Have you dreamed of getting your own store? The internet has given many people the opportunity to run their e-commerce shops without ever leaving their homes. If you decide to open a store, you will have a couple of different options for how to go about storing and shipping your products. You can store them in your garage or attic, you can rent out warehouse space, or you can use a dropshipping model to run your business. Click here to find more information.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping allows companies to fulfill orders without keeping products in stock. The company will purchase the items it sells directly from a manufacturer or a warehouse on an on-demand basis. This is a convenient way for small, internet-based businesses to operate.
Before you decide whether or not you would like to store your products yourself or use a drop shipping model, there are a few things to consider.
Pros
No Overhead
The most obvious benefit of dropshipping is that you will not have to buy or store products, so there is no overhead. Before drop shipping came along, a person opening a small business would have to take an enormous risk. They would have to buy a certain amount of the product they wanted to sell for wholesale and hope that people would buy those products.
Not only will you save money by not having to buy any products or rent a warehouse, but you also won’t even have to hire warehouse workers. The dropshipping company will pack your items and ship them out for you.
You Won’t Run Out of the Product.
If your products are a big success, you won’t have to worry about running out of inventory. It is hard to know the exact amount of a product to buy. A dropshipping warehouse will have plenty of items on hand and ready to ship to your customers as needed.
More Products to Choose From
Whenever a new store opens, they will buy products wholesale and see how well they sell. It can take several tries to select inventory that your customers are interested in buying.
Dropshipping eliminates the need for this kind of trial and error. If you have an online store, you can offer as many products as you would like. For example, if you want to sell a t-shirt you designed, You may wonder what color and style your t-shirt should be. You know that you should not overwhelm your customers with an enormous amount of choices.
When you sell a t-shirt strictly online and use a drop shipping company, you can easily change the colors of the shirts you are offering. One week you could try offering your t-shirt in pink, purple, and green. If no one orders a pink shirt, change the pink shirt out for a red one the next week.
Cons
Lack of Quality Control
When you offer a product that you do not store yourself, you cannot see what is going out to the customers. You may select several items from the warehouse or manufacturer that look good on the internet but are flimsy and unattractive when you get them out of the box. It is always good to order a few sample products before selecting a drop shipping warehouse or manufacturer.
Customer Service is Harder to Provide
When a customer orders a product, and it doesn’t arrive, they are likely to be upset. You will not always know where that order is when using a drop shipper. The dropshipping warehouse has an internal tracking system that you may not be privy to. When the customer calls you, you will have to call the drop shipping warehouse, and they will have to call the shipper. This can be very costly and time-consuming. It can make your customers angry.
Running a business from your computer can be fun and profitable. Using a drop shipper is a way to see how well your business works without a lot of overhead.
If you’re thinking about starting an online business, drop shipping is a great option to consider. It’s easy to get started and you can do it from anywhere in the world. Just be sure to find a reputable supplier and factor in the cost of shipping when you’re calculating your profits.
