Does Dropshipping Work? Tricks to Make Sure it DOES!

Dropshipping is a system for selling online whose main advantage is the savings of not having to manage the stock of any products. This is probably the reason why it has become so popular in the world of online marketing. And now it seems like everyone wants to jump on the dropshipping bandwagon, but how do we know if dropshipping really works? If you want to know exactly what it is that can be the difference between a successful dropshipping business and a failed attempt… Keep reading!

1. Seek out good suppliers

A supplier that doesn’t deliver on time or that sends products that arrive in poor condition can become a real burden on your business. Therefore, be sure to link up with a reliable dropshipper. Some of them can even provide you with a CSV file listing their products and the possibility of syncing your e-commerce shop with their catalog. This allows you to see the prices and what they have in stock at any given moment.

2. Decide where you are going to sell

There are hundreds of Chinese or American suppliers with very economic products, but if you are going to sell in your country, having a local supplier is recommended. Keep in mind that the further away your supplier is, the longer it will take for orders to be filled and you could have many more problems related to shipping. Don’t take any chances with shipping deadlines.

3. Say NO to brand name products

Brand name products and successful dropshipping don’t really go together. This is because there is a huge amount of competition and it’s incredibly difficult to compete with them on price. Something that happens quite often with selling brand name products is that you end up competing directly against the suppliers themselves. If you do a search for your potential name brand product, quite often you’ll find that there are people selling it at exactly the same price that it would cost you to buy it from a supplier.

4. Provide added value

The profit margins for dropshipping are a bit lower than the norm, between 15% and 20% of the price, being optimistic. At the end of the day, the supplier is always going to give a lower price to the wholesalers who buy a ton of products than to a smaller retailer like you. That being said, one of the few things that will allow you to inch the final price of your products up a bit is the added value that you are able to provide the client with. Take the time to help by offering accessories, tutorials, or other video or blog content and you’ll become the preferred shop for your buyers.

5. Give top-notch customer service

Building off of our previous point, your customer service and support must be simple impeccable. Your reputation should be your holy grail, and nowadays things can spiral downwards in a matter of minutes thanks to the power of social media. An unsatisfied customer can become your worst enemy with something as innocent as a tweet complaining about how he or she was treated in response to a problem with your shop. Social proof is essential, so in the case of a problem with your supplier, you should assume responsibility for the error and make it up to the customer. Remember that it is much easier to get a satisfied customer to make a repeat purchase than to convince a new one from scratch.

6. Install an internal search engine

Has this ever happened to you? You look for something in google, you go to a website to look for the specific product, and no matter how much you browse you simply cannot find it. You’re in a bit of a hurry, so you in the end you give up and tell yourself that you’ll look for it later, and turn off your computer. That website owner just lost a sale, and the same thing will happen to you if you don’t bank on an internal search engine. You’ll go through life losing money. Furthermore, an internal search engine doesn’t just improve the user experience. They also give you the possibility of synchronizing with Google Analytics to access all kinds of data and statistics providing detailed information about your clients’ behavior. As you might expect, to this regard we recommend that you try Doofinder for free:

What about you? Do you believe that dropshipping works, or not?

Selling on the Internet may be cheaper, but it is not always easier than selling in a physical shop with a storefront on the street. If you want dropshipping to work, you’ll have to follow the steps we’ve mentioned to the T. It goes without mentioning that you should make sure there is enough demand in your market, but at the same time that there is not too much competition taking into account the characteristics of your business. It should be clear that there you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you before you achieve the same level of all of those sellers who are succeeding with dropshipping and praise it so much. But if they can do it, what’s stopping you?