Why get involved with drop shipping products online?
It’s a question I get asked a lot, so here I am going to cover some of the main benefits as to why drop shopping is a great way to make an income online!
Drop shipping is an order fulfillment strategy in which the retailer doesn’t keep his products in inventory, but instead relies on manufacturers and wholesalers to ship orders to customers. This kind of arrangement has numerous benefits which make it so attractive, especially for online merchants. Once the customer has made an order for an online shipped product, the retailer receives both the order and the payment for the order. He then contacts the manufacturer or wholesaler and issues a purchase order for the items with instructions for shipping it directly to the customer. The manufacturer or retailer is mandated to ship the product while the retailer earns the profit. The followings are advantages of drop shipping online
A Broad Product Offering
Drop shipping gives merchants an opportunity to offer a wider range of products than what they can offer if they had to inventory everything. There could be limited space to store espresso machines and this implies that the retailer will only deal with one or two models in store. On the other hand, with many espresso machines in place, the retailer can offer dozens of models by utilizing drop shipping arrangements.
Wide range of options can as well help you in marketing your products since every page will serve as a landing page, additional page for Google, entry in comparison-shipping engine or Bing to index. The additional products can be a sure way of introducing new customers to your store. Here is a great drop shipping resource for you where you get almost anything!!
Come to Market More Quickly
The time taken to post a drop-shipped and inventory product to an eCommerce platform could be the same, but drop shipping may get the merchant faster to the market. This is because drop shipping eliminates the waiting time when the products are being shipped from the manufacturer to the merchant. Mostly, products takes a few weeks to be delivered. This implies that merchant can even start selling immediately the products are posted on an eCommerce site.
Explore New Lines
Drop shipping gives merchants the opportunity to test new products without necessarily bringing them in inventory. For instance, if a retailer is dealing with tack –bridles, saddles and other equine-related products majorly referred to as western style riding, occasionally the same retailer can get requests for English style saddles. Drop-shipping agreement with the supplier of English style saddles will give this retailer an opportunity to know how well these products would sell without pumping a lot of money to the test.
Reduce Your Investment
Drop-shipping agreements do not require any upfront investment and this significantly reduces its investment in products. In addition, the retailer doesn’t have to keep the products in inventory, cutting down the cost of storage and risks involved. This also means that eCommerce startups don not need a lot of money to get up and selling.
More Time
In drop-shipping, some responsibilities of retailers which could be really time consuming such as receiving the products, stack, pull back, store or ship the products are eliminated. In cases where the store owner is also the box packer, the additional time will be for selling products and this directly benefit the company. In well established companies, the time saved will lead to a reduction or stabilized costs.
Minimizes risk
As stated earlier, in drop shipping agreement, there is no upfront investment required to receive the inventory. This implies that if the business fails to pan out, then the only money you will lose is what you paid to get your website functional. Other risks which are significantly minimized are storage risks such as obsolete, theft, etc. the rate at which goods get damaged during shipment is also reduced significantly since drop shipping reduces the amount of time goods has to change hands.
Offers convenience
All the tasks involved in packing the products are simply done for you. You can add other new products anytime without any problem. It is also cheap to launch new products since you do not need to incur any extra cost before they are sold. Cheaper shipping rates are also accessible through a drop shipper than shipping your own package.
Bulky Items.
Bulkier items are expensive and therefore needs a lot of care and attention during the shipment process. They require specific equipment to load and off- load them. They are actually expensive to receive, to store and to ship them. Therefore, it will make a lot of sense to drop ship them from the manufacturer to reduce the number of times they have to change hands and consequently reducing the risks involved.
Location
Some geographical locations of certain suppliers can also be of great benefit to you. For instance, if your company is located in the central part of the US, then you will easily access the drop shipping providers from the west cost companies who can serve you excellently because they are closer to your customers than you are. In such a situation, drop shipping can be of great advantage to you.
SaleHoo is a great place to start if you are looking for Drop shippers
Having said that, it is also important to talk about the likelihood of your business succeeding through drop shipping and the returns expected. Just like any other business, there are a number of factors which determine the profits and success of this business. Your commitment and dedication to your business and the niche selected contributes a lot to the well being of your business. A business of this caliber will take time to grow, be patient and hardworking to create a drop shipping business which will earn you a six-figure income. You can as well consult those who have already succeeded in this business for guidance. This will expose you to other important aspects which you might have not known about drop shipping. Learn to master the market trends and identify the favorite seasons to maximize your profits.
There are many drop shipping providers who are always at your service. Their work is to supply the products to your customers according to your desire and instructions. Your customers may not be even aware that you are actually using a drop shipper instead of sending them their merchants personally. The increased number of drop shippers has even made it easier and cheaper to start an online store.