with loyal shoppers and engaging prospective customers on social media. In fact, these chores mean that the drop shipping eCommerce entrepreneur is going to spend lots of time in thinking about, talking about, and writing about the industry served.
These tasks are simpler if the entrepreneur is previously zealous about the topic. For instance, if an entrepreneur really likes fly fishing or golf, it might seem sensible to look for products that are related to those activities.
Always try to prepare a list of things your love to do. Call it a passion or a thing of your interest list. The products on this list can be any activity - watching professional football, think gardening, knitting, or investing. Just make a list.
Afterward, look for items that are related to the activities on your interest list or of your passion. When you find an interest that has related items that you believe you can sell, start to contact the manufacturers of those products to learn if they offer dropshipping services or if they have distributors that offer dropshipping services.
Tip 2: Carefully Choose Suppliers
I have to be a bit watchful with this correspondence, because of what I am going to discuss in Tip 3 below. But it can be helpful if you choose a dropshipping supplier just as you choose your life partner.
You want to find a wholesale distributor or manufacturer to have an extensive and equally advantageous relationship with. This vendor will be taking care of your customers, and somewhat create an impact on the success of your business.
The author of the eBook Profitable Ecommerce, Andrew Youderian recommends having more than one long phone conversations with a sales person from any prospective supplier. You need to know that you can work with this supplier on an enduring basis.
Tip 3: Choose More Than One Supplier if You Can
You want to have good supplier relationship, but the marriage analogy from Tip. No 2 aside, it can be a really thoughtful idea to have more than one wholesale supplier for each of the products that you carry and sell.
One of the substantial drawbacks to the drop-shipping model is that the retailer does not have direct control over product inventory. Imagine that a drop-shipping distributor has five Gibson Guitars in stock, and gets orders for 10 guitars — five from a brick-and-mortar retail and five individual orders from 5 different retailers. The distributor cannot fulfill all of the orders, so some customers are going to be disappointed.
If the retailer has an additional source for Gibson Guitars, that retailer may still be capable of completing the order.
Additionally, having numerous suppliers may give rise to shorter delivery time and lower shipping costs. For instance, if a retailer has a supplier in New Jersey and a supplier in California, it makes sense to select the company based in California as it will ship in the western half of the U.S to customers. The rates should be lower and the orders should reach faster.
To Conclude
Dropshipping is an outstanding service that can push your business forward and significantly boosts the number of sales your business can handle. But on the other hand, while dropshipping is an exceptional prospect for achievement, it also have a lot of failure risks. Following the tips above should assist you to make decisions about your dropshipping service that will facilitate you to enjoy the largest amount of success.