Ecommerce platforms, like Shopify, have made it easier than ever for individual artists and creators to sell merchandise that features their work on it. To top it off, dropshipping is a convenient way for creators to run their business without ever having to hold on to stock and inventory.
You can be on the go without unsold inventory holding you down, and you only sell as many as get sold. But is dropshipping really worth it, let’s look at the details and the potential benefits it offers.
What is Dropshipping Anyway?
This way of managing a supply chain allows a retailer to sell goods without needing to have them. They simply transfer order details, shipping address, and other information to a manufacturer, wholesaler, or another retailer. These third parties then make the required product and send it to the customer directly.
Imagine that you find an online store that sells t-shirts featuring art from your favorite show; these creators send their ideas to a wholesaler, who then, whenever there’s an order, creates the product and then sends it to the customer at their address.
4 The Benefits of Dropshipping
Plenty of benefits come with adopting a dropshipping business model, as long as you do it right.
1. Less Risk Involved
Unlike typical ecommerce business models, implementing dropshipping allows you to conduct business with little to no risk. Even in the scenario that you don’t make a lot of sales, you won’t end up losing a lot of money because you didn’t make a considerable investment in gathering inventory in the first place.
2. No Need for Extra Space
You could be selling out of a cramped studio apartment and you won’t be bothered in the least. Since each order is shipped directly from a wholesaler to a customer, you don’t need to keep boxes of unsold inventory at your own expense.
3. No Big Investments
When relying on a traditional ecommerce model, you’d need to wait for years until you’d have enough resources to start off your business. With dropshipping, you don’t need to make a significant investment in starting your own business, just enough funds to make a functional website and pay for leads.
4. Focus More on Marketing
While most other businesses need to focus on product development and marketing, you’ll only need to channel resources into the marketing aspect. When you’re not producing or developing any of the products yourself, you have the advantage to direct your efforts toward influential campaigns.
Dropshipping Ecommerce Trends, Are They Yay or Nay?
Starting up a dropshipping online store, you need to choose a white label service that gives you the rights to a product by adding your store’s name on the tag. You need to be selling original designs when it comes to products, otherwise you’ll lack a unique proposition to sell by, since every other person can have the same thing made.
Choosing and sticking with a niche based on know-how and passion is a trend. Targeting at niche marketing can make a dropshipping store owner more likely to stand out of the touch competition.
Low entry barrier makes strategic selling more important for future dropshipping online stores. Impulse buying, social selling, and social media marketing, like Snapchat marketing and Instagram marketing, are getting more and more popular in dropshipping ecommerce world.
Using dropshipping apps for product sourcing is another trend, like Bigcommerce, Oberlo, etc.. It makes finding right and qualified supplier process less stressful and risky, much more efficient and easier.
Nowadays dropshipping online store business is getting more and more competitive. The statistics shows that more than 30% of online store sellers are using dropshipping, and it is expected to keep growing in 2019. But the question still remains, is dropshipping even worth it, or is the popular ecommerce model been laid to rest? The answer lies in the kind of product you’re looking to sell, the dropshipping service, and selling strategies you choose.
