The business model of dropshipping is quickly changing the way anyone can start a business or online store from the comfort of their home or office. The benefit to going with a dropship model, is that you don’t need to spend a lot of upfront money on inventory, nor do you have to deal with the shipment of orders.
For the most part, it’s all about getting a store live online and then finding the right dropship supplier and products to load it up with. After that, it’s all about the marketing.
As simple as this process may seem, there is a lot of work involved when trying to fight the best products and dropshippers to work with. There are thousands of them all over the place, but that might not mean they are best for you and your target audience.
A great way to get started is if you were to take a look at any of the most popular and trusted dropshipping companies on the internet today. What you will often find is that they have something many other suppliers don’t — which are real testimonials and customer reviews.
In the world of ecommerce and dropshipping, vendor and client testimonials can go a long way, and it’s also important to find dropshipper that are verified from other ecommerce platforms.
With all of this mind, there are a few other things you should be paying attention to when trying to get started with dropshipping, or scaling your business to that next level.
Here are three to get started with.
1 – Find a Dropshipper that Aligns with Your Business and Customer Needs
When first entering the world of dropshipping, it’s easy to find yourself looking for the products with the highest profit margins that you can make on each sale. This sounds like a good idea, but in itself, it’s a good business model at all.
As highlighted by Forbes, the best way to break into this industry is to know your niche market, audience and then finding products that best fit into the following.
- Profitability: Choose a profitable niche, of course. The higher the price of your products, the better your profit margin will be.
- Low Shipping Costs: Find something that’s inexpensive to ship. High shipping costs can scare off potential customers.
- Staying Power: Pick a niche that has staying power, not a fad that consumers will become uninterested in quickly.
- Local Availability: Choose a product that’s not available locally; that way, consumers will be more likely to buy from you.
It’s always a good idea to look at all of your potential store items and consider if it’s something you’d want to give to your family or friends. This way, you stay away from anything that look super low quality or just not that appealing.
2 – Focus on Dropshipper Supplier Quality and Not Just Rates
Along with dropshippers now being all over the place, it’s important to choose only the ones that are proven to be reliable and aren’t just fly-by-night companies. The worst thing that can happen is you place a bunch of orders for your customers, and then the dropshipper never fulfills the orders.
While AliExpress has a wonderful resource for information and connecting with dropshippers and vendors, it does lead to more unwanted problems in reference to time differences, shipping fees, currency changes and the quality of products.
Using a solution like AliExpress might be great for sourcing and pricing, but there are likely better options within the US or your home country as well. Don’t just look are your profit margin potential, but also the process involved in making sure each transaction is done smoothly.
This also goes back to the previous point we made on the importance of client and customer reviews. If a dropshipper or vendor has a lot of great feedback, they are likely running a much better operation than others out there.
3 – Go with a Dropshipper that Integrates into Existing Solutions
There are millions of dropshippers to choose from, and new vendors are going live and making their inventory accessible daily. However, just because there are a ton of options out there, it doesn’t mean they are all pursuing.
A perfect example of this would be if you were to connect with a new dropshipper, but they want all of their orders done through fax or email invoices and bank deposits. This is just a huge pain and likely not worth it.
A much better option is to search out and work with dropshippers that are already integrated into popular online store solutions like Shopify or WooCommerce.
The less work you need to do for each transaction, the better. Always try to uncomplicate the ordering and fulfillment process, while also having seamless integration in place.
4 – The Best Dropshippers Offering Bulk Pricing and Customization Options
One of the biggest problems with dropshipping, is that everyone is selling the same thing. This leads to more competition and smaller margins for the online store sellers — but also being great for the dropshipper who is just getting more business and selling at the same rates.
To grow your business at a faster pace and in the right direction, try to find a wholesaler or dropshipper that can provide discounts when ordering in bulk from them. This can also be done by hitting monthly sales volume marks as well.
Even if this is just an extra 5% to 10% being saved, a small portion of a big number, is still a big number.
And while it’s not always possible, the best case scenario is to find a quality dropshipper that can customize their product to your needs. This way, you are now promoting and selling something different than what is already out there.
How to Find the Most Success in the World of Dropshipping
With more people now searching for products and buying online than ever before, dropship-business models are paving the way for individuals, smaller businesses and huge e-tailers to cash in without having to put a ton of money out in the process.
If this is something you are currently interested in, or already are pursuing, be sure to search through the top dropshipping member forums, social groups and forums online. You never know where you might find that next big dropshipper contact that can bring your business to the next level.
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