DROPSHIPPING
AUTHOR: JONATHAN BECKER
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION TO DROPSHIPPING
We are all aware of the business model where a retailer stocks the purchased items before he could sell it in the market, but the concept of dropshipping is quite a different one. A seller does not necessarily have to be the stock list of the items he sells. Everything can still happen in an organized manner. You might have thought, how all these can happen? Suppose you have a customer who wants to buy a product, but you do not own an inventory, neither do you stock up items. In that case, your product manufacturer or supplier directly delivers the product/s to your customer.
Now, this dropshipping mode has a number of advantages. Let us find out what they are:
Easy To Get Started
As you do not have to deal with physical products, this business is quite an easy one. If you are investing in the same you will not have to worry about packaging and shipping of the orders, renting or managing a warehouse, tracking inventory, maintaining stock levels by continuously ordering products, etc.
Requires Less Capital
This ecommerce business model requires a lot less to invest than retail businesses. One can launch an ecommerce store without having to risk his bank funds and property for a loan. All they need to do is purchase the product when a customer has already bought it by making a payment. So, without a major upfront inventory, it is possible to start a successful business.
Reduced Overheads
When there is no need to deal with inventory purchases our managing the same the overhead costs are sure to remain low. Studies have found that several successful dropshipping businesses are operated via a laptop from a remote location which can be the investor's home or office. The regular investment in many cases has been found to be lesser than $100. It may grow once there is growth in the business.
Wide Selection of Products
Under this model, one does not have to deal with a specific product but can earn from different products. You can add the items that a supplier stocks on your website at no additional charges.
Offers Flexibility over a Location
Any place that has uninterrupted internet connection can be used for a dropshipping business. Additionally, you will need to have a better hand at communicating with the suppliers and customers.
These are the reasons why dropshipping is considered to be an attractive model. If you are looking forward to increasing your income this can be one option you can look into.
Dropshipping! The Easy Way To Sell Hundreds Of Items On Ebay Without Ever Buying Or Holding Stock!
Imagine having top companies invent, design and buy products, test the market, employ world class copywriters to describe their products, hire top-notch graphic designers and photographers - and give you the whole lot FREE OF CHARGE! Well, that's exactly what you can do when you start using dropshipping as part of your eBay business.
Benefits of Dropshipping
1. Increase customers
Wholesale customers can display your products in their physical or online stores, and market your products directly to their line of customers. As online business owners, you will be able to indirectly expand your market and reach more customers; otherwise, you would not be able to have if you havent partnered with wholesale buyers.
Dropshipping has a number of advantages namely reduced risk, lower capital, wide product selection, highly scalable and location independence.
2. Save on money, time and effort
Working with wholesale customers that already have a solid base of customers will save you a lot of time, money and effort.
Most people who are starting their first online business via auctions or online stores dont have a lot of money to buy a bunch of products or the space to warehouse and store the products they want to sell online. This is where working with a real Dropshipper will save you a ton of money. A real Dropshipper is simply a Certified Wholesaler who offers dropshipping. You find the Dropshipper you want to work with (the one who has the products you want to sell.) They will then give you access to their product images so that you can post them on your website, auction, blog or however you plan to sell online. When a customer orders the product, you then order the product from the Wholesaler and they ship it to your customer.
Merchants display your products in their online store and send you an invoice once a customer purchases your products. Once the orders are confirmed by the merchant, you ship the products from the warehouse to the address of the customer. In this order fulfillment process, both you and the wholesale buyer saved on the time to make a sale.
Wholesale merchants dont need to purchase stocks of inventory that might not be bought at all. With dropshipping, merchants order from store owners or manufacturers when customers already bought the product. It lessens the burden on merchants; at the same time, less effort for the store owners to find customers.
With eCommerce, dropshipping means less expenses for wholesale buyers since they only pay for products that are already sold. For the part of the manufacturers, it means more sales, product movement, and fulfilled orders. Partnering with reputable wholesale buyers who are also looking to increase their profits is a win-win situation for you. In this way, having more wholesale buyers will increase your sales and profits.
3. Increased Wholesale buyers
Wholesale buyers will be more likely to partner with you when you are a dropship wholesaler. Buyers do not need to a warehouse and stock inventories since you will be the one to ship the products directly to their customers.
Plus, wholesale buyers
On the other hand, Shopify wrote, Running an e-commerce business is much easier when you dont have to deal with physical products. You dont have to manage a warehouse, pack, and ship orders, track inventory, handle returns, and manage product inventory.
4. Flexibility
The dropshipping model offers flexibility that would not be possible without it. Wholesale merchants can run the business anywhere and anytime as long as they have Internet connection. With the Internet, buyers can directly communicate with manufacturers or store owners at the same time with customers.
It gives flexibility to merchants since they can partner with multiple wholesale suppliers and sell more products to their customers. Manufacturers also get more flexibility since there is more product movement.
5. Leverage
In business, being able to multiply your money, time and effort is a form of leverage. By offering dropshipping to wholesale customers, youll be able to prioritize on establishing relationships with these buyers.
Having reliable and dependable dropship wholesalers who will do the shipping for you balances the burden between the merchant and the supplier.
Other Advantages of Drop Shipping
The main advantage of drop shipping is that you do not have to stock or touch any product. When a customer orders a $100 pearl necklace from you and your supplier charges you $13, an invoice is sent to your supplier, they charge you $13, and they ship the pearl necklace to your customer. Meanwhile, you collect $100 for a profit of $87.
It is easy to get started
There is no need to manage, stock and organize inventories.
Assortment expansion
Easy to Scale up/Down
Allows you to function on a very low operating budget
Allows you to have a healthy cash flow, as you dont have to spend a lot until you start seeing money back
You dont need to have a website as you can sell at high-traffic marketplaces such as Amazon.com, eBay.com or other online marketplaces.
While average margins may be lower compared to other retail stores that stock their own inventory, there is no risk of a bad buy that results in over stock issues.
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