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You may have arrived at this article because you are thinking about setting up a dropshipping business: Congratulations! You’re in the right place to find out about some of the secrets of this new business model which is taking the internet by storm.
This article gives you some general principles that you should work through to find out how to do dropshipping from scratch. Relax. You are about to make an important decision, but if you follow these simple steps it will definitely make it all a little easier.
1. Forget about gurus
When you have carried out a quick online search on dropshipping you are bound to have found several YouTube videos from people asserting that they have all the secrets for successful dropshipping. There will also be others selling you their online courses through which you will become a millionaire in just a few months.
We’re sorry to say that it’s not like that. The secret to successful dropshipping can’t be found in a YouTube video or an online crash course. The secret lies in working, establishing yourself and in constant learning. But don’t ever trust anyone who tells you that you can become rich in a very short time because, if it was that easy, there would be many more rich people in the world.
2. Study the market
Immerse yourself in the Internet and be prepared to spend some time doing a lot of reading. In the world of ecommerce, and of any other type of business, there is a tool that every entrepreneur should know about: Market research.
If you want your business to work, it is essential to know about the sector you are working in: Who will your customers be? Who will be your competition? How will you differentiate from some and stand out above others? These are the basic questions that you need to find answers to before you take the plunge and open a dropshipping store.
Besides, you will always have to stay up to date as the ecommerce market changes very quickly.
3. Specialise in something you already know about
Are you mad about gaming? Do you love cooking? Is your thing babies and children? Well, focus on that. It will be much easier for you to specialise in something you already know about, you’ll be able to connect with your customers in a particular way if you think and feel like they do, and it almost certainly won’t take effort for you to stay up to date with all the trends within a sector that you are already attracted to. But don’t lose sight of the fact that you are about to set up a dropshipping store. Accompany these interests with market research, study Google market trends so that you don’t fail in your specialisation and make sure there is a market for what you want to sell.
Furthermore, all the research indicates that it is much better to specialise your ecommerce in a specific area rather than to try to include too much. It will be much easier to design a marketing strategy for a store focusing on just one sector rather than having to talk to customers that are very different from each other.
4. Look for a trustworthy supplier
The secret for any store is not just to sell a lot, but also to have happy customers and a low returns rate. Having customers that are satisfied with the product and the shipping times means that they will come back to make purchases time and time again; to make this happen, you need to offer the best products and the best service.
For this reason it is very important to choose a good dropshipping supplier that has name brand products and short shipping times. This is the case for BigBuy. You can choose between over 90,000 products and hundreds of brands, and all the stock is available in Europe for shipping in 24/48hrs.
In principle, doing dropshipping from China may appear to be a good idea, but if you keep in mind that shipping times can be from 15-21 days, the quality of the products is low and the percentage of returns tends to be around 5%, then the initial high profit margin is no longer quite that high. Additionally, an increasing number of people are aware that they can buy their products on Chinese platforms at a much reduced price.
Having a dropshipping supplier like BigBuy that enables your customers to receive the product in a short time and that also offers name brand items means that you will have satisfied customers. They will provide positive ratings for your store and will also return to make further purchases from you. It’s a win-win situation!
5. Have a good think about your business name
You are going to need a name for your business and a domain name. This is important, as it will be your business card, so choose it wisely.
Ideally, your domain name should contain keywords that identify your niche market (if you are focusing on one language) and which is easy to remember, for which reason we recommend that you choose a relatively short name. If your store is aimed at various countries, then the strategy changes and the name of your store should be a brand.
At BigBuy we help you with the design for your store logo, if you need this, so that you only need to concentrate on the important things.
6. Decide on the platform you will work on
There are various ecommerce platforms that you can use to set up your dropshipping store, and now you need to decide which one of these you want to work on. We describe the pros and cons of each of them below:
Dropshipping with Shopify:
If you want to launch your store as quickly as possible and you don’t have much technical knowledge, then Shopify is the best dropshipping platform. In addition, it has an app that enables you to manage your store from a mobile phone and also allows very easy integration with marketing platforms.
Dropshipping with PrestaShop:
This is the best choice if you want a multi-language dropshipping store. It also allows you to tailor your development to that of the store. But keep in mind that, to do dropshipping with PrestaShop, you need to have more advanced technical knowledge. PrestaShop is an open source platform that you can use free of charge, but you will need to take out a contract and pay for the server on which to host your ecommerce.
Dropshipping with Woocommerce:
Woocommerce is also an open source platform and is a flexible choice for designing your store, but in order to make your store fully operational you will need prior technical knowledge. You will also need to take out a contract with a sufficiently powerful server to host your store.
7. Don’t forget SEO
SEO will help you to position your store and to differentiate yourself from your competitors. SEO is an important element for creating a successful dropshipping business.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the cheapest way to bring traffic to your business, so you need to optimise your website as much as you can in order to appear at the top of your customers’ search results.
Focus on improving titles and descriptions, include keywords within the text and create interesting content in your blog. Obviously, the less products you sell and the more specialised your store is, the easier this job will be.
8. Also sell in marketplaces
It is also possible to do dropshipping in marketplaces through the integrations offered by BigBuy. You don’t need a store to sell in marketplaces. You can do this directly through the cloud software of the Multi-Channel Integration Plaftorm.
Create a multi-channel strategy to improve your chances of reaching more customers. Marketplaces like Amazon, AliExpress, Ebay and many others will give you direct access to millions of shoppers throughout the world. Needless to say, this visibility comes at a cost and most marketplaces charge a commission for each sale. In return, you will save on the costs for marketing and publicity for your business because the marketplaces will do that for you.
9. Become international
Why limit your sales to your own country if you can do dropshipping throughout Europe? Perhaps you may think it is madness to try taking on so much right from the start, and it might seem overwhelming, but…What if we tell you that with BigBuy you can do this with the minimum of effort?
If you take out a contract for BigBuy’s services you will have access to the whole catalogue in 24 European languages, and to the best transport companies so that your orders arrive as quickly as possible and in the best condition. You will have access to millions of potential customers without making a large outlay. Now, it’s up to you to make the most of it.
10. Don’t give up too soon
Don’t expect your business to bear fruit right from the start. We wish it were so, but don’t get frustrated if it takes a little more effort. This is a learning curve so give yourself time.
Firstly, because your business has to position itself, and that takes a few months and, secondly, because you will have to define and tweak your PPC campaigns, determine what works best, and you may even need to change the strategies that you had initially proposed.
Giving up too soon means that you won’t see the results that you could achieve if you take a longer term view. Set yourself some realistic goals and try to improve your strategy each day without losing focus.
Like any other business, to be successful, your dropshipping store needs to be worked at and needs persistence, so we’re inviting you to get to work. We hope this article has been helpful, and if you need help with anything else, don’t hesitate to contact us at: hello@bigbuy.eu
