A large number of methods are available for the people in today’s world to make money. Out of those methods, dropshipping has received a lot of attention. It is an e-commerce business model, which is gaining popularity along with time. Keep on reading this article to understand more about the concept of dropshipping. Then you can decide whether you are going to go ahead with it or not.
What exactly is dropshipping?
Dropshipping can simply be defined as an e-commerce business model. Here, you are provided with the chance to sell physical products, without worrying about managing an inventory. In other words, you don’t need to have a warehouse containing the product that you sell online. You just need to have appropriate partnerships with the wholesalers, who can send out the products to your customers, on behalf of you.
The biggest benefit that you can find in dropshipping business model is zero upfront expenses. That’s because you don’t need to bear the cost of having a warehouse full of stock. You just need to get the item from a wholesaler after you receive an order from an end customer. You will also be able to settle the payment at a later stage.
Important stats about dropshipping
If you are planning to become a digital entrepreneur, dropshipping is an excellent option available for you to consider. It is an important element that you can see within digital entrepreneurship as well. By taking a look at these stats, you will be able to enhance the knowledge you have on dropshipping.
It has been identified that around 22% of the online retailers out there in the world have adopted drop shipping. Dropshipping has become the primary business model for them. As more and more people are interested in purchasing products online, the demand for dropshipping will rise in the future. Hence, there will be an excellent demand for dropshipping stores. You can start an e-commerce business as an entrepreneur, without worrying too much about the risk factor.
More than 80% of the online sellers agree to the fact that they are in the process of establishing positive relationships along with the dropshipping suppliers. Most of them have already got into partnerships with the dropshipping wholesale suppliers as well.
Step to start a dropshipping business
You just need to go through five simple steps to start your own dropshipping business. Here is a quick overview of those five steps. If you are convinced, you can simply follow them and start the business without keeping any doubts or second thoughts in mind.
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Select a dropshipping niche
The first thing that you need to do when you are starting a dropshipping business is to select the niche. That’s where you need to locate a niche, which consists of products that are highly in demand. Then you can keep the sales coming in your way. It is also better if you can select a niche that you are personally interested in. Then you will love to manage your dropshipping store and take it to the next level.
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Locate a supplier
Once you finalize the dropshipping business niche, you need to go ahead and locate a supplier. The dropshipping supplier should be willing to help you deliver the products that belong to your selected niche. The supplier should have experience in helping drop shippers like you in the past. Most importantly, you need to make sure that the supplier has a reasonable pricing strategy. You can also double-check and make sure that the supplier can provide fast shipping to your orders so that you can improve customer satisfaction.
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Obtain a sales tax ID
If you are planning to set up a dropshipping business in the United States or Canada, you will need to obtain a tax ID. There are exceptions in some of the states. You just need to follow the standard process for obtaining the tax ID and get your hands on it.
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Select a selling platform
Now you need to go ahead and select a selling platform for the dropshipping business. This should be done carefully because the specific platform that you select can determine the amount of money you will be able to make in the long run. Therefore, you need to select the most appropriate selling platform.
The online marketplaces are ideal for starting your dropshipping business. That’s because the customers trust to trust these businesses and you can easily attract a lot of traffic. On the other hand, you can easily set up your store and start selling. But in the long run, it is not beneficial than starting your dropshipping store. That’s because you need to keep on paying hefty fees for every sale. Your freedom to control branding and customer service is limited. On top of that, you will have to face fierce competition that is coming from the other sellers.
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Focus on branding
As the last step, you need to look for an appropriate customer acquisition strategy. You need to do this while keeping your ideal customer base in mind. Social media marketing and digital marketing can deliver positive results for most businesses. Likewise, you must analyze available options and go ahead with the best one out of them.
How to start your dropshipping store?
If you can start your dropshipping store, you will be making an excellent long-term investment. That’s because you can build up the dropshipping business along with time and ensure that you get amazing returns out of it in the long run. That’s where Shopify will be able to assist you. The process of starting your dropshipping store will become quick and easy with the assistance of Shopify’s dropshipping business tools. Then you just need to add your dropshipping products to the Shopify store and start selling them to potential customers.