What is dropshipping? According to Wikipedia, drop shipping is a supply chain management method in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers the customers order and shipment details to either the manufacturer, another retailer or a wholesaler who then ships good directly to the customer.
Dropshipping can be a nightmare if it is done in a wrong way and it can aswell go on smoothly if you know what you are doing.
But, don’t worry today we are going to look into the ways you can get started as a beginner.
I started doing dropshipping in 2016 I had no any idea what I was doing.
I had a friend of mine who she was doing so well, she could make $500 a day just on the lower side.
Whereas, for me I never knew what I did not do correctly.
The maximum visitors I had in my store was 100, looking at my friend’s statistics she is over 100k.
With the guide of my friend she taught me alot of things on how to get the successful store.
So, today we are going to discuss the basics for beginners and if you guys would like for me to write an article about something you are having problems about you can always contact me.
Feel free to contact me about anything am here to help you out 🙂
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Beginners Guide On Starting A Dropshipping Business In 2019
Table Of Content:
- Things To Do Before Getting Started With Dropshipping
- How To Get Started
- Benefits Of Dropshipping
Things To Do Before Getting Started With Dropshipping
Before starting any business, it is a necessity to write down the things that needs to be down before actually getting started.
You can’t open a coffee shop without actually having a coffee machine or maybe open a store but you have no idea what to sell.
These things really matter with any type of business, be it brick or mortar.
So, below are the top 8 things you should do before getting started with dropshipping:
1. Pick A Niche For Your Store
What do I mean by pick a niche?
For example, when you want to grab a coffee what comes to your mind?Starbucks, right?
Or maybe you have another shop in mind hehehe, I love Starbucks and that’s the first thing that came to my mind.
Starbucks are known for their coffee, what am trying to say is it is a food niche.
I want to buy some pair of joggers, I will definitely go over Adidas website and make the purchase cause they are known for their sport wear.
Many people fail in dropshipping because they make it as a general store and you don’t know who target.
Picking a niche helps you know your target audience unlike a general store who will you start targeting for your audience.
I would advise you if you want to have a general store you need to start small first.
After your niche store is doing successful and you already have gained trust from your buyers, then you can expand step by step for a general store.
I believe that’s how Amazon got started.
You cannot start big in any type of business.
Trust the process and everything will work eventually.
2. Research On Your Niche
One mistake that led to failure of my dropshipping business was not fully researching on my niche.
I changed the niche of my store like three times I was not sure what of what people want.
And then my friend told me about using Google trends, I had no idea that really existed.
Google trends helps dropshippers a lot.
It gives you the a graph of how trending a product is in every country.
A product can be popular in USA but not in UK.
So if your target audience are in UK you should search on what products are trending there.
3. Not Every Product You Can Dropship
Its true you can’t dropship just any product, I made a huge mistake not doing my research on this one.
I used to dropship items which were fragile.
- Fragile items should not be used as a dropsipping product, its going to ruin your reputation.
I got several complain emails from my buyers about my product reached and some stuff were broken.
I had to refund alot of buyers.
You don’t want that to happen to you, angry clients are bad for business because they are going to leave nasty comments and star ratings on your website.
- Another type of items that should not be used as a dropshipping product are items which have brand names.
Copyrighted products can cause some serious issues with the brand owner.
Of course everyone likes branded items but they are going to cause big problems in the future and it might cause harm to your website reputation.
- Products which are heavy can cause problems when it comes to shipping.
If a products weighs 10kgs, and the shipping line charges extra $50 for shipment, that is a loss or you should increase the prices for your product.
Charging too high can cause buyers running away from your site.
Why should a buyer come to your store which costs $70 and there is another website which charges $50 for a watch?
4. Domain Name Is Important
Choosing a domain name for your website is very crucial for your business.
An example, searching for a food niche website and its domain name goes like officeplace.com .
That domain name does not go inline with the store niche. Buyers will have some difficulties trusting the site and the bounce rate will be very high.
A good domain name should always have a .com extension it looks more professional and trustworthy.
Domain names should be short and SEO-friendly, buyers will easily memorize the domain unlike long domain names.
5. Choosing The Best eCommerce Platform For Your Store.
Choosing a good platform for your eCommerce store is very important. Most of the dropshippers use Shopify for their online store.
I really recommend shopify for any eCommerce store because they have very beautiful templates for online stores.
They also guide their customers with anything they need.
There are other free platforms like WordPress, Joomla you can use but I find them abit complicated on my end.
I started with Shopify and I fell inlove with it every since.
I really do recommend anyone who wants to get started with dropshipping should consider using shopify.
They do have a monthly fee payment but it is worth it.
Shopify platform have an extension with Oberlo which helps you import products from wholesalers like AliExpress.
AliExpress is a website for wholesalers and retailers, most dropshipping stores import their products from AliExpress.
They are located in China.
6.Get A Reliable Supplier
So, after finding your perfect niche for your online store, doing your research on the niche, finding the best domain name, getting your Shopify account created, its time to do some research getting a reliable supplier.
AliExpress is a huge website for wholesalers and retailer from China.
You have no idea who trust when it comes to business.
There have been a lot of stories dropshippers get scammed by Chinese.
But don’t worry there are various ways to know which supplier to rely on when doing business with them.
First thing you should look at is their star ratings, if they have a 4+ ratings and they have so many positive reviews,
There you have your supplier.
7. SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION )
SEO really helps any website in general. Who doesn’t want their website to appear on the first page of google?
Entrepreneurs don’t take seriously how SEO can really boost their eCommerce success over night.
SEO is one of the cheapest and free way to bring thousands of traffic to your website without even advertising.
I recommend getting your store SEO optimized for better ranking.
If you have no knowledge about SEO hire some freelancers from Fiverr they do quite a good job.
8. Never Give Up
Never give up if you are not making any sales in the first month, maybe next month you will.
Creating trust between you and your buyers is very important.
I would not go to any website and make a purchase of a product until I trust the brand or store.
So , in the first couple of months its going to be hard for you,
Marketing and engaging with your buyers will help you increase more sales.
Make your clients feel they can be attended incase of any problem.
Another crucial thing is to make sure you have a good looking online store.
No one wants to purchase anything from a store that looks fishy right?
Appearance is IMPORTANT, this is the part when the buyers decides to actually continue for more products or bounce back.
And if couple of months your store is not doing so well , then i suggest look for an expert in dropshipping he/she might help you with your store.
9. Research On Competition Niche
Most dropshippers choose products which have low to no competition, that is where they have no sales.
Choose products which have high competition, remember you should know you are going against high stores like Walmart, Amazon.
Competition is always healthy for business, because it makes one do more and more for their business which results to a big brand store.
10. Choose A Worldwide Payment System
Payment system is the key to lock down any deal. Choose a payment method that is available worldwide or at your target county.
PayPal, MasterCard, Visa Card such payment system is available worldwide and it makes your website look trustworthy.
Always offer refund when there any legit complication with clients products, it creates high reputation to your store and also clients trust.
How To Get Started With Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a type of business model which you can run a store without actual holding any product.
Once a client places an order of a product , you contact the supplier by purchasing the required product and then the supplier packs and ships to the clients address.
This model you don’t have any inventory up front nor any shipping problems.
So here are the steps to get started with dropshipping using Shopify:
1. Create A Shopify Account
First thing you will need to do is create a Shopify account to get started. I suggest you should have a store name in mind.
That is the first requirement when you sign up,
I chose mine as Leglamlife.
And then click create store.
Next step Shopify will ask you more about yourself, and which country you reside in.
After filling all the details, Shopify generate a unique URL which goes this format : YOUR-STORE-NAME.myshopify.com/admin.
2. Add Products
This is your Shopify dashboard at this point you can change the theme of your store.
You can change anything you want at this point add products choose a domain name.
At this point you should start importing products from Oberlo, Shopify made it easy adding products via Oberlo.
Here is how you do it:
On your left hand side click on products,
Click on more options you will be directed to Oberlo Interface.
Next step is going through the result and choose which items you would like to your store.
Select the “product” button.
After clicking on select product you will be directed to product page this part you are able to edit the pricings and the shipment method and description.
After editing you click add product and it will be directed to your store.
Repeat with all other items.
What Are The Benefits Of Dropshipping
- Low Risk
When getting started with dropshipping there are very low risk when it comes to money being lost.
The only money you lost is the one you paid for your shopify store, the money you used to pay the supplier does not come from your pocket but the clients.
- You Will Never Experience Excess Inventory
Suppliers are the one who does everything, there is no issue when it comes to excess inventory.
No revenue will be lost when trends tends to change anytime.
- Convenience
Dropshipping business you don’t have to deal with storage nor packing of goods.
All that journey is being taken care of by the suppliers.
- Low Cost To Get Started
Getting started with dropshipping business has very lost charges.
The only thing you invest on is your Shopify store.
Launching new items can be very costly in physical store whereas with dropshipping it does not require any investment.