KEYWORDS: HOW TO START AND RUN A SUCCESSFUL DROPSHIPPING BUSINESS
Are you considering starting your own online business and you just don’t know how to go about it? Then call off the search! This post is just for you! Here, you will understand both how to start and how to run successfully your own online business.
One of the most popular and lucrative online businesses you can ever venture into is what is known as DROPSHIPPING. You can learn how to start and run a successful dropshipping business in as little time as possible. That is only possible, however, if you stick to the rudiments.
WHAT IS DROPSHIPPING?
I know you will be eager to know how to start this online business, but let me tell you what it’s all about before I proceed to the rudiments. What exactly is dropshipping?
A dropship business is an online business model in which an online entrepreneur purchases a product which he sells from a third party manufacturer, who then fulfills the order.
What this means is that, when a customer makes an order on your website, all you need to do is to process the order to a third party manufacturer.
It is the manufacturer or third-party distributor now that ships the product to your customer without the product ever getting to your warehouse!
In fact, the customer will not know you didn’t ship the product to them directly because your company details are on the product. With this, you will never need to worry about having a warehouse, packaging, or shipping your products.
KEY PLAYERS IN THE DROPSHIPPING BUSINESS MODEL
Now, in the dropshipping business model, there are three key players: the manufacturer, the retailer (which is you) and lastly customer.
The first player, the manufacturer, plays the role of the production of goods, keeping inventory and also shipping of products to customers on behalf of the retailer. It is also his duty to replace defective products and restock products. Manufacturers sell to retailers at wholesale prices.
The second player, the retailer (you) sells the manufacturer’s products on his website under his own brand. All you need to do is to garner the right marketing skills to sell the products.
Plus, you’ll also be skillful in managing customer inquiries and complaints, which makes it imperative for you to have an appreciable knowledge of the products you are marketing.
And lastly, in the dropshipping business model, the customer is the final player. They buy the goods directly from the retailer. And channel questions or issues arising to you, the retailer.
The desirable thing about starting and running a dropship business is that it is a highly low-risk business.
Operational costs are little or zero. It is possible to set up a drop shipping business with very low funds since you don’t need to stock or handle the items you are selling.
Running a dropshipping business also affords you the time you need to focus on customer acquisition. You can also focus on other activities you like.
How to start and run a successful dropshipping business
The following steps will help you to start a successful dropship business:
1. SELECT A NICHE:
The first step in learning how to start and run a successful dropshipping business is to find a niche that is most suitable for you. This is the particular area you want to specialize.
It is important to choose a niche that is laser-focused and a niche you are interested in. you need to note down your best ideas and find out if these are popular. You can use applications such as Google trends to check out the popularity of these ideas. Next, you measure your competition.
There is a high likelihood that your products will be highly competitive if they are trending. Thus, you will need to find ways to be on top of your game at all times.
However, not all dropship niches are good. To find out the best ones, they should be ones that will meet the following characteristics:
- It should be one that has a high-profit margin
- It should bring you more sales
- It should also have an established customer base. And should require low customer support which will help you to focus on promotions.
Based on the aforementioned characteristics, some of the products you can consider for your dropship business include minimalist watches, shapewear, flame lamps, phone accessories, backpacks, makeup kits, etc.
2. SECURE A DROPSHIPPING PLATFORM (SUPPLIER)
In spite of all the mouthwatering benefits of dropshipping, it can become a nightmare if you partner with the wrong supplier. The market today is littered with so many scammers and inexperienced wholesalers.
Therefore, it is important to do an extensive search and research for reputable wholesalers before you commit your resources to their companies.
Some manufacturers offer to partner with dropshippers. Thus, you should always try the manufacturer channel first as this increases your profit margin. This is because the fewer people you have to go through, the higher the profit margin.
Networking with fellow
Make it a date to also attend trade shows where you will make very vital connections. It offers you the opportunity to meet one-on-one with manufacturers who you can channel your questions to, thus minimizes getting inaccurate information.
3. BUILD YOUR E-COMMERCE WEBSITE
It is fastest to use a simple e-commerce platform that supports a dropshipping business model to launch a website than trying to build your own website from scratch.
With this, you can build your own dropshipping store with just a few clicks without going through the rigors of writing tons of lines of programming codes. You don’t need to be tech savvy to set up one.
Moreover, there are lots of apps on such platforms that will help boost your sales. All you need to do is to sign up and upload your products. Or you can have dropshiprocket.com build a dropshipping store for you. Check out there dropshipping stores click here.
Even if you have set aside an appreciable budget to hire a web design and development company, it is wise to start with an e-commerce platform first. Once you are up and running for a few months and you are making a steady income, then you can explore additional website customization.
4. HAVE A STEADY AND N INCREASING CUSTOMER BASE
Until you have customers coming to your website to buy your products, you don’t actually have a dropshipping business. It is great to have a beautiful website and trending products, but you must also establish an increasingly steady customer base.
There are a number of ways to attract and establish a steady customer base one of which is through placing ads on social media. These include starting a Facebook ad campaign and making use of Instagram.
Many startups make use of Facebook ads as you are able to generate increased sales and revenue right from the outset.
With Facebook, you place your products directly before a highly targeted audience, thus, giving you the ability to compete successfully and immediately with the largest brands and established retailers.
As your revenue increases, you can also take advantage of SEO (search engine optimization) and email marketing.
Devise methods to collect emails of customers and send regular emails about new products and offers to them. This is one sure way to save yourself a fortune which you would have spent consulting advertising and marketing agencies
5. CONTINUE TO ANALYZE AND OPTIMIZE
Now that you have been able to successfully funnel traffic to your dropship store, you will also need to ensure that an appreciable percentage of those visitors actually make purchases.
Your aim of placing targeted Facebook ads is both to have visitors flowing into your online store and also to make purchases. Without sales, your dropship store is actually a decorated website for recreation.
This is what is known as “Conversion” in e-commerce. Conversion, however, is not automatic. It has to be optimized to get the desired result. This is known as “Conversion Rates Optimization.”
Among others, some of the ways to optimize the conversion of visitors to buyers on your dropship store are:
- Use effective headlines. Typically, headlines are the first things a visitor sees when they land on your page. It is therefore imperative that the headlines on your page be problem solving, direct and instructional, among other convincing headlines
- Use a strategic call to action (CTAs), which can be pop-ups, button or pricing table.
- Furthermore, your website navigation should also be highly simplistic to enable visitors to navigate easily through your page.
- In addition, make use of quality, educating and entertaining content. This should be designed to inform and educate visitors on your page. You should ensure that you place a strategic CTA at the end of the content.
With these steps dogmatically followed, your dropship store should be up and running in the shortest time possible. However, remember that no business can be successful without the input of high-level diligence by the business owner.
Thus, creating a dropshipping store is just the first step, to be successful at it, you need to work at it continuously.
Locate people who run successful stores similar to what you have and find out what how they have been able to succeed. With these, you are sure going to end up running a successful dropshipping business.
