Dropshipping is an easy and realistic way to make money online. With every passing day, this
ecommerce business model wins more and more fans across the globe and makes more and
more people happier and richer.
The popularity of dropshipping probably stems from the fact that this type of ecommerce
business is easy to start and manage and it brings good money.
In this article you will find why dropshipping is the future of ecommerce, how it actually
works and what advantages dropshipping has over other ecommerce business models.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a
good alternative to the traditional ecommerce business ideas.
Its key feature is that dropshipping allows online store owners to sell products without
worrying about inventory. Dropshippers don’t need to buy products in advance and fear that not
all of them will be sold in time and will gather dust in a warehouse.
That’s why this model is perfect for new entrepreneurs.
It requires minimum costs.
You just need a computer, your personal website or an account on one of the most popular
ecommerce platforms and good internet connection. Nothing more.
In addition, you don’t need to have any special business knowledge or skills to do
dropshipping business. Just be creative and patient and one day you will hit the jackpot.
How does dropshipping work?
Imagine, you are a dropshipper and you have a website with different products.
The goods you sell are stored by your suppliers and you use only the photos of their products.
A potential customer goes to your website, finds something interesting, places an order and
pays you. After that, you place the same order with your supplier and he or she sends the
item directly to your customer.
What are the benefits for you?
You make money on the difference between the supplier’s price and the price on your own website.
For example, a supplier sells you an item for $1 and you offer the same item to your customers,
say, for $3. Your net profit is $2.
In addition, you don’t need to bear the cost of shipping, because it is the
responsibility of your supplier.
Where to find dropshipping suppliers?
The easiest way to find suppliers for dropshipping is to direct your attention to the most
popular online shopping platforms such as AliExpress or eBay, because they do not
hinder the use of this business model.
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Dropshipping from AliExpress
AliExpress is the most popular platform among dropshippers. That's not surprising,
because it has some advantages over the other platforms:
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The goods on AliExpress are usually cheap, which means dropshippers can make
very good money on the price difference.
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Dropshippers can easily find reliable suppliers thanks to the customers’
feedbacks and freely available AliExpress seller ratings.
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You can fully customize your store and therefore build your own brand.
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Chinese suppliers like the dropshipping business model, because they get one
more distribution channel with you and as a result make more money.
People say that despite all benefits, AliExpress dropshipping has one big pitfall
that kills everything - delivery time. Some years ago, that was right, but nowadays
most suppliers offer free ePacket shipping that makes it possible to
deliver all packages quickly and in time.
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Dropshipping from Amazon
Amazon is another popular online shopping platform where people often look for suppliers.
However, using Amazon for dropshipping is probably not a good idea. And this is why.
First, the platform is not dropshipping friendly.
According to its shipping policy, you can’t buy products from other online retailers
and ask them to ship products directly to your customers. It means it will not be
able to use the classical dropshipping model that was mentioned above. Of course,
you can try, but there is a great chance to get banned and lose everything.
Secondly, you have to know that most suppliers on Amazon use the Fulfillment service,
which means they do not take part in packaging processes. As a result, it will be
impossible for you to put your own promo material into the package and promote your
store. In addition, Amazon sellers may write only their own names on the packages,
so it will be impossible to build your own brand as well.
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Dropshipping from
eBay
eBay is the most famous auction site for buying goods online and it is also
popular with dropshippers.
According to statistics, there are about 25 million sellers on eBay, so you have
about 25 million potential suppliers to choose from. Each supplier offers thousands
of products that you can dropship. In addition, when using eBay you can reach a wide
audience and earn good money. However, in spite of the variety of sellers and
products, it’s very difficult to find high quality goods with low prices.
So you will constantly face the problem of low profit.
Dropshipping software
In order to automate your business routine and make your life easier,
you can use different dropshipping software.
Here is a short list of the best ones.
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AliDropship plugin
AliDropship plugin runs on
WordPress and allows you to
import thousands of products from AliExpress directly to your website. It has many features
such as automated ordering of products, built-in themes, importing customers’ reviews,
ePacket shipping filter, etc.
The plugin is not free, but you can search for special coupon codes on the Internet and
get it with a X% discount.
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Oberlo
This popular app is developed for the ecommerce
platform Shopify and works only on it. Like the previous one, it allows you to
import products to your dropshipping store, customize them and filter with ePacket.
Oberlo is a paid program and has many pricing plans that determine
what features are available.
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ShopMaster
ShopMaster is perfect for dropshippers who want to import
products from different websites, such as AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, etc. It also
allows you to import products, monitor prices and get sales statistics. Like Oberlo,
ShopMaster offers many pricing plans. The set of available options depends on them.
As you can see, all apps for dropshipping are very similar. The difference is mostly
in the platforms they work on. To choose the right dropshipping software,
think carefully what website you will use to dropship from and how much money
you are ready to spend on your business development.
What to dropship?
You can dropship any products you want, however, it’s better to sell something that you are
interested in or know inside out.
If
nothing comes to your mind
, visit different online stores
and sort items by popularity, categories, prices, etc. Make an account on
each website and subscribe to their news. Every day you will get information about products
and something will inspire you.
If you are not sure whether the chosen product niche is profitable,
check its potential with this test.
However, when choosing what to dropship, avoid some product categories:
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Heavy products (inconvenient to manage + high shipping costs)
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Electronics and fragile goods (easy to break)
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Tight-fitting clothing (requires a very special body type)
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Potentially dangerous goods (most of them are not permitted to bring through customs)
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Easy to find in offline stores (high competition)
These products usually cause problems both for sellers and buyers. So if you don’t want
to get bad feedbacks, stay away from the product categories mentioned above.
Benefits of dropshipping
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Your location is irrelevant. You can run dropshipping business anywhere in the world.
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Low starting costs. You can start dropshipping business without having a lot of money.
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You do not spend your own money to make purchases. You pay for all products
with the customers’ money.
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You don’t need to rent a warehouse and keep products there.
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Dropshipping doesn’t require much time. You can easily combine dropshipping with a
full time job.
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You are not responsible for delivery. All goods are stocked and shipped by suppliers.
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Wider product selection. It is easy to add new products to your store or to
delete those that are out of stock.
Drawbacks of dropshipping
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Intense competition. You may find yourself in a highly competitive dropshipping niche.
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Supplier errors. You can’t be sure that each product will be packaged
properly and delivered in time.
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Low margin in the early stages. To earn really good money, you need to
put much efforts (and probably money) into your store and constantly promote it.
So is dropshipping worth it?
Certainly, yes! As you can see, dropshipping is a very attractive business model with a great
amount of advantages. It is easy to start and it brings more benefits than other popular ways to make money online.