Dropshipping has never been so popular, with an estimated 23% of all online sales globally adhering to this model. As a potentially very profitable business strategy, dropshipping benefits both the seller and the wholesaler, and requires a surprisingly small amount of input to succeed.
Interested in learning more about dropshipping? Read on…
What Is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a business partnership between the seller (you) and the wholesaler (us). There is no written contract and very little is needed in terms of starting up. Your job as the seller is to market and sell our products, and our side of the deal is to package and ship them. Once the customer has bought the product, it’s your job as the seller to purchase it from us. We send it to the customer and you keep the profits. It’s win-win.
How Do You Make A Profit?
Put simply, you sell the product for more than you buy it for. For example, you might purchase one of our CBD skincare products for X, and sell it for 50% more than your purchase price, therefore making a profit. Of course, as the seller it would be your job to select and market products you think will be popular, and monitor trends that tell you what your customers like and don’t like.
Do You Need To Know Marketing To Dropship?
In an ideal world, you would know how to market a product online to achieve sales. But not everybody possesses this knowledge. Thankfully, anyone can learn to do this, even without experience. You can, for example, run a Facebook business page with business adverts, set up an Instagram account for the product, launch a website and use word of mouth sales. There are many different marketing channels out there and you may wish to experiment a little bit before discovering what works. The good news is, most of these methods involve no or very little costs. It’s free to set up a Facebook business page. And your ad spend on Facebook can be as large or as slim as you like. If you wish to run your own website, this will come with an annual or monthly fee, which you should factor into your business strategy. We also offer a website for a low cost, if you’d rather build one via our platform.
What Are The Advantages and Benefits of Dropshipping?
So, why use this business model? Why not stick to the traditional buying and selling model? Here are some advantages of dropshipping to consider:
1. You don’t carry the stock
Having a physical supply of stock is a hassle. You would need space to put it all, and if you had no space, you’d need to pay for a small warehouse or storage unit to keep it. Dropshipping means that the wholesaler (us) keeps all the stock in one place. Only when your customer places an order would you then place an order with us using our fully integrated dropshipping software.
2. Very little admin
Thanks to the smart integration software we use, you can expect smooth automation and syncing between our website and yours. Therefore, once a customer makes a purchase, there’s very little you need to do, and you retain a full and transparent view of the sales process so that you can keep your customer in the loop. Shipping delay? Return required? Fine. Our automated system allows you to organize this as the click of a button.
3. You don’t need to package or deliver
As well as the stock being kept with us, we also remain in charge of packaging and delivering the product to your customer. You won’t need to spend hours meticulously packaging vape pens and CBD oils, or carrying large boxes to the post office every other day. We do everything. All you need to do is focus on sales.
4. You can make a tidy profit with very little investment
How much does it cost to get going with drop shipping? That’s a good question. The answer is - not much at all. In fact, you can spend as little or as much as you like. As already mentioned, certain marketing activities are free (such as setting up a Facebook business page) and you only need to buy our stock once your order has been placed, so you won’t end up with unsold stock clogging up your inventory. You might want to invest in a website and at the bare minimum, you’ll need to pay a hosting fee. If you are not very net savvy, you might also hire a website designer and content writer. This will be the most expensive part of your journey. But, even then, it won’t cost a fortune.
5. You are given everything you need
You might be asking yourself, how do you get the images and product information and do you need to do any research into the product you sell? The good news is, when you dropship, you are given everything you need. You are supplied with the images of the product, the product description, and any other information you need to know such as shipping costs, shipping times and countries we ship to. You then use this information to build your online presence. There are no manual file uploads either, as everything is synced with our system. What’s more, when we add new products, you’ll be alerted immediately and can add these products to your website if you choose to.
6. No hidden fees
Dropshipping is a clean and simple process with no hidden fees or commissions. It really is a tidy transaction whereby you sell to a customer for price X, and pay us price Y. As price Y is always cheaper than price X, you make a profit every time. If our prices change, you know about it instantly and adjustments are made automatically. You owe us nothing else except for the agreed monthly pricing plan for the drop shipping integration. We also display our shipping fees here. When it comes to dropshipping, the biggest investment is your time, and the worst that can happen is you make no sales. In most cases, however, you will make sales and know exactly what your take home will be each time.
7. You customers won’t know
Why would customers pay X when they know you’re only paying Y? Why shouldn’t those customers buy at the Y price directly? These are good questions. The good news is, our partnership is completely confidential and your customers won’t know where you sourced the products or how much you paid for them. This promise of confidentiality can help enhance trust and loyalty between you and your customer base.
8. No exclusivity - sell what you want
When you dropship with us, there’s no obligation to sell only our products on your website. You can sell other products too, or even make and sell your own stock. You can pick as many or as few products from our inventory to sell. You might want to begin small, and once you gain an online reputation, you can expand into other markets and try selling to new customers.
9. You can be your own boss
Tired of working 9-5 in a job that offers low pay and no flexibility? Dropshipping could be your way out. You can begin dropshipping as a side hustle on weekends, and as sales pick up, you can transform it into a more substantial career. You can branch into new markets and offer a more comprehensive service depending on how much time you can put into it.
10. You learn as you go
If something sells well, or doesn’t sell at all, you can make adjustments to your sales strategy accordingly. The same can be said for the sales techniques and marketing methods you use - if something simply isn’t converting leads into customers, you can abandon it and try something else. This process doesn’t require expertise from the outset. You can learn as you go, and use a process of trial and error with very little financial risk.
Try Dropshipping With Us
Signing up to sell for us using the dropshipping business partnership is easy and affordable. We have 3 pricing plans available, and an option to set up a website of your own via our platform if you wish to. You can enjoy full automation and transparency with no hidden fees or commissions. To get started, all you need to do is get registered. You will be given the chance to watch a variety of informative videos on dropshipping with us, before making a decision to sign up properly. Once registered with a selected plan, you will be given an account that you can log into any time to manage your sales and pricing. Got questions? Get in touch with us and we will be happy to help.