How to start a dropshipping business? 5 tips that will surely help

Dropshipping business is a logistics model in which a warehouse filled to the ceiling with products is unnecessary for online sales. All you need to do is establish a fruitful partnership with a distributor and take advantage of their inventory.

Dropshipping business – table of contents:

1. How to begin dropshipping business?
2. Determine your assortment
3. Research the competition
4. Find a supplier to partner with
5. Create an online store and add products
6. Promote your store

How to begin dropshipping business?

Dropshipping business works especially well for fresh entrepreneurs. You don’t have to pay for goods upfront, which also works fine for those with a limited budget. It reduces operating costs and saves time, letting you focus more on acquiring new customers.

What does it take to start selling on a dropshipping business model? Want to start a business to compete with the major retail giants? Make sure you follow the steps below.

Determine your assortment

First, you need to choose the type of products you want to sell in your online store. Preferably, choose a niche that you’re comfortable with and determine what could bring you the most revenue. However, it is imperative that you find the particular area interesting, as scaling a dropshipping business requires a lot of effort, you may quickly become discouraged. As an expert in a particular industry, you will also become credible as a seller.

You should start with a narrow range of goods. Only later you should add new items, or expand. Too broad an assortment is difficult to sell if you are not a marketplace. Wondering what kind of niche offerings are out there? For example, a store with clothes for small dogs, exercise equipment for Crossfit trainers, or products for people who are gluten intolerant. If you’re hesitant about whether your dropshipping business idea is a good one, you try publicly available tools like Google Trends or Keywords Everywhere to pre-verify it.

Research the competition

Once you know what you intend to sell on your online store, you should look at your competitors. Understanding how they operate will help you build a strong marketing plan for your business.

Begin with search engines. By typing key search terms into Google, you will create a list of your five strongest competitors by typing key search terms into Google. You will then see how they promote their products. A social media audit of your competitors belongs to another worthwhile effort to make. Search Facebook or Instagram for ads related to your niche. You will see how other companies communicate with their customers, how they design their social channels as well as with kind of engagement they achieve among users. A clever move is to subscribe to your competitors’ newsletters. You’ll get firsthand info about their current promotional efforts.

Find a supplier to partner with

This is one of the most important steps in dropshipping. You need to look for a wholesaler distributing products in your industry that operates on a dropshipping business model. Some e-commerce store platforms offer contacts to reliable suppliers. With a plug-and-play option, you can even connect with several wholesalers at the same time. You can also always look for a distributor on your own.

Remember that the wholesaler takes on the responsibility of shipping the ordered goods to customers. However, if they miss something out, it’s your brand that will suffer from it. That’s why it’s so essential to establish a relationship with a trusted distributor that will fulfill all obligations without reservation.

Create an online store and add products

How do you build an online store? The easiest way is to go for ready-made e-commerce platforms in the SaaS model. Such systems have been equipped with a myriad of different e-commerce tools (applications or modules) to help you quickly and effectively start selling online. Importantly, they also allow easy integration with dropshipping wholesaler systems.

In such a store, the assortment must be presented in the most attractive way possible. In this situation, it is worth taking care of appropriate product descriptions and images. When your e-commerce sales revenue starts to increase, you can then decide to eliminate manual work and implement full sales automation. This is a big time saver that will allow your business to grow faster.

Promote your store

Even the best product and the most polished online store mean nothing if you don’t have customers. To attract them, arrange and execute marketing activities. One of them is paid Facebook Ads and Google Ads. They are scalable and the products in them can convert well.

You should also think long-term, make sure your site ranks well in search engines. A well-planned and consistently implemented SEO strategy will certainly boost your organic traffic. Content marketing is no less important. Set up a blog next to your online store and create texts enriched with the right graphics that are both informative and entertaining. Collect email addresses from your customers – this way you will form a group to which you can send messages with discounts and special offers from time to time. It’s an easy way to generate revenue without any additional cash outlay.

If you like our content, join our busy bees community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest.