Table of Contents

What is Dropshipping?

Start Selling Online Without Product is the term that you have heard online if you want to or already selling products online. Here in this blog, we will explore what is Dropshipping and if that is a thing to do in 2024.

When it comes to selling online the most important thing is the product but what if we say that you can sell a product that you do not have in your possession? It’s true and possible. In such case you are the one that will promote the product online however fulfillment will be done by someone else.

Dropshipping is the process where you do not own the product in your position and you do not need to manage the inventory. You also do not need to manage the shipping. Now you must be thinking how you will be selling the products online if you do not have the product then that is the best part of Dropshipping you just need to work on customer acquisition. The inventory management and the shipping are managed by someone else.

In traditional online selling or E-Commerce, the most important thing you must have is the product. You setup an online store and list your products online. Whenever an order is received you ship the product to the customer and the process is completed. On the other hand, in Dropshipping you just need to work on the first step where you just sell the product online and the shipping or product inventory is managed by someone else.

Now as we understand what is DropShipping or how it is different from traditional online selling,

What is dropshipping, Let’s understand how to start DropShipping step by Step-

Dropshipping Guide –

For the customer, the Dropshipping order will be as same as any other order placed online. The customer will place the order and the order will be processed by the merchant to deliver to the customer. There are key steps involved in setup Dropshipping business and below are 7 important steps you can follow if you want to start Dropshipping business – What is Dropshipping?

1-Create your E-Commere Store:

You will work just like any other online store or platform, you need to have your own website to list your products online. when you list your products online customers will place the order from the online store. This online store will be managed by you and you will add the products to your online store. The name of the store and what products you want to list in your online account will be decided by you and you will be managing the same. As a seller, you will have full control over what you sell on your website or online store. You will also be able to decide or manage your profile. we can say that the total control over what you sell at what price will be decided by you.

You can create an online store easily by using the pre-designed temples or if you know how to code a website that would be great. two most easy platforms that you can use to create your online store is Shopify and Woocommerce.

Shopify is the paid tool that will require a monthly subscription however you will be in need of very little technical knowledge but on the other hand wocommerce would need a little technical knowledge. Woocommerce is cheaper in comparison to Shopify as you can manage the hosting as needed. Now as you have the online store setup so you are ready to list your products online.

2-Finding the Suppliers:

The work is almost done however the most important step to go live is still to be worked on. To sell a product online the most important thing is still a product. In Dropshipping we know we do not have the product so we need to find the supplier or the wholesaler that has the products we need.

There are many sellers out there from whom you can purchase products to sell online but in the case of dropshipping, we need to find the supplier that can ship the product for us. First, you need to determine the type of products that you want to sell in your store and then find a suitable supplier supplying those products.

Oberlo is one of the most reliable suppliers that you can tie up with to dropship the products to your customers.

You will be building your brand as an online seller so it is important for you to get the most trading and best products delivered to your customers so they can come back to your store again and again. Please remember that the repeat customer is one of the key factors in the online e-commerce business.

Now as you are able to find the supplier that can help you ship the products to your customers then the next and most important step is to list the products in your online store.

3-Adding Products to your Online Store:

Listing the most trading products is the sure shot to success in dropshipping business. People love to order and buy most trading products over the internet that they can not find in a local store, here is your chance to grab those opportunities and concert those prospects in actual sales.

After deciding on the product that you want to sell in your online store, you can add that product to your online store. Most of the suppliers offering dropshipping will have the inbult software or program that will alow you to import the products from their website to your online store easity or even with one click.

After the product is imported to your store, you can customize the placements of the products in your online store to convert more sales. The store is ready to have it’s first order and your work is to get the customers to your store.

4-Receiving an Order:

Your most important work starts from here as getting visitors to your website or store is the most challenging part. You have an online store with the products to sell on it and you just need the customers to visit your store to place the order. A customer can find your product from multiple sources depending on how you do digital marketing for your store. When a customer visits your store to place an order, the customer will place the order with you which means that the customer details along with the payment will be made to you. For the customer, you are the one that will fulfill the order for them.
After you have your successful order placed on your website. You will forward that order to the seller so the shipping process can be started to send the product to your customers.

5-Order Forwarding to Seller:

As the order is received from the customer, you need to forward the order to the seller. Remember, for customers you are the one managing the order so you need to make sure you provide the best in class service for your customer and get their orders delivered on time. you need to forward the order to the seller as soon as possible so the processing can be started.

The process is simple and easy, the way customers placed the order on your website the same way you need to place the order on the supplier’s website. Just remember you need to provide your customer details at the time of placing the order for your customers on suppliers website.

Customer Places Order on your store > You will Place the same order on Supplier’s website using the customer shipping address and contact details.

That was easy, right? Indeed however you need to be careful when you do that so you can include your customer details correctly. After the order is placed on the supplier’s website, Supplier will ship the order to your customers.

Earlier customer made the payment to you and here you will make the payment to the supplier on behalf of your customer.

6-Tracking and customer support:

Now the order is shipped by the supplier and the tracking information is available to you. When you have the tracking information, make sure to provide that to your customer so they can have the tracking and set the clear expectations of delivery.

All customer support and help for your customers will be done by you so it is important for you to provide your customers with the shipping details. you should have contact information listed on your website that can be in form of phone or email or any other method you want so your customers can contact you for the support they may need regarding their products.

After you provide the customer support and tracking information, the customer will receive the order, and the process gets completed.

As the order has been fulfilled, here comes the most important question related to Profit and margins.

7-Profit and margins:

The difference between the price you will pay to the suppliers to place the order and the price that you list on the product on your website is your margin. In dropshipping this is a good thing that you can manage the pricing on your own and you can sell the product at the pricing you want. This way you can have control over the profit percentage that you want to make. this is awesome because remember you are not the one that manage the inventory. What is Dropshipping

Conclusion and What is Dropshipping? –

What is Dropshipping? There are many advantages of dropshipping like you don’t have to manage the inventory, the control over pricing, and access to thousands of products. The dropshipping business can be a good idea to start with in a low budget but remember the competition is very high and you need to work on your online store to get more visitors and customers, if you are good at that then this is for you.