Last Updated on 1 year by Komolafe Bamidele
Obviously, a dropshipper is a person involved in a dropshipping business.
So, to clearly understand who is a dropshipper, it is essential to understand what kind of business it is.
Dropshipping is a retail business in online stores where all orders go through a dropshipper who distributes them among Manufactures with his commission;
Manufacturers by themselves send the goods directly to the Customers.
Typically, Manufacturers work with big Clients, so it is not so easy to find the one willing to take care of dropshipper’s orders, but still, there are many who do not want to care regarding the distribution chain.
Therefore, a dropshipper maintains an online shop or uses the marketplace and mainly connects part of this scheme.
It may look easy, but in fact, there are many difficulties in this business.
Let’s discuss all of them in detail and how available tools for dropshipping make them advantages of the work.
A Dropshipper Works Remotely
That’s one of the pluses of this business as it is really like that. You need only a stable Internet connection; no warehouses are required.
But considering the amount of work on the initial step:
- Search of bestseller products
- Search of Manufacturers
- Search of marketplaces (like Shopify, Big commerce, eBay) or creation own website or a page in the social network
Does it really sound that you will have time to see something gorgeous despite the monitor? To work through all these tasks efficiently, you need some automation.
Among tools for dropshipping, there is a lot of software proposing to do described work and repricing, analytics, automatic ordering, etc.
Some programs like Google Trends can perform the market research; Keepa can perform the search on Amazon for best products;
Title Builder does the same for eBay; AutoDs, Shipdropper, Easync provides all in one. And there are many more.
A Dropshipper Does Make Investments To Start the Business
This is partly true if the first step of the dropshipping business can be executed manually or within a trial period of special programs;
creating a good advertisement campaign (step 2 of a dropshipper work) usually requests some money.
You are lucky if you already have a platform with a constant number of clients where you can easily add some products for sale.
If not, you need to use free marketing methods (like mass-following, mass-commenting, barter with some other shops of bloggers) or rely on algorithms of marketplaces.
If you choose the marketplaces for your goods, you usually do not need to pay in advance (like a monthly fee); many platforms charge commission for the sold goods.
To be on top (meaning to be popular there) of marketplaces, you need to have a catching fly card, many positive reviews, or a low price.
Preparation of flying cards typically requires some professional photos and videos, usually not for free, but still, you can do it by yourself free tools like Canva can be helpful.
The advertisement process should be the regular job of a dropshipper to have a constant workflow of customers.
A Dropshipper Does Not Care About the Production, Packing, and Delivery of Goods.
It isn’t easy to build a perfect business model without personal control and involvement, but a dropshipper cannot influence the quality of products he sells.
He can only change the Manufacturer. If you establish a good relationship and be a constant client, you can slightly complain about returns or other harmful aspects, but not so much.
Even the choice of delivery company is on the Manufacturer’s shoulders.
The only service a dropshipper can provide to customers is checking the status of production and delivery time if the Manufacturer provides this information.
The stronger the contract with Manufacturer a dropshipper signs (step 3), the more predictable the whole chain will be after the customer’s order placement.
The critical part of the relationship is how the returns will be treated – how will pay back the customer’s money, who will pay delivery costs, etc.
Such an organizational model is vital for this business, and many dropshippers choose it.
However, if you are a control person, it seems this business will not fit you. A Dropshipper only takes Orders and Distributes them among Manufactures.
After doing all preparation work in steps one, two, and three, the real work starts. Customers find your products and start to order them (step 4).
A dropshipper receives the orders and money (advance payments are always better), takes the commission, and sends the orders to Manufacturers.
As said earlier, a dropshipper should keep an eye on the production and delivery.
A dropshipper should always check the residues on the Manufacturer’s storage and do repricing if required before customers order the product.
If the required product is unavailable, a dropshipper should propose something with the same quality instead and some bonus.
As delivery is executed by Manufactures, unfortunately, a dropshipper cannot combine products in one parcel and save some money; otherwise, storage is required.
There are some software proposals available for this step – they help with stock and price monitoring, make orders automatically, the fly cards can be imported automatically as well (AutoDs, Easync, Capterra can perfectly do this as well).
A Dropshipper checks Reviews and Maintains a Strong Connection with Customers.
Advertising now means not only some nice video of the product on TV or YouTube, but it is also a complicated marketing strategy consisting of many factors.
The main one is a dropshipper reputation in the sales circles. That means that reviews are doing a dropshipping business and put you at the top as well.
Being friendly and fulfilling your obligation determined on the website, you will receive a lovely review that can be worth an ad somewhere.
There are a lot of cheating services providing reviews for money, but trustable marketplaces are against them and block such dropshippers.
For sure, all reviews cannot be positive; just provide solutions, proper replacement, bonuses, coupons for unsatisfied customers.
Do this openly to show your work spirit and care about customers’ happiness.
Search engines also filter in top products with better reviews, so this step (5) of dropshipper’s work is essential. This is the final stage of the dropshipper’s tasks.
And at the End, it Seems like a Dropshipper Receives Easy Profit
Dropshipping business is a good choice for a young retailer to understand some main rules in the sales business.
Due to increasing online business worldwide, the amount of dropshipper newcomers significantly increased, and the trend is for increasing in the future.
This business is profitable, and for a dropshipper, the most accessible money to earn, no expenses on inventory, storage places, and salary for workers, low risks lead to high reward.
But it is still competitive, so it is essential to find a niche and advertise it properly.
The dropshipper revenue also depends on the choice of products, available discounts from Manufacturers (as long-lasting Clients), proper marketing, good reviews, attractive prices, lovely fly cards, expanded target audience, delivery in time, good quality of products.
If a dropshipper is doing a good job, then a salary of 1000$ and higher is possible. The profit from each sale can be 20-40%.
Wrapping Up
All new areas are complicated to start but dropshipping is not a complicated model; it consists only of several steps.
No legal documentation, certificates, or other activities should be executed in this business.
All production difficulties are with the Manufacturer; a dropshipper is an excellent representative searching for clients.
This business for a dropshipper is mainly about communication to reach customers’ satisfaction; all other staff can be done by software.
The software can even predict some trends and start with some products you can change the subject; the price of failure is significantly less than in other businesses.
No products in your stock occupy your investments. Dropshipping business is easy to scale because it is very flexible.
Dropshipping model can be added to traditional types of retail business that you have to increase the choice.
For example, after checking the popularity of some products, you may organize your storage, buy the products from the Manufacturer at one time insignificant amount, and save some money with discounts and delivery costs.
Another version, if you propose your customers to choose delivery options by themselves, directly from the manufacturer or from your store with some additional products.
There is no limit to creativity in business.
You may dream about passive income, and it could be dropshipping; just invest some money and time to maintain a trustable and working scheme. Just never forget regarding proper Customs’ service.
Thanks for reading to this end, continue reading;