Now many are transferring their business to the Internet. You will not surprise anyone with a store online. But few people still know and have tried another method of trading - dropshipping. What it is? What are the benefits of this sales scheme? What should you be prepared for when starting your own project?
New online business
Dropshipping is based on the familiar idea of an online store. But you do not puzzle over the question of where to get money for the purchase of goods. Do not solve the problem, how many of these same products to purchase. Where to arrange the warehouse, how to make delivery - these problems do not bother you anymore.
And all because you work on the dropshipping system. What kind of sales are these? Let’s take a look.
In general terms, the idea is to open a store through which you will sell goods directly from the supplier. You are a kind of intermediary, dealer. It is your responsibility to promote your store, make it popular, take orders for items displayed in the store, and transfer these orders to the product holder. Typically, the latter are either manufacturing companies or wholesalers. The supplier, having received the order, decides the issues with packaging and delivery.
Dropshipping system
Now let’s analyze in more detail the sales scheme for the new system. And at the same time let's see what profit is made of.
Suppose you decide to trade jewelry. But you do not have funds for the initial purchase of goods, rent a warehouse, and there are also problems with delivery. Do not take loans, get into debt.
On the Internet you are looking for sites that do not mind working together with dropshippers. From the list of potential suppliers you find those who offer the goods you need (according to the criteria outlined by you) at the lowest prices.
After that, you contact the owners of the resource and submit an application. Usually it turns out to issue cooperation without problems.
Now you begin to place the goods on the pages of your store. You set the price in the positions yourself. Of course, they will be higher than those exposed by your supplier. But do not go too far. Focus on the average offer for your product category. Otherwise, you will not attract a buyer.
Pictures are used either from the supplier’s website or from any available resource that has the necessary illustrations. Product descriptions are best written by yourself. If you are not good at creating selling texts, then find a good copywriter.
The better you advertise yourself, your store, the faster you start to make a profit.
Work with customer
If we work according to the dropshipping system, then we process all orders arriving to us and redirect them to our supplier.
The supplier already solves the issues with packaging and shipping. Here you almost decide nothing. The quality and speed of delivery depends on your partner. But in order not to let everything go by chance, activate the tracking service. This is an individual order number, it allows you to track the path of the ordered goods. This number does not interfere with voice to your customer. This will be a plus for you. You will prove your reliability and earn a reputation.
It does not hurt to negotiate with the supplier in advance the condition not to indicate information on the initial value of the goods on the parcel.
Circuit advantages
So, our first step was made in dropshipping. What is this in terms of pluses?
The advantages of this business are:
- Lack of start-up capital. You are saved from the costs of the store launch phase. You will have to invest money, without this you will not open your own selling site, but it will not require large expenses from you.
- You do not need to rent a warehouse and organize a delivery service. Your supplier assumes these responsibilities, you just need to find and attract as many customers as possible.
- The risk of miscalculating with the price is minimized. You are not making a product purchase. Therefore, the situation in which you bought a product at the same price and managed to sell only at a lower cost is not about you.
- You are not tied to the assortment. You do not have stocks. Therefore, at any time you can go to the toy market with electronics. You only need to find new suppliers and change directories on the site.
- You are free to choose your partners. One partner did not live up to expectations; find another, more reliable.
At first glance, the circuit is reliable; you work as a dealer. Your supplier is satisfied with ongoing orders, you are satisfied with the steady income that your store brings.
Cons of the system
The advantages are obvious, but what about the disadvantages that dropshipping has. What is this from the perspective of system flaws:
- You can not affect the speed of delivery of goods in any way, so all the flaws on the part of your supplier negatively affect your image. You must be ready to quickly deal with the situation when you place an order, receive money from a client, and he did not wait for his goods. Consider your actions in advance in such a conflict. In any case, the customer will demand the goods from you.
- The quality of the product can also be very "limp." Try at the stage of concluding a contract to check the reliability of your future partner.
- Packaging, delivery of goods to the customer is again not up to you. Therefore, you will have to rely on the integrity of the supplier.
Suppliers
As you already understood, much in this business rests on the reliability of suppliers. Unfortunately, fraud situations are very common. Therefore, carefully check your potential partners. Dropshipping suppliers are required to responsibly approach the issue of shipment and delivery of goods.
Do not be lazy and enter into an agreement with selected companies. This will make it easier for you to build business relationships.
Say goodbye to all unscrupulous suppliers immediately. You will constantly be in suspense, your reputation will suffer, customers will begin to leave you. Do not expect problems, look for other suppliers.
Russian perspectives
Russian dropshipping is not so actively developing. Many are still worried by this scheme of doing business. Most likely, the point is that there are too many unscrupulous suppliers, delivery mechanisms are too poorly tuned, and Russian customers are too distrustful.
To successfully promote a new type of trading on the domestic Internet sector, find yourself reliable partners among European, Chinese or American sellers. Now there is no problem going directly to them. Some advanced users themselves use the ability to order goods from these sites. You can serve as a seller for those who do not want or are afraid to independently buy on the largest trading floors.
You create a convenient store in Russian. With clear navigation, comfortable tools and act as an intermediary.
Reviews
If you talk with those who have tried dropshipping, you will receive very different reviews.
Some are happy with the simplicity of the scheme. They note that with minimal investment, the business pays off very quickly. Many people like that you do not need to bother with the warehouse, purchases, capitalization of balances, dollar fluctuations.
Others are disappointed and talk about the futility of this type of trade in Russia. Too many unscrupulous suppliers with whom it is impossible to build reliable partnerships.
Perhaps, a beginner dropshipper needs, first of all, to carefully weigh its capabilities. You need to understand that the success of your store will depend on its active promotion. And many have problems with this.
To reduce risks to a reasonable limit, you need to familiarize yourself with the pitfalls of this business. Examine the legal framework upon which dropshipping providers rely. Cooperation in this area needs to be reinforced with certified contracts. Keep a complete database of suppliers and customers. Beware of fraud. Learn information in specialized forums.
Open your business
You already know the scheme of work. But where to start?
Begin by creating a selling site. You can go a proven path and find a resource that offers ready-made templates. You get a working online store. It has already implemented search tools, a directory. You do not pay extra hosting. This is the responsibility of the company creating your site.
The finished template already has a form for ordering, feedback. Here, a payment transfer scheme has been established. You yourself are free to choose design options.
If you yourself successfully create sites, you can develop your project from scratch. Giving it a unique look. Just do not forget in the pursuit of design about convenient navigation and practicality.
Promotion
It’s not so difficult to create your own website. The hardest part is to make it popular. Only competent promotion will give you the number of customers that will allow you to get a decent profit.
Promote
Pay attention to contextual advertising. Not enough own knowledge? Get help from a marketer. Let your strategy for your promotion be written.
Only a well-developed store can boast an abundance of orders. Make it a rule to review your promotion actions every month. Look for new ways to promote.
If you decide to realize yourself in this business, read the experience shared by other dropshipping companies. This will allow you to avoid mistakes and build a clear system of development of your business.