Best Tips on How to Start Drop Shipping
Confused about how to start your own dropshipping business? Dropshipping is a great way to earn passive income, and even though there’s plenty of information out there, it can be hard to go through everything. This article will explain some key factors for how to start drop shipping.
Setting up your Dropshipping store doesn’t have to be difficult
Research is Vital Before Starting a Dropshipping Store
Product research
The first step in establishing any dropshipping store is to know what products you want to sell. Look at other eCommerce platforms like eBay or Gumtree to find the best selling products currently being sold. Product research tools such as Sell The Trend will also help you. It is best to choose items and item categories that are not only selling well, but are items that are not fads like fidget spinners once were.
Market Research
Understand what people want and are searching for
Being tuned in to the current market demands is next in line for how to start drop shipping. A big factor in understanding this will be finding out what keywords and phrases are being searched for online. Search engine tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs will help you with this. This will make you aware of specific products or product groups that people are most interested in looking at online. Google trends can also tell you the popularity of search terms over time and the regions they come from.
Competitor Research
Once you’ve decided what to sell, it’s a great idea to now look at what your competitors are doing. You’ll be able to learn what they are doing in their approach with promotion, pricing, website design, etc. Spyfu is another tool that will be helpful, and you can use it to learn how to steal traffic from competing dropshipping companies. Competitor research can also reveal gaps between what customers need and what competitors claim.
Action Plan for How to Start a Drop shipping Business
Choosing the Right Dropshipping Supplier
With your research complete, it’s now time to choose suppliers. You will need to have a source of high quality and consistent products from reliable suppliers at the right price, although products that have a high wholesale price and high shipping costs will eat into your profit margin. Shipping times are another big factor in creating a successful eCommerce business and it’s best to select suppliers which offer same-day shipping. Reduced shipping times will increase your competitiveness and make your dropshipping store stand out.
Creating Your eCommerce website
Build a great eCommerce website that’s easy to use and navigate
There are plenty of website builders to choose from and many will not be the right fit for you. Stick with dedicated eCommerce platforms like Shopify as they have easy to use templates for creating online stores. You’ll then need to decide on what your brand logo and imagery will be for your website. Remember to match it to the products you’re offering.
Construct a Marketing Plan
People need to know that your business exists and can solve their problems with your products. As an online business, digital marketing will be the way to go. Popular ways to market your dropshipping store include paid ads on google and social media, as well as influencer marketing. Facebook ads can be cost-effective, whilst Instagram ads are good for targeting a younger audience.
Start Selling!
So, now you finally know how to start drop shipping and plan the creation of your dropshipping store. Research into your product, market, and competitors will lead you to a good action plan. Your action plan will have the correct suppliers, eCommerce platform and marketing plan. Choose Dropship Only as a great option for your product supplier and you’ll be ready to start shipping products!
