Many eCommerce newcomers think that opening an online store is too risky, difficult and will cost them a bomb.
They are afraid of online retail as they suppose they will have to spend great sum of money to buy inventory.
If you still think the same, we’ve got some good news: you can choose dropshipping! Starting an online store with dropshipping, you can have an additional source of income alongside with your main job or get the full financial independence with your own business.
Maybe you think that you should be tech savvy, experienced in marketing and have many other business skills?
Let’s find out how you can launch your own store, and it will be:
- simple as ABC;
- affordable to anyone;
- fully customisable.
Look and see for yourself – there’s nothing extraordinary in it!
What is dropshipping and why it is worth trying?
Dropshipping is a trade model that allows you to sell products without stocks and inventory. You find suppliers and place the photos and descriptions of their products on your internet platform. When a customer orders something from your site, you send this order to the supplier who delivers the ordered products directly to your customer’s address. The difference between the supplier’s price and your price is your profit margin.
In comparison with traditional retail model, dropshipping scheme minimises your risks greatly. Your initial investments are really small as you don’t have to buy the products and pay for their storage.
What other things make dropshipping an ideal choice for online business?
- You will not face excessive stock or shortage of goods.
- You do not have to deal with packing and shipping of parcels.
- If you want to expand your business, you can diversify offered products anytime; there are no limits for you.
- Any business ideas and new products can be quickly tested and evaluated.
- If you are not ready to give up your main job, you can run your dropshipping site in your free time.
- As the only thing you need to dropship is Internet, you can work from anywhere in the world.
- You can set as large profit margin as you wish.
And if we compare dropshipping to other ways of trade without inventory, for example, with affiliate marketing, it’s clearly seen that dropshipping is much more profitable. You don’t get only small commission fee – you can set any prices, all depends on your will and common sense.
You can also include shipping costs in the final price and offer your customers free delivery. That will help you in forming positive brand image and increasing customers trust.
Why is it better to launch an online store?
Generally speaking, a dropshipper can offer the products on any platform: thought the social network account, in a blog, in a site. But having a specialized online store increases your chances of success.
First of all, a specialized online store inspires greater trust. It is better-looking and far more convenient in use. You know that there’s no second chance to make a first impression, so an attractive design is the first step to win customers recognition.
An online store is much easier to promote than an account in social networks or a blog. All benefits of paid ads will be at your disposal.
You can add a blog to your dropshipping store. Blogging can bring you many benefits. Relevant and quality blog articles make it possible to join content marketing and SEO which greatly improves your positions in SERP.
Besides, eCommerce sites have many useful instruments that make them convenient for customers. They can filter out products by various features, add products to carts and wishlists, watch pictures in customer gallery, etc. Amateur online stores in social media pale in comparison to the functionality of a professional eCommerce website.
What do you need to start an online store with dropshipping?
To launch your own website, you should study the market first to find a good niche. There are lots of studies and online instruments devoted to finding a promising niche. The easiest way is to use Google AdWords and Google Trends to find out what trends are rising now.
Then you should buy domain and hosting. A good domain name should show at once what your store sells. It also should be easy to remember and SEO-optimized, so include some keywords in it.
Then you should choose the appropriate platform or content management system (CMS). One of the most convenient CMS for online stores is WordPress – it is free, user-friendly, secure and fully customisable. There are lots of useful plugins that optimize your site’s performance.
If you don’t want to mess with all technical moments, you can seek help from professionals and order a ready-to-go online store. You’ll get a turnkey site with attractive design and all necessary functions.
Now your task is to promote your own brand and attract customers. You can use such popular ways of online promotion as search engine optimisation, contextual advertising, social media marketing, email marketing and others.
That’s it! You are an eCommerce entrepreneur and your own boss! Starting an online store with dropshipping, you enjoy your profit and independence, and nothing can stop you now!
