Years ago, the internet exploded with people who began making money online by drop shipping. It’s still booming. New marketplaces, suppliers and opportunities appear, dropshippers learn how to keep up with the times. That’s why it’s always good to know new dropshipping tips to take the best for your dropshipping business.
For those who do not know or don’t fully understand. Dropshipping is a retail order fulfillment business where a customer places an order with a vendor, and the order gets filled by this vendor.
To make this clearer, let’s use an example. Let’s say John runs a website selling t-shirts and sweaters. In a standard business venture, John would manufacture and store his merchandise, and when a customer places an order, John would be responsible for packaging and shipping said order.
With drop shipping, when a customer places an order, John actually buys the t-shirt or sweater from a third-party supplier, and the supplier then sends the t-shirt to John’s customer. “Although drop shipping is not so popular these days, there are still some great profits to be made,” writes Jeffrey Harold, a business writer at Writemyx. Here we will look at some of the best dropshipping tips for those who looking to start their dropshipping venture.
1. Don’t Stick With A Product That’s Not Selling
In traditional retail selling, sellers purchase and hold stock. While this works fine for products that are selling, it is far from ideal when it comes to products that are not. This is one of the main advantages of drop shipping; if a product is selling, it’s very easy to switch and try something new. Drop shippers have many choices.
PRO dropshipping tip: A dropshipper knows many techniques on how to do dropshipping product research effectively, and always learns new methods.
2. Have A Good Looking Website
Internet buying is a lot about appearances. “Studies have shown that people are much more likely to buy from clean and sleek looking eCommerce websites than low quality looking websites.
3. Master Online Marketing Campaigns
The most important factor when it comes to dropshipping success is a successful marketing campaign. Without this, it is very unlikely that your dropshipping campaign will work out. In some cases, a marketing campaign can be as simple as Facebook and Instagram ads. The key here is to make the ads look as professional as possible.
4. Offer Deals
Most successful dropshipping ventures offer large discounts when more than one purchase is made. Remember, in most cases, the way to maximize drop shipping profit is by processing dropshipping orders as fast as possible. A standard discount would be something like offering 50% off of one’s second purchase. Of course, what level of discount a drop shipper is able to offer depends on a variety of factors, but one thing is for sure, drop shippers need to offer deals to increase sales.
5. Automate Most Processes
Successful drop shippers do not hand-fill orders. Instead, they use dropshipping software specially designed to process the payment and place the order with the supplier. Given the large number of software options, many of which are free, there is no reason not to automate as much as possible.
Failure to do so can cause a backlog of orders, many of which customers may end up canceling if they find themselves waiting too long.
6. Always Be Looking For New Opportunities
Dropshippers rarely stick to the same dropshipping product for long periods of time. Instead, most are continually pivoting, taking advantage of different trends in consumer habits. Dropshippers who are not ready and willing to pivot are unlikely to achieve success.
If you are running an eCommerce store for quite some time and want to expand, check out this 5 Secrets To Scaling Your Ecommerce Brand guide.
7. Offer Quality Customer Service
Nothing kills a drop shipping business like a host of bad reviews, and more often than not, poor reviews come from people who have not received an answer to their inquiries or questions, especially when it has to do with order status.
While email may work fine, a live chatting app is preferred if time and resources permit it.
TIP: You can follow the secrets of top-rated sellers and generate positive feedback automatically.
8. Offer Fast Shipping Options
Most drop shipped products come from China dropshipping suppliers, where delivery times may be slow with standard mail. To avoid this, offer the customer the option to have fast delivery. Furthermore, if express shipping is not much more, and one’s profit margins permit it, include express shipping in the price. Customers who have to wait several weeks for their product are unlikely to be repeat clients.
I hope these dropshipping tips will serve you in running your eCommerce store and dropshipping business.
Best of luck!
Michael Dehoyos is a content marketer and editor at Dissertation writing service and Write my personal statement. When not writing, Michael assists companies in developing marketing strategies and concepts. Beyond this, he has contributed to several sites and publications, including Origins Writings, where most of his work can be found.