People are getting more and more interested in dropshipping as more and more people try to start their own online stores.
In a previous blog post, we talked about how to find US-based dropship suppliers, since US dropship entrepreneurs want to avoid the long shipping times from China.
In the same way, we’ve heard from a lot of Canadian entrepreneurs who run or want to run their own dropshipping stores and would love to know how to find Canadian suppliers they can work with.
Why Ship From Canada?
For Canadian dropshippers who want to sell products to other Canadians, they want fast shipping, cheaper shipping costs, high-quality products, and to avoid paying Goods and Services Taxes on products from other countries that are shipped to Canada. We’ll talk about each of these in more detail below.
Shipping Times
Most dropshipping sales have come from AliExpress and other large Chinese vendors. However, there has been a lot of focus lately on finding more local, country-based vendors to work with because shipping from China to Canada can take several weeks.
With the success of Amazon Prime and 2-day shipping, our customers now not only expect but also demand fast shipping. So, they might be a little more flexible with smaller online stores, but they no longer have the patience to wait weeks for their order.
Not only that, but e-commerce companies like Facebook also give shipping times a lot of weight when deciding whether to work with or against an advertiser. Their algorithm knows when people are complaining about long shipping times, so they make it more expensive to run ads to punish long shipping times. In the end, Facebook cares most about how happy its customers are, and anything that hurts their experience will be punished by making ads cost more.
Quality of a product
Finding vendors who make good products is becoming an increasingly important part of trying to find non-Chinese vendors. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t a lot of great products made in China, but there are a lot of vendors who sell things that aren’t made well.
Working with a local or country-based vendor makes it much easier to figure out the quality of the product quickly and get in touch with someone in your own country, at least in theory.
Canadian Made
There’s also a lot to be said for supporting and doing business with people in your own country, and your customers love it when you work with more local vendors and businesses. When you buy from and support local businesses, you get something you can’t see and pay a certain amount. Even if it costs a little more, it’s a real factor that needs to be taken into account. But even if it costs more to make, you can often make more money if your customers know about and support “buying Canadian.”
Customer Happiness
When you buy and sell within your country, customers may be happier because they think the quality of the product will be better, shipping will be faster, the products will cost less to ship, and it gives them a sense of pride that they are buying from fellow Canadians.
Higher prices at stores
As we briefly mentioned above, dropshipping products from your vendors may cost more, but products “Made in Canada” may sell for more because people like to support their own country and believe that products made in their own country are of much higher quality than “cheaply made products from China.”
Politics around the world
With the way world politics are right now, things can change quickly. So, even though shipping costs from China are very low right now, any changes to international agreements about shipping prices, shipping methods, ports of entry, taxes, and other things could quickly wipe out any profit margins.
But if you buy, sell, and ship within your own country, you can avoid a lot of these problems and possible delays.
Inventory Supply and Turn Times for Making
No matter which dropship vendors you choose, you need to know that they can handle your expected sales volume as well as the sales volume of any other sellers who may be using them for the same products.
So, when you look at your vendors, you should ask how quickly they can respond to a sudden rise in sales. How long does it take to make new products, and what are their turn-around times?
In the end, no matter how much you sell, you want to know that you’ll never run out and that you’ll always be able to meet your customers’ needs.
Finding the best suppliers in Canada
Just like with any other provider, you need to do your research and do your due diligence. The regular things you should look at should be the same for all possible suppliers, no matter where they are:
Feedback and Trust:
- In your searches, what kinds of responses have you found?
- Are they listed on review sites like Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, or any others?
- Are they part of any professional groups that list feedback or where feedback can be gotten?
Communication:
- Do they respond quickly and professionally when you contact them, which you have to do before doing business with any of them?
- Can they answer your questions in a clear and complete way?
Cost and Time of Shipping:
- Can they dropship on your behalf using your company’s information?
- Do they make it clear and easy to add shipping costs that are correct?
- When you place an order, do they send out the items quickly?
- Can they be tracked? Does their system work with the app you use to automate dropshipping so that everything can be done automatically
Turn Time for Inventory:
- How many items do they have in stock at any given time?
- How quickly can they get more of their products if you start selling them quickly?
- How many people can they really serve before they run out of stock?
Extra Charges:
- Do you have to pay anything extra to work with them?
- Do you have to make a certain amount of sales to do business with them?
- Do they charge extra for dropshipping services like packing, labeling, and inventory?
Refunds, returns, and flaws:
- How do they handle returning items?
- How do they deal with requests for money back?
- How do they handle product failures and/or problems with the quality of the product?
Dropshipping Suppliers in Canada
There are a lot of Canadian dropshipping suppliers to choose from. Some of the most popular ones are listed below.
But YOU are the one who needs to do research and due diligence to make sure these companies meet your needs, are trustworthy, and are worth doing business with. This is also not a full list, and these things are not in any particular order.
They are also not always direct suppliers. Instead, they work like AliExpress and provide a list of suppliers based on their own standards:
Sprocket.co
Sprocket is a marketplace for dropshippers that is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and serves dropshippers in Canada and all over the world.
Their marketplace has more than 30,000 vendors, and thousands of them are in Canada. This gives Canadian drop shippers a lot of options for shipping from Canada.
WorldwideBrands.com
Worldwide Brands is based in the US, but they have tens of thousands of vendors from all over the world to choose from. This includes thousands of vendors from Canada, which makes it possible to ship between Canada and the US.
AliExpress.com*This one is marked with an asterisk because they don’t have many vendors in Canada who ship from Canada right now, but they have said that they plan to open some Canadian shipping facilities soon.
AliExpress has US-based sellers who can ship quickly to Canadian customers, but you will have to pay for shipping and Goods and Services Taxes.
The US Supplier Database in the Dropship Corporation app is the easiest way to find US-based vendors.
CTIDirectory.com
The Canadian Trade Index is a great place to start your search for Canadian companies to work with if you are a small business owner, a wholesaler, or another type of business.
You will have to contact the vendors to find out if they work with dropshippers. This means you will have to do your research to find vendors who will work with your store.
Conclusion
Long term, your business will do better if you can serve your customers better and faster.
So, it’s a good idea to start looking for, developing, and working with US-based suppliers, since your customers want faster delivery and better quality.
At the end of the day, you need to put in a lot of effort to do research and find reliable suppliers who can offer you high-quality products, a steady supply, and fast shipping.
After all, it’s clear that Chinese suppliers may soon lose their price advantage, and if you only sell Chinese goods, you’ll end up with products that cost more and take longer to ship. You’ll also have to scramble to find local suppliers.
