Dropshipping

Many people confuse dropshipping with mini-importation. They would be correct if they order the goods to themselves first, have the products physically and handle the delivery involved in fulfilling customers’ order. However, in dropshipping, all that isn’t necessary. There is no need to physically handle products yourself, keep a stockpile of products that you offer for sale or even handle delivery. This brings us to the question:

What is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping involves buying a product from a third party (your supplier) and shipping the product directly to your customer without having custody of the product at any time.

How Dropshipping Works

You set up your e-commerce shop online through your own website or using platforms like Shopify, Amazon, or eBay.
You offer specific products to your customers that are available from reliable
wholesale suppliers and manufacturers that offer the products in your
chosen niche. Once your customer places the order with you, the chain reaction
starts.
You, in turn, place an order with your supplier. Your supplier charges you
for the product at arranged price and then ships the product directly to your
client. 
The only thing you need to focus on is marketing, advertising, and managing your store’s online presence. It’s that easy.

Steps to Getting Started

• Choose a niche: This would always be one of the first things to consider. The niche you choose should depend on:
  • Size of the niche you want to go into. The niche shouldn’t be too narrow such that you can’t diversify. For example, baby products is a large niche with different items to sell ranging from strollers, nursery items, baby carriers, baby gear and toys, etc.
  • Popularity of product you want to dropship. If the market for the product is small, that is if the number of people requiring a product is small, then there would be a low sales rate.
  • Personal Interest: You can agree with me that it is difficult to persuade someone to buy something you do not care for or like. When you choose a niche you are knowledgeable about, it is easier to pick out products of better quality and aesthetic to dropship.
• Choose Target Audience:
  • Location: The location of your customers matter. Cost of shipping to different locations differ; also, you may need to know if your supplier can deliver to your customer. The time it would take for a product to be delivered to the customer also depends on their location.
  • Language: It’s more difficult to make sale when your target audience doesn’t speak the sane language you speak. For example, you speak X but your customer speaks Y, this would make communication difficult. This barrier has however been reduced with the advent of translators.
  • You may also need to identify the problem your product would solve for the target audience and research to confirm if it really is their need at that point or a perceived need of theirs.
  • Where to Meet Them: Some platforms have a stronger presence in some countries than others. So you may need to find platforms to advertise on where the people you target are most likely to be found.
  • Purchasing Power: The amount the target audience can afford to spend to purchase your product should be taken into consideration. For example, if your target audience is teenagers, then the price/cost of your product should be what teenagers can afford.
• Find a Reliable Supplier: After deciding on the product you want to dropship, all you need to do is find a reliable supplier in your chosen niche to supply you. Various platforms to find reliable suppliers include:
  • AliExpress
  • Alibaba
  • SaleHoo
  • Worldwide Brands
  • Doba
  • Sunrise Wholesale
  • Wholesale2b
  • Megagoods
  • Modalyst
  • Wholesale Central
  • CJDropshipping
  • CROV
• Set up your Online Store: After deciding on the product you want to dropship and supplier you would need to set up your online store. There are various ecommerce online platforms, both paid and free. Some examples of good and popular Ecommerce Online Platforms include:
  • Shopify
  • BigCommerce
  • Sellfy
  • Joomla
  • AbanteCart
  • Doba
  • Spocket
  • Wholesale Central
  • Amazon
  • eBay
  • Aliexpress
• Advertise/ Market your product: Since your shop is still new, you may need to promote it. You could use social media like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tiktok, Youtube, etc.

Why You Should Start Dropshipping Now

• Low startup cost: Dropshipping requires
  very little money to start. With the advent of the internet, dropshipping has become a more easy, stress-free, and
  optimized investment opportunity. The only amount you may incur at the beginning is cost of the online stores (this is because not all ecommerce platforms have free plan); and cost of advertisement.
• Easy to start: Once you’ve decided on a niche (product), you can set up your online store and start making sales. Setting up your store may however take a couple of hours to set up. You may also need to regularly improve and upgrade your store.
• Low inventory and order fulfilment cost: With dropshipping, you can open your store with no inventory at all. You only need to find a customer, send their order to your supplier, who would handle the shipping and delivery. No stress. You don’t even have to think of cost of delivery as it would all be factored into the cost of the product and paid for by the customer.
• Less risk of loss: Since you don’t need to have an inventory or a physical location to pay rent for, the loss margin (if any) would be very low. The only loss that could be made is the amount spent on advertising. However, if your product research on hot selling product was okay, you would lose only very little (if at all any loss is incurred).
• Globalisation: You can sell to anybody anywhere in the world. As long as the customer decide that the shipping cost is fair, you can make sales. All this, from the comfort of your home.
• Automation: Once the orders become too much for you to track and handle by yourself, you can automate the process such that once you get an order, it is automatically sent to your supplier. Some platforms offer automation (for a fee though). You can even automate your ads, setting them to keep running and only coming back once in a while to make some tweaks when needed.

I really hope this helps you. Don’t forget to like, comment and share if you enjoyed this post. You can also ask questions if you didn’t understand, I’d be happy to explain🙂.

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