The Hustler's Digest StaffAre you planning to open an online store but really don’t know how effective the dropshipping business works? The article will equip you with the right knowledge about how does dropshipping work and how you can start a dropshipping business.
Dropshipping has been the talk of the town in the business world because it is easy to set up, requires a low amount of investment, and the market is huge. Unlike the traditional business model that requires you to manage stocks, and handles shipping logistics, dropshipping allows you to set up your business without managing the inventory and worrying about the shipping process.
The dropshipping business is different from the traditional business model where the seller does not have to worry about renting a warehouse or store, stocking the inventory, paying electric bills, hiring employees, and managing shipping logistics. Instead, the seller opens an online store and has an agreement with the manufacturer or wholesaler.
The seller advertises the products in his store and when a product is sold, he simply forwards the purchase order to the manufacturer who then takes care of the rest of the process and fulfills the order by directly shipping the order to the end customer. In order to open a dropshipping business, one should have a thorough knowledge of how does dropshipping work so that he does not make common mistakes. This article is helpful in this regard.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method where the seller does not possess stock, instead, the seller purchases the needed inventory from the third party (manufacturer, wholesaler,) to fulfill the orders. It is a type of retail fulfillment method for online stores where the merchants do not own a warehouse and keep the products but purchase the products from third-party suppliers as their customers make an order.
The seller does not hold the product and ships it directly to the customer. It is a type of business model which enables a company to start a business without maintaining inventory, owning a warehouse to store the products, or even having to ship themselves.
It is a great option for entrepreneurs because running a store doesn’t require an operational capacity as it is needed in the retail model. The seller does not have to open a brick-and-mortar store, hire employees, pay overhead, keep the lights on, and stock the products. Instead, in easy terms, you open an online storefront and buy wholesale from suppliers who already possess stock and warehouse space.
Who is a dropshipper?
A dropshipper is a supplier or manufacturer who manages inventory for the retail merchant and ships the required orders to the customers. The primary responsibility of a merchant is to gain customers by driving traffic to the store and processing orders meaning performing middleman’s services.
Even being a middleman, the merchant will reap a lion’s share of the profit by marking up a number of sales. Given the simplicity of this business model, many entrepreneurs flock to dropshipping because it requires a lesser amount of investment and has low barriers to entry. The best part is that with dropshipping, you can build a business that is sustainable for a longer period of time right from your laptop.
Although dropshipping seems to be a great business idea, especially for entrepreneurs, it has its drawbacks too. So, before diving into the business, first, you need to make a thorough study about the subject and know the pros and cons of the process so that you learn to balance both and maximize your benefits.
Learn from multiple resources available online or from professionals who are already involved in the business. You can gain great guidance from informed people from where you can have practical examples to learn so that you avoid as many risks as you can as you start doing your own business.
How does dropshipping work?
Traditionally, when an individual opens a retail business or an online store, a network of the supply chain that includes suppliers, materials, manufacturers, and retailers will be needed for the creation and distribution of a product that meets the line from production to customer delivery. Dropshipping is one of the supply chain methods that involve:
● Manufacturers
Manufacturers create the product and usually don’t sell to the public instead, they sell in bulk to retailers and wholesalers. They create new products from raw materials or components.
● Wholesalers
Wholesalers buy products from manufacturers in bulk and then mark them up before selling them to retailers. They usually stock products from a variety of manufacturers.
● Retailers
Retail operates via a retail supply chain where they purchase goods from wholesalers in large quantities at low prices. Retailers sell goods in small quantities to end customers. Consumers then purchase goods for their personal use.
With these participants involved in the business, the customer places an order with your business. You direct the dropshipping partner, either the wholesaler or manufacturer, who packages and ships the product to the customer. The dropshipper charges you the fee for the service and you charge the customer.
Generally in the business, the shorter the supply chain is, the greater the profit will be because there are fewer parties taking a cut. In the shorter supply chain, the retailer is directly in contact with the manufacturer. The exact logistics of the dropshipping depends on the arrangement but typically the process follows the below steps:
- Your drop shipping supplier produces the product
- You make an agreement with the supplier
- Your drop shipping supplier stores the inventory
- You host the e-commerce storefront or website
- A customer places an order
- You process the payment
- You forward the order to the dropshipping service
- The dropshipping get the order ready
- The dropshipping service ships the product.
Pros and cons of dropshipping
Although dropshipping is a great venue for entrepreneurs and other business people because it requires a small amount of money to start doing work, there are embedded challenges with the process as well which should be considered beforehand. Here is a list of pros and cons attached with dropshipping, you can read and make your business strategy to minimize cons and maximize pros.
Pros
● Less upfront is required
The most attractive aspect of the dropshipping business for entrepreneurs is that it allows them to launch an e-commerce store without putting thousands of dollars in inventory upfront. Traditionally, retailers have to purchase a stock and then make a sale, with dropshipping, you don’t have to purchase unless you make a sale and have been paid by the customer.
Here you can start sourcing the product and become a successful dropshipper without significant upfront inventory investment. And because you are not putting a lot of money into purchasing upfront inventory, you minimize the risk involved in starting a dropshipping store.
● Easy to start
Running an e-commerce business becomes easier when you don’t have to deal with physical products as it saves a lot of your time and hassle. With dropshipping you don’t have to worry about:
- Packing and shipping your orders
- Managing or paying for a warehouse
- Handling returns and inbound shipment
- Tracking inventory for accounting reasons
- Continually ordering products and managing stock level
● Flexible location
Another biggest advantage you can enjoy with dropshipping business is that you can start from anywhere with an internet connection and your laptop device. As long as you are in contact with the suppliers and customers easily, your business would thrive.
● Low overhead
In dropshipping, because you are not purchasing inventory or managing a warehouse, your overhead expenses are substantially low. You are not managing employees, electric bills, taxes, office supplies, rent, insurance, repair and maintenance of the store, and a lot of many things. In fact, many successful dropshipping stores are run as home-based businesses requiring little more than just a laptop and some other expenses to operate.
● Easier to test
Dropshipping is not only a beneficial fulfillment method for the newbies but for the established businesses which are looking to test the appetite of their customers for additional product categories e.g accessories or a whole new line of products. The main benefit the sellers get from dropshipping is the ability to list and potentially sell products before even purchasing them.
● Easier to scale
If you’re involved in a retail business, you do more work as you receive more work, by leveraging dropshipping suppliers, most of the work to process the additional work is done by the suppliers allowing you to expand with less growing pain and less incremental work. Sales growth always brings additional work specially related to customer support, but with the dropshipping, merchants just pass it out to the suppliers.
Cons
● Low margins
Low margins are probably the biggest disadvantage of dropshipping that operates in a highly competitive vertical. Because it is so easy to get started and there is a low requirement of money so many stores set up shops and start their business to grow their revenue. Since there is little investment involved, sellers can afford to operate on minuscule margins.
Typically, these sellers maintain a low-quality website and poor customer service, which can be used by you to differentiate your business. But with that, you have to maintain your prices compatible with your customers’ purchasing power because customers would compare the prices first.
● Shipping complexities
Dropshippers usually work with multiple suppliers, so the products on your online store will be sourced by many drop shippers. This means that you don’t possess control over the supply chain. For example, if a customer places an order three times, all of which with different suppliers. You’ll incur three separate shipping charges for sending each item to the customer. Automating these calculations can be hard.
● Inventory issues
If you stock all of your own stock, it would be easier to keep a track of which stock is in and out but when you are sourcing from multiple warehouses, that too fulfill orders from other merchants, inventory would change on a daily basis, and keeping a record of each supplier’s stock will be challenging.
As online services have eased the track of business, there are a handful of apps that let you sync with your suppliers. This way drop shippers can pass along customer orders to a supplier with a click or two and should be able to see how much inventory the supplier has in real-time.
● Supplier errors
As it happens sometimes that you have to take the responsibility of blame that you haven’t really done. In the business world, merchants have to get along with this activity and even the best dropshipping suppliers make mistakes so you have to take responsibility and apologize.
If you have to deal with mediocre and low-quality suppliers, you may have to face tremendous frustration as they may cause difficulty with missing items, low-quality packaging, botched shipment, which can damage your business’ reputation for your customers.
● Limited customization and branding
Unlike custom-made products or print on demand, you get little control over the product with dropshipping because the product drop shipped is designed and branded by the supplier. Some suppliers, however, can accommodate some changes you asked for, but even then the supplier possesses the maximum control over the product.
Dropshipping business examples
Here are some of the most popular dropshipping eCommerce sites:
Amazon
Amazon is a multinational company that consists of e-commerce, digital streaming, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. The dropshipping policy of Amazon states that the drop shipper must always:
- Be the seller on record of their products
- Be responsible for accepting and processing customer returns
- Identifies themselves as the seller of their products on all packing slips, external packages, and invoices.
- Comply with all other terms of their seller agreement and Amazon policies.
ASOS
ASOS is an online fashion and cosmetics retailer which sells over 800 brands along with their own. As they avoid the auction-style marketplace, drop shippers may not always find the best price for sourcing inventory. However, they can still sell to the ASOS customers given that their inventory appeals to their available customers.
Shopify
Shopify is a Canadian-based e-commerce company that serves as a platform for online stores and offers online retailers a variety of services including marketing, payment, shipment, and other engagement tools. Fishbowl integrates with Shopify by allowing hundreds of thousands of stores to connect their e-commerce platform having an advanced inventory management system through the Fishbowl Plugin.
CafePress
CafePress is an online retailer of stocks that offers the service of customizing on-demand products and requires the merchant to design and sell their own inventory. It is entirely free to open a store on the Cafepress platform and lists custom-designed products for sale, but running the store is not completely free.
Etsy
Etsy has gained popularity because of its focus on hand-made and vintage items as well as its craft supplies. They sell a wide variety of items such as clothing, bags, jewelry, party decor, home decor, furniture, toys, art, and craft supplies.
eBay
eBay facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. The company manages the eBay website, online auction, and shopping website in which businesses and people buy and sell a variety of goods and services worldwide.
Zazzle
Zazzle allows customers and designers to design their own products with independent manufacturers. It is an online marketplace that was launched by founders Robert, Bobby, and Jeff Beaver in their garage and it works on empowering artists.
How to start dropshipping with your business?
Dropshipping has been a popular business model, especially for generation Zers and millennials because of the internet marketing skills outweighing financial capacity. Since the seller does not have to worry about the stock, the expense of setting it up is very low, hence making it feasible for newbies to enter the realm with limited funds.
Here is a step-step guide to set up your dropshipping business:
1. How to Choose a Profitable Niche
Choosing a specific niche is crucial for the success of your dropshipping business. A well-defined niche, like Bluetooth speakers in the home audio market, helps you stand out. Popular niches attract customers, so select yours carefully.
Jonathan Molendijk, a successful dropshipper, emphasizes two key factors for a profitable niche: personal interest and evergreen products. If you find a niche that excites you and has products with lasting demand, you’ll likely succeed.
Many believe any niche can thrive in dropshipping, but that’s not true. Saturated niches or those dominated by big brands make competition fierce. To choose a profitable niche, consider these points.
By following these guidelines, you can find a niche that boosts your business’s chances of success.
In order to choose a pertinent niche in the market as you start your business, you need to factor in the following points:
Start with your passion and interest
If you work what interests you, it will always keep you driven to learn and gain knowledge about your niche. Choosing a niche based on your passion will always keep you motivated to have unique knowledge of the products and trends in those markets that can help you select a viable niche.
Research the competition
As you have decided upon a niche, you need to find the answers to the questions like:
- Is the niche you are interested in over-saturated?
- If so, is the competition easy to beat?
- Is it better to beat them?
By searching on these questions, you’ll see that the niche you’re interested in is the one that nearly everyone is part of. This doesn’t mean that you can’t start over but it means that you should warm up your muscles for the competition.
If you see a competition, know that the product is in demand and you can launch some modifications that you see are missing in the available product and start marketing using the modern strategies. The other way to see the demand for the product is through Google Trends. This will give you the internet and knowledge about the product and you will also gain an idea of how successful your product will likely be.
Ensure the niche is profitable
The objective of the business is to make money and your niche would decide how much profit you’re going to make. Hence, you need to check the profitability of the dropshipping niche and product idea. Ideally, a seller wants a profit margin of 40% after seller fees and taxes, shipping costs, but you should be aiming for a 100% margin or more.
Make sure your product appeals to impulse buyers
Attracting as much traffic as you can on your website is what you strive for as you launch your product because you want them to be permanent customers and you want to experience the highest conversion rate possible because most visitors will never return. The products you are selling should trigger impulse buyers so that they make an immediate purchase order.
2. Find a dropshipping supplier
For many entrepreneurs and eCommerce businessmen, finding a reliable dropshipping supplier is the hardest part of starting the business because you don’t want any supplier but the one who can trust your stock.
Because in dropshipping you are not holding the stock but the supplier owes much control over the product so you rely on your supplier to keep your product in stock, to uphold product quality, and to ensure that the products are shipped to the customers on time. Being a dropshipper, your supplier is the most important business partner. So when you decide to look for a supplier, you should ensure that the supplier must:
● Be a dropshipper
Not all the suppliers offer drop shipping services, some are simply manufacturers or wholesalers. So, make sure that your supplier is a dropshipper when you make a contact. You can directly ask them or make firsthand research if they provide dropshipping services.
● Have experience
If the supplier has years of dropshipping experience, it will make your job easy. Because the supplier takes on a number of responsibilities with dropshipping, I want to be sure that you can count on them at all times. A good sign to check on them is to see the sales rep you’re in contact with is well-informed and helpful.
● Provide fast shipping
Since most of the suppliers are located in China, you can’t expect overnight shipping but in order to make sure that your customers get the product as soon as possible, you can check the shipping time of the supplier to the countries you provide service. One or two weeks are acceptable but if the shipping time exceeds that, you can look for another supplier.
● Not charge huge order fees
As the dropship supplier holds the stocks and manages packing and shipping, they charge a moderate fee for their services, which is normally between $2-$5 but if the supplier charges you more than that, you can let them go.
● Have quality products
You should ask for a sample product before committing to a supplier and ideally, the supplier should provide high-quality images of the products that you can use in your product listings. You should not compromise on the quality of the product in any way.
● Provide referrals on request
A good supplier should willingly connect you to the businesses that can verify their services in case you request them to do so. Word-of-mouth would also work, but failing on that, you might be able to make your mind up based on customer reviews online.
There are essentially two ways to find a reliable supplier. You can search online or you can search for your products on websites like AliExpress or Alibaba. A lot of China-based suppliers use these websites to sell their wares. Another way is to use a wholesale directory like SaleHoo which has more than 800 suppliers who have been vetted and verified. You can contact them and have confidence in their ability to provide good services.
3. Get a sales tax ID
If you plan to set up your business in the United States or Canada, you’ll need to have a sales tax ID, also known as retail or reseller’s license, resale certificate, or tax ID. The Sales tax is a tax levied on all sales of physical goods to consumers which is typically between 6-9% of the sale price. Most states require you to have a tax ID, but there are exceptions such as New Hemisphere, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon.
Applying for a tax ID is easy and inexpensive. You can get it by visiting your local state’s clerk’s office or applying online; just Google “your state + sales tax ID”. You will need a business entity, a company, a sole proprietor (which is applied to a lot of home-based businesses), and a Federal Tax ID number to process your application.
4. Choose a selling platform
As you set up your product and hunt for a reliable supplier, you are all set to look for a place to sell your product and make money. Choosing the right platform for your sale is crucial for the success of your business. You need to decide between selling on an established platform or starting on your own independent online store. However, most of the drop shippers use established online marketplaces, here are the pros and cons of these platforms:
Pros:
- It’s easy to set up an account and start selling
- Consumers trust these platforms
- They already attract a huge amount of traffic (potential customers)
- You can make significant money through them
- You don’t have to put extra effort to establish the platform
Cons:
- You pay a fee for every sale you make
- You’re in direct competition with sellers on the same platform
- You have limited control over branding, customer service, product photography
- Consumers have a huge amount of choice in one place
If you are unable to conclude which platform is the best, there are a number of online marketplaces, each of them having its own pros and cons, so there cannot be a right answer to that question. But Molendjik, based on his experience, says:
“I personally recommend Shopify for one major reason. There are some tutorials, blogs, and information available in relation to Shopify. So, it will make understanding the platform and using it much easier, than with other platforms where it is hard to get answers to your questions”. Dropshipping on Shopify is also well-known if you are looking to build your brand and grow a strong brand presence.
There is a good number of drop shippers who prefer to start their own online store. Although it is an expensive option compared to starting with the established marketplaces, it is really an ultimate long-term option for making money and building a business online. There are plenty of online tools that can be of great help to make it really easier to get started. Here are the pros and cons of this option too.
Pros:
- You’re building a business independent of the third party
- You have complete control over the branding, design, layout, etc
- Low fees and higher profit margins
- No direct competition with other sellers on the same platform
Cons:
- You miss out on the guaranteed traffic from established platforms
- It costs money to set up and designs your own store (web hosting etc)
- It takes time to rank on Google and you have to invest in SEO and digital marketing
If you have time and money to invest in your business, developing your own online store would be a viable option given that established platforms are becoming more and more saturated every year. If you want to establish your own online store, you can follow these three steps to set up the one:
- Choose an eCommerce platform and make a strategy about the cost of the platform, how many products you are selling, features and payment options, the design, to name a few things. A couple of great options include Shopify, Squarespace, BigCommerce, WooCommerce.
- Set up your store which includes the design, setting up payment methods, adding products to your store, adding policies, checkout, and shipping settings, as well as buying a domain and opening your online store for business.
- Get as much traffic to your store as you can. There are multiple ways to do that but few of the most popular among them include social media ads, SEO and influencer marketing, and Google Adwords.
5. Implementing a customer acquisition strategy
Now that you have set up your store and are ready to make a good business for that, you need a good number of customers on your page which you may think would cost you a lot of dollars but here comes a customer acquisition strategy for your aid. You can take the fast (paid) path and slow (free) path to gain customers. Here is an explanation for both of the ways:
Fast results (paid)
● Facebook ads for dropshipping
Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform with roughly 2.91 billion users. It is a great platform to initiate advertising your product as you can tap into a huge audience. This is one of the ways Facebook makes money by allowing you to reach its customers. So you pay the price for advertising there. Facebook ads are a good option for the following reasons:
- You control how much you spend each day
- It’s easy to get started
- It can yield fast results
- You can target highly-specified demographics
- It helps to increase brand awareness
- A good ad or boost post can go viral, getting you more audience
● Google ads for eCommerce
Google is operating as the world’s most popular search engine so far. If you have an online store, you want to rank it on the first page of the search page which you can acquire organically. You can also buy ads for your store to appear at the top of the page for the keywords you want to rank for. You can consider Google ads for the following reasons:
- You can achieve great exposure in the search result
- You can target highly specified demographics
- It’s the largest advertising platform in the world
- Maximize exposure to your ads with high-volume keywords related to your niche.
● Social media influencer marketing
Influencer marketing has become a huge part of customer acquisition strategy over the period of some years. It can be a very useful tool in your marketing strategy especially if you have a trendy niche, for example, if you are selling a new style handbag, you can contact an Instagram model to share the post of her with your handbag while tagging your brand. One post can get you a bunch of potential customers and new fans.
Slow results (free)
● Blog or forum marketing
This involves finding blogs and forums that are related to your niche or product and actively participating in discussions. You can reach them by posting yourself as an authority in your niche and including a link to your website will increase traffic and acquire new customers.
● Social media marketing
As many of the products are making it to social media, it’s getting harder and harder to achieve organic reach on social media, but it is not impossible yet. Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok are some channels to look up for. It is almost a given that organizations and businesses are on at least one of these platforms. Choose one and be consistent and eventually, you’ll build a following, which you can then convert into customers.
● Content marketing
The example of content marketing takes the form of a blog on your store website, a youtube channel, witty posts on Twitter, or trendy Instagram posts. Content marketing requires valuable content that helps to build an audience which then can be converted into customers. It does not always work like advertising and serves more to the audience than the brand. Lots of successful brands have a blog section on their website which you can look up for examples.
● Email marketing
Building an email list has not become an old way of advertising, but it still is one of the most effective ways to acquire customers. You need a way of capturing email addresses, such as requesting to sign-up at checkout, or an offer or competition which requires an email address. Once you get a decent list of email addresses you have a way of reaching a large group of people regularly, for free.
6. Scaling your dropshipping business
Having made efforts to make your store run and make good business, now you might want to think about some of the future-proof processes to set up to make your job as an owner easier and less stressful. Technology has provided a bunch of solutions to the recent problems, so if you want to save your time and increase your business, you can consider the following tips to excel with the help of technology:
Dropshipping automation
It can be very tiring to manage the charge of marketing, customer service, accounting, and many more at the same time. You can make the job easier with the help of dropshipping automation that can help you with processes such as product importing, pricing, order fulfillment, order tracking, promotions, gathering customer feedback, email campaigns, posting on social media, and generating reports on customer activity.
Dropshipping tools
Dropshipping tools may also help you accelerate the pace of working at your store by enabling you to easily find quality products and suppliers, import products into your store, and fulfill them without putting much effort on your part.
One such tool is SaleHoo Dropship, which supports the mentioned tasks above with the key aim of making the job easier for you. They list over a million products from which 500 can be imported into your online store. They also provide advice, source products that may not yet be listed on the platform, and suggest useful resources to help you scale your products.
Outsourcing work
There are a number of tasks that need to be done to get the intended business results, you may need an extra hand sometimes but assigning tasks to your employees would cost you more money to pay them as they work on set hours each week. You need more flexible options that you can get from freelancers.
There are a plethora of skilled freelancing workers available on these platforms who can complete a whole range of eCommerce work to meet your budget and requirements. You can hire them for ad hoc tasks who will help you scale your business beyond what your individual capabilities and limited time may allow.
Conclusion
As modern living styles evolve rapidly, so do business models and earning methods. Technology has dramatically transformed how we conduct business today. Dropshipping is one such retail fulfillment method for online businesses. Instead of holding warehouse inventory, merchants purchase products directly from the retailer to fulfill orders.
Dropshipping shortens the supply chain, making the process more direct. Merchants buy products from wholesalers or manufacturers, who then ship the products directly to customers. Opening an online store requires minimal investment, making dropshipping a viable option for many entrepreneurs.
To succeed in dropshipping, acquire adequate knowledge from experts. Understand the pros and cons before making well-informed decisions. Many online resources and tools can help make the job easier.
By embracing dropshipping, you can create a streamlined, cost-effective online business that meets the demands of modern consumers.
