If you’ve come across this article, you’re probably thinking about starting a dropshipping business: Congratulations! You’ve come to the right place to learn some of the secrets of this new business model that has taken the Internet by storm.
In this article, you will get some basic information on how to dropshipping from scratch. Don’t worry: you may be facing an important decision, but if you follow these simple steps, everything will be a little easier.
1. Forget gurus
As soon as you do a quick search on dropshipping in your browser, you are sure to come across quite a few YouTube videos of people claiming to know all the secrets to dropshipping. There will also be others who will try to foist their paid online courses on you, claiming to make you a millionaire in a matter of months.
We regret to inform you that it is not that simple. The secret to success in dropshipping is neither in a YouTube video nor in an online course, but in work, continuing education and constant learning. Don’t trust anyone who claims to make you rich in a short time, because if it were that easy, we would all be rich long ago.
2. Study the market
Immerse yourself in the internet and prepare to spend a lot of time reading. In the world of e-commerce and in any business, there is one tool that every entrepreneur should be familiar with: The market analyses
If you want your business to succeed, it’s important to know the sector you’re working in: Who will be your customers? What will your competition be like? How will you differentiate yourself from some and stand out from others? These are all basic questions to address before you start a dropshipping store.
In addition, you must always stay up to date, as the e-commerce market is in constant change.
3. Specialize in something you already know how to do
Are you an avid gamer? Do you like to cook? Do you love everything related to children and babies? Good, then focus on that. It will be much easier for you to specialize in something you already know and you will be able to approach your customers better if you think and feel the same way they do. Moreover, it will certainly be easy for you to keep up with all the trends of an industry you are already attracted to. But don’t lose sight of the fact that you are in the process of building a dropshipping store. So add market analysis to your own interests and follow the trends on Google to not fail in your specialization and make sure there is a market for what you want to sell.
In addition, all studies indicate that it is much better to specialize your e-commerce in a certain area than to try to cover too much. It will be much easier to design a marketing strategy for a business that is limited to one sector than to target several very different target customers at the same time.
4. Find a reliable suppliera
The secret of any business is not only to sell a lot, but also to have satisfied customers and a low return rate. If customers are happy with the product and delivery times, they will buy from you again and again; to do this, you need to offer the best products and the best service.
That’s why it’s very important to choose a good dropshipping provider that has top brand products and ensures short delivery times. This is the case with BigBuy, where you can choose from over 90.Choose from thousands of products and hundreds of brands, with stock located in Europe and available for delivery within 24/48 hours to anywhere in Europe.
Dropshipping from China may seem like a good idea at first glance; however, when you consider that delivery times are 15/21 days, the quality of the products is low, and the return rate is usually around 5%, the initial high profit margin is not so high after all. In addition, more and more consumers are aware that they can buy their products directly on Chinese platforms at a very low price.
With a dropshipping provider like BigBuy, which allows your customers to receive the product in a short time and also offers top branded items, you will have satisfied customers who will write good reviews to your store and most importantly will buy from you again. A real win-win situation!
5. Think carefully about the name of your store
You will of course need a name for your store and domain. This is your business card, it is especially important to make a wise decision because it will affect your whole image.
Ideally, your domain name should not only be easy to remember, but also contain keywords that identify your market niche (if you focus on a specific language). Therefore, we recommend that you choose a relatively short name. If your business is aimed at several countries, the strategy changes and your domain name should be a brand name.
BigBuy will help you design the logo for your store if needed, so you only need to focus on the essentials.
6. Decide which platform you will work with
There are some e-commerce platforms that you can use to set up your dropshipping store. So you need to decide which of them you want to use. We’ll explain the pros and cons of each platform:
Dropshipping with Shopify:
Shopify is the best dropshipping platform if you want to get started as soon as possible and have limited technical knowledge. It also has an app that allows you to manage your business from your phone, too. Further, it allows very easy integration with marketing platforms.
Dropshipping with PrestaShop:
If you want to start a multilingual dropshipping store, this is the best choice. Moreover, this platform offers you the possibility to develop your store in a customized way. However, it should be noted that for dropshipping with PrestaShop you should have more advanced technical knowledge. PrestaShop is a free open source platform, but you need to contract and pay for a server to host your e-commerce.
Dropshipping with Woocommerce:
Woocommerce is also an open source platform that offers flexibility in designing your store. Here too, however, you need sufficient technical knowledge to be able to operate your store to its full extent. Besides, even for this you need to avail a server powerful enough to host your store.
7. Take care of your SEO strategy
Search engine optimization (SEO) will help you position your store and stand out from the competition. It is therefore an important building block for the creation of a successful dropshipping business.
Search engine optimization is the cheapest way to get traffic to your store. Therefore, optimize your website as much as possible to appear in the top results of your customers’ search queries.
Focus on improving titles and descriptions, inserting keywords in the texts and creating interesting content in your blog. The fewer different products you sell and the more specialized your store is, the easier this task will be.
8.Sell on online marketplaces as well
Thanks to BigBuy’s integrations, you can also dropship to online marketplaces. To sell on these marketplaces, you don’t need to have your own store, but you can do it directly from the cloud software of the multi-channel integration Plaftorm.
Create a multi-channel strategy to improve your chances of reaching a broader customer base. Marketplaces like Amazon, AliExpress, Ebay and many others give you access to millions of buyers around the world. Of course, this visibility comes at a price, and that is that most marketplaces charge a commission for each sale you close. In return, you save the investment in marketing and advertising for your store, because the marketplaces will do it for you.
9. Take off internationally
Why limit sales to your country when you can dropshipping all over Europe? It may sound crazy to want to cover so much from the start, but… What if you could do that with the help of BigBuy with the least amount of effort?
Those who use BigBuy’s services have access to the entire catalog in 24 European languages, as well as to the best transport companies, so that orders arrive as quickly as possible and in the best conditions. Suddenly, millions of potential customers are accessible, without large investment costs; so it’s up to you not to miss out on these advantages.
10. Be persistent
Don’t assume that your store will be a complete success right from the start. Think of it more as a learning experience, give yourself time for it. Success may even come immediately, but don’t give up if that’s not the case.
First, because your business needs to position itself first, which can take a few months, and second, because you need to define and refine your PPC campaigns first to see what works best. You may even need to make a change in strategy.
If you give up too soon, you’ll miss out on the results you would have achieved in the long run. Set realistic goals and try to improve your strategy every day without losing sight of your goal.
Like any other business, it takes a lot of work and perseverance for a dropshipping store to succeed. So we invite you to get to work. We hope this article has been helpful to you. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to write to us at: [email protected]