You’ve probably heard some talk about dropshipping in the business world, but do you know what it is? If you’re here, you probably have some idea, but it’s a lot more beneficial to businesses of all sizes than you might realize. Here you’ll find a short guide to dropshipping and what it can do for your organization.
If you’re looking for a way to put yourself ahead of the competition, dropshipping is it! If you’re looking for other financial advice for your business or personal finances, try this financial freedom resource. Otherwise, keep reading to learn all about dropshipping.
What’s Dropshipping?
So, what is dropshipping, anyway? Dropshipping is a different take on your business’s supply chain. Where the traditional method is to keep your products in stock, dropshipping eliminates the need to have static product sitting around waiting to be sold. Instead, your stock is managed by a third-party supplier.
When you make a sale, the order is sent to and fulfilled by the third-party supplier, who then ships the final product to your customer.
How Does it Help My Business?
So, why would any business not want to have their own products in stock? Doesn’t that seem strange? While it might be different from the traditional method, it’s not without its benefits. For starters, you’ll save big on inventory management and storage costs. If you’re running a large retail operation, having products stocked in warehouses can get quite costly.
Between renting or buying the space to store your stock, paying staff to manage the warehouse, and insurance, you’re probably looking at thousands per month just in inventory management and storage costs. With dropshipping, someone else handles those costs and ships directly to your customers!
If you’re launching an eCommerce store, dropshipping can save you thousands in startup costs. You won’t need to rent or buy a physical location in which to produce and store your products. You don’t have to pay upfront costs for inventory, either, since you’ll only be purchasing the inventory once a sale is made.
Packing, shipping, and handling returns become the responsibility of the dropshipper, so you can wash your hands of these extra processes and get back to what you really want to be doing: running your business and interacting with customers.
Perhaps the most important benefit of dropshipping is that you can run a business from anywhere. As long as you’re connected to the internet, you can get your products delivered to the customer in a timely manner. You can live wherever you want and still have the option to sell on a nationwide level. Now that’s flexibility any business owner can appreciate.
You’ll also be able to carry a wider selection of products on your eCommerce site, which is something that holds back a lot of smaller eCommerce operations. Since you’re not paying for storage space, you’ll be able to offer hundreds of products if you so choose.
How to Be Successful In Dropshipping
We know what dropshipping is and how it can benefit your business, but what does it take to be successful in this endeavor? First and foremost, you’ll need to find a dropshipping supplier that can meet your specific needs. Once you’ve found the right supplier, you can move forward to getting your dropshipping operation up and running.
The important thing to do is to maintain complete transparency and set expectations for your dropshipping partner. The last thing you want during the shipping process is any confusion that could cause shipping delays that might upset new customers. Nowadays, fast shipping is what sets online retailers apart, so be sure you’re working closely with your dropshipping supplier.
Your Competition Will Be In Envy
With dropshipping, you’ll be saving thousands of dollars per month, to the envy of your competitors. Not only will your orders be fulfilled faster and you won’t have to worry about not having certain products, but you’ll also be able to invest that extra money into things like marketing to expand your business operations.
Small startups and large businesses alike are starting to look at dropshipping as a viable option to effectively reduce their inventory management costs. The competition simply won’t be able to beat your prices if they’re still dealing with the overhead associated with stocking and managing inventory.
Lower overhead costs, faster ship times, happier customers, and envious competition; what’s not to love about dropshipping?
Conclusion
Dropshipping is a supply chain method that’s becoming more and more popular as the demand for faster ship times and wider product variety increases. This method helps smaller businesses keep up with the mega-eCommerce sites like Amazon, and offers an easy way to save small businesses thousands on inventory management costs. Find a supplier today and start taking advantage of this effective storage and shipping method!
