Many dropshippers are keen to get their brand new eCommerce store open. You’ve chosen a banging theme that promotes your brand and started to get some engagement on Facebook and Pinterest.

But what about your suppliers? You’ve read in many different articles how the best place to dropship from is China but is that the real deal and are they right? Well, today you can find the definitive answer! Make sure you don’t dropship from China until you’ve read this!

Let’s start with the mini take away first, so you can get on to building your inventory straight away.

Should I dropship from China? Using the best Chinese agents and suppliers is a great way of selling winning products. As an eCommerce store owner, Chinese dropshippers offer a huge variety of niches, with wholesale prices and the best margins. Chinese dropshipping allows you to fully customize and create a unique brand.

Let’s get straight down to whether you’ve made the right choice dropshipping from China and using Chinese dropshipping suppliers for your Shopify or another eCommerce store.

Some store owners might think it’s a terrible idea and might have had bad experiences, so let’s find out why that might be below.

Is dropshipping from China a terrible idea?

Many of us have done plenty of research before opening a new store.

We might have looked into what kind of products might sell well and also of course researched the best suppliers of dropshipping goods.

 But are there any real disadvantages of Chinese dropshipping?

Let’s take a look at 4 reasons below which might make you think twice before you use a drop shopper from China.

Disadvantages

• Low quality: Many sellers receive complaints from the clients about product quality far different from described, and are very disappointed about it. Many sellers even call AliExpress products are ‘knockoffs’, just cheap items without quality guarantee.
•  Slow shipping: So one of the main reasons many might think it’s a bad idea to dropship from China is the notoriously long shipping times. You should ideally be looking at no more than 30 days. With Amazon and other retailers speeding up shipping, customers are getting used to speedier delivery times and are coming to expect it as a standard.
• Vague refund and reshipping policy: Refunds are always going to be an important element when working in any kind of retail, and historically it has been known that details of how refunds work within Chinese dropshipping can be a little unclear, along with a vague Reshipping policy.
• Language and payment barrier: It’s no surprise to learn that dropshipping from China comes with its language issues and also many more common methods of payment might not be accepted.
• Bad communication: The language barrier can also make for difficult communication.

So what’s the good stuff? Let’s find out.

Advantages

• Good price for quality products: One of the more obvious reasons to choose Chinese dropshipping is the pricing. Sourcing goods directly from Chinese factories and manufacturers brings with its lower prices to enable you as the store owner to receive a better profit margin. As for product quality – you just need to make sure to find a honest supplier that does its inspection job well and thorough.
• A wide selection of all niches: The sheer volume of products available from Chinese dropshipping suppliers gives the store owner much more choice in the kind of goods offered
• Trending products available: As a knock-on effect from the above, Shopify and other eCommerce store owners will have a much better chance of finding those important new trending and winning products
•  Customization service: Another crucial advantage of using Chinese dropshipping suppliers is the fact you can literally create your own packaging for your brand. This helps to set you apart from your competitors and gives your customers a more unique product.

Ok, so that’s the good news! So you might be wondering where you can find the most reliable suppliers to enjoy a great dropshipping fulfillment experience

Where to find top Chinese dropshipping suppliers

Ok, you’ve now decided the opportunities outweigh any negative issues relating to sourcing your dropshipping store products from Chinese suppliers, right?

So where can you find them?

Let’s take a look below at some of the most popular, so you can more easily make a decision as to which one is better for your brand, Shopify or another kind of eCommerce store.

Let’s start with one of the heavyweights of the drop shipping Industry AliExpress.

AliExpress

AliExpress is often touted as THE dropshipping company from China.

Benefits

AliExpress sellers fully understand the dropshipping model, with many benefits to help any would-be dropshippers to create a store. They also have a huge product selection.

Disadvantage

However one of their chief downsides and why AliExpress could have a detrimental effect on your store is that ePacket shipping is desperately slow. Many dropshippers also mention product quality as AliExpress sellers don’t do product inspection whatsoever.

There are also payment restrictions, meaning only certain methods are acceptable, and not only that, their refund and returns policy isn’t the best or user friendly.

Alibaba

Another of the dropshipping giants which are often used to dropship products from China is Alibaba. Let’s see how they fare.

Benefits

Alibaba’s main upside is they offer a much lower unit price which is perfect for a wholesaler.

Disadvantages

However, Alibaba isn’t really set up for dropshipping and we could go as far as to say, it doesn’t understand the dropshipping model at all.

They also don’t offer any kind of service in terms of an order fulfillment service, and the MOQ (minimum order quantity) for customizing packaging and products is very high.

Ok so now we’ve checked off a few important requirements of what to look for in a Chinese dropshipping supplier, let’s find more crucial things you need to know.

What makes a good Chinese dropshipping supplier

• Transparent communication
• Offer express shipping
• Automated systems

Now we’ve seen that automation is a really important element of what makes a good Chinese dropshipping supplier, you might be wondering what other ways you can make sure your business is operating at full speed and finding a simple non-labor intensive way of fulfilling orders.

Let’s find out more below…

Dropshipping Apps

When you are ready to scale up your dropshipping store, you will need to ensure you have some fundamentals in place if you are to take advantage of dropshipping from China.

Many of the tasks you may have started off doing manually in those early days of long days beavering away to grow your store, will need to be fully automated to give you a heads up over your competitors.

There are many dropshipping apps available that will act as your virtual assistant by doing much of the Labor-intensive work, such as order fulfillment.

Many apps will not only give you a helping hand with the day-to-day process of running a successful store but can also help you source new products, for example.

The winning combination of service and system will guarantee your eCommerce store has the best chance of pulling in profits for you.

And finally…

So there is the final definitive answer as to whether you should use Chinese dropshippers!

Although of course, as with any business process there will always be upsides and downsides.

Overall, we think the great selection of winning products available coupled with great prices, and the ability to customize your product to build a great brand, are great reasons to make sure you select the best Chinese dropshipping suppliers for your business.

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With the world opening up to us with more and more connectivity every day, you might have thought whether it might be profitable to get your eCommerce or dropshipping store online in Europe, and more specifically, Germany.

 

According to recent statistics, 88% of Germans, which is roughly a staggering  64,2 million, regularly use the internet. It could be that your dropshipping business could get a slice of the 165 minutes each German citizen spends every day on smartphones and other devices!

 

Before digging deaper, let’s first hit the brief for the definitive answer and find out whether dropshipping in Germany is profitable.

 

Is dropshipping in Germany profitable? Dropshipping in Germany is profitable if you follow a few steps. Make sure your store is in the German language, offer top quality goods, excellent customer service, and offer express shipping. Also, don’t forget to allow invoice payments by taking names and addresses at the point of sale. 

 

Ok so now we’ve seen the brief, let’s start yet looking at some of the best reasons you can create a great business dropshipping in Germany.

 

Why should I dropship in Germany?

With Germany polling in as a highly developed social market economy with one of the largest national economies in Europe, and also has the second-largest population after Russia, it’s a given that Germany should be on your top priority list for expanding your business.

 

Combine that with the fact that over 29 percent of Germans shopped online at least once a week in 2019, and Germany is the second largest eCommerce market in Europe, it is simply a positive option to include German dropshipping into your marketing plan.

 

Also, it’s worth noting that during the COVID 19 pandemic more and more people across the globe, including Germany are becoming increasingly familiar with the benefits of shopping online.

 

So it stands to reason that dropshipping in Germany could give your fledgling or existing dropshipping store a boost.

 

Germany’s infrastructure is well developed which includes an excellent logistics and shipping network. Its also has an extremely well-developed economy, which could be even more reason to expand your business to include German dropshipping.

 

“over 29 percent of Germans shopped online at least once a week in 2019,”

 

 

What are German consumers like?

So what exactly does the profile of a German customer look like?

 

It goes without saying that quality is going to rank very highly with this European leader in the production of quality goods.

 

The types of stores they will buy from usually includes:

 

• eBay
• Amazon
• Lidl

 

Although big-box superstores have arrived in Germany, many shoppers prefer a smaller Fachgeschäft, (specialty stores) where they can get good advice.

 

Whether it’s cameras, meat, or books, you may also enjoy being waited on by someone who lives and breathes their subject and is an expert in their field.

 

So if we take this into the online world, make sure you are offering your German customers more than a click and buy. Tell a story about your brand and give this discerning customer a great customer care plan.

 

“It goes without saying that quality is going to rank very highly

 with this European leader in the production of quality goods.”

 

Do German customers expect high standards of service?

As with any customer all across the globe, German customers are no different in so far as their high expectations of service.

German customers will expect express shipping

This will include such requirements as express shipping, so make sure you go with agents or others who can guarantee much shorter shipping times than the usual dropshipping suspects such as ePacket.

 

German customers expect a high standard of service. This will include:

 

• Express shipping
• 14-day refunds
• Service in their own local language

 

So what other aspects will be important to get the right Marketing to your German customers?

 

• Quality: It goes without saying that the discerning German customer will list quality as right at the top of their requirements, however, it’s also important to remember that although Germany has one of the highest English proficiency levels in the world, 50% of Germans won’t buy from a website that’s not in German.

 

• Higher return rates: It’s worth noting that German customers’ high expectations may incur a higher than average return rate, so this is another reason to make sure you are offering the top quality goods and the fastest shipping available.

 

• Offer payment by invoice: German customers prefer not to pay by credit or debit cards, but much prefer to pay by invoice. It’s a simple process, where your German dropshipping customer will just need to provide their name and address when placing the order. The merchant should send the product and issue an invoice.

 

Ok, so now we can see that it’s likely to be profitable welcoming European, especially German customers into your online store, let’s take a look at some winning niches that might prove popular with your German dropshipping customers.

 

Popular niches

• Fashion
• Electronics
• Books

 

It’s been fairly well reported during the recent pandemic, that in terms of popular goods, there is a new wave of products showing a winning formula. This of course, holds true in all of Europe, including Germany.

More winning COVID 19 niches

• Gardening
• Home & kitchen
• Auto parts
• Personal health-related

 

Promotion strategies

So how do you make sure you’re promoting correctly to your new German clients?

 

• Facebook advertising: Alongside any kind of drop shipping for eCommerce success story you will find store owners who will have taken full advantage of Facebook advertising.

 

Also finding German influencers who will be able to promote your unique and quality goods for you.

 

• German influencers: From the likes of Leonie Hanne, who quit her corporate career to fulfill her dream of having her own fashion and lifestyle blog through to Sami Slimani, who is a leading male influencer in Germany and has a following worldwide for his YouTube channel filled with fun DIY videos, make the most of the up and coming influencers!

 

So now let’s get down to the detail and find out if there’s any business you will need to attend to when German dropshipping.

 

Register for a company

Registering as a German entity is a fairly simple process.

 

You can initially register German sole proprietorship or Einzelunternehmer, then as your business grows you can set up a Haftungsbeschränkt (UG) or GmbH, which can do so with as little as just 1€, but it’s recommended you to start at least with 1000€ to cover the legal costs.

 

There are also companies such as VERGO that allow residents of foreign countries to easily establish a remote Limited Liability Company in as little as 2-4 weeks after they’ve received all the documents.

 

“set up a Haftungsbeschränkt (UG) or GmbH, which can do so with as little as

just 1€, but it’s recommended you to start at least with 1000€ to cover the legal costs.”

 

Tips for profitable dropshipping in Germany

Now you’ve realized that dropshipping is German is certainly not dead and could be a very lucrative business addition for your ECommerce business.

Do let’s take a look below at some of our best tips for providing your German customers an outstanding experience.

 

• Provide localized service: Make sure you are providing a service as localized as possible by making sure your storefront or website is in German

 

• Provide fast delivery: although with the likes of Amazon setting the delivery bar so high, dropshipping delivery will certainly not compete, however, make sure you make it as speedy as possible by offering around 7 days as standard

 

• High-quality products: Look for well-made and unique products

 

• Flexible returns: Make sure you have a well-rounded flexible return and refund policy

 

• Local payment method: As many Germans still prefer cash over plastic. However, for online shopping make sure you’re offering your European customers a choice of PayPal, electronic invoice, or credit card.

And finally…

So there it is! Everything you need to know about whether to extend your dropshipping business to one of the largest economies in Europe, Germany.

 

By making sure you understand your German drop shipping customers, you will be able to offer them unique products, a great backstory, outstanding customer service to make sure your German dropshipping store is profitable.

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By taking a drilled-down view into the kinds of purchases customers are making globally can help retailers plan for the challenging trading period ahead.

 

According to a survey released just before the announcement of England’s second lockdown, John Lewis & Partners revealed that 60% of people will be completing their Christmas shopping by the end of November.

 

This figure is set to climb even higher now that it’s looking more likely that many brick and mortar stores will close, opening up huge opportunities for those with a strong eCommerce set-up including drop shoppers.

 

Those who will reap the rewards during the second wave are savvy dropship pets who’ve used thd who used the first lockdown to re-evaluate and improve their online channels and offerings.

 

So what should a dropshipper do during Coronavirus second wave? Let’s find out.

 

What should a dropshipper do during Coronavirus second wave? Make sure you stock up on inventory for winning products. Buy those products in bulk to save ongoing costs. Adjust pricing timely with any required increases while ensuring ad strategies are ahead of the curve. Don’t use ePacket as long shipping times could cause customer complaints and disputes.

 

So that we can understand a little more about what dropshippers should do in order to stay ahead of the second wave coronavirus, let’s discover a little more about what that means.

What is Coronavirus’s second wave?

Here we can see that, if compared with the spring when the new coronavirus just started to spread all over the world, the number of new cases of COVID-19 now has grown rapidly.

 

With a surge of new cases of Coronavirus second wave in Europe and the US, across Europe and the US, Governments are taking measures to contain the situation.

 

So this is why many countries are closing public spaces, and lots of the larger corporates and many other businesses are announcing the second period of remote working.

 

According to experts, The number of new COVID-19 cases appears under control for the moment, which is good news.

 

However, this is time for all eCommerce store owners, dropshippers, and anyone in retail to begin preparing for the second wave.

 

So how are real-life stores comparing with online sales during the Coronavirus?

How has the coronavirus affected online sales?

As many have possibly predicted, it doesn’t take a genius to deduce that given periods of lockdowns, enforced mask-wearing, queueing in the rain, and other grim realities of bricks and mortar shopping that we are likely to see an upsurge in online shopping.

 

According to SaaS platform provider Quantum Metric, online sales from select brick-and-mortar stores have increased by 52% compared to a year ago, while conversion rates have gone up by 8.8%.

 

So how will this affect the kinds of products bought online and what are the new trends appearing?

 

What is coronavirus second wave shopping?

Second wave shopping isn’t about hoarding essential things, but about self-caring and life improvement for example.

 

We are also seeing a spike in many types of home products, especially those which include kitting out a home office space such as home office chairs, for example.

 

According to other experts, it seems that UK retail sales increased for the fifth consecutive month in September powered by a rise in spending on DIY and household goods.

Why are customers spending during the second wave of Coronavirus?

Spending on household goods and garden items fuelled the recovery in sales on the month, as consumers shifted spending away from holidays abroad.

 

The ONS said the volume of retail sales rose by 1.5% between August and September, continuing recovery in consumer spending from the biggest slump on record during the lockdown.

Are more customers cooking at home and ordering online?

Some experts have said that with more restrictions on hospitality venues imposed by the government in recent weeks, this could give retail sales a further boost in the months ahead as more people are cooking at home.

 

However, it could be that with rising levels of unemployment after the end of the furlough scheme, this might be likely to drag down consumer spending,  as people become more cautious about overspending during the second Covid wave.

 

However, consumers are more frequently allocating their brick-and-mortar shopping budget to online shopping during the pandemic according to other reports.

 

So it’s looking good for those who are setting up ECommerce ventures as coronavirus second wave shoppers will be flocking to online stores including dropshippers.

 

How has working from impacted Coronavirus dropshipping?

According to some important retail data, it seems that comfort and wellness remained overarching factors for successful products, and items that were successful early for Covid-19 shoppers continued to sell well.

 

An evergreen pandemic-favorite, sleepwear also seems to be a good choice for a winning product as while all-in-ones (onesies) saw an increase as ultra-quick 30-second dressing became a viral trend this year.

Popular dropshipping categories of the second wave COVID-19

 

Here are a few of our top tier products to ride the second wave of the coronavirus.

 

• Health care
• Beauty care devices
• Essential oils and home perfume
• DIY
• Gardening, along with other general home improvements
• Cooking tools and accessories
• Working from home essentials including desks, computer chairs, and comfortable clothing

 

So does all the uncertainty around the Coronavirus second wave mean that the costs for dropshippers and other store owners will rise? Let’s find out.

Does it mean more cost for dropshippers and online sellers?

 

• Products if sourcing from China, then the impact should be as normal cost-wise as production capacity has now relatively stabilized
• Advertisement: More retail businesses move online, and with more people starting to shop online you might need to increase your ad budgets to keep up with increasing demand and ensure second wave coronavirus shoppers aren’t visiting competitors’ stores.
• Shipping costs: After the first wave of the pandemic, shipping capacity is virtually back to normal, however fluctuation should be expected as there are still so many uncertain factors going forwards.
• Shipping efficiency: You should factor in a delay during last-mile delivery. Last mile is a term used in supply chain management and transportation planning to describe the movement of goods from a transportation hub to a final destination. With measures taken to contain coronavirus, delay is expected.
• Virtual assistant: There will be increased availability of SOHO freelancers, so this should force costs down for their services

 

How should dropshippers prepare for the second wave of Coronavirus?

So how can new dropshippers and those who are already running a successful eCommerce business make sure they are fully prepared for COVID-19 second wave shopping?

 

Let’s discover more.

 

• Avoid selling masks Try to resist the opportunity to sell masks or even medical-related mask products as this can be quite a risky venture. You may run into unforeseen difficulties if for instance if there is a radical change of prices or policies. Also, you may also get involved in customer complaints if they have different expectations of how your products might protect them. While consider selling mask-related products such as mask bracket.

 

• Buy in bulk Take your cue from our above list of dropshipping products and do your own research. Make sure you keep abreast of your stock inventory for any winning products by ordering in bulk to keep your costs down to the minimum. Stock inventory for winning products.

 

• Increase ad budget and selling prices Make sure you are on the ball with any price changes and remember to adjust them accordingly. You might also think about increasing the selling prices of products in order to optimize your ad budgets and get more from your spending to keep your profit margins as healthy as possible.

 

• Use alternatives to ePacket Although HyperSKU provides ePacket as one of its shipping options, we recommend you avoid that as an option. ePacket has very slow shipping times and its overall lack of shipping efficiency can often lead to customer complaints and worse, customer disputes. This is too risky and not to mention a huge time and money drain for dropshippers. Choose efficiency and quality over cost is wiser especially during holiday season.

 

And finally…

In some final thoughts, it’s worth keeping in mind COVID-19 is still unfolding worldwide, and there are many unknowns ahead.

 

The Coronavirus second wave is already impacting our personal lives, our businesses, how we connect with others and will have a lasting effect on how we approach our global commerce.

 

It also seems that Coronavirus second wave dropshipping trends will be moving towards higher frequency but lower revenue shopping carts, so it’s important for new or existing dropshippers to increase their focus on building loyalty.

 

Without a doubt, the digital retail experiences customers have been having these past few weeks, good or bad, will have a lasting impact on their ability to build much-needed loyalty for eCommerce store owners.

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For those entrepreneurs who wish to start their own enterprise, dropshipping could be a great way to be your own boss, ditch the 9 to 5 and be in control of your income.

 

According to those in the know, the U.S. online retail sales of physical goods during 2019 reached an incredible 343.15 billion US dollars and is projected to reach upwards of 476.5 billion US dollars in 2024.

 

So with eCommerce stores and dropshipping ventures set to rapidly increase over the next few years, many business owners might be asking the question, is dropshipping legal?

 

So let’s hit the ground running with the definitive answer before we head into more details.

 

Is dropshipping legal? Dropshipping is legal in the US and many other countries. Always check if you intend to set up your store in a different country. Be sure not to sell any replicas, counterfeit, copyrighted, or banned goods such as medicines or drugs. Follow standard business set up procedures and register for tax.

 

So that’s the short takeaway nailed, so we can better understand whether dropshipping is legal, let’s start by exploring a little more about the dropshipping model.

 

What exactly is the dropshipping model?

Dropshipping is a type of eCommerce method where an online store doesn’t actively keep the products it sells physically in stock, such as in a warehouse.

 

Instead, when a store sells a product using the dropshipping model, it purchases the item from a wholesaler or other business and then has it shipped directly to the customer. Using the dropshipping method, the seller doesn’t handle the product directly.

 

One of the main differences between dropshipping and the more usual way of conducting a retail business model is that the seller doesn’t own any stock or inventory. One of the main benefits of the dropshipping model is, according to Shopify is,

 

“Not having to worry about fulfillment is incredibly convenient and frees up your

time to concentrate on your marketing plan, customer service, and operations.”

 

What are the basic requirements of a dropshipping store?

So before you get started with your dropshipping store, make sure you’ve got these basics covered.

Brand and logo

One of the first things most people do when starting a new business venture is to create a logo and start to develop their brand.

 

It’s a good idea at the outset to register your brand for copyright protection and set up as an Entity.

 

Setting up as an Entity will bring you better tax rewards and protection.

 

There are various types of business entities:

 

• Sole proprietorship
• Partnership
• LLC
• Corporation

 

A business’s entity type dictates both the structure of your organization and how the company will be taxed.

 

Making sure you do both of the above important steps will also be a useful addition to your offering if you decide to sell your business at a later date, for any reason.

 

“It’s a good idea at the outset to register your brand for

copyright protection and set up as an Entity.”

 

Business license

Although legally a business license isn’t required to set up a dropshipping or eCommerce store, it is an important part of making sure your business is as compliant as possible alongside other traders.

 

Although you can start a store and begin trading without a license, it’s a good business practice to factor it into your business plan. It’s worth understanding too that having a business license can actively reduce Personal Liability if any product in your store creates an issue.

 

If you are going to be conducting your dropshipping or eCommerce store in countries where lawsuits and legal action are common, such as the U.S, a business license is imperative.

 

“having a business license can actively reduce Personal Liability, if

any product in your store creates an issue.”

 

Refund policy

Although a refund policy isn’t a bona fide legal requirement of entrepreneurs starting a dropshipping venture, in order to make sure you offer the best service you can and also to protect yourself, it’s important to have a refund policy.

 

The internet is the perfect place for opinions to brew, whether right, wrong, or even justified, but having a refund policy in place will protect you and your brand.

 

If any unhappy customers want a refund or exchange, having a robust refund policy in place means you can refer your customers and be able to arrive at a satisfactory arrangement for both you and your customers.

 

“having a refund policy in place

 will protect you and your brand.”

 

Shipping time promise

So you can remain as transparent as possible in your quest to avoid any difficult situations with customers, you need to make your shipping times as visible as you can on your store.

 

A shipping details page on your website could link from checkout and the footer. The more your delivery times are transparent, the better for both you and your customers.

 

Being as clear as possible about potential delivery times will help to disarm potential complaints, and also reduce refund requests.

 

So now we’ve looked at some of the initial important things to do in order to comply legally as a dropshipping business, let’s now take a look at any potential dropshipping copyright infringement issues and how to avoid them.

 

“Being as clear as possible about potential delivery times will help

to disarm potential complaints, and also reduce refund requests.”

 

Infringement issues

Any dropshipper providing any goods of the following nature could find themselves with an infringement issue, so make sure you fully understand the implications of every product you sell and do thorough research as it’s the store owner’s responsibility.

 

• Trademark copy
• Replicas and copycats
• Forbidden categories such as medicine and drugs

 

“make sure you fully understand the implications of every product you sell

and do thorough research as its the store owner responsibility.”

 

With dropshipping stores most certainly legal in many countries, including the US, this important subject now leads us on to a topic that may put that legality into jeopardy, which is counterfeit goods.

 

Why you shouldn’t dropship counterfeit goods

Make sure you practice due diligence when researching all products for your dropshipping store as you may find yourself inadvertently selling goods that are counterfeit.

 

The repercussions of this, if discovered can be devastating to your business and may even force you to cease trading altogether.

 

Let’s take a look at what could happen if you dropship counterfeit goods.

 

• Payment gateway freeze
• Ads account close
• Lawsuit

 

Although we now of course understand that dropshipping is legal, are there any intellectual property situations you should be aware of?

How to avoid Intellectual Property infringement

Many suppliers might not be not aware that their products are violating intellectual property.

 

It is down to the store owner themselves to undertake a full check of the legitimacy of every product for sale on your website.

 

• Do your research
• Ask for a distribution permit
• Get legal consultation

“It is down to the store owner themselves to undertake a full check of

the legitimacy of every product for sale on your website”.

 

To finish on…

We hope this article has given you some background into whether dropshipping is legal and some of the important measures necessary to be compliant and start a successful dropshipping enterprise!

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
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How To Deal With Angry eCommerce Customers, Here’s What To Do

An all too common theme for new eCommerce dropshippers and even those entrepreneurs who are running a successful dropshipping business is upset or angry customers!

 

According to retail experts, Resolver, online shopping generated 84 percent more complaints in 2018-19 than the previous year.

 

In the growing online retail space with vast selections of products for eager consumers to buy, buy, buy, the world of customers who aren’t happy or even those who are positively angry is now an everyday experience for store owners.

 

So how do you turn around these especially unhappy online shoppers and how do you deal with angry eCommerce customers?

 

Before we get down to the details, let’s first start with the mini answer, so you can get started straight away appeasing your upset customers and bringing a sense of calm.

 

How do I deal with angry eCommerce customers?

 

• Listen and show empathy
• Understand anger is natural
• Ask questions and show your acknowledgment
• Be honest
• Give time frame and expectation
• Review the case and think about how to prevent it from happening again

 

Ok so that’s the takeaway customer service tips, so you can launch straight into calming down fretful and angry dropshipping customers.

 

So we have a better understanding of this huge online shopping issue, let’s start by looking at what exactly customer anger is.

What is customer anger?

It’s not difficult to come to the conclusion that understanding why someone is upset makes it easier to empathize with them.

 

Being an online store owner can often require you to wear many hats, including amateur physiologist!

 

But what exactly is anger?

 

Anger is often described as a secondary emotion. Basically, this is a self-protective reaction to suffering, either physical or emotional pain, or fear, which is simply described as anticipated pain.

 

Emotional suffering can often be traced to a gap between expectations and perceived reality. The anger your online store customer is feeling can be loosely translated as:

 

“I deserve better than this!”

 

It’s called a secondary emotion because essentially it stems from another emotion and doesn’t mean it’s any less valid.

 

Although emotions don’t excuse abusive behavior, understanding these drivers of anger can help eCommerce store owners be a little more forgiving of outbursts when they occur.

 

So in your quest to bring a sense of calm and rescue a potentially difficult situation, one of the first steps to take is to understand why they are angry and understand the situation.

Why I get angry eCommerce customers?

There could be a number of reasons why your online customers are angry.

 

Let’s take a below at some of the most common scenarios likely to make your customers’ blood boil and find out some useful customer service tips to handle the situation as smoothly as you can.

Where is the order?

Often, orders delivered late or not delivered at all is one of the primary causes of many of your ECommerce store customers’ angry responses.

What do I do if my customer hasn’t received an order?

Firstly make sure you thoroughly investigate the situation. It could one of the reasons below:

 

• Delayed
• Lost
• The customer provided an incorrect address
• Tracking number not found by the customer

 

So how do deal with this situation and what can you do to prevent your customers from getting angry?

 

• Automated tracking number You can make sure you use automated tracking number uploading so it’s an easier process for your customers to locate and keep up to date with their product delivery.

 

• Change to a reliable express shipping company If you are getting many issues with products delivered late or in some cases, not at all, it might be time to change your shipping company. An dropshipping supplier with express shipping will make sure you have happy customers who will be more likely to order from you again!

 

Poor quality product

When your customer actually receives their goods and is disappointed with the quality it can cast doubts on your sourcing abilities. It could be you’ve added a line you haven’t tried and tested, or simply the product is of poor quality.

 

If this scenario happens frequently, it may be an idea to review that particular product and maybe discontinue offering it.

 

However, it could also be a situation that has happened purely by the customer after delivery, so here’s what to do:

 

• Get proof Ask your customer for images or other kinds of proof before accepting responsibility for the poor quality.

 

• Offer refund or reshipping Once you are satisfied it is an issue with your service, then offer a full refund or if you aren’t going to refund as you believe the issue lies with the customers handling of the product, then make sure you explain the situation carefully.

 

In the future, you can mitigate against this by:

 

• A robust Quality Control process – From a legal standpoint, the importer can be considered as the manufacturer. So this means that you have the duty to prevent the circulation of defective products to your customers. Always ask for a sample from any suppliers so you can make sure you are providing a good quality product.

 

• Abandon any products with potential or recurring issues – Some products come with certain amount of headaches attached to them. These can be products that have safety standards to adhere to. It’s probably best to avoid those wherever possible.

 

Customer simply unhappy

It could also be the customer is just plain and simply disappointed with the product and it wasn’t what they initially thought.

 

The best way of rectifying this is first determine if it aligns with your customer service policy. If so, then go ahead and issue a refund. If it doesn’t stack up with your policies then make sure you clearly explain it to your online customer.

 

Bad reviews on social media

In an ever-growing review marketplace. Bad reviews on Facebook or elsewhere could potentially kill your eCommerce store.

 

Make sure you regularly monitor your social media accounts for any signs of bad reviews.

How do I prevent bad reviews on social media?

• Respond quickly By responding quickly and positively you will hopefully diffuse the situation and give a well-reasoned response to any negativity around your eCommerce store.

 

• Remove the comments However bad comments could be for a myriad of reasons and could be you’ve caught a member of your audience on a bad day or it has been known for competitors to add poor reviews, so if you think this might be the case, then remove the comments.

 

And finally…

So in a nutshell our best customer service tips are to make sure your ECommerce store is always offering the best service possible.

 

Add your policies to your website or any online store platforms and make it as clear as you can to your existing and potential customers.

 

Crucially, always make sure you have a full understanding of your supplier’s terms so there are no nasty surprises waiting for you or your customers.

 

By working with reputable suppliers you can make sure bad reviews and angry dropshipping customers are a thing of the past!

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

So you might be getting prepared to launch your amazing new dropshipping store or simply might be looking for the best dropshipping supplier. But where do you start? Many of the bigger Chinese manufacturers and suppliers have a wealth of products on offer, but what about the small print?

 

So it might be time to ask yourself, is Alibaba good for dropshipping? And maybe other questions about finding the best cheapest and most reliable supplier for your dropshipping enterprise.

 

Let’s start by nailing the brief, then we can look a little more closely at this important dropshipping topic.

 

Is Alibaba good for dropshipping? Although Alibaba is one of the largest suppliers of manufactured goods and works well for some eCommerce stores. AliExpress and others may be better for your needs. Choose a reputable and reliable dropshipping agent who can find a supplier, help with inventory, and all your dropshipping requirements.

 

What is Alibaba?

Alibaba is a wholesale marketplace where you can buy products in bulk and is one of the largest wholesale websites available online.

 

You might be surprised to know that Alibaba is bigger than the combined force of both Amazon and eBay and connects Asian and Chinese suppliers with eCommerce store owners from right across the world.

 

Alibaba is responsible for filling the physical and virtual online selves of countless brands across the globe.

 

How do I buy from Alibaba?

In our modern global marketplace, it’s never been easier to find a manufacturing or wholesaling partner halfway around the world.

 

We understand how sourcing your products from overseas can still seem like a daunting task for many new online entrepreneurs and dropshippers.

 

You might have many questions, such as where do I start? What should I pay attention to? How do I protect myself from scammers? Let’s find out.

 

• Browse the directory Buying on Alibaba and using the directory is a fairly straightforward process and is similar to other marketplaces like eBay, for example. You can search for a specific product or simply browse the product categories.
• Product descriptions One of the first things you’ll likely want to look at is the price. Some descriptions will have the letters FOB next to the price. This is Free On Board and shows that the seller will pay the costs associated with getting the product to the marine port, which is the cheapest method of delivery.
• MOQ Minimum order quantity Although most descriptions will show a high MOQ, these are usually more often than not, negotiable with the seller.
• Payment options Once you have chosen your product, do a thorough check on the payment options available. Some sellers will only deal in bank transfers or western union, which do come with an element of risk. PayPal is the safest option.
• Verify suppliers Alibaba has its own verification program which shows specific levels sellers have achieved. The badge to indicate this will be on the seller’s profile. Alibaba also offers an independent 3rd party service which is located in Asia This is an extra cost, but for those ordering in large quantities, it will give you peace of mind of the supplier’s product quality.

 

How to source on Alibaba and find suppliers

So you can make sure you make the best choices on suppliers for your dropshipping eCommerce store, we recommend that make sure you spend some time researching the following:

 

• Quality Although many Alibaba sellers will advertise their products as being ‘high quality’ there can be a huge difference between what we may think of as high quality and those from Alibaba suppliers. New eCommerce stores have a reputation to build, so it’s important to source high-quality products in order to offer your customers a superior product that they might not get from competitors online stores.
• Price Make sure you search thoroughly to make sure your product isn’t being offered more cheaply from other sellers and make sure you understand that Alibaba charges a commission of 2% to 5% for each transaction.
• Delivery Slow delivery times can cause many customer issues and give a negative spin to your reviews, which will influence new customers, so it’s important to fully understand the delivery times attached to any products.

 

Now let’s take a look at the advantages of using Alibaba as a dropshipping supplier.

Advantages

Huge range of suppliers and manufacturers to choose from. Alibaba.com is one of the biggest B2B marketplace online for global wholesale trade. There are 40 categories from consumer electronics, clothes, toys to beauty products, home & garden, and many more. Sellers there are vetted and familiar with wholesale trading.

 

Low and affordable prices. Alibaba sellers are either factories or trading companies. You can purchase bulk wholesale products directly from manufacturers, so the price is incredibly low compared to other marketplaces.

 

Design your own custom-made and private label products. Factories on Alibaba.com are willing to produce bespoke products and customized packaging.

 

Disadvantages

So although we’ve discovered that Alibaba is one of the biggest wholesalers and there are many ways dropshipping with Alibaba could work well for your eCommerce store, as with any kind of business, there are disadvantages.

 

Let’s take a look at some of these below.

 

Payment options are limited. Alibaba accepts credit card, online bank transfer, west union, line of credit, and wire transfer. PayPal is not an option.

 

Low payment security. Many dropshippers are more

 

MOQ (minimum order quantity) is high. Many Alibaba sellers request high MOQ such as thousands, which is a big upfront investment for dropshippers.

 

Perceived lower quality from customers. Without quality control, the defective rate might be higher than expected.

 

Longer delivery time. Usually factories take order then arrange for production. After that, factories ship products via ocean freight for reduced cost.

 

Language and cultural barrier.

 

What is the difference between AliExpress or Alibaba dropshipping?

So you might have heard of AliExpress and wondering if you should use AliExpress or Alibaba for dropshipping?

 

In short, AliExpress is Alibaba’s retail arm, which gives dropshippers and eCommerce store owners the chance to buy in smaller quantities but at a higher price.

 

Let’s find out a little more to help you make a decision.

 

• Price Alibaba offers lower prices, whereas AliExpress prices are higher. If you are planning to sell large quantities, stock an inventory and waiting times aren’t an issue, then Alibaba might be the best solution.
• Bulk AliExpress has multiple sellers offering similar products, but mainly Alibaba requires items to be purchased in bulk and only has a few suppliers offering the same products
• Product ratings Alibaba has a function for users to rate both products and sellers, On AliExpress only the products are rated.
• Shipping As Alibaba is for B2B wholesale trading, ocean freight is much used; AliExpress sellers use ePacket a lot. Both of them are quite slow and inefficient.
• Dropshipping AliExpress is more geared up for dropshipping than Alibaba.
• Convenient AliExpress is a more convenient option than Alibaba

 

So now you’ve seen the main differences between these two heavyweights, and have seen they both have drawbacks, you might still be wondering if there’s a better solution for sourcing products for your eCommerce store?

And finally…

As we’ve seen above both these two Chinese manufacturing giants have plus and minus points and it can be a minefield trying to navigate your way through the benefits and negative aspects of both Alibaba and AliExpress.

 

If you decide not to purchase bulk inventory and expect a faster shipping, AliExpress is a better option than Alibaba, as AliExpress sellers are familiar with dropshipping requests. While bear in mind that AliExpress dropshipping has fallbacks such as the unreliability of ePacket and immobility of customization.

 

The best dropshipping solution

Those looking for a more professional solution to their dropshipping sourcing needs, from choosing the best quality and profitable inventory, warehousing, and right through to finding the best shipping rates, work with reputable drop shipping agents.

 

Advanced sellers are enjoying the benefits of working closely with reputable, experienced agents, able to offer a full solution to make sure your eCommerce store has the best chance of success above and beyond those of your competitors.

 

“Advanced sellers are enjoying

 the benefits of working closely with reputable, experienced agents.”

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

 

In this article, we will look into new dropshipping laws, and more specifically, we will find out how the new ‘Made In China’ rule might affect your business.

So before we delve a little deeper, let’s get started with the short answer:

How does the new ‘Made In China’ rule affect my dropshipping store? The new ‘Made in China’ came into force on November 9th, 2020 with a 45-day transition period. The rule affects the labeling of goods. The impact of this law is mostly a B2B change and won’t affect dropshippers or their customers, other than possibly in brand perception.

Ok so now we’ve got the mini takeaway sorted, let’s delve a little deeper into the new ‘Made In China’ regulation and how it might impact your dropshipping business.

Let’s first start off by discovering what this new rule is all about.

 

What’s the new ‘Made In China’ rule all about?

The US government recently released a notice stating that Hong Kong goods for export to the US must be relabeled ‘Made in China’ instead of ‘Made in Hong Kong’.

On July 14 2020 the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order requiring that all goods of Hong Kong /China origin must be physically marked as to the country of origin “China”. Products produced in Hong Kong and imported to the United States must be labeled “Made in China” instead of “Made in Hong Kong”.

If any cargo isn’t labeled correctly, then anyone failing to comply with the new regulation could be looking at a penalty of an extra 10 percent duty.

The new rule came into play on September 25th, 2020, with a 45-day transition period in place. This was to give manufacturers and importers a reasonable time span to comply with the new rules.

The new requirements will be in effect for all goods entered or withdrawn into warehouses for consumption in the U.S. after November 9, 2020.

According to the U.S Customs and Border Protection Agency, or CBP, The essence of the exporting doesn’t change, the new law is simply a change in the markings required.

 

“If any cargo isn’t labeled correctly, then anyone failing to comply with the

new regulation could be looking at extra 10 percent duty.”

 

So now we’ve found out a little of the background to the new ‘Made in China’ rule, you might be wondering exactly what the law says? Let’s find out below.

 

What does the new ‘Made in China’ law say?

• According to the CPB, “Every article of foreign origin or its container imported into the Customs territory of the United States shall be marked in a conspicuous place and in such manner as to indicate to the ultimate purchaser in the United States the English name of the country of origin of the article.”
• Any imported goods that are manufactured in Hong Kong that enter or leave from a warehouse to customers into the United States must be marked to indicate that their origin is ‘China’ rather than simply ‘Hong Kong’ as was the case previously with goods manufactured in Hong Kong.
• As the labeling change doesn’t automatically change the product’s tariff destination, those shipping goods are to continue using the Hong Kong country code. According to the CPB, Shippers “should continue to file their entry summaries and duty payments according to current regulation and policy,”
• Any products that are not marked properly could be held in a Foreign Trade Zone to be properly marked under a permit which is issued by the Port Director, where they then will be correctly marked or if necessary have any markings which don’t comply with the new rule to be removed.

So what is the background of this new law and why was it necessary?

 

Why the change to ‘Made in Hong Kong’ labeling?

The U.S. ended its special trade relationship with Hong Kong with an Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization, issued on July 14, in response to the Chinese government’s decision to ‘unilaterally and arbitrarily impose national security legislation’ surrounded by protests of pro-democracy.

As a result of this, an executive order was compiled to explain labeling changes for shipments coming in from Hong Kong.

The trade between Hong Kong and the US is fairly small at a value of $4.7 million during 2019, as compared with the importing from China, which as of the same period was estimated at around $451 billion.

You might be concerned as to the impact of the new ‘Made in China’ rule on your Shopify or another eCommerce store.

 

‘an executive order was compiled to explain labeling

changes for shipments coming in from Hong Kong.’

 

Let’s discover more.

 

What is the impact of the new ‘Made in China’ rule on my eCommerce store?

As a dropshipper, importing goods from China, many of those products will make their way to your customers via Shenzhen-Hong-Kong port to Hong Kong airport or port.

Hong Kong is essentially the hub of goods shipped out of China, as a cost-effective option for goods produced in South China region. At that point, they are then loaded up and transported to worldwide destinations including the U.S.

The new ‘Made in China’ order changes simply Hong Kong product labels and has no impact on tariffs.

The impact of this new ‘Made in China’ law is within the B2B element of dropshipping rather than store owners and customers. So essentially, if you are a store owner you won’t have to do anything about the law as this will be handled by the manufacturers and shippers.

For sellers who dropship products directly from China to the US, there’s no impact, and no action required.

The impact will more likely be on ‘brand perception’ according to experts such as Tim Yu, a supply chain risk intelligence analyst with Resilience360.

He goes on to say that for those importing luxury, technology or cultural products the impact of the new China law may see customers having different perceptions of product representation, but won’t be affected by any financial impacts.

 

“The impact of this new ‘Made in China’ law is within the B2B element of

drop shipping rather than store owners and customers.”

 

And finally…

We hope this article has better helped you to understand the impact of the new Chinese labeling laws and the impact on your dropshipping eCommerce store.

It’s safe to assume that the laws refer simply to labeling and there won’t be any direct impact on you as the owner of a store or your customers in terms of prices.

The main impact of this new shipping law is in the B2B sector and you won’t have to action any new changes for your dropshipping, eCommerce or Shopify store to comply.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
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With the growing success of your eCommerce store, you might be thinking about providing a more bespoke product offering to your loyal customers, even started as dropshipper. Maybe it’s sneakers with unique graffiti, or hair dryer with special attachments.

 

Dropshippers might find that AliExpress sellers don’t provide such service, and they start to look at Alibaba’s private labeling service. So what exactly is private labeling, how does it work, what can you do with Alibaba private labeling, and more importantly, how do you find Alibaba private label manufacturers?

 

Before we get into the real details, let’s start by discovering the brief answer.

 

How do you find Alibaba private label manufacturers? Be sure to research the companies fully first and find out if there is a minimum order quantity. Also make sure you understand exactly what service they offer in terms of customization, quality, prices, delivery, and shipping. The simplest way is to use a trusted agent to manage it all for you.

 

Ok, so now we’ve got the quick answer to get you started, so we can understand a little more fully about where to find Alibaba private label manufacturers, let’s unearth a few details as to exactly what a private label is and how it can help grow your dropshipping business.

 

What is a private label?

Private labeling is when a manufacturer creates a product exclusively for a retailer who will sell it under its own brand.

 

For example, Hair salons often create their own branded line of shampoos, conditioners, and styling products for their customers to buy and take home.

 

Usually, private label products are usually less expensive than national brands. There are great benefits not only for your customers in terms of lower-cost goods but also for you as the store owner.

 

With a great marketing strategy, private label products can be lucrative for dropshippers.

 

Why is dropshipping an easy way to sell private label products?

If you’re an online store owner, you can find suppliers from Alibaba, will sell products exclusively to you and will add your own branding.

 

So you might be wondering how it all works? Let’s find out what Alibaba’s private label is and what can do with Alibaba’s private labeling.

 

Let’s find out a little more below.

 

What is Alibaba’s private label?

Alibaba is China’s largest online commerce company. It’s a trio of sites, Taobao, Tmall, AliExpress, and Alibaba.com, connects hundreds of millions of merchants and users, and manages business more than any other e-commerce company.

 

Alibaba.com is the B2B marketplace that connects Chinese factories with non-Chinese buyers. Business owners are able to buy products in bulk and add the following customization, to provide a bespoke design freeing to your customers. A few of the types of customization available are listed below:

 

• Labeling, customized packaging
• Unique products, which will include unique molds, dimensions, and designs

 

What do I need to be aware of when searching for private label manufacturers?

Although many private label manufacturers offer up the services above, each supplier will have its own set of offerings. So do make sure you check thoroughly so you know exactly what kind of private label customization you will be paying for.

High minimum order quantity

It’s also important to understand that some eCommerce store orders might be not large enough in terms of order quantity in comparison with bigger B2B importers. So it might be that some Alibaba sellers won’t offer private label services or indeed any kind of ordering facility for those purchasing smaller quantities. Some sellers have a very large minimum order quantity (or MOQ) which could be thousands of units.

 

So which categories of goods work best for private labeling? Let’s find out.

 

“Some sellers have a very large minimum order quantity

(or MOQ) which could be thousands of units.”

 

Now you have understood a little more easily about the kinds of things to watch out for when sourcing Chinese private label manufacturers, you might be wondering if your offering would work with a private label. Let’s take a look and find out.

 

Which categories are great for private labeling?

Generic products such as:

 

• Clothing
• Cosmetics
• Skincare products
• Shoes
• Home decor
• Kitchenware products

 

Let’s discover what some of the main advantages there are to finding Chinese private label manufacturers.

 

Advantages of private label

Private labeling offers a wide variety of advantages. Some of which include:

• Stand out from the crowd – By adding a bespoke look to your store, you are able to offer a more unique product. Also, you will be able to offer, for example, a range of colors or fabric designs for your product which could attract more business for products your competitors aren’t able to offer.
• Perfect for generic products – Generic products such as electronics, shoes, clothes, etc. are a good option for private labeling. Many dropshippers will realize the value of generic goods as they are lower in price, which may more easily attract customers. This way, private labeling for generic products can help to reduce your costs and increase profits.
• Customization – One of the chief objectives for most eCommerce store owners is that private labeling allows customization of the products and establishes your brand. The ability to order products in a range of designs means it’s possible to launch a range of products under your own business name.
• No Mold or Tooling Costs (sometimes) – Some suppliers don’t charge no mold or tooling costs involved in private labeling. The supplier is responsible for handling the production.

 

So now we’ve seen some of the best reasons to find Chinese private label manufacturers, so you can get a more rounded picture, let’s look at some of the disadvantages.

 

Disadvantages of private labels

• Slower communication language barriers can create difficulty in communicating and customer service
• More upfront costs With the need to stock up on inventory will result in a bigger hit to your cash flow with upfront costs
• More dots to connect Most Alibaba suppliers only offer production, so you will need to find a warehouse in China who offers a service for labeling, photography, freight forwarder/ shipping service provider, and other procedures

So now you’ve checked out the benefits of private labeling and also discovered what you need to consider, you might be wondering how to find a good private labeling manufacturer or Alibaba.

 

Let’s discover more below.

 

How to find good private label manufacturers on Alibaba?

Before you go ahead with a private label order from an Alibaba manufacturer, there are few considerations to make sure you fully understand before you part with any money and begin customizing with a private label seller.

 

First of all, search and shortlist a bunch of candidate suppliers. Make sure to check their profiles and trading histories, and if they are certificated suppliers. Ask any questions you might have and narrow down the list further.

 

When communicating your needs with Alibaba manufacturers, bear below in mind:

 

• Quality Investigate fully the quality of the product by asking for samples
• Prices Check there are no hidden extra costs that you might be unaware of and ensure you have checked out other manufacturers prices for comparison
• Delivery and shipping Make sure you have fully understood the delivery times and shipping as this could prove disastrous if your expectations for shipping are way off the mark.

 

And finally…

Work with an agent for a one-stop private label solution

The most secure way of choosing a Chinese private label manufacturer is to use a trusted agent.

 

A reliable agent will understand all the important considerations of choosing the best suppliers and can manually do this for you. They are often based in China or set office in China, and they are familiar with the industry and what questions to ask.

 

A dependable and credible dropshipping agent can handle everything you need to begin your own customized label offering. They help sellers overcome language and other issues for best outcome.

 

They will be able to find the best quality suppliers and will also be able to communicate effectively and easily without language issues and can work with you and your supplier to ensure smooth payment processes, organize the logistics, and more!

 

“The most secure way of choosing a Chinese private

label manufacturer is to use a trusted agent.”

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

 

So your dropshipping store is going from strength to strength. Your social media marketing campaign along with a great-looking storefront is pulling in visitors and converting them into sales.

However, you are burning the midnight oil, working every hour, and can’t seem to get ahead.

So along with wondering whether to get a VA to take the evening shift, you might be thinking can I automate dropshipping?

In this article we are going to find out the answer and if you can automate dropshipping, how to automate dropshipping, mistakes to avoid, and more! Let’s begin with a quick takeaway before we get into the details.

How can I automate dropshipping? With an eCommerce dropshipping store. You can automate product listings, pricing editing, inventory management, customer email, and promotional campaigns, order fulfillment, monitor inventory levels, create templates for sales orders, and more by using the automation software available.

Let’s find right into the details and find out how you can automate dropshipping.

So we can give a little background on the subject to help you more fully understand how to begin automated dropshipping, let’s first start by looking at why you should consider automating your dropshipping business. You can also find out more resources and insights about how to automate your Shopify dropshipping store in this video.

 

Why automate dropshipping?

The success of your business at the beginning is firmly on your shoulders, but you’re only human after all and there are only 24 hours in a day. But the goal many people started dropshiping in the first place was to live a more relaxing life.

As most dropshippers and Shopify store owners understand, the most precious resource you have is unquestionably time. At the beginning of your venture, the success of your dropshipping, eCommerce, or Shopify store is down to you.

Right from managing the inventory, the marketing and advertising, social media posts and even accounting processes pile up while you wade through each process.

So how can automating your Shopify or eCommerce store help set you on the road to success?

As most dropshippers and Shopify store owners understand, the

most precious resource you have is unquestionably time.

How can automating dropshipping help me?

• Saves time Automation frees you up to focus your efforts on growing and scaling your business.
• Easier order fulfillment process Dropshipping automation software will allow you to place orders from suppliers in a much faster way.
• Manage your inventory An automated software system can connect directly to your suppliers and monitor inventory levels. So if stocks of a product have run out, that product will automatically be listed as unavailable on your own website and any other marketplaces you sell on.
• Avoiding mistakes By using automated dropshipping software which is set up for automating eCommerce stores such as Shopify, you will be able to maintain a higher level of accuracy and avoid costly mistakes.

 

“Automation frees you up to focus your efforts

on growing and scaling your business.”

Ok so we’ve seen why it might be an advantage to automate some of your dropshipping activities, let’s drill down into what exactly dropshipping automation is.

What is dropshipping automation?

Let’s look below and find out…

• Using technology Automated dropshipping is using technology to do tasks that you’d usually have to do manually when running a dropshipping business

• Available Apps Since dropshipping has become more popular there are more Apps available that you can add to your automation arsenal.
• Minimize repetitive tasks The purpose of automation is to minimize the number of repetitive tasks you have to do, so you can focus on what’s most important.

• Free software Dropship automation is typically achieved by utilizing Apps and software, many of which are free, that are designed to do specific jobs to free up more of your precious time.

• Real-time help There are also ways of automating your business that doesn’t depend on technology, such as hiring contractors, freelancers, and virtual assistants to complete menial tasks.

 

Although it is of course useful to your business to automate as much as you can of manual processes, it’s still important you keep an overview and make sure your business still has a personal touch for marketing and customer service purposes.

 

Automated dropshipping is using technology to do tasks that you’d

usually have to do manually when running a dropshipping business

 

So you might be wondering what kind of tasks you can automate. Let’s take a look below and find out.

 

What you can automate for dropshipping store

• Adding products you can edit product details including title, description and images, and import to store automatically
• Pricing Instead of manually setting prices for all your products, what you can do is create global pricing rules that can automatically alter the price of the products for you
• Order fulfillment The templates will auto-populate when an order is received on whatever marketplaces or shopping carts you use. It’ll then be forwarded to your supplier.
• Email You can create automated emails for order confirmation, abandoned checkout, refunded orders, canceled orders, and more
• Promotions Run automated email campaigns for holiday promotions
• Inventory levels Unpublish out-of-stock products
• Product research Find winning products at the touch of a button
• Fully automate tracking Shipment tracking automatically updates your sales channels with shipping and tracking details from your supplier.
• Social media With a social media scheduling tool, you can schedule posts for every day of the week or any time you like so you never forget to post that meme picture that your customers would love to see.
• Reporting reports enable you to monitor your performance and sales so you can evaluate profits and execute strategies.

 

So now you’ve seen some of the ways automating your drop shipping processes can save you time and a wealth of other benefits, you might be wondering whether this an automation App recommended by Shopify and if there is a simple and trustworthy day of automating your product listings.

Let’s take a look.

 

Shopify’s automation Apps

If you run a Shopify, WooCommerce, or any dropshipping store, you may explore the official App store to access the Apps you need.

 

There are many Apps that can help with automation, such as bulk editor, inventory management, or customer support.

In terms of order fulfillment, HyperSKU is definitely the App for dropshippers to consider. It provides quality products from factories and automates the fulfillment process with just a few clicks. Dropshippers checks incoming orders once a day, and make bulk payment to HyperSKU for the orders. Then HyperSKU will start to process them and sync tracking numbers back to the store automatically. Nothing gets delayed during the process.

 

On top of that, HyperSKU also comes with pricing editing and an import function, to make dropshipping as streamlined as possible.

 

And finally…

So there it is! Now you can see how automating your Shopify or another eCommerce store will help your business become profitable by giving you more time to enjoy your downtime

Sit back and let answering emails, running ads, tracking orders, stock check, customer service, manually sending newsletters, etc, be taken care of by hardworking software programs that take the headache out of your daily processes.

 

Dropshipping automation helps you make money online while still having time for the things you enjoy!

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

With nearly $3 billion turned over in eCommerce so far in 2020, it’s easy to see why many are joining the ranks of these digital entrepreneurs in order to create their own dropshipping enterprise.

 

However, according to experts, around 20% of new businesses fail during their first two years. 90% dropshipping stores fail during the first year. What can you do to ensure your dropshipping store is successful? Let’s hit the takeaway answer first before we get into the details.

 

Why do dropshipping stores fail?

• Little understanding of the risks involved
• Inadequate preparation
• Lack of research
• Poor choice of niche or products
• Lengthy shipping timescales
• Poor customer experience
• Unreliable suppliers
• Financial errors

 

So to start with, let’s delve into the reasons your new dropshipping venture may have hit a wall and what you can do to make sure you not only survive, but build a successful store and more importantly, avoid costly dropshipping mistakes.

 

1. Little understanding of the risks involved

According to those in the know, around only 10% of entrepreneurs starting an eCommerce store have high levels of success during their first year.

 

So why is that figure so low?

 

One of the biggest reasons for the early failure of a dropshipping business is because many new store owners have most likely gone ahead too quickly without looking closely at, or understanding the risks involved in running a successful dropshipping business.

 

This can also lead to another peril of speed when getting a dropshipping business up and running, which is a lack of proper preparation.

 

It’s important to make sure you have a good handle on your finances, cash projections, and break-even points to give your dropshipping business the best chance of success.

 

2. Inadequate preparation

Many new dropshippers launch straight into a store by shadowing others and selling exactly the same products. It might be they have lifted information from other dropshipping sites and even maybe working with the same suppliers.

 

This means that your store will not have a unique offering which could lead to fewer sales.

 

Although selling identical products is not necessarily a bad thing, displaying the same product images and descriptions mean your store will lack uniqueness and could lead to customers shopping elsewhere

 

This brings us neatly on to another factor of being unprepared which is lack of research.

 

3. Lack of research

Anyone starting a dropshipping store needs to make sure they research adequately before launching.

 

It is, of course, tempting to get your store doors open as quickly as possible, but spending some time actively working on these factors will make sure you have the best chance of success.

 

• Research the niche or product area adequately
• Fully research the products within that niche
• Conduct research manually and also use software to help you find the best selling products

 

If you don’t research fully you may find yourself with the wrong kind of products or niche and a dropshipping store failure in your hands.

 

Let’s look below at some of the problems you might encounter if you fail to research properly.

 

4. Poor choice of products or niche

Another feature of the lack of preparation is not spending enough time choosing your niche or product.

 

For instance, picking a niche that you may not have an interest in can lead to difficulty in writing product descriptions and blog posts and other necessary customer sales copy.

 

Another reason some dropshippers choose products easily lead to disputes.  For example, if you sell fragile or low-quality products, you could be in for a world of returns, bad reviews, and customer issues.

 

Choosing a product with a specific USP (unique selling point) which can’t be guaranteed will lead to bad customer experience.

 

The holy grail of dropshipping is finding a product with uniqueness. If your product can be found at local supermarket or Walmart, don’t dropship it – you could find yourself competing against these giants in page rankings.

 

5. Lengthy shipping timescales

Due to the ever-shorter amazon delivery experience, online buyers are just not willing to wait days and weeks for products.

 

Many dropshippers are still working on a 20 day turn around which in these modern times is just too long for busy customers.

 

Too long delivery timescales are not only lengthy in terms of getting products out, but can also lead to your purchasers losing patience which can result in claim disputes and negative reviews.

 

If possible use the best dropshipping agents who will work with you to deliver in a maximum of 10 days.

 

6.Poor customer experience

As in every business, the “customer is king”, and probably more so in any kind of retail type venture.

 

Your customers’ experience starts with a professional-looking website, regular and relevant social posting, and all aspects of their journey from order to delivery.

 

The competition for creating ‘engaging customer stories’ via video and other media-rich platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram is becoming more intense, so by working on a complete customer experience strategy you will get ahead of the competition and future proof your store.

 

7. Unreliable suppliers

Finding awesome dropshipping agents and other suppliers is crucial to the success of your store.

 

No matter how engaging your social media presence or your ability to generate sales, if you are constantly being let down by unreliable suppliers, your customers will be disappointed and you will end up with returns.

 

The sales funnel you have sweat blood over trying to build, could come crashing down around you if you don’t thoroughly research your suppliers and make sure they can deliver the service they advertise.

 

8. Lack of a robust social media strategy

Building up your social media platforms is important for a dropshipping business as any marketeer understands, however failure to scale your offerings with little or no paid Facebook or Instagram ads, for instance, will leave the door open for your competitors.

 

It’s great that you are building followers, but if none of them is converting then it can lead to failure of your store.

 

Consistent posting is how you need to make sure you convert all that interest into paying customers

To make sure you are seeing substantial ROI.

 

9. Financial errors

Many issues with stores that are struggling are linked to finance.

 

It could be you didn’t take into account the cost of overseas shipping or simply you aren’t correctly managing your finances. It’s very likely that failing dropshipping stores have no idea of their sales revenue, or how much they are paying out in business costs, such as advertising, purchasing their products, and more. The reserve percentage and rolling cycle with PayPal could be another reason that sellers failing to make both ends meet.

 

Dropship store owners who don’t know how to calculate profit margins, for instance, are likely to hit a wall and may potentially feel like giving up.

 

Make sure you understand the simple rules of business to give yourself the best chance of success.

 

And finally…

Make sure that you are one of the thriving eCommerce stores enjoying repeat business, happy customers willing to tell the world how good your service and product is, alongside choosing top-rated products, will give you that competitive edge.

 

Although dropshipping is the choice of many and a low-cost barrier to entry, creating some competition, you can make sure your eCommerce store not only stands the test of time but goes from strength to strength.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

You have a successful dropshipping store or maybe just ready to launch, and it might be that at this stage you’re wondering whether it’s a good idea to use multiple suppliers, as you perhaps are selling different categories or would love to work with suppliers offering best quotation. Using multiple suppliers can bring many benefits, but it’s worth understanding more closely how to reap those rewards and drive even more sales without running into problems.

In this article, we will discover if you should use multiple suppliers and if so, the best ways to manage your store. Let’s start first by looking at the brief answer before we get into the details.

Should I Dropship using multiple suppliers? Dropshipping using multiple suppliers will assist with more competitive pricing, make sure you don’t run out of best selling products and give your customers a wider choice of stock to choose from. The most ideal way managing multiple suppliers is to work with dropshipping agent, and let the agent run errands.

Ok, so now we’ve got the short answer, in order to understand a little more about whether it’s a good strategy to use more than one, let’s start by finding out what a dropshipper does.

What does a dropshipping supplier do? And what is a dropshipping agent?

The two concepts are kind of mixed with each other; but technically a dropshipping supplier only sell you inventory, and they don’t necessarily take care of anything else such as warehousing, pick-and-pack or international shipping

Dropshipping agent is more than dropshipping supplier – The best way to think of a dropshipping agent is a business partner that consolidate all your backend operations. Your agent will help you choose, pick, pack and deliver your products to your customers, and data synchronization, leaving you and perhaps your VA to concentrate on the marketing, social media strategies, create campaigns, web design, customer communications and many other features designed to reach customers and run your business.

So who makes the best drosphipping agent/ dropshipping supplier? Many dropshippers go to the cheapest first. But remember that your reputation depends on your supplier so you are looking for those who can offer you:

• Professionalism
• Good communication
• Punctuality with shipping times
• Flexibility on customization (private label)

So now we understand the types of suppliers you are looking for, let’s look at some of the situations you might encounter where you will use more than more suppliers.

Want to know who are the best dropshipping suppliers? Check out our comprehensive guide for the 20 best dropshipping suppliers and learn how they can help you streamline your operations and increase your profits!

When will I need more than one supplier?

• Multiple purchases from different stores You may use AliExpress dropshipping services and one of your customers buys a pair of sunglasses for example from store A and then purchases a dress from store B. Once the customer places the order, straight away you are into two different shipping suppliers as they will individually send the products out for delivery. Your customer will receive two different parcels at two different times from the dropshippers.

 

• Low stock of popular products It could also be that your usual supplier has run out of stock and you need to find a substitute.

 

• More diverse product offering Sellers often also work with multiple suppliers to offer a more diverse selection of products in their store and also will compare prices. For example, you might work with supplier A for shoes and with supplier B for clothes.

 

• Product availability More successful sellers with large sales volume will also use more than one seller so they are not relying totally on the product availability of just one seller, who may run out if that particular product is ordered frequently. It could be that a successful store owner may receive up to 200 orders per day, so it might be more effective in case one supplier runs out, to split the orders 50-50 between two suppliers.

 

So as you can see, it’s a fairly common occurrence when you are the owner of an eCommerce store, to be handling multiple dropshipping companies to service your deliveries.

So what are the key points to watch out for when you are dealing with more than one dropshipping suppliers?

 

Are there any disadvantages of using multiple suppliers?

One of the main disadvantages of handling your eCommerce store orders with more than one supplier is the fact that your customers think your store is the whole deal. It can burst their bubble and the perception of your offering if they haven’t been told they might receive orders from two different companies, in two different types of packaging etc. Most customers don’t understand dropshipping model and would treat it as scam.

With a  dropshipping agent who can consolidate all your suppliers and orders, this issue could be avoided.

 

Do I tell my customers I’m dealing with more than one supplier?

According to experts, in 2021, over 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to buy goods and services online. Thanks to the huge marketplace players such as Amazon and eBay, this increasingly growing number of online consumers are becoming more and more familiar with receiving multiple deliveries on different days.

However, as a drosphipper, it is quite crucial to be trustworthy and reliable. Use dropshipping agent that can consolidate and pick-and-pack, so that your customers can receive products in one parcel.

Nevertheless, you can use the fact you deal with multiple suppliers in your store as part of your unique selling point, as you are not dependent on any supplier and your goal is to bring best price and quality to consumers. The key takeaway is to let your customers know as it can be disappointing for them when they receive more than one parcel at different times if they haven’t been warned.

The bottom line is that you should never let customers know that you dropship from AliExpress (if you do). AliExpress is a shopping site that consumers can easily access, and it’ll be quite nasty if customer finds out you are a re-seller.

 

Send individual tracking codes if using multiple suppliers

One of the easiest ways to let your customers more fully understand that packages may arrive at different times is to ensure you submit separate tracking information.

Don’t send one tracking number for both items if they’re not being shipped together as this will give your customers the wrong impression and they might expect their items to be in the same package and delivered at the same time.

Ok so now we understand a little more about the do’s and donts of using multiple suppliers to handle your ECommerce customers, so what is the best solution?

 

Work with a dropshipping agent with a warehouse

A dropshipping agent who owns a warehouse works with suppliers directly. They also pick-and-pack themselves. This means that your customer’s orders will be more seamlessly handled and not potentially lead to customer confusion or complaints.

The best dropshipping agents will deal with all the suppliers required to fulfill your customers, order your behalf, and consolidate the parcels at the warehouse.

“customers orders  will be more seamlessly handled and not potentially lead to customer confusion or complaints.”

 

What can a dropshipping agent offer?

As business grows, dropshippers tend to work with dropshipping agent for scaling. A dropshipping agent, which is essentially another word for a dropshipping supplier, will be able to offer:

 

• Better order fulfilment: the supplier should have access to factories and get quality products with lower cost
• Faster processing: the dropshipping supplier acts faster than AliExpress sellers
• Express shipping: Rather than using ePacket, which some dropshippers might opt for initially, means the dropshipping agent/supplier should be able to offer 7-10 day express shipping at a good price
• Branding options: A dropshipping agent will be able to offer great customer experience and be able to provide private label products and customized packaging

 

And finally…

We hope this article has been useful for anyone with an eCommerce dropshipping store and finds themselves in a multiple supplier situation, for whatever reason.

For considerations of price, availability, private label and inventory level, it is best to work with dropshipping agent with warehouse that can help you manage multiple suppliers.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

So you’re up and running with your dropshipping store, your social media campaigns are pushing traffic to your store and you are perhaps getting some good organic hits on your website too.

 

Living the dream. Right? But why is it you’re spending so much time talking to disgruntled customers?

 

In this modern age, we haven’t even got time for a web page to load, let alone spend weeks waiting for deliveries.

 

Fast deliveries in your dropshipping store are crucial to keep your buyers happy and stop your hard-won customers going elsewhere. So how can you achieve the best and fastest drop shipping experience? Before we get into details. Let’s first take a look at the brief takeaway so you can get started.

 

How can I achieve fast dropshipping? To achieve a quicker delivery time for your dropshipping store, avoid AlliExpress sellers who use ePackett with typically 20-30 days delivery times. Instead hire a dropshipping agent who works with carriers designed specifically for eCommerce stores and will able to hold stock for quick turnaround.

 

Ok, so now we’ve summarized the answer, let’s go on to understand how we can better achieve a faster dropshipping service at your e-commerce store, let’s start by looking at some of the important reasons dropshipping needs to be as swift as possible.

 

Why does dropshipping need to be fast?

So why is it you need a fast shipping time as a dropshipper?

 

Fast-shipping is not just an extra service to offer your e-commerce customers anymore. It’s a requirement. Trying to compete with other dropshippers with swifter, efficient, and quicker shipping times mean you would have to find that holy trinity.

 

• Extremely patient customers
• Incredibly cheap but quality products
• Totally unique products

 

So even if you manage to find the latter, your business is likely to fall over as finding that elusive super patient customer is likely never going to happen. Your customers and their gratification are key to your success as a dropshipper. Let’s take a look below as to why your customer base demands the fastest drop shipping times.

 

Fast-paced society

In our modern digital era, consumerism and instant-gratification are becoming more and more prevalent. Even the way eCommerce has evolved means there has been radical changes. people prize instant satisfaction as current times move ever more quickly with social media challenges and twitter dramas and trends.

 

Delivery times and costs vary across retailers and dropshipping product categories but can have a major impact on a consumer’s purchase decision.

 

It is no surprise that customers expect speed in their transactions online: whether it is support or shipping.

 

According to recent research, the timely arrival of shipments and free or easy returns were second on the list of their requirements. As returning doesn’t really work for dropshipping model, dropshippers should focus on delivering orders faster.

 

Fast shipping equals customer recommendations

41% of those shoppers surveyed in the above survey reported that ‘receiving my product when expected’ was crucial to their experience, and more importantly said they would go on to recommend any company which offered timely delivery.

 

So it’s not difficult to understand that making sure your deliveries are as expected and as quick as possible will help you stand hand and shoulders above your competitors, and also help to drive more custom.

 

The overall takeaway from this important consumer research is that the longer an item takes to be delivered to a customer, the higher level of dissatisfaction.

 

Ok so now we understand the importance of offering faster drop shipping deliveries due to the demands of customers, but are there any other factors you needed to take into account? Let’s find out more below.

 

Amazon

There is no denying that Amazon is the market leader for e-commerce and continues to step up its game.

 

The crucial thing to take away is that Amazon sets the bar and consumer expectations, with same-day deliveries which means as a dropshipper you need to offer the fastest shipping times you can.

 

Chargebacks and restrictions

Faster shipping can also help to not only avoid unnecessary complaints and customer dissatisfaction but also prevent chargebacks. High chargeback rates may add more of your crucial profit held back with more in holding funds.

 

Also if your customer ratings drop too low, you may possibly see restrictions on your Facebook business account. So what exactly constitutes fast shipping in the world of dropshipping? Let’s take a closer look.

 

What is fast shipping for dropshipping stores?

It does depend on specifics such as the destination country and of course customer expectations, but fast or ‘express’ drop shipping will be within 10 days of ordering.

 

Should I hold stock?

It could be that you might think holding stock in local USA warehouses is the way forwards.

 

However, we don’t recommend this for two crucial reasons.

• Upfront warehousing incurs a raft of costs
• Products may not sell

 

As a dropshipper the whole idea is to minimize the investment and risks, so holding stock locally is clearly a high-risk move and to be avoided in the dropshipping model.

 

Avoid AliExpress and ePacket sellers

All the AliExpress sellers use ePacket which takes a whopping 20-30 days for delivery and gives literally nothing back in terms of customer service.

 

So when you have upset customers in your inbox demanding to know where their delivery is, you will basically be on your own.

 

Hire a dropshipping agent

Ok, so if you decide to give Aliexpress a miss. You might be wondering how you sort out some of the pressing factors of your dropshipping business such as fulfilling orders?

 

Hiring a dropshipping agent is a great solution for all your sourcing and also order fulfillment.

 

Using a dropshipping solution like HyperSKU will make sure you find the best products, and acts not only as your supplier but also fulfillment handler and virtual assistant.

 

Quicker processing times

Another benefit of using an agent is that some of the lengthy processing times some suppliers often forget to mention can be streamlined to allow faster delivery to your customers.

 

Often there can be up to 2-4 days on top of the physical delivery process to add into the mix when quoting delivery times to your own dropshipping store customers.

 

By stocking inventory directly with agents, you can minimize those delays and give your customers much quicker delivery times.

 

Are there any ‘express’ shipping carriers?

Many shipping carriers offer an affordable, low cost, express shipping offer. Your dropshipping agent will be able to help you out here and give you the benefit of their expertise.

 

If they work with carriers such as:

 

• YunExpress
• CNE
• 4PX

 

You can pretty much guarantee a quicker turnaround in terms of delivery for your customers.

 

These companies are specially designed to work with eCommerce businesses and are much more affordable than the more well-known carriers such as DHL and FedEx.

 

Avoid bulky products

Another way to make sure you consistently offer the quickest service is to make sure you avoid any bulky or irregular shaped products and liquids.

 

The shipping time for these kinds of products is long and due to security and financial concerns, they are not available for express shipping.

 

Manage customers’ expectations

Having very clear notification on your website will also make sure your customers have been given clear delivery times and have advance notification of your delivery schedules.

 

For instance, you could add a banner on your site with the words:

 

‘We only source the best products worldwide for our customers, our estimated delivery is 10 days from order’

 

This way you can manage their expectations and give them the heads up on expected delivery times.

 

And finally…

We can see from consumer research that quicker shipping is imperative to the continued success of your dropshipping business. eCommerce and dropshipping are constantly changing, but one thing is certain and that is successful dropshippers have to keep up with ever-changing consumer requirements and other developments in the industry.

 

Just one bad customer review can jeopardize everything you’ve worked for and any customer who has been troubled by long waits and inefficient support will take their custom elsewhere.

 

Make sure you make the switch to faster and more reliable suppliers now!

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

According to experts 92% of advertisers are  harnessing the power of Facebook. So where do you start building a social media strategy at your eCommerce store?

 

Let’s start by taking a look at the brief answer before we dive into details and give you the best tips on how to grow your dropshipping venture using social media.

 

How do I build my dropshipping store using social media? Use social platforms to research products, conduct analysis, connect with important influencers, grow a client base to increase organic traffic and create paid advertising through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets, you can grow your eCommerce dropshipping store and remain competitive.

 

What can I use social media for in my dropshipping store?

1. Product research and analysis
2. Working with influencers
3. Run advertising campaigns
4. Encourage organic traffic

1. Product research

Don’t follow the lead of many dropshippers by creating social media accounts after you’ve launched your eCommerce store. This will only lead to a race to the bottom as you desperately try to build a following and play catch up.

 

By getting started with some early research and identifying your niche you may uncover trending products which other dropshippers are overlooking. For instance, Twitter’s trending topics, moments, and search features can help you discover the kind of products that are most in-demand. Or just search ‘went viral’ on twittter or Facebook and you will be inspired with niche trending products.

 

These crucial insights can prove invaluable when it comes to making decisions about which dropship wholesalers to partner with or which lines to include in your inventory.

 

2. Work with influencers

Finding out which influencers your target audience are listening to can help you generate a large number of followers. It might be the type of content they post will give you clues, or even the way they personally dress.

 

When you’re building your dropshipping store, influencers can help elevate your brand’s social following through the roof in a relatively short space of time.

 

However, it’s worth noting that the most expensive influencers aren’t always going to increase your revenue most effectively. You could find yourself paying out up to $500 for a post which gives no return.

 

Make sure to check out testimonials and reviews on influencer network so your investment are in correct direction. Sending a free sample of your product to such influencers, who are either within your industry or related to it in some way, gives you an opportunity to let them know you appreciate their work with a small gift. Also, hopefully, you will get a mention on one of their sites or platforms.

 

3. Run an advertising campaign

Advertisement is the biggest and perhaps the sole traffic source for many dropshipping stores.

• Have a combination of different social media ad campaigns
• Compare your ads and find the ones that bring in higher conversions
• Test those ads with specific customer segments
• Optimize the copy and images to improve your results.

Once you’ve settled on the ad campaign that works for your products, scale and monitor it continuously to ensure high performance.

 

While with Facebook advertisement budget goes up, it is highly recommended that sellers checkout other platform such as Google, Pinterest and TikTok. Nurturing loyal customer base is important too.

 

4. Encourage organic traffic

Although Google says that ‘social signals’ don’t directly impact rankings, there are ways you can use it to boost organic referral traffic. Here are three great ways to boost your organic visitors using social media

 

• Add social links A simple, but often overlooked, way to boost interaction and show that your profiles are active, is by including a link to your website in your social profiles to increase the quality of traffic to your website, and vice versa. Make sure you include share buttons on your website, emails and other online business profiles.

 

• Optimize your content As Google aims to return the most relevant and useful results to answer users’ queries, the brands that are most effective on social media are those which provide a great customer experience by regularly publishing unique, content focused on your target audience.

 

• Public endorsement Social engagement is social proof that you offer a good quality service. People trust recommendations from their peers. Ensure your content is relevant and create an anchor to show your followers you are offering great products. This will help spread the message and increase brand awareness.

 

4 Tips on creating social media for dropshipping store

1. Create consistency
2. Interact with the audience
3. Use quality visuals and content
4. Don’t hard sell

1) Create consistency

Make sure you regularly post on social sites but make sure you aren’t literally bombarding your followers with irrelevant material.

 

Keep it consistent but add quality posts, sale offers and ads which relate to your audience.

 

For instance, the Facebook algorithm works much better for your page if you post consistently. If not, it can only take a guess on who might be reacting to your page and content. The more consistently you post, the more targeted your engagement will be.

 

2) Interact with the audience

Social media can be the perfect channel to engage your customers and promote your e-commerce store because it allows you to interact with your followers and answer their questions directly.

 

For instance, when someone tags you on a question posted to Twitter, you can answer the question directly by replying to the Tweet.

 

3) Use quality visuals and content

Social media has changed the way businesses operate. With social networks like Facebook and Instagram that allow longer videos, you can come up with more creative and interactive ways to promote your dropshipping store and products.

 

4) Don’t hard sell

Your customers do not want a hard sell. Social media is exactly that. A platform for sharing content without the hard sell of traditional advertising.

 

A great way of engaging your audience by running a contest on your Facebook account. To make your content relatable, make sure that the prize is relevant to your audience.

 

By posting relatable and relevant content to your social media accounts, you can encourage your followers to share your content. It’s an excellent strategy to spread your brand awareness without sounding too overly “sales-y”

Last but not least…

Executing a killer social media strategy for dropshipping store will benefit in a long way. So to make sure you don’t get left behind in the competitive world of dropshipping, start using social media platforms to build, develop and grow your store.

 

And ultimately, you should provide a pleasant shopping experience to consumers, since at the end of the day, customers are buying quality products meets expectations. An reliable dropshipping platform will help you ensure your customers’ offline experience as good as the online experience.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

Check out video about getting prepared for Chinese New Year:

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On Friday, February 12th, 2021, many of us across the globe will be celebrating the year of the Chinese year of the Ox. Festivities and colorful displays will mark the beginning of this new period with decorations, family meals, and a firecracker or two!

 

But how will this important period in the Chinese calendar affect those of you with a dropshipping store?

 

Chinese New Year Dropshipping – What you need to know:

Will there be delays in shipping? will factories be closed or stop taking orders? And how best should you prepare?

 

Let’s first start by hitting the short answer, before we delve a little deeper into how to prepare a dropshipping business for Chinese New Year.

 

How do I prepare my dropshipping business during Chinese New Year? To make sure your online dropshipping business runs as smoothly as possible, find out closing periods from all shipping and suppliers, respond to customer queries promptly, consider adding a banner to your website informing customers, and stockpile best-selling items.

 

So now we’ve seen the quick takeaway answer to enable you to start preparing right now! In order for you to understand a little more easily how Chinese New Year might affect service for your dropshipping store, let’s find out what Chinese New Year is.

What is Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival or Lunar New Year and marks the end of winter and the beginning of the spring season.

 

Festivities traditionally take place from Chinese New Year’s Eve, the evening before the first day of the year, right through to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year.

 

New Moon

In 2021, the first day of the Chinese New Year will be on Friday, 12 February, which is the Year of the Ox. Chinese usually takes at least 7-8 days off, from February 11th to February 17th or February 18th.

 

So as you can see there will be plenty of festivities going on throughout this Chinese celebratory season. How will this potentially affect your dropshipping suppliers, products, and shipping and how can you make sure you keep your online store running smoothly throughout Chinese New Year?

 

“Chinese usually takes 7 days off from Chinese New Year’s eve till the 7th day after Chinese New Year.”

 

Read on to find out.

 

The effects of Chinese New Year my online dropshipping store

Chinese New Year date changes every year, and while the official holiday lasts for around 1 week, it is customary for most businesses to take a few days before and after the big day itself.

 

For factory workers, Chinese New Year is perhaps the only time of the year they going back hometown; factories usually give at least two weeks off, considering the rush traffic during Chinese New Year. This means that on average, your suppliers take at least two weeks off. So although there’s no need to shut your dropshipping store, there may be some delays during Chinese New Year that are crucial to understanding.

 

• Production reduced A week or two before Chinese New Year, you might find that some suppliers slow down production. So this could mean that any orders received in those two weeks leading up to Chinese New Year, may be delayed.

 

• Suppliers shut down for at least a week Generally, factories in China stop production one week before Lunar New Year and resume work one week afterward. You may also find that many factories might even take up to one month off.

 

• Factories stop taking orders Factories usually stop taking orders at least 3 weeks before the Chinese New Year.

 

• 5 days off for domestic shipping carriers Some of the domestic shipping carriers in China are off for 5 days and usually won’t take delivery requests

 

• Cross-border shipping this type of shipping will usually break for between 1 and 3 days during Chinese New Year

 

• AliExpress resellers don’t hold stock During Chinese New Year It’s wise to avoid AliExpress dropshipping, as most AliExpress sellers are resellers and they don’t hold any form of stock inventory

 

• Dropshipping agents are away for 7 days Most drop shipping agencies are off at least seven days. The warehouse staff may be around earlier, but certainly, the purchasing team, sales team and account manager teams will be on a break for at least 7 days

 

“You may also find that many factories might even take up to one month off.”

 

Ok so now we’ve seen some of the likely scenarios you will come across if you own an online dropshipping store during Chinese New Year. What can you do to make sure you are fully prepared?

 

Let’s discover more below.

 

What you can do to prepare your dropshipping store for the Chinese New Year

Although the Chinese New Year does slow business down across China, if you’ve fully prepared for it and got some simple fixes in place, you can ride it like a boss!

 

Suppliers may be closed for a whole month and even those that aren’t shut for that length of time, it may take a week or two for full production to get going again in the new year.

 

Some suppliers may not return to full capacity until early March. Stocking up inventory and make advantage of the shipping system is your best choice (we will get to this in detail later).

Make sure you fully prepare

If your dropshipping enterprise either relies wholly on Chinese suppliers or even if any portion of your online dropshipping business relies on suppliers from China, you can get prepared.

 

The most important thing to remember is to ensure your communication with your customers is second to none, so they understand a delay might be possible and follow some of the other tips below to make sure your businesses are as robust as possible during this time.

 

So let’s find out below some of the ways we recommend you can prepare your online dropshipping store for the Chinese New Year season.

 

How do I prepare my dropshipping store for Chinese New Year?

Homepage banner

A good way of letting your customers know there may be delays is by updating the banner at the top of your homepage. Update the banner to say that you’re currently experiencing shipping delays and provide a link to where customers can find more information.

 

Contact your suppliers

Although experienced suppliers may reach out directly to you, you will need to contact all the suppliers you work with to understand how each of their processes works throughout the period.

 

Prepare a list of questions to ask them and do this as early as possible before the Chinese New Year.

 

Inform customers

Although if you give clear guidelines of timings, most people don’t mind waiting a little longer for their package as long they’re pre-warned.

 

However, customers generally don’t like and should have to wait too long for responses to their queries.

If your customers still have questions after you have given them any delay details. be sure to answer them as promptly as you can.

 

Stockpile

Although this seems counterproductive to your dropshipping model, it may be worth ordering a stock of your most popular products. As we discussed earlier, the production might be down for two weeks or more, but the logistics infrastructure will keep operating expect a short downtime of 3 days maximum.

 

By keeping stock with your dropshipping agent, you will be able to minimize the downtime and ship orders out as fast as possible. Here’s what you should do:

 

Plan ahead: Estimate your order volume during the Chinese New Year period (at least 1 week before Chinese New Year’s eve and 1 week after)

Get quote and stock inventory: ask for supplier for quotations on products, storage fee, shipping fee and misnelious

Set up agreement with your suppliers about fulfillment efficiency.

 

Shipping could be a bit more expensive, but it may just get you over the Chinese New Year hump and allow you to continue giving A star customer service!

 

It could also bring you additional customers due to the fact that other sellers cannot fulfill.

 

And finally…

We hope this article has helped you to get your online dropshipping store ready for the Chinese New Year Period.

 

The chief takeaway is early preparation. So make sure you get in touch with all suppliers so you can best understand their closing periods. With HyperSKU, the one-stop dropshipping platform, we take sellers’ businesses as top priority and we’ve helped many sellers smoothly went through Chinese New Years.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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The holiday season is one of the biggest opportunities for online sellers.

Generous online consumers are willing to pay for high-ticket products and gifts for their friends and families. Searching online is super convenient for those who are looking for a wide selection and something unique. With many brands pushing consumers to begin their holiday shopping increasingly earlier, this gives dropshippers an opportunity to make everyday count during the holiday season.

So how can you prepare your dropshipping store for the holiday season 2022?

In this article, we are going to give you the definitive answer, with tips on prepping your dropshipping store, e-commerce holiday planning, and much more!

But first, let’s start with the takeaway answer, so your E-commerce store is the go-to place for customers’ holiday gift lists!

How do you prepare a dropshipping store for the holiday season 2022? Dropshippers can make sure they are prepared for the holiday season 2022, it’s important to prepare early, use a reliable supplier, prepare your website fully, set promotions up before, throughout and after the holiday season, increase your advertising budget and reach out to existing customers.

Ok, so now you’ve got the brief answer in order to get started on your planning straight away, in order for us to fully understand the best practices for dropshipping during the 2022 holiday season, let’s start by taking a look at some background on why you need to get prepared right away!

Why prepare my dropshipping store early for the holiday season?

Some dropshippers and other retailers may have started their holiday planning as early as January 2022!

This is not only true for gift-related vertical markets, such as toys, fine wines, perfumes & fragrance, luxury goods, beauty products, and jewelry, but many supermarkets start stockpiling alcohol from September to ensure they have sufficient for Christmas.

According to the Centre for Retail Research indicates that spending around the holiday period cash terms has risen every year for the last nine years.

It doesn’t take much imagination to work out that dropshippers who are properly preparing for holiday season 2022 will look to pick up their portion of this lucrative business.

Let’s look below at some more convincing stats as to the value of that holiday planning.

“spending around the holiday period  cash terms have risen every year for the last nine years.”

 

High season 2019

In 2019, online holiday sales during Thanksgiving in the US amounted to a massive $4.2 billion, with an additional $9.42 billion being spent in e-commerce and dropshipping stores during Cyber Monday.

If that hasn’t got you reaching for your planning notebook, maybe an article in Salesforce which estimated total global holiday sales dated between  November 1st to December 31st at a mind-blowing $723 billion will!

According to the same study, holiday season 2019 had many brands persuading e-commerce customers to get their gift lists ticked off ASAP!

“Last year online high season sales during Thanksgiving in the US  amounted to a massive $4.2 billion.”

November discounts

E-commerce brands, including dropshipping stores, were pushing out an average discount rate of around 23 percent on November 25th, which gained traction throughout that week.

The final encouragement for holiday shoppers to buy ended, with a 30 percent average discount rate on Cyber Monday.

Dropshippers get ahead

So It’s crucial for those running dropshipping stores to make sure you get ahead early. By leaving your discounts or promotions until later on in the holiday season, you will risk competitors taking your share of the bounty!

By making sure you start your dropshipping store prep the earliest possible, it will also give you an edge with the late shoppers too. So now you can see how important it is to start your high season dropshipping plan for 2022, early as possible, you might be wondering what you need to do?

Let’s find out.

“it’s crucial that you work with reliable suppliers.”

E-commerce holiday planning

Ok so now we are reaching for our planners as we speak, don’t forget it’s crucial to understand that the keyword for successful holiday season dropshipping is planning ahead.

Although the e-commerce world loves to focus on Black Friday because the huge spikes in sales are so attractive, the smartest dropshipping store owners know that December is the month that can make a lasting difference to your profit.

Let’s take a look below at steps you can take to ensure your dropshipping store is ready for the holiday season 2022.

“the keyword for successful holiday season dropshipping is planning ahead.”

Set promotion plans and advertisement calendar early

Starting with your promotions as early as you can mean you will be ready for any early pushes. Work on any discounts you are offering and make sure you physically add them to your calendar to prompt you.

Robust website

There’s nothing worse than having your website repeatedly crash during the high season. So it’s critical to iron out any issues you may have to ensure a robust platform for your holiday customers.

It’s also not a great idea to make any large scale changes to your website during this busy period.

Promote throughout the season

As we’ve seen above there are opportunities for dropshippers after the big event, such as Christmas Day itself, so maximize on all opportunities by setting promotions to roll throughout the holiday season.

Reach out to existing customers

Rather than using budgets and precious time to actively seek out new customers, don’t forget to take the best advantage of your current customers who are statistically 60 to 70 percent more likely to buy from you again.

Increase advertising budgets

Make sure your advertising spend is high enough to reap the most rewards over the holiday season 2022.

It may be that your monthly budgets could be tweaked, for example, August (historically a slower month for sales) could provide some of the extra budgets for a larger spend over the holiday period.

Your holiday season budget should be thought about well in advance.

Make sure to hire a fast fulfillment and shipping agency

It goes without saying that in order to maximize fully on the potential holiday period sales, it’s crucial to work with a dropshipping agency that is able to ship your goods at speed. During the holiday period, many customers are buying at the last minute and the expectation is delivery before the big day.

Delivery dates can be somewhat of an obsession to those not wanting to let their friends and family down with a late gift!

No matter whether you spend all year reaching out to customers, planning sales, etc., if your dropshipping agency isn’t able to service your customers, you could be heading for problems.

“It’s crucial to work with a shipping agency that‘s able to ship your goods at speed.”

Stock inventory where you can

It’s also worth stocking inventory at this time too. So you are ahead of the curve and can deliver more quickly to your holiday shoppers. It is critical for dropshippers as many else might sell similar products; holding stock can effectively prevent out-of-stock situation and ensure faster order processing.

And finally…

So to wrap up, it’s worth remembering that one of the most important aspects of dropshipping is giving exceptional customer service and making sure you keep your customers in the loop with any order updates.

By working with HyperSKU, dropshippers’s backend operations are in safe hands. HyperSKU provides best automated order fulfillment system with express shipping and quality products, on top of that dropshippers can stock inventory and customize packaging too.

This way you will have happy customers, happy to shop with you well into 2022 and beyond!

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If you are seeking how to start dropshipping on Shopify, know that you are not alone. Since first launched in 2004, Shopify has grown to become one of the most iconic eCommerce platforms in the digital market today. The site has made it incredibly easy for aspiring entrepreneurs to get started. Between free themes and free Apps to choose from, the POS system, affordability, and dropshipping prosperity, Shopify is projected to make $4.97 trillion, a 400% increase over the last seven years.

 

Because of the growing market and the ever-evolving technological age, dropshipping on Shopify is the easiest way to get started on building your own empire. With that being said, if you are ready to take your eCommerce blueprint ideas and execute them, here is a Shopify dropshipping guide to get you started on the fast track to monetized branding success.

 

1. Decide Your Niche and Target Markets

 

Though dropshipping with Shopify is much more seamless than the traditional route, there are still some basic principles you need to incorporate to reach success. One of those universal aspects is figuring out your niche and who you are going to be targeting. If you desire to run a clothing store, what type of branding image are you aiming to reach? Are you looking to attract women, men, older, younger? Nail down exactly what you want to be selling, ensure it reflects your image and values, and alter it to grab the attention of your target audience through target marketing efforts.

 

Example: You want to sell newborn clothing. The target market would be new parents and pregnant mothers.

 

2. Choose A Name and Domain

 

This one might sound simple to do on paper, but discovering the perfect name and domain for your business should not be taken lightly. This is how people are going to remember you, perceive your brand, and what you will be advertising. Since you want it to reflect what you are selling and be memorable, make it short, sweet, catchy, and relevant to what you are selling. Keep in mind that even if you come up with something perfect, it might not be available, so be prepared to brainstorm or use online name generators during this leg of the business.

 

3. Sign Up for Shopify and Choose the Right Plan

 

Once you have accomplished the first two steps, next is to actually sign up for Shopify and get your account started. Here you will need to go through the necessary steps prompted by the site to establish your profile, and you will need to figure out which plan is right for you. For reference, the cheapest plan is the basic one, costing $29 a month. It comes with all the needed features to get started as a new online business, such as two staff accounts, 24/7 customer support, unlimited product listing, a blog, and sales channels. This one might be the best option for you if you are a beginner, as you can always upgrade later if you need to.

There’s ‘Shopify Lite’ plan costs only $9/month, while it is just as simple as a buy button and doesn’t come with the turnkey solution.

  

4. Import Products and Edit Details

 

Once you know what you want to sell, you can begin adding those projects to your store through your dropshipping company. Here you can add detailed, captivating product descriptions, photos, shipping information, and import them all into your store. Remember, even with the basic Shopify package, you can still upload as many products as you wish. In addition, some products may have dozens of variants (just think about a pair of flip flops with 5 colors and 10 sizes), and you have the ability to only sell a few if you want to. With HyperSKU’s importing feature, sellers can easily import pictures, prices, content and variants to their Shopify store with one click.

 

5. Get Store Design Done

 

Next, make sure your store design is perfect to begin promoting and marketing. Make it aesthetically appealing, clean, user-friendly, and as optimized as possible to search in SEO rankings. You can either choose one of the free themes available on Shopify or purchase an outside template to build from. Again, keep it relevant to your brand and allow the entire message and shopping experience to flow nicely.

 

6. Get Suppliers

 

Even if you have the best-looking site and the most amazing products for sale, if you do not choose reliable, quality-driven suppliers, it can destroy your business in the long run. This is why you want to choose suppliers such as HyperSKU who are known for fast, efficient, and quality delivery to help build your reputation.

 

7. Set Up Payments

 

To set up payments on your new store, navigate to the Shopify payments section under Payment Providers. This is where you can set up your credit card payment provider on your account. Sellers typically choose to provide PayPal and credit card payments for shoppers’ maximum flexibility.

 

8. Open an Advertising Account

 

Majority of the SMB sellers on Shopify drive their traffic from paid ads. Facebook is definitely the ‘go-to’ place (Facebook made 69.7 billion US dollar from advertisement in 2019). Many sellers are looking to diversify the traffic source, and luckily, Shopify is the first eCommerce platform that has integrated Google’s new smart shopping campaigns.

 

9. Test and Fine-Tune

 

Testing is a vital part of any business. Take some time to go through your entire store, and even order a few products to track how long it takes to arrive and the condition it is in upon arrival. You can even take it a step further and ask some family members and close friends to do the same and get their feedback on any improvements that need to be addressed. In the end, it is much better that you noticed any errors before your customers do.

 

10. Make Final Adjustments, Launch, and Monitor

 

Once you have conducted a dry run of your business, from ordering to delivery, make any adjustments as needed so you can get ready for launch day. When you finally do get your store up and running, monitor it closely, and track how well you are doing. Look at how much traffic is coming in, what your conversion rate is, and the demographics of those who are organically arriving at your store. Based on the information you get, make changes as you go to improve operations, and really find the sweet spot to obtain success.

 

Example: After you launch, you found that more people like a particular style of baby clothes over the other. Here you can advertise those items to gain more traffic and offer more selections to fulfill that demand. Or maybe people love something, but the price is too high and needs to be lowered a bit.

 

Conclusion

 

There are over a million entrepreneurs right now leveraging the power and low risk of dropshipping on Shopify to grow their eCommerce business, and you can do it too. As long as you are strategic about your business plan and operations, do your research and stay innovative as this Shopify dropshipping guide suggests, you will be able to launch yourself to new levels within this platform. In addition, you are never stuck in one place. Once you begin growing, you have the freedom to expand and take advantage of other resources to thrive even more in your business if you wish. But it all begins somewhere, and understanding how to start dropshipping with Shopify is the most hassle-free way for entrepreneurs to get started.

 

Remember, there is always room for more on Shopify. So, go through this guide again step by step, implement your own business ideas into the equation, sign up for Shopify dropshipping, and watch as your business begins to take off.

 

>Sign up to HyperSKU now<<

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So you might be enjoying some recent successes in your dropshipping venture and maybe looking to venture into the world of Virtual Assistants!

Virtual assistants can help you to make the most of your time, so you can concentrate on important areas of your business, while your virtual team organizes the day to day processes.

But how do you begin to find your new crew of helpers and what do you need to know?

Let’s start with the quick answer before we delve a little deeper into this topic.

Where can I hire a virtual assistant for a dropshipping store? There are many places you can find help for your dropshipping store. Scan through local business pages, social media recommendations, LinkedIn, and other online ads. Try the ‘gig’ community by placing an order on Fiverr or Upwork to outsource everyday, professional or creative tasks.

Ok so now we’ve got the important takeaway answer, let’s begin by looking at what exactly a virtual assistant is, so you can more easily understand when and where to find one.

What is a virtual assistant or VA?

In a nutshell, a virtual assistant – or sometimes called a virtual office assistant is generally self-employed and provides the following assistance to clients remotely from a home office:

• Professional
• Administrative
• Technical
• Creative (social)

A Virtual assistant usually works predominantly for small businesses.

A virtual assistant is someone who does a range of tasks you have requested. Most virtual assistants work with their clients as a long-term collaboration instead of one-off projects such as website design, for instance.

They are able to take on the more repetitive, time-consuming chores, such as editing product variants, adding new lines, and also replying to customer emails.

Ok so now we know what a VA does, so why will it help dropshippers to use one and what are the benefits? Let’s find out below.

Why dropshippers should hire a virtual assistant

When beginning your dropshipping business, we all know how time-consuming it can become.

Keen to get back to customers’ emails, working to make sure the turnaround time from order to delivery is a swift as possible, not to mention adding new products.

If you are currently spending more than 4 hours a day managing your store, it might be the right time to look for help.

So what can a virtual assistant do for you? There’s a number of jobs both big and small, your virtual assistant can help you manage.

• Free up time to be more strategic
• Work on product research
• Supplier relationship
• Brand creation
• Outsource jobs to professionals
• Another opinion
• Build a scalable and healthy business

Ok so now we can understand how hiring a virtual assistant can help you grow and scale your business, leaving you more time to work on the strategy of your business.

However, you might be wondering what kind of activities are suitable to entrust to your virtual assistant. Let’s take a look below.

What you should outsource to a virtual assistant

There are a number of tasks you could receive virtual assistance with. It is, of course, all down to your personal preference, your own skillset, and how much of the creative or professional side you would like to keep as your domain, but let’s see some of the projects and pursuits suitable.

• Image design
• Video editing
• Content creation
• Customer service
• Spreadsheet work
• Analytic work
• Data processing

Although you could of course outsource the building of supplier relationships to a virtual assistant, there is a school of thought which says that it’s better to keep those relationships closer to your chest.

It might be a good compromise to have your VA communicate directly with your suppliers on matters such as stock and orders, but to make sure that there is no question concerning you as the business owner and to actively keep in the ‘loop’.

So where do you find these virtual angels? Let’s take a look and discover some of the best places to source your Virtual Assistants.

Where to hire virtual assistants for dropshipping

There are a number of places you can find a helpful virtual assistant. From looking at local business listings, social media, or Linkedin recommendations through to the ‘gig’ services such as Upwork and Fiverr.

It’s a simple process using the gig offerings. Simply search for the job you would like your virtual helper to assist with, and create a task. At the point of delivery, you can judge the overall experience based on performance.

Ok, so we hope that your virtual assistant will understand your requirements and be able to deliver a great service, but what kind of skills should she/he have?

Let’s explore a little further.

The important skills for virtual assistants

Although it’s crucial that your virtual assistant has the skills to follow through on your specific requirements, what are other important skills they need?

• Language skills it may be important your VA has the ability to converse in different languages, but especially they will need good basic language skills in order to converse with you and your potential clients.
• Flexibility: If you suddenly run into a huge demand for your products, or emails that need responding may arrive and need dealing with urgently, it’s important that your virtual assistant can be flexible around your dropshipping business needs.
• Availability: It’s obviously crucial that your hired help is able to commit to any timescales you want to put in place as is available to work long term if required.
• Ability to learn: A keen enquiring mind and ability to quickly understand new processes and information is paramount when hiring a virtual assistant.

So once you’ve got your ideal virtual assistant on board, it’s time to get down to work and actively manage them. How do you do this? Let’s find out.

How to manage virtual assistants

• Give clear instructions and rules: It’s really important to make sure you are very clear about any rules you have and also make sure you explain your requirements simply and without conflicting instructions
• Utilize task management tools There are a number of ways you can add work to your virtual assistant’s day, by using shared documents and other task management tools, such as Trello.
• Keep aligned with online sharing documents: Make sure you are both on the same page’ and ensure updates to documents are shared timely
• Set up routine meetings: By regularly setting up meetings either via Skype, Zoom, or other methods, you will make sure your virtual assistant is up to speed and understands any new additions or processes.
• Review work: if you make sure you don’t simply let your virtual assistant carry on without regularly looking over the type of content or work they see producing, you will make sure of their best performance

Conclusion

So there it is! Everything you needed to know about getting that extra help to reach for the skies with your dropshipping business!

Hire a virtual assistant and make sure you spend time strategically building your venture and leave the day to day process or even the creative part to your new team!

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So you might be one of the many dropshippers who are rubbing shoulders with many other micro-businesses currently sharing the stage with over 75% of all private sector enterprises.

But how do you stay ahead of the game and create a robust dropshipping pricing strategy in 2021 to compete?

In this article we are going to discover how to price dropshipping products, find out the ideal markup for dropshipping products, and more importantly how to make it profitable.

Let’s start with the brief takeaway before we get down to details.

How do I create a profitable dropshipping strategy in 2022? When creating a profitable dropshipping strategy in 2022, price match products in your niche, utilize free tools for profit margins, research competitor’s sites, set tiered pricing, bundle products, offer free shipping on specific quantities, utilize MSRP and offer great customer service.

So now we’ve seen the takeaway, let’s look a little more in-depth at how to price dropshipping products for the best returns.

Let’s begin by looking at some all-important tips to calculate drop shipping profits to get you started.

How to calculate drop shipping profits

First of all, it’s important to understand that your profit is a simple formula.

Your profit is essentially what money is left after you’ve paid out for everything you need to run your business. These include:

• Shipping costs
• Labour – this will include your own time and also that of any help you enlist, such as a VA (virtual assistant)
• Materials
• Any indirect costs – these are more commonly known as overheads such as hosting, utilities, marketing and promotion

Or put another way, you simply need to find the difference between the two price points for each product.

• Price 1 is how much you bought the item for, and Price 2 is how much you are charging your customers.
• Simply deduct price 1 from price 2 and then deduct any overheads you incurred.

However, this method can have its drawbacks as it means doing tricky calculations dividing up your outgoing over a number of sales.

Unless number crunching is your thing, novices may find that these kinds of calculations can bring you out in a cold sweat!

So using online profit calculators can help you take the heat out of these important figures.

Online profit calculators

There is a wealth of free online tools for dropshipping to calculate important profit margins.

These simple calculators can help you find a profitable selling price for your product.

The usual method is you simply enter your gross cost for each item and what percentage in profit you’d like to make on each sale.

Many margin calculators work in the same way. The profit margin tool will run your figures through its profit margin formula to find the final price you should charge your customers.

From there, you can effectively price your dropshipping products and begin profiting straight away.

So now we know there’s help available for working out how much profit we are likely to make, how do you actually get to those figures in the first place?

What is FMOC?

FMOC is an abbreviation for fixed mark-up on cost.

FMOC creates the bottom line for deciding margin or markup on products.

This is where all your costs as we mentioned above are taken into account and a fixed percentage or amount is added for these costs on top of your initial outlay purchasing your product.

For instance, You might decide you want to use a 10% markup. Meaning for a product costs $10, you add $1 to it.

This is when a great pricing strategy is required! Let’s discover a little more below.

Pricing strategies

So how do you reach that sweet spot of pricing that ensures you are ahead of the race?

Not too high or too low

When you are running a small business, a price race can be your first thought.

Offering the lowest price for a product means you will automatically win over the competition, right?

However, this isn’t always the case.

By simply going in with a low price you could be:

• Driving away customers with unrealistic prices If your price is too low, your customers may doubt the integrity of the product or wonder if it may be a low-quality item. Setting a realistic cost based on your niche is important to keep the trust of your customers
• Not sustainable pricing your product too low could mean you are earning dangerous close to your profit margins and may not even have factored in enough profit to sustain your business
• A busy fool Very very low costs could mean you are working full throttle for very little return and could lead to burn-out

It’s important to remember that customers pay for more than just the product.

They are also looking for great customer service and will build a rapport with sites that offer this along with the fact they will always be willing to pay market value for a product they can’t live without!

Match your price to the niche

Price matching according to others in your niche is important as we’ve seen above.

Your customers will already understand the kinds of pricing reasonable and realistic, especially for highly competitive niches such as electronics, fashion clothing, or fashion accessories, for example.

Consumers have expectations for pricing and it’s important for your 2022 dropshipping strategy that you keep in line with customer expectations.

For instance, offering any branded pair of flip flops at $50 would turn most consumers away to your competitors.

So what other ways can you make sure your pricing is great for your profit margins …but also an attractive proposition for your customers? Read on to find out.

“it’s important for your 2022 dropshipping strategy that you keep in line with customer expectations.”

So how else can you build the best dropshipping pricing for your business?

More great dropshipping strategies for 2022

• Set tiered pricing: For high-cost products, make sure to add less margin to avoid your customers going with your competitors and for low-cost products, make sure to add enough margin to ensure basic costs
• Pay attention to shipping: it’s worth remembering that bulky, oversized or or those containing liquid will attract higher shipping costs
• Compared to pricings: Make full use of Add compared to price calculations or MSRP. This will help you find the most attractive price for your customers, but make sure you don’t add too much over and above the recommendations.
• One cent drops: We all know the magic of just one cent difference and what psychological pull it is for anyone ready to spend! So make sure you utilize this tried and tested pricing method to increase the profit in your dropshipping store in 2021! $4.99 is always going to be more appealing than $5, for example.
• Research on competitors stores: checking your competitors’ stores regularly provides a good benchmark for your own pricing
• Be unique: Adding value to your customers’ experience with great attention to their journey, including awesome service important in winning customers away from the competition.
• Bundle products Utilize bundles. Offer discounts for bundles. For example, $50 for one pair of yoga pants and $89 for two pairs.
• Offer free shipping. If customers spend a fixed amount at your dropshipping store, offer free shipping. This strategy works particularly well with low-cost products.

And finally…

For anyone looking to begin a new drop shipping venture or those who are enjoying the benefits of dropshipping business, it’s important to make sure you absolutely nail your pricing strategy.

We hope this article has given you some great tips and hacks.

Be unique, use the free tools offered and make sure you spend a little time every so often checking out your competitor’s site will make sure you have a robust dropshipping pricing strategy for 2022 and beyond.

And, don’t forget a reliable supplier will help you save cost from fundamental level. Contact HyperSKU now to enjoy lower cost and improved fulfillment efficiency.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

Many dropshippers are driving sales, and fairly quickly building their business to at least a 4-figure level with relative ease.

 

However, many are failing to scale up to that lucrative 6 figure more profitable business.

 

There could be a number of reasons why businesses aren’t hitting those large scale heady heights that entrepreneurs dream of.

 

Maybe it could be a cost-efficiency problem, failing to find a larger audience, or the dropshippers biggest nemesis, too many disputes, and refunds.

 

In this article, we are going to show some proven ways to grow and scale your dropshipping business and see some great results.

 

Let’s start with the short takeaway;

How to Scale Your Dropshipping Business?

In order to scale your dropshipping business, make sure you have researched and fully trialed your supplier. This, along with outsourcing the day to day activities such as taking and fulfilling orders, websites, and scaling Facebook ads will enable you to spend time growing your business successfully.

 

So now we’ve hit the brief, let’s discover a little more about some of the everyday issues that you might face so you understand a little more about how to build, scale and grow your dropshipping business.

 

Problems and solutions

Time drain

When dropshipping, it can be difficult once your business starts to build to find the ever-expanding time demanded to run it successfully.

 

When you start your business, we all know the long hours spent donning your customer service hat and sacrificing many hours of sleep to ensure you are available to answer customer service calls and emails at any time of day.

 

You may be more than capable of handling a multitude of tasks at the beginning of your dropshipping journey, where pure adrenaline keeps you high enough to pull a few all-nighters, but it might become just too much when daily orders are rising to 50 and over.

 

As your business begins to scale, it will become clear that this is not something you can do without help.

 

Solution:

Build a team of virtual assistants and even think about hiring a manager to coordinate your assistants.

 

The initial draw on your time training your new team is well worth the payback which allows you To step back and focus on the bigger tasks needed for scaling your business.

 

You will need sufficient and professional help in order to scale up and start enjoying the rewards of your hard labor. We recommend you begin with hiring a remote team to handle time-consuming tasks.

 

Tasks such as:

• Analytical product research
• Copywriting
• Website Design
• Listings editing
• Fulfilling orders
• Customer service
• Disputes
• Spreadsheet editing

 

These tasks can prove a drain for one person alone even though the drop-shipping model itself is a simple one.

 

“Build a team of virtual assistants

and even think about hiring a manager to coordinate your assistants.”

 

So what about your suppliers. Are they holding you back?

 

Suppliers can’t scale

As you grow your business and begin to process a larger volume of orders, it’s crucial to make sure that your suppliers can keep up. If you don’t, you could hit a wall with big rewards and learn the hard way.

Solution:

Make sure you fully understand your supplier’s capabilities.

 

If your supplier doesn’t have an automated order fulfillment then you might be disappointed in a big way when your orders are coming in fast and furious.

 

Suppliers who aren’t able to effectively fulfill your orders will not only limit your ability to scale but could also leave you in a really difficult position with account freezes and disputes.

 

“Make sure you fully understand your supplier’s capabilities.”

 

Automate order and tracking update

Suppliers who offer an up-to-date status on orders and make sure tracking codes are offered timely will ensure both you and your customers will be less anxious.

 

This of course will lead to much better reviews and those desirable five-star ratings.

 

Manual automation also eliminates errors likely to occur from manual input and ensures the whole process is swift and efficient for you and your customers.

 

In order to scale to those huge 6 figure rewards, it may be you are taking up to 400 plus orders a day, so automated orders are a must for any dropshipper scaling their business.

 

No due diligence performed for suppliers

It can be really difficult for dropshippers to know exactly what they are getting when booking up with suppliers.

 

Ordering a huge number of products that your supplier may struggle to service, is a sure-fire way to lack ongoing sales and find yourself with a raft of upset customers.

Solution:

If you choose a new supplier, make sure you make a low order value at the beginning of your relationship with them.

 

Try a mini order such as 10-50 pieces and trial your new company for a short period, say for one month, and see how it works out. Once you have properly tested your supplier, then you can go ahead and order more.

 

Customer support issues

It can be a never-ending situation trying to deal with customer issues. Even if you are simply giving helpful details on your product.

 

Customer service can be the make or break for your business and if you are a one-man army, it can seem like a mountain to climb keeping on top of it.

 

Also, managing your own customer services can stop you from having the time to develop new product lines and other important tactical managerial jobs while you work in the business, rather than on the business!

Solution:

Hire professional customer support.

 

Your first customer support rep will probably be a part-time employee who can jump in and respond to customer inquiries when needed.

 

They might also help you out with writing FAQs, social media, and other projects. Going forwards you may well need the help of professionals.

 

Your aim is to take care of pre-sale and after-sale inquiries and offer the best customer experience that brings customers back.

 

For this, you can use one of the huge arrays of online chat programs or a support system such as Zendesk.

 

“Your aim is to take care of pre-sale

 and after-sale inquiries and offer the best customer experience.”

Customer base too small

You might be struggling to find the customer base you need in order to scale up to six figures.

 

Maybe your social media accounts such as Facebook and Instagram aren’t bringing you the revenue you expected.

Solution:

Scale Facebook advertising.

 

After testing products you may have found the products that sell and the strategy that works but you need to scale up to a larger audience.

 

Start with setting up  ‘lookalike’ audience. Using Facebook’s CBO or campaign budget optimization, you can aim to hit a much wider audience base, that’s still lucrative with the best CPR.

 

And finally…

So there it is. Everything you needed to know about how to scale your dropshipping business and start to reap the big rewards of a successful enterprise!

 

Trying to outsource where you can, will leave you the precious time to do what you do best.

 

Along with making sure you trial and test your supplier and know they will have the ability to scale up as you rise above your competitors so your dropshipping business is able to build to a profitable 6 figure income.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

In the ever-evolving digital age, dropshipping has become one of the most popular online store fulfillment models. After all, it makes the entire process seamless and simpler for sellers, leading to prime operations.

 

Store owners can drive in business without the need to keep products in stock. They just have to pass that sale over to their third-party supplier, and they take it from there to get that delivery to the customer. Sounds pretty awesome, right?

 

Though as favorable and attractive as this may be, the true, underlying key to succeeding as a dropshipper is having the right resources on your side. With that being said, you have probably read tons of Oberlo reviews, and how they are supposedly the king of the dropshipping industry.

 

But, even though Oberlo is often recognized as the leading dropshipping company, they are far from perfect and certainly not the only ones in the game. In fact, what if I told you there are some incredible, Oberlo alternatives out there that just might take the top spot instead?

 

What is Oberlo, and How Does It Work?

Before jumping into the Oberlo alternatives, let’s take a minor step back and talk about Oberlo as a whole. If you are experienced, then I hope you see this as a valuable refresher. But for those who are new to the Dropshipping career, this section is for you to gain the full picture of what Oberlo actually is and what it does.

 

In summary, Oberlo is one of the most common solutions for dropshippers to perform their online business. It is a tool that can give eCommerce sellers who strictly have Shopify sites the ability to browse through products, and add the ones they like to sell on their own store. When you find products you like, Oberlo exports those products directly from AliExpress right into your digital store. Then when a customer comes along and buys that product, Oberlo automate the process of fulfilling that order.

 

What Oberlo Is Used For?

Those who use Oberlo do get some pretty significant benefits. For example, Oberlo is much easier for filtering and searching products in comparison to AliExpress and as a well-designed interface, allowing for user-friendly navigation for new sellers. Some other features include:

• Bulk action for importing, purchasing

• Multiple user accounts

• Auto-updates of order status and tracking codes

• Pricing automation
• Tracks sales
• Creates product lists

Now, on the surface, this sounds great, but Oberlo does have its fallbacks.

 

The Fallbacks of Using Oberlo

One of the most significant adversities with Oberlo is the fact that it is only for Shopify dropshippers. This means that it is not compatible with any other eCommerce platform, limiting you profoundly on where you can do business. The reason for this is because back in 2017, Shopify purchased Oberlo. So, it makes sense, but still a con for those who would prefer WordPress or WooCommerce.

Another vital element is that working with Oberlo equates to working with AliExpress. In a nutshell, your customer makes a purchase on your site, then you order that same idem from your supplier (AliExpress), and then they pack and ship that said product to your customer.

AliExpress, though with wide selection of categories and cheap, the majority of the time orders take a long time to arrive at its destination, amongst a slew of other adversities.

 

By going with Oberlo, it means you are just a middle man that does not have any control over the product quality, processing, or the shipping procedures/standards. You are merely the first face that the customers see when shopping, and after that, everything is out of your hands. You have to have the confidence that your supplier is doing their due diligence on their end and providing excellent service. However, with an unsatisfying track record in regards to Oberlo’s reputation, this in and of itself has resulted in:

 

• Poor quality products with Chinese manuals and texts on them;
• Long shipping times (over 30 days) and often without any tracking numbers;
• Terrible customer experience; and
• Track record of having a lot of refund requests.

 

Another note here that applies to new sellers, in particular, is the nonexistent option for customization. Between the limitations of product choices and the inability to customize, it is not a sound tool to use if you want to scale your business. So, when I say you have no control once your customer orders, I meant it.

 

There are many other things that people have to say about their experience with Oberlo. If you want to get more insight into real-life feedback, scroll through the list of Oberlo reviews yourself and see where problems underlie.

 

With all that being said and quite evident, is there something more reliable, quality-driven out there to use as an Oberlo alternative?

 

Why yes. Yes, there is.

 

HyperSKU, the Best Alternative

“Great App, not only support fulfill orders in batch, but also accepts Payoneer and credit card as payment methods. Highly recommend!”

 

“Easy to use and perfect for Dropshipping business. Besides, customer service response in time and solves any problems!”

 

When it comes to HyperSKU vs. Oberlo, there is really no other straightforward debate on which one is better. HyperSKU is one of the most top-rated Oberlo alternatives on the market today. In many areas, this tool is more advanced than Oberlo, particularly when it comes to supplier quality and customization. For those who want to build their dropshipping store and have the trust that their products are highly graded, HyperSKU is the dropshipping company to turn to.

 

HyperSKU is a one-stop solution for dropshippers that handles all the back-end operations with complete automation. From sourcing, purchasing, order fulfillment, to tracking, every business aspect is ideal and streamlined to foster your growth. They work with rigorously vetted factories in China that support sellers in obtaining amazingly affordable quality products, (even private-labeled ones) that will keep customers returning with five-star reviews.

 

What else can you expect to get that Oberlo does not provide?

 

• Express shipping which takes just 10 days to get to your door in most countries;
• 100% self-developed tracking;
• Offers packaging customization to really spread your branding image;
• Over 1 million premium products in over 10 different categories provided;
• Friendly refund policy for all sellers;

• The company takes full responsibility if a package gets lost during transit;

• No MOQ; and
• No monthly subscription fee;

 

Even though the HyperSKU platform is relatively new to the dropshipping scene, it is already miles ahead of its competition because it has focused its attention on customer and seller satisfaction, which drove its quick rise to success.

 

Final Takeaways

Doing business online is a delegate balance; when one aspect is off, such as super long delivery times or poor quality, it can ruin the entire shopping experience for customers. That then becomes the catalyst for reduced dropshipping prosperity for sellers.

 

Poor experiences = bad reviews.

Bad reviews = fewer sales.

 

When products are high quality, delivered fast, and make the entire process smooth for sellers, it is a win-win on all accounts. That is what makes a business grow and what builds a respected reputation, exactly what sellers need to thrive in the competitive marketplace.

 

As a final takeaway, you know what you are capable of. You know how to market yourself and drive business. And you know that you need to have the perfect dropshipping company on your side to help make this happen for you. So, don’t settle for anything less than the best that will allow your business to boom.

 

Spoiler: Oberlo and AliExpress are not the best.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
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So you are just taking a step into the world of your own business! Maybe you are getting tired of the corporate world, the daily commute, or maybe you have just started a family and are looking for a venture where you can work around your children’s care?

Dropshipping is a perfect way to build an income and give you the flexibility you need.

Everyone loves the idea of a fashion business! So In this article today we are going to tell you everything you need to know about dropshipping baby clothes.

So before we drill down into the details, let’s start by taking a look at the short answer as to how you become successful at dropshipping baby clothes.

How do I become successful at dropshipping baby clothes? In order to be successful as baby clothes dropshipper, you will need a trustworthy website, use social media, and paid ads to market your business. Make sure you appeal to impulse buyers and choose a reputable product supplier with the ability to grow with you.

So now we’ve hit the brief, let’s delve a little deeper into how you can run a successful dropshipping baby clothes venture.

In order to help us understand a little more easily how selling baby clothes via a dropshipping model is a great idea for anyone looking for a side business or even make a full-time income, let’s start by investigating why dropshipping is a great choice.

 

Why dropshipping is a good business model for baby clothes

One of the reasons many people who want to start their own entrepreneurial journey find that dropshipping is a great way to build a business is its low initial investment.

Anyone thinking of starting a dropshipping business selling baby clothes or any kind of product will usually be attracted by the fact the outlay to get up and running is minimal.

Let’s take a look below at some of the other great reasons to sell baby clothes using dropshipping.

• Low-risk Dropshipping is a low-risk business model that allows you to sell products to your customers without incurring huge running costs as a wholesaler would have. Because of these lower costs, it is easier to become profitable with dropshipping a lot faster than other business models.
• Quick It is easy to get started as there are dropshipping platforms such as Shopify making building a website quite fast and easily
• No stock required There is no need to manage, stock and organize inventories
• Scalability Easy to Scale-up/down according to owner’s business plan
• Low overheads allow you to function on a very low operating budget
• Cash flow benefits dropshipping baby clothes gives you healthy cash flow, as you don’t have to spend much until you start making a profit

So now we can understand a few of the great reasons why with a dropshipping model is a great idea, let’s take a more in-depth look at some other benefits of selling baby clothes using this method.

 

Benefits of dropshipping baby clothes

• Multiple purchase Customers tend to buy more than one while shopping for their children
• Returning and loyal customers once built trust with parent shoppers, they will be returning customers and this helps build a reputation and save ads cost.
• Recommendations Once you’ve built a good relationship with your customers they add more likely to recommend your store to friends
• High ticket products The baby market niche is a perfect niche to gain some really high ticket prices for add on products, such as baby car seats, nursery furniture, and baby strollers. Once you have a stream of loyal customers, as with any business there is the potential to upsell. The baby clothes niche has excellent potential in terms of its high purchase tickets.
• No low season as babies are being born year-round and parents obviously need to clothe their children throughout the seasons, dropshipping baby clothes can see you with a very healthy, year-round business model. Many dropshipping products rely on a particular season, so this benefit could be the difference between a successful business venture and an unsuccessful one.

So you’re eager to get started. Right? So now let’s look at some steps to building yourself a profitable baby clothes dropshipping business.

 

How do I build successful baby clothes dropshipping business

• Create your own brand. Your dropshipping business will have more value if you can rebrand whatever it is you are selling in an attractive way. Look for baby clothing you can white label and sell as your own brand with custom packaging and branding.
• Appeal to impulse buyers. Make sure your baby clothes selection appeals to impulse buyers with disposable income. When you are focused on driving traffic to your website, you want to experience the highest conversion rate possible because most visitors will never return. The products you are selling should trigger impulse buys and appeal to those with the financial ability to make an instant purchase. Advertise with cute videos or images that demonstrate the products. Show how adorable a toddler would be in a particular piece of clothing would boost sales in ways you couldn’t image.
• Build a secure website. The fastest way to launch a website that supports a dropshipping business model is to use a simple eCommerce platform such as Shopify. Add trust badges to website footer, and include customer reviews – to give parent shoppers more confidence to place orders.

One of the most challenging aspects of dropshipping baby clothes or any other kind of product is finding the right supplier. You are dealing with the pickiest shoppers and you definitely want to avoid quality issues, out-of-stock situation, and slow shipping.

So let’s take a look below at some of those challenges and how to overcome them.

 

Find the best baby clothes dropshipping supplier

When finding a dropshipping supplier always make sure to ask a lot of questions and learn their production capabilities.

Hopefully, your business will grow and you need to find out whether your particular supplier has the capabilities to grow alongside your baby clothes dropshipping business. It’s important they have the ability to assist you with your growth.

Make sure your supplier can process orders efficiently

Let’s face the ugly operational side: Highly chances that your customers order several items in one order. if you dropship with several suppliers and each of them keeps a different size chart, it will be totally nightmare. Stick with one supplier that can fulfill all your orders. Test to see if they can handle complex orders without making mistakes.

 

Make sure your supplier can keep up with your sales

Your winning product could take up 40-50% of your total sales; treat it with 100% effort and make sure your stock keeps up with order fulfillment. Ask your sourcing agency to secure a factory that can prioritize your business, as there might be dozens of other sellers selling the same products.

 

Make sure your supplier can get you premium quality products

Each stitch and seam matters for babies’ sensitive skin. To connect with a qualified factory, you need help from sourcing agent that well connected in the baby clothing industry, knows which are the top-notch factories that produces premium products.

 

And finally…

We hope this article has created some excitement about building a profitable and successful dropshipping business. While giving you some steps to follow to create a profitable baby clothes dropshipping venture.

Baby clothes are an evergreen product that will always be required, year-round, along with the high-value items you can upsell, makes this a dropshipping business guaranteed to bring good returns. Contact HyperSKU if you would like to work with reliable supplier and shipment handler for successful dropshipping business!

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
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Trying to discover that one great product that will transform your e-commerce store is not the simplest of topics and can seem a hurdle to getting your great dropshipping business off the ground.

There are many different ways of searching but in this article, we’re going to discover how Facebook searches can help save you time and money!

 

It can be a long trawl and a stab in the dark trying to uncover what products are the most exciting and grabbing the world of internet shopping. In this article, we’re going to help you give it some laser focus, get results and concentrate on the business of running your store.

 

Before we drill down into the details, let’s take a look at the short answer of how you can find the best dropshipping products.

 

How do I find the best dropshipping products? By thoroughly researching the dropshipping marketplace and using free tools such as Facebook, you will be able to identify trending products by using specific keywords. These are simply typed into the Facebook search bar. This is a great free way to find the best dropshipping products

 

In order to help us understand a little more about this important dropshipping topic, let’s start by taking a look at why it’s important that you choose a great product.

Why make dropshipping research a top priority.

According to recent jaw-dropping research, it seems that one in ten of every single dollar spent is being spent online.

 

With a huge increase of nearly double the above figure expected in the next 3 years amounting to an incredible $5.8 trillion being spent in E-commerce stores across the globe.

 

So it makes sense that as a Dropshipper you should be mindful of the sorts of products you are selling to take advantage of this massive market.

 

“According to recent  jaw-dropping research, it seems that

a one in ten of every single dollar spent is being spent online.”

Understand market trends

Making sure you understand market trends that are hitting online payment carts and having the ability to understand the kind of products that are selling well and look as if they will go on to sell as well if not better in the coming seasons is the key to success.

 

Developing your intuition to understand the dropshipping world can help to minimize the time you spend researching. Using the right tools and platforms which give you a glimpse of the products that are the best selling will give your store the edge over your competitors.

 

So what is the one innovative and also a free place that many drop shippers are finding the important answers to the kind of emerging products to stock? ”

 

Let’s take a look below and find out…

Why use Facebook to find dropshipping products?

If you look through the internet you will find that Facebook search is cited by many successful drop shoppers as one of the best places to research for dropshipping products.

 

Making Facebook searching an integral part of your research methods will make sure you get quickly to the bottom of what’s buzzing in the product industry, who is buying what, where and how much.

 

Not only is it a free resource, but it brings top results and we may go as far as to say, that it should also be the main way you research trending and successful products for your e-commerce store.

 

Why? Let’s find out.

 

• Facebook can give you important info on exactly which products are the most popular, the cost and gives crucial insights into where successful products are being sold across the globe.

 

• Once you have discovered great tending products which you’ve researched on Facebook, you can then type that particular product directly into the ‘customers also bought’ section of Aliexpress, for more research.

 

• You can search the Facebook platform for posts that are either sponsored or simply organic, that are being shared most commonly and check out keywords that are important to dropshipping product research.

 

So you might be wondering what those keywords are. Let’s take a look below to find out.

 

Certain keywords like, are commonly used within Facebook ads sales content. Simply type a selection from below into the search bar and you’ll be greeted with many campaigns promoting dropshipping products.  Make sure you add quotation marks. So something like “pay shipping’ for example.

 

Once you’ve typed into the search bar, Facebook will scroll through its database and find dropshipping products that are currently successful and posting ads.

 

• Buy here
• Click link
• Just pay for shipping
• Get it here
• Sale now on
• Limited time offer
• Perfect gift
• People are going crazy with this
• This product went viral

Another great hack

By adding in the current year, it will find those posts that are right “in the moment” and being shared right across the internet with any of the specific keywords you choose.

Hot products

By doing some regular daily research you are likely to find the most popular products being shared to your stream. The really hot products that those who have done their own research know are trending. Especially those who are promoting their products on Facebook ads. It’s obvious that these are the things that online consumers must be going crazy for right now.

 

So you might be wondering how many times a day should you do your research? Let’s take a look and find out.

How often should I do Facebook product research?

We recommend that you perform your product research on Facebook at least once a day. This way you can be sure that you aren’t missing any vital new product launches, any great new trending products or fall behind the curve.

 

“We recommend that you perform your product

research on Facebook at least once a day.”

 

So once you have found that great product, what do you do next? Let’s find out.

Find a trending product, market to a different place

If you have become interested in stocking a particular product in your E-commerce store that you’ve found on Facebook, it’s tempting to find exactly the same product and promote it to the same country as the one you initially saw it being posted to.

 

It’s obvious that the product has reached some sort of success and is a proven model but where some may go wrong is by showing the same product to the same customers.

 

Obviously this will be a waste of time as you’ve already literally set yourself up in competition against the originators of the Ad If you find a product doing well on FaceBook search it’s already a proven success model.

Why?

You’re showing the audience that has already decided to purchase it or not, the same product. Remember, you’re paying for traffic so even if the initial campaign missed some buyers, it will be too expensive for you to find them.

Test the product in other countries

We recommend if you find a product that seems to hit all the right targets on sponsored or organic Facebook ads, split test it across other countries.

 

You may have found an awesome trending campaign in the USA? If so, choose some of the following options and see what results you get.

 

• UK,
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Canada,
• Spain,
• Italy,
• Germany,

 

If just one of your ad campaigns starts to do well, you could stand to make a hefty profit as you’ve already seen that your targeted audience in other countries loves the product. It can give your e-commerce store a flying start.

And finally…

We hope this has been really informative and cut down some of the difficulties some dropshippers face before finding a killer product.

 

Once you have a solid direction of product selection, the next step will be actually sourcing them. HyperSKU works directly with factories in China to ensure best price and best quality for dropshippers. Additionally, our express shipping and automated tool will help you boost sales to next level.

 

Why not contact us now, and we’ll be happy to discuss how our service can boost your dropshipping results!

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

Most people would think the golden ticket for dropshipping would be the American market? With a population of over 320 million people, the largest economy in the world with a GDP of over $29.5 million then it stands to reason it might be the way forwards in terms of dropshipping.

 

However, have you been considered directing your business into the EU but don’t know enough about it and you may be wondering if it’s profitable? this article we’re going to cover some of the key takeaways in setting up your E-commerce store in the lucrative European market.

 

Before we start to drill down into detail about how to get a market share of Europe’s Dropshipping opportunities, let’s start by looking at the short answer on how to make your new E-commerce store stand out amongst the crowd.

 

How do I make EU dropshipping successful? In order to have a successful European Dropshipping business, choose local warehouses and aim to deliver timely. Ensure you understand the local market, speak to your customers in their own language, get advice from local tax experts and make sure your product listings reflect the chosen country.

 

Now we’ve looked at the short answer as to a number of ways to get the most out of your new European entrepreneurial adventure, let’s start first by taking a look at why it’s a great time to begin your store project in the EU.

Why is it a good time to turn to EU dropshipping

As everybody is aware, the American dropshipping market is becoming more and more saturated by the day. According to experts, there is currently a huge half a million Shopify E-commerce sites in the USA with a significant number of those employing a dropshipping method to put yourself in an overstocked ring with, in order to successfully compete with.

 

So why is it that the American market is becoming more difficult to get started in? Keep reading to find out.

Why is the U.S drop shipping market becoming harder to crack?

The overstocked US market could not bring you the dropshipping success you’re looking for as it’s often the first port of call for any new dropshipping entrepreneurs.

 

So why might the odds be stacked against you when competing in the US, the prime target for dropshipping. Let’s take a look.

 

• US consumer traffic is becoming more and more expensive
• No matter the great niche you choose, there is tons of competition from those already in the dropshipping arena
• With so many different stores competing for the same product, it can easily slip into a price war.

 

So how do you stand out from the crowd with such strong competition and what has Europe got to offer? Let’s take a look

Why is Europe a great place for dropshipping

If we take a look at what Europe has to offer in terms of its GDP we can see its over $19 trillion dollars and is the second-largest in the world with a population of over 500 million, which even outstrips the USA in terms of population to persuade with your great dropshipping product! Not to mention the fact GDP in the EU has increased for 6 years in a row.

 

So it stands to reason with these figures that these countries below are a great place to get started offering huge potential.

 

• Germany
• France
• Italy
• Spain
• Netherlands

 

So now we understand that competition is certainly a contender when deciding to dropship in the EU, rather than the states, let’s see if there are any other benefits.

Utilize your language & culture advantages

If your native language is not English, setting up shop in Europe can be a great opportunity for you and your dropshipping business. Language barriers can cause difficulties when you’re dealing with customers online.

 

Having a natural understanding of the language and the culture will set you ahead of the competition curve and may bring you better returns than if you decide to operate from the US where English is mainly spoken.

 

Local culture can vary widely across Europe, for instance, the French are far less likely to buy faucet shower heads to shower their pets in the kitchen sink than US consumers, for example.

 

So having a good understanding of the culture you are developing your dropshipping business will help you market successfully with the right products.

 

So now we’ve whet your appetite for setting up shop in Europe, let’s start by taking a look at probably one of the most important things to get right when you’re in a bid to claim a slice of European E-commerce and undoubtedly before you start any dropshipping project, which is to choose a warehouse.

Search for a Quicker Shipping Solution for Europe

 

If you can offer express shipping to customers (we are talking about 5-day delivery), that would be a great advantages.

 

Don’t forget that if you have chosen a superstar unique niche, then your customers will be happy to wait. However, shorter lead times will always be a bonus to your customers and lead to a steady stream of happy customers lining up to shop at your store.

 

If you are able to offer a turn around time of 5 to 7 days you will rise above the ranks of other stores which are importing from further afield.

 

So now we’ve seen some basics of how to get your dropshipping business off to a great start, let’s take a look at some important factors to make sure you find a little thought to before you begin your great new European E-Commerce enterprise!

 

“If you are able to offer a turn around time of 5 to 7 days you will rise

above the ranks of other stores which are importing from further afield.”

 

Things to be mindful of when dropshipping in Europe

Understand local business

Getting familiar with the culture and business world from the country you want to set up your business is crucial. A good example of this is that Germany has a very high return rate on dropshipped goods, especially for products related to fashion. So if you do decide to start your new business in Germany, make sure you’re fully prepared to deal with returned products.

 

So is tax different in EU countries? Let’s find out.

Taxations

It’s no secret that the way Europe taxes on goods and how tax is applied for importing can be quite complicated. It may be necessary to set up an LLC (Limited Liability Company) to deal with any worldwide taxation you might be liable for.

 

Do make it top of your list to get some advice on these important areas from a tax company or a licensed account before you start stocking your new European store!

Check your product details

It stands to reason to make sure you check your product listings thoroughly before you add them to your online inventory.

 

Make sure your products are the right fit your chosen country in terms of:

 

• General product details
• Manuals
• Power cords and plugs
• Customer service

Timezone

Don’t forget that your customers may well be in a totally different time zone to you, so make sure you are mindful of that. For instance, your customers will expect you to be available during their country’s normal waking hours.

And finally…

Dropshipping In EU countries has such a huge potential, maybe it’s your turn to discover the potential for yourself as you explore what Europe has to offer.

 

And HyperSKU is here, ready to work with entrepreneurs! As a dropshipping agency, HyperSKU help dropshippers source products from China and ship them to EU countries with express shipping. It only takes 3 business days in some occasions!

 

If you have any questions about any of the topics above get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

Now you’ve come to the stage of getting down to the nuts and bolts of creating your eCommerce empire. It might be that you’re deciding on your niche and investigating dropshipping suppliers and looking within the private market.

 

In this article, we’re going to be discovering where you can find the best supplier for your product in order to earn yourself the best profits you can.

 

You might have a list of questions about which vendor is the most reliable, cost-effective, etc, whether to go with a dropshipping agency or indeed where you can find partners from china, so let’s start with the short answer as to where to find the best Dropshipping vendors.

 

Where can I find a partner for my dropshipping business? Make contact with and enter discussions with dropshipping agents, there are advantages to using agents like HyperSKU who have access to many factories and breadth of products. Dropshipping partners such as Alibaba and AliExpress are able to deliver direct to customers, but many dealers are resellers, which would cost problems when scaling.

 

Now we’ve looked at the short answer as to where to great dropshipping vendors, we can drill down a little more into the different types of vendors there are and what might work best for your dropshipping business.

How to select your dropshipper supplier

Selecting suppliers is a really crucial step that everyone involved with a dropshipping business needs to take. However, there are so many factors that need to be taken into consideration when you’re looking for dropshipping suppliers.

 

Even if you are at the point when you already know which products you want to sell, and you’re sure that they’ll prove to be successful for your business, it’s vital that you find dropshipping suppliers that can provide a really high-quality service that your business deserves. We are talking about processing efficiency, delivery time, and automated operation here.

 

In general dropshipping suppliers aren’t usually that visible – or market themselves to their audience that well, so finding the right dropship suppliers can be a difficult task.

Get involved and talk

There are several ways to find dropship agents:

• Browse and search B2B marketplace such as Alibaba.com
• Browse and search B2C marketplace such as AliExpress.com
• Search on Facebook
• Ask other dropshippers for recommendations

 

Start with a list of suppliers and ask them questions. Fire away anything you have concerns, from their warehouse, product sampling, to fee structures. Once you’ve found a dropshipping supplier that suits your needs, make sure you engage in a real relationship with them.

 

 

So now we’ve looked at some of the steps for choosing your dropshipping partner, let’s take a look below at why we love dropshipping agents.

The reason we love dropshipping agents

There are many kinds of dropshipping partners you can choose. So why should you choose a dropshipping agent? Let’s look at some important reasons why.

 

• They are more flexible and provide extended service than traditional B2B suppliers
• They may have direct connections with factories so will be able to offer a better price and much better quality products
• They have the ability to take care of many aspects of the customer’s journey, including purchasing, pick and pack, shipment, quality checks, and they’ll even take photographs if you ask them to!

 

So now we’ve seen some of the reasons why dropshipping agents are our ‘go-to’… let’s look a little more closely at the kinds of partners available.

Dropshipping partners

So what kind of drop shipping partners are there available?

Alibaba sellers

Alibaba sellers are the biggest platform in B2B marketplaces. There are many, many trading companies and factories in their database to choose from. You might be wondering what kinds of steps you need to take in order to begin your partnership with them. Let’s take a look.

 

• Request a quote from your selection of Alibaba and make sure you ask any questions you might have at this stage
• Narrow down your search to around 5 or 6 sellers
• Ask for samples
• Look at products and compare
• Finally, choose your supplier

 

One of the important things to remember is that these kinds of sellers often require you to make a minimum order of hundreds and sometimes thousands of units in order to partner with them.

AliExpress sellers

AliExpress sellers are one of the most prolifically used agents by dropshippers. A few of the reasons why people prefer to use them include:

 

• AliExpress sellers are generally on the button with trends
• Very familiar with the dropshipping business model
• Dropshippers are able to start with a minimum order quantity (or more commonly known within the dropshipping business as MOQ)

 

Many dropshippers commonly choose to partner with an AliExpress seller and after building up a relationship will go off-platform and deal with them directly.

 

One of the important downsides to consider with AliExpress sellers is that most of them don’t directly own factories and are essentially resellers, so you might put reputation at risk if the AliExpress seller cannot hold stock for your incoming orders. The fact that AliExpress sellers using ePacket would be another big donwside, as ePacket is extremely slow and share a relatively low delivery rate.

Traditional dropshipping agencies

It’s common for sellers to find their sourcing agency by word of mouth, become partners with top AliExpress sellers, and then move offline to continue their partnerships. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of taking this route.

 

• Dedicated service – These traditional types of agencies can assist business and entrepreneurs by providing sourcing and order fulfillment without MOQ
• Longer payment cycle – Often they will offer credit and the ability to pay over a longer period of time
• Offer suggestions – They are able to offer advice on trending products

 

However, one of the downsides is the fact that often this service can be quite slow in terms of sourcing, fulfilling orders and their general communication with you. The reason for this is that they work manually.

 

This could look like a small team of providers, looking after your order daily, along with many others while coordinating with factories using nothing more than a manual spreadsheet.

 

There is also likely to be lots of errors due to the way they manually work with order fulfillment. From managing thousands of parcels through to repacking, label printing, onward shipping to new addresses and passing tracking codes to dropshippers can be a hotbed of potential mistakes which can result in unhappy customers and lack of trust, affecting your Facebook advertising, for example.

 

“However, one of the downsides is the fact that often this service can be quite slow in terms of sourcing, fulfilling orders and their general communication with you.”

 

So is there any other type of dropshipping partner you can work with that has more of the benefits you are looking for and less of the downsides! Let’s look and find out.

HyperSKU

HyperSKU is a new type of dropshipping agency! Let’s look at some of the benefits of using HyperSKU to see how we can bring success to your dropshipping venture.

 

• Direct from factories: We directly source from factories, providing the competitive price and best quality
• In-house system: Self-built system which allows Shopify and WooComneece sellers to sell effortlessly and seamlessly
• Provide quotes within days: our dedicated sourcing team get back to you with quotations, as fast as 2 business days.
• Sync orders automatically: we use automated system to sync order details including tracking codes. In this way, no more spreadsheet work and no more mistakes.
• Order fulfillment – Provides a seamless journey from the factory through to the customer, and all you need to do is a few clicks.
• Provides tracking codes – To your stores and customers, with our powerful API so you’ll both be at ease

And finally…

We hope you have got lots of important information from our article to enable you to get right on board with your dropshipping business. In this current climate, many are looking to escape the 9 to 5 grind and be their own boss.

 

Simply contact us by clicking the chatbox on website, and HyperSKU will be happy to get you on the right track – and provide you a flawless dropshipping service from the factory to your customer.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

After deciding you’re fed up with bosses, lengthy commutes plus everything else day jobs come with, you’ve decided now is the time to start your dropshipping business and enter the laptop lifestyle world.

So welcome to a great future, but of course, you need a great plan to become really successful and join the ranks of the laptop millionaires! It’s really important for you to choose your products and prices wisely, along with other important stuff to get you started on the right track.

In this article, we’re going to look at some of the ways you can get started on your dropshipping journey. Let’s start by finding out the quick answer as to what makes a great drop-shipping model.

What makes a great dropshipping model? Selecting the right topic, or niche area to focus on, with a store based platform for your budget, that suits your technical ability and the way you want your store to look is the best way to get to a successful dropship model. Then testing a few products to launch your business and find what works.

Now we’ve got started with the short stuff, let’s dive deeper into some of the main advantages of running a dropshipping enterprise.

 

Why should I dropship?

As opposed to many other types of business dropshipping comes into its own in terms of the many different advantages. Let’s take a look.

• Easy to set up
• Huge range of products
• Little or no overhead costs (other than your basic utilities needing to function on a laptop)
• Low start-up costs
• Fluid location
• Great scalability
• No stock

So the main takeaway here is that it’s a great option for startups – or any kind of business looking for selling a large range of products without the huge stock control which usually comes with a high price ticket, plus gives the flexibility to work from anywhere there’s an internet connection!

So now we’ve got you excited about entering the world of e-commerce, let’s begin by looking at one of the most important considerations and one which will define your whole offering and ensure you have a great model to work from. That is which dropshipping platform should you use?

Choosing the right platform to sell your product can be a minefield. There are so many to choose from, all offering different services, costs, and outcomes.

So let’s start by looking at some of the most popular.

 

Which platform shall I choose?

One of the chief considerations to bear in mind is the complexity of the platform – versus your own IT skills …or those you’re able to outsource. Obviously, although the platform may have lots of added bells and whistles on it to make your store stand out, it’s a pointless exercise if you aren’t tech-savvy enough to get the best out of it. This is, of course, one important thing to think about when creating your dropshipping business. We’ve put together a list of the five main pointers to consider when choosing your online platform.

• Setup time and cost
• Ecommerce Features
• Ease of Use
• Scalability
• Support

Let’s have a look at some of the bigger players in the industry to see how they fulfill the above and compare.

 

WooCommerce

This well-known platform is great for those who have some skills in coding. Although it has beautiful designs and is fully customizable, it’s built for WordPress, which can be tricky for those with limited technical ability.

If you have those skills or know someone that does, then it does have advantages. For instance, it’s free to use but there are extra costs attached such as hosting, domain names, and security.

In a nutshell, Woocomnerce is a WordPress plugin. So it works by installing and activating it, in the same way as any other plugin. It’s certainly the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress.

It has great scalability as if you want to upgrade your site, there are more than 75,000  WooCommerce plugins for you to select from.

If you’re working with WordPress, then WooCommerce is certainly a plugin you should try, most of the free features are more than enough to get your store off the ground!

Magento

Magento has become one of the most powerful eCommerce platforms for dropshipping. There are two versions to choose from. Magento 1 and Magento 2, and two editions that are Magento Open Source, a free version and Magento Commerce, which is premium.

As for ease of use, it can be fairly tricky to use Magento without expert knowledge, so you may need to employ a Magento developer – at least to get you started.

Shopify

Shopify currently has over 1 million eCommerce stores around the world, including drop-shipping businesses. With Shopify, there is a monthly fee to use the platform, which ranges from $29 to $299 per month at the time of writing.

One of its chief advantages is that Shopify does not require the owner to know much by way of coding skills. So is perfect for a startup entrepreneur.

Shopify provides quite a lot of useful features for dropship e-commerce stores, which include customers and order management, and a range of themes.

Shopify is our best pick for new startups with limited access to coding knowledge and it’s intuitive and easy to use interface.

So in order to really nail your dropshipping business model. The next thing to think about is your product.

 

“Shopify is our best pick for new startups with limited access to coding knowledge and it’s intuitive and easy to use interface.”

What niche should I choose?

“Niche” is simply term used to describe your topic area. By doing a bit of Google research on great dropshipping niches, you can find niches that work well and help you arrive at a successful model.

Google searches will provide you with plenty of tips on how to choose the most profitable. It’s worth noting that high-value niches can also be the most competitive, so make sure you take this into account at your product selection stage.

We’ve put together a few great tips for choosing your niche.

Avoid the kinds of products that attract price comparisons wherever possible. These could be basic electronic accessories and basic kitchen tools.Fashion although extremely popular for customers are considered very competitive nich as well. Be original and creative if you decide to tap into these niches.

• Where possible, avoid bulky products such as home appliances as the cost for shipping will be higher .
• Same as the above with regards to products that are irregularly shaped. Most products are shipped from China and will incur higher carriage costs.

So you may be wondering, with a whole raft of products to choose from, should I take advantage of running a general store with lots of different items rather than a store dedicated to one kind of product? Let’s look below and find out.

 

“It’s worth noting that high-value niches can also be the most competitive, so make sure you take this into account at your product selection stage.”

 

General store or one-product store?

Based on the most popular drop shipping model, we recommend that it’s best to test a few products to find your best-seller, and then simply focus on the winning products.

For this method, you will need to have two stores. One for testing products and the other as a launch store. So, in short, you need two stores: a testing store and a launch store.

It can also be that if you have lots of products in your store, you may run into trouble when trying to fulfill orders, which can cause a lack of faith in your store along with a serious lack of customers.

However, one of the main advantages of using a general store is that you always have the ability to upsell.

Therefore, when you are starting out, it’s easier to manage a one product store, putting you in the best position to start your learning journey. As you get more experienced you can add more products.

We recommend that when you are starting out, it’s

easier to manage a one product store,

Along with all our hints and tips above on what makes a great dropshipping model, make sure you give a lot of thought, time and effort into the following. Let’s find out why.

Why is customer service important?

The main difference between dropshipping via an e-commerce store and a real live store is, of course, the fact there are no real live people to talk to about your purchase.

This is a really important aspect of dropshipping. In order to build trust with your customers, it’s important to keep connected with them all the way through their journey from order, to delivery and beyond.

If you don’t give enough time to building a strategy to keep in touch, it can have serious consequences for your business. Your customers need to have faith in your ‘brand’ and know you are doing everything you can by building a series of customer touchpoints throughout the process.

These can be in the form of standard mailing messages, emails or even a phone call.

And to finish on…

So what are you waiting for? Dropshipping is one of the most convenient, low cost/high return start-up businesses.

No special skill is required, other than choosing your platform, style of shop and products wisely. Coupled with offering great customer service and a steady stream of contact points throughout the buying journey.

Of course, you will need reliable dropshipping agency, to help source products and handle shipping Contact us today and find out how we can help!

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

If we travel back a few years ago, the dropshipping model had just boomed and the ‘laptop’ lifestyle was the next big thing. Entrepreneurs enjoyed riding the wave of success and passive income of which running a successful dropshipping enterprise afforded you, profits were healthy and business was booming.

We’ve consistently read about laptop lifestyles with many YouTube videos and other marketing describing how easy it is to make a living while sitting on a beach. But what about those that missed the initial surge? Is there still a market for dropshipping and is it still the megabucks business model it has been in recent years?

Let’s take a look in this article as to whether you should still be busy creating that killer product inventory, getting busy organizing your supply line and joining the ranks of the laptop lifestylers pulling in a significant passive income.

Should we still be building a dropshipping business in 2022? With the online retail shopping boom set to continue into the future, dropshipping is still an excellent business to begin enjoying all the benefits of passive income. To help us understand a little more about whether dropshipping is still an option in 2022,

First of all, let’s take a look briefly at what dropshipping actually is…

What Is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a method of retail where your store doesn’t hold any stock of the products sold. They are bought through a third party which is then shipped to the customer. The seller never handles or sees the products throughout the delivery or order process.

A store owner who uses dropshipping to deliver to their customers doesn’t own any of the stock he sells, instead, the products are purchased directly from a supplier, which can either be a wholesaler or a manufacturer.

Now we understand a little more about the dropshipping model, let’s take a look at why customers are choosing to shop online and how you can help to meet that demand by starting a dropshipping business.

Customer Benefits of Shopping Online

With 25% of Americans purchasing at least one product online in 2018 according to maristpoll, we can easily see why many people prefer online shopping experience. But why do so many consumers choose to shop this way?

“Let’s take a look below at why this convenient method of shopping in your pajamas has created an online retail revolution bubble, which is not set to burst at any time soon.”

 

Why Customers Still Enjoy Shopping Online

Let’s take a look below at some fascinating statistics as to why customers are shopping online more than ever. According to a survey by NPR Marist in 2018, these are some of the main reasons customers are still choosing to shop online.

• 56% of Shoppers are persuaded to buy by product and service reviews by other customers.
• 39% of online shoppers cite the speed of delivery is the most persuasive factor when choosing to purchase online over a physical retail space.
• Difficulty getting to a physical store is the reason 23% of consumers choose to purchase online.
• Lower prices of online shopping experiences are the reason why shoppers prefer to shop in an online store.

Now that we can clearly see the upward trend in coming summers shopping online, let’s look at how to get your dropshipping business working for you and how to build a successful dropshipping business.

How to Build a Successful Dropshipping Business

Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there are no official statistics or figures available measuring the success of dropshipping.

“Dropshipping is an eCommerce business model and is considered as a medium-risk business.”

However, we do know that as business e-commerce is still as popular as ever with consumers, so let’s take a look at some of the key factors you will need to succeed.

Key Factors to Succeed in a Dropshipping Business

Choose Your Niche Wisely

Before you get carried away with the latest and best gadgets on your product listings, make sure you are choosing a product with a high search volume but low competition. These kinds of products are known as ‘niche products’. This will ensure a steady stream of customers and a large number of potential buyers. However. Make sure your product isn’t competing with major shopping chains such as Walmart which will be guaranteed to obtain page one Google rankings.

Finding your niche product could take some considerable time in thorough research, so make sure you give this important part of your business the time it deserves. Although there are many experienced marketers that understand this, there will still be a significant number of undiscovered products ready to bring you good profits.

“Google’s keyword planner can be a great starting point and is a free resource to help you find low competition products.”

Research Your Product Thoroughly

Many new business owners have an emotional view of their new lifestyle and generally are inexperienced in making a private enterprise successful alone. So to make sure you have the best chance of success, make sure you thoroughly test your business idea and not get too excited about the glossy advertising you see around this type of business giving you unobtainable plucked from the air, likely profits. For dropshippers, split test is a quite efficient way to figure the best strategy.

Keep your feet on the ground and remember, every business needs hard work to make it succeed. There is no such thing as a quick hit. Think about getting a business mentor, someone who may have been on the same journey as you, who can help and guide you.

Target the Right Country for Your Product

When you spend a fortune on Facebook or other targeted ads, make sure you test your chosen countries out thoroughly first. It could be your amazing gadget that you were sure would sell like hotcakes in the US is not the right niche for that particular country, it could be that by changing your targeting to, for example, Ukraine, you become inundated with orders! US is a big market while with fierce competition, and it’s always good idea to go for less competitive countries with great spending power. So make sure you thoroughly test, test and test again!

Make Sure to Focus on Product Margins

Always make sure you pay enough attention and understand profit margins on your products. Make sure you factor in shipping costs, as it could be that once you have discounted your goods to compete with other sellers, or because of the size or weight, it’s not a viable opportunity. One of the huge advantages of dropshipping over other e-commerce retail business is it seriously cuts your overhead costs – no huge payouts of upfront business rents, warehouses or staff. But managing business across platforms is challenging – there are currency conversions, payment fees, advertisement fees, software subscriptions and product cost and more – keep track of them carefully and make sure you factor in the profitability of your new business venture.

Find Reliable and Experienced Suppliers

Finding reliable and experienced suppliers is the key to success in any dropshipping business. Before you spend hard earned cash on great looking websites and logos, make sure you can find a supplier for your chosen products.

Finding a supplier you can work with and who understands your product is rule number one before you attempt to work on any other part of your business. It could cause you valuable lost cash and time of your progress too quickly building your online store.

“If you would like more information on how to work with us to achieve your goals, get in touch and we’ll be able to help and guide you through the process.”

Now we’ve taken a look at some of the points to consider to run a successful dropshipping enterprise, let’s look at why sadly some dropshipping fail and how you can overcome those issues.

Why Some Dropshipping Business Fail

Many dropshippers fail during their first month in their new business venture. These are some of the most common reasons why.

• Poor choice of advertising – Make sure you select one of the major sales channels to market your killer product, as selecting wrongly can impact your dropshipping business. The most important channels are Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Bing Ads. If you are already using one of these channels and things aren’t working out, then consider using a combination of the above.
• Lack of Investment – Drop shipping business is successful mainly due to your advertising so without suitable investment in online ads such as Facebook, this may be a reason why a dropshipping venture can fail at the first hurdle. You will likely require between $300 and $400 to begin a successful ad campaign.
• Poor Customer Service – Being a good manager of a dropshipping store doesn’t end when the order has come in! Keeping in contact with your customers is a necessity when running your dropshipping business. You must be available to reply to your customers’ queries and keep connected to them in a timely way until they have received their product. There are certain queries you may avoid such as shipping – keep customers updated on the shipping status and choose express shipping.

 “HyperSKU provides express shipping with tracking numbers at affordable price. Get in touch and we’ll be able to help and guide you through the process.”

Conclusion

Now we can see that customers are choosing more than ever to shop online we can clearly see that the successful dropshipping model is certainly set to continue well into the foreseeable future.

Making sure you follow our carefully chosen tips above and make sure you don’t fall into some of the traps that can trip up an enthusiastic new store owner, will ensure your ongoing success. If you would like any more information on any of the topics in this article or need some guidance, then get in touch and one of our experienced team will be happy to help.

Latest articles you might be interested in:

• Discover Top 20 Dropshipping Suppliers for Your Online Business
• 5 Steps to Master Shopify Dropshipping for Profitable Business

 

Good images are paramount to ensure you consistently get a steady flow of new and repeat customers to your super shiny brand new online store. They create a memorable experience and are super important, if not the most important consideration in your customers buying decision.

 

According to an important study by Marist poll regarding e-commerce and online spending habits, 25% of Americans buy at least one item online per month.

 

So, how do we make sure we get our piece of the action with our fabulous product or service?

 

In this article, we’re going to explore a few ways in which you can create stunning imagery to encourage your customers to continue to purchase from you time after time and create a ‘must have’ brand to set you apart from your competitors.

 

Do I need good photos for my online store? Creating amazing product photography and imagery on your e-commerce website or store is important. Your online customers are not able to use all their senses to view your products as they would in a physical location, images help them make an important buying decision about investing in your store.

 

Let’s firstly take a more in-depth look at the reasons why you need high quality and stunning visuals for your online store.

 

Why Do I Need Amazing Photos for My Online Store?

The main difference between an online and physical store is that you need to give your customers enough clear images to persuade them to buy your product, rather than give them the opportunity to touch, feel and see with their own eyes as they would in a brick and mortar establishment.

 

Photographs of your products need to provide your customers and potential customers with a substitute for the whole five senses experience that they would be able to get if they walked into a physical store.

 

Your photography has a large amount of ground to cover to be able to compete with the ‘in person’ experience and to increase the odds that they’ll add your amazing products to their basket, and make that purchase, in turn creating a good conversion rate from merely browsing.

 

‘Your online store product photos should replace the

Five senses your customer uses when in a physical store.’

 

Let’s start by looking at how you can use existing high-quality images to start the ball rolling.

 

Utilize Stock Imagery

If you don’t have the time, aren’t confident with your camera skills or simply aren’t interested in creating your own DIY and are looking for some fabulous images for your website, social media or online store, seeking out free stock images can be a worthwhile investment of your time.

 

There is a huge range of amazing quality and excellent stock imagery available, maybe you want a one time image for your blog, or for your products or any other kind of commercial use, take a look below at our favorites.

 

Make sure you check out the licensing requirements on each resource you decide to use but licensing can be subject to change and some imagery may require approval if you wish to use them for financial gain or commercial use, whilst others will be without any provisos and be free to download and start using right away.

• lifeofpix
• Burst by Shopify
• Flickr
• Pikwizard
• Shutterstock

Using Filters

The use of filters on your products can also help you create a brand and a unique style for your store. These filters are perfect to use over stock images if you have decided not to take your own photographs for any reason. Seek out free filter apps and websites to give your stock images an extra dimension.

 

Ok, you’ve decided you want to create your own photography for your brand new e-commerce shop, where do you start? Let’s take a little more of an in-depth look at what helps to make your images more beautiful, more professional looking and help you to create a brand to rival your competitors. Looking at the important considerations before you start your photoshoot.

 

What to Consider Before Starting Your Photography

Make sure before you even pick up your camera that you’ve given some clear thought to the design of your store or website. Would your photographs look better in portrait, landscape or square images?

 

Where is your product description going to sit? Will it be underneath, alongside or above your chosen image shape? If you’re looking to use a designer for your e-commerce store, they’ll usually require a stock of quality images in various shapes to allow them the freedom to design the overall look of the store or website.

 

Now we’ve decided on the style and overall design of your store, let’s look at other important points to consider.

 

How to Create Super Imagery for Your Online Store

Let’s look at cameras, lighting, and backgrounds, and views in a bit more detail.

Professional Images

Before embarking on creating your own images, make sure you invest in a really good camera. To show off your products to their best, you’ll need crystal clear high quality and sharp images. Do your research and find a camera that’ll showcase your products to their best possible advantage.

 

Using high-resolution photography is a must when promoting your wares via an online platform. It ideally showcases your product and could be the difference between a customer buying the same item with you rather than elsewhere. These high-quality images will guarantee that on retina screens such as on Apple devices. The images will be perfectly clear and sharp. It will also allow you to use a detailed lightbox (image zoom tool) on your website or online store platform.

There are service providers available to take professional pictures and videos for less than 50 USD. Look for those service to save time and focus on things you’re good at.

 

Lighting

If you don’t have adequate lighting your images will appear, dark, gloomy and more importantly grainy and poor quality. Try not to use camera flashes as this kind of exposure can give a very ‘washed out’ look to your fabulous products.

 

Lightboxes are ideal for smaller objects. Whilst daylight lamps will give larger products a much more professional look. Make sure lighting is one of your most important considerations. Your smaller items will work well with 30w bulbs and for larger objects, use two 60w bulbs. If there are still dark shadows on your photographs, consider putting your product on a surface which reflects the light better.

 

If this isn’t possible, diffuse the light by putting greaseproof or tracing paper over the lights. This creates a really professional looking ‘soft’ finish.

 

One of the most important considerations of product photography is the background or settings. This will help you create an important context for your product. Let’s take a look below at how to achieve that.

 

Settings and Backgrounds

Your customers are looking to you for a story around your product. This will assist them in making that all important buying decision. We know that consumers today are looking for a little extra when they purchase and are looking to ‘buy into’ your product. This is where you can help them by creating emotional responses – by creating a story for each product in images.

 

If you are selling vintage home interior products, show a picture of them dressed in context. For example, fill a vase you are selling with seasonal flowers and include an image shot of it on an old rustic table.

 

‘Consumers today are looking for a little extra when they

purchase and are looking to ‘buy into’ your product’

 

Try to have at least 3 or ideally 5 images to help your customers with the story of your product. One image will really pop out to your customers if on a plain white background and you can get creative maybe with 1 or 2 images which show your product in a styled setting. This will show your customers how amazing it will look, it will show how your product will look once they’ve bought it, and give them ideas they may not have otherwise had of ways in which to use your product.

 

Always keep the backgrounds of at least one of your images of each product consistent. This will help build a brand identity for your store.

 

Now we’ve looked into the backgrounds for product images, what kind of views of each product should you show? Let’s look below to find out about product views.  

 

What Product Views Do I Need to Show?

Including as many images and close-ups of your product as possible is a sure-fire way to reduce your returns.

 

Product returns can make a serious dent in your profit margins, so add as many good quality close images as you can, in different positions and angles. The more detailed view a customer has of your product, the easier it will be for them to understand it and the fewer questions they’ll have.

 

Consider close-ups of the inside looking out, from the top looking in, underneath and side views. The more detailed you can be, the better in terms of your customers understanding, one photo added once, can save numerous returned products.

 

Conclusion

Getting creative with your images, and providing top quality, sharp photographs, will make sure your customers prefer to browse your store rather than your competitors.

 

Group smaller items together to give your customers an idea of how they work together and also to encourage them to buy more products from you than they may have initially anticipated! Anything you do that will make your products stand out or look more appealing is going to help you sell more products and be far more desirable to any potential customers. These things, done well, will help ensure repeat buyer’s, and a steady flow of new customers.

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