Dropshipping is a popular way to run a business that has become even more popular in the last few years. Why? Because with dropshipping, you can start your own business without having to spend a lot of your own time or money up front. Dropshipping is a good business for new business owners because it has low start-up costs, doesn’t require you to keep track of inventory, and has the potential to grow indefinitely. This article has tips for new store owners about dropshipping.
Before we talk about dropshipping tips, let’s talk about how dropshipping works as a business. The best thing about starting a new dropshipping store is that you can have a huge store with hundreds or even thousands of products to offer your customers without having a warehouse, buying pallets of inventory, and hiring a few people to manage inventory and ship orders. This is because with dropshipping, you don’t buy the products ahead of time. Instead, you order them after your customer places an order, and your dropshipping supplier sends them directly to your customer. This means that if something doesn’t sell well, you haven’t lost any money because you didn’t buy inventory up front.
Scalability is another big benefit of dropshipping. You can start small and grow without having to worry about the logistics that come with running a traditional inventory-based online store. You can start with a small number of products and add more as quickly as you want.
One of the easiest businesses to start may be a dropshipping store. You can run a dropshipping business online from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. It’s also easy to set up this kind of business. With an ecommerce platform like Shopify, you can have a store up and running in as little as a day. Also, Shopify has a lot of apps that let you connect with the best dropshipping suppliers, which can help you find inventory and automate order fulfillment.
Even though dropshipping is one of the easiest online businesses to start, that doesn’t mean running a successful dropshipping store is easy. When they first start out, dropshippers often have trouble choosing the right product and platform, getting people to their store, and other things. Here are some dropshipping tricks and tips for new store owners to help you get over these problems.
Choose a niche you are familiar with.
It might be tempting to open a store that sells a little bit of everything, but for dropshipping stores, this is a big mistake. You can make your store stand out from the thousands of others by finding a niche and becoming the place to go for anything related to that niche.
The best way to choose a niche is to choose something you already know a lot about or are interested in. Take your time to think of all the different interests, skills, hobbies, and topics you could build a dropshipping store around. This not only helps you understand your store better, but it also makes running it more fun if it’s something you’re interested in. Even though not all of your interests may be profitable, there’s a good chance you can find a niche that you have some experience or interest in and use it to make a profitable dropshipping business.
Focus on having a “KISS” attitude
You’ve probably heard of KISS, which stands for “keep it simple, stupid.” This is the best way to think when you’re just getting started with your dropshipping business. By keeping things simple and straightforward, dropshippers can spend less time on problems that aren’t necessary when they’re trying to build their brand name.
For example, it might be very tempting to download a dozen apps and look for hundreds of new products to sell in your store. But at first, you should focus on keeping things simple while you learn the ropes. When you’re just getting started, it’s a much better use of your time to open a store with a few good products and spend your time marketing that store. As your store grows and you get more experience, it’s great to add more products, suppliers, or features.
Provide Excellent Customer Care
We’ve all had bad customer service experiences, and we all know that when that happens, not only are we unlikely to shop at that store or company again, but we also tell our family and friends about it. When you go above and beyond for your customers, you’ll stand out from almost every other store.
Most online stores are hard to reach, take a long time to respond, and have strict rules. If your dropshipping store is the opposite, customers will be more likely to shop with you, tell their friends about your store, and get involved with your business. Even if the mistake was made by your supplier, taking responsibility for it and doing what you can to make sure the customer is happy can make a huge difference and keep customers coming back.
Create a good system for managing your inventory and suppliers.
Even though you won’t be physically carrying inventory for your dropshipping store, it’s still important to have an organized inventory and supplier management system. Without a well-thought-out system, it can be hard to keep track of products that come from many different suppliers. The tips below will help you set up a good system.
Choose your products carefully.
By being aware of the products you sell, you can set yourself up to avoid inventory problems. For example, choosing products that can be bought from more than one place.
Use more than one supplier for the same item.
When you find multiple suppliers for the products you sell, you don’t have to cancel an order just because one of your suppliers is out of stock.
Set up regular checks to see if items are available
It’s always a good idea to check with your supplier to see how often an item is available and how often it sells out. To avoid problems, don’t stock hard-to-get items and make sure to check with your suppliers often to make sure they have stock.
Have a plan ready for orders that can’t be filled.
What will you do if a customer orders something but your supplier doesn’t have it? This is bound to happen in any store, but it’s more likely to happen in stores where you don’t physically carry the stock. You could upgrade your customer’s order to a similar but more popular product.
Check Your Items
Don’t feel like you have to fill your store with a lot of products at first. Keeping the number of products you sell to a minimum is a good idea for many reasons, but the most important one is that it gives you a chance to test all of the products you want to sell and see how well they work. Test all the products you want to sell in your store to make sure they meet your quality standards and will help your reputation, not hurt it.
As a bonus, if you buy test products, you can take your own pictures of each one instead of using the stock photo that your supplier gives you. This is not something that many dropshippers do, so it will help you stand out from the rest.
Pay attention to marketing your site.
When starting a new dropshipping store, marketing should be one of your top priorities. People often think that all you have to do is fill your store with products and sales will start coming in. You can only get people to visit and buy from your dropshipping store if you advertise it.
One of the best things about having a specific niche for your dropshipping store is that you can make content about that niche and market to people who are interested in that niche. Focusing on your niche will help you find your target customer through things like social media, affiliate marketing, and even influencer marketing, so you can make content with them in mind.
Set up ways to deal with security and fraud problems.
Fraud and security problems are a big worry for anyone who has an online store or any kind of business. You want to make sure that not only your business is safe, but also the information about your customers is safe. Here are some ways to avoid these kinds of problems:
- Don’t keep credit card information about your customers.
- Set up secure systems for checking.
- Be careful of fake orders
Have a clear policy for returns
Returns are something that many online business owners dread. Since you’re having third-party suppliers send products to your customers on your behalf, you need to be ready for problems to come up. But most dropshipping stores will find that returns are not as big of a deal as they seem, and you shouldn’t take it personally when it happens. If your return policy is clear, your customers will feel safe shopping with you and you can avoid problems in the future.
Keep in mind that you might be tempted to have a customer return a product so you can send them a new one, but for some cheap or low-cost items, it might be better to send customers a new one instead of paying for them to ship the old one back. This will save you money on return shipping costs and build a good relationship with your customer.
Focus on certain markets you want to reach.
You might get a few orders if you offer worldwide shipping, but it can be hard (and expensive) to ship internationally. Shipping all over the world can be hard because of problems with customs, keeping track of what items can and can’t be sent to certain countries, and not being able to accurately calculate shipping costs. Instead, you should focus on specific audiences and markets in certain areas.
Taking care of shipments from other countries
When you think about how much time and work it takes to figure out the rules and rates for each country, international shipping can quickly become a hassle and, in some cases, even lose money. If you do want to ship internationally, choose a couple of easy-to-ship-to countries where you know your customers live.
Pick a reliable carrier
It’s important to choose a carrier you can trust and work with often. Depending on the size and weight of the package, one carrier can be much cheaper or deliver much faster than another. When choosing carriers, do your homework to make sure they will be a good fit for your business.
Rates for Different Types of Shipping
When it comes to shipping, it’s a good idea to give your customers choices. When you offer different shipping rates and methods, your customers can choose the carrier and rate that work best for them.
Put in a phone number.
Adding a phone number to your dropshipping store may not seem like a big deal in a world where people email and text more than they call, but it can make a big difference. It builds trust, lets customers talk to you directly, and makes the customer experience better for those who prefer to talk to someone on the phone.
As much as possible, automate your business.
One of the best things about having a dropshipping store, especially on an ecommerce platform like Shopify, is that you can easily automate a lot of your business so that you can focus on what’s important. With the Shopify app Loox, for example, you can automatically collect customer reviews and put them on your website to boost your social proof. There are many apps you can use to automate your dropshipping business, increase your sales, and save you time. Click here to see more of the Shopify apps we recommend.
Make a website that looks great.
Your customers will be happy and trust you more if your website looks good. In fact, a well-designed website can help reduce the number of visitors who leave right away and make your business stand out. A complicated website or design doesn’t have to be good design. Often, it just means keeping in mind basic design principles and adding a few touches of style. Make sure the design of your website looks good and is easy to use, both in terms of how it looks and how it works. If you want to start your store quickly, you can just order one from dropshipcorporation. So, you’ll have a head start and can start testing products right away.
Keep an eye on your rivals at all times.
You’re probably going to have a lot of competition, but that’s not as bad as you might think. You don’t have to lower your prices to beat your competitors. By keeping an eye on your competitors, you can learn what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong. In fact, this gives you a chance to make better versions of their plans.
Offer a user experience that is unmatched.
People often think that the products you sell are the most important part of a successful dropshipping business. But there are a lot of profitable dropshipping businesses that sell things that most people would call boring or generic. Giving your customers a great user experience can be the thing that keeps them coming back and makes them want to tell others about your business.
Here are some basic things to think about to give users a good time:
- Have a page where you answer frequently asked questions.
- Give your customers as many ways to pay as possible to make it easier for them to place an order.
- Give your customers different shipping options so they can choose a carrier and/or time frame that works best for them.
- Have a live chat feature so your customers can get in touch with you while they’re looking through your site.
- Add zoom and size options for photos so that your customers can be sure of what they’re buying.
- Offer discounts, whether they are for new customers, for buying more than one item, or for returning customers.
- Make the buying process a journey with multiple points of contact before and after the purchase.
Look at the numbers at all times.
By keeping an eye on your analytics, you can see how well your business is doing. Knowing numbers like the number of visitors, the average number of orders per day, the average order amount, the conversion rate, and more will help you evaluate your business and figure out what you need to do to make it grow.
All of these analytics are already built into platforms like Shopify, where you can host your dropshipping store. This way, you can easily use the numbers to make decisions and plan marketing strategies that will reach your customers better.
Bottom Line
If this is your first time running a business, the dropshipping model is a great way to get started. Dropshipping can work for almost any new business owner because it doesn’t require a lot of start-up money and can be done as a side job until it grows into a full-time income. But it’s important to do research to learn the best ways to run your store so that it does well. Check out the ultimate guide to dropshipping in 2023 if you want to know more.
If you haven’t started your store yet, Shopify is by far the best place to start. Not only is it a cheap option, but it’s also the easiest way to get your ecommerce store up and running without having to deal with any technical issues. So, if you don’t want to deal with setting up your store, dropshipcorporation can get you up and running quickly with Shopfy.
