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How to Launch a Successful Dropshipping E-commerce Business

There is no easy solution to launching a successful dropshipping e-commerce business of any kind. Whether you will be marketing your own products or launching a dropshipping business, it will take either a good bit of startup capital or a great deal of time and effort. Sometimes it takes all three, time, effort and money. However, when it comes to a dropshipping e-commerce business, you can usually launch a business with the least amount of startup capital. However, the level of success will be directly proportionate to the time and effort you put into starting your own business. Hereโ€™s some of what you need to understand when launching a successful dropshipping e-commerce business.

How to Launch a Successful Dropshipping E-commerce Business

Market Research Is a Must โ€“ Find Your Niche

Dropshipping has a huge amount of appeal to anyone looking to launch a business with a minimal amount of startup capital. After all, you will not be investing in products but will typically be marketing products for other companies. The key to launching a successful dropshipping company is doing market research. Which products are moving quickly and which niche will you be most comfortable in expanding? It pays to promote products you are familiar with on more than one level. Bear in mind that when you are selling products you donโ€™t manufacture, you will still need to maintain a high level of customer service.

Customers who buy from your e-commerce website will typically come to you with any questions or concerns they have, so it is important that you understand what you are selling and how those products work. Do your research to match merchandise you are comfortable selling with products that are currently moving! This is a critical first step when launching a dropshipping business.

Focus on Higher Priced Items

Also, it pays to remember that you will be spending just as much time selling products with a list price of ยฃ10 as you would for products that sell for ยฃ1,000. Just because you need a minimal amount of money to get started, it doesnโ€™t mean you will put any less time into the venture. The higher priced your listings are, the more profit you will make per sale. No matter how much an item retails for, you will be putting the same amount of time into marketing and sales. Thatโ€™s a given. In other words, it takes just as much time and effort to make ยฃ1 per sale as it does to net ยฃ100 per sale. Which would you rather focus on?

Locate Dropshipping Suppliers

There is an almost infinite number of small business ideas in dropshipping. However, make sure you can locate dropshipping suppliers before settling on your niche. If you canโ€™t find a supplier, you canโ€™t sell the product. Itโ€™s that simple, yet just that complicated as well. There are several really large dropshipping suppliers out there, itโ€™s only a matter of finding those with the products you want to sell.

The beauty of dropshipping is that an eCommerce website doesnโ€™t need to maintain a huge inventory. You take an order for a product offered by your supplier, turn in the order and they, in turn, ship it from their warehouse. Inventory is one of the biggest expenses when starting a new business and with dropshipping, that expense is something you will not need to cover. This is the leading reason why so many eCommerce sites are in the dropshipping market.

Why Manufacturers Contract with Dropshippers

At this point, you might be curious why any manufacturer would want to contract with eCommerce sites when they can very well market their own product lines. Actually, dropshipping is a sound product marketing strategy. Why settle for what they can market and sell as a single business entity when they could contract with countless eCommerce sites around the globe?

Itโ€™s the perfect product marketing strategy plan when you think of the potential audience that can be reached with their products on 1,000 websites as opposed to being limited to a site or two, which they maintain. Now you understand why manufacturers are willing to market their products through a dropshipping supplier and itโ€™s up to you to find which of those products you want to sell from your own eCommerce site.

Itโ€™s Not a New Concept

Dropshipping services have been around for decades, but in recent years, it has become the means by which a small eCommerce site can carry a huge line of products at a minimal outlay of startup capital. Think of it like opening a grocery store in your local market area. You obviously wouldnโ€™t be making every product you carry in your shop. Instead, you would be ordering from a supplier to keep your shelves stocked.

However, unlike a local grocer, you wouldnโ€™t be purchasing any of the products you well. As you take orders, you contact the dropshipping supplier who then sends out the merchandise. Dropshipping is simply a new twist on an age-old concept and a way for even the newest eCommerce sites to make a sizeable profit with little money invested. There is no better way to sell thousands of products without buying a single item to sell. Itโ€™s ingenious, isnโ€™t it?

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About Lilach Bullock


Hi, Iโ€™m Lilach, a serial entrepreneur! Iโ€™ve spent the last 2 decades starting, building, running, and selling businesses in a range of niches. Iโ€™ve also used all that knowledge to help hundreds of business owners level up and scale their businesses beyond their beliefs and expectations.

Iโ€™ve written content for authority publications like Forbes, Huffington Post, Inc, Twitter, Social Media Examiner and 100โ€™s other publications and my proudest achievement, won a Global Women Champions Award for outstanding contributions and leadership in business.

My biggest passion is sharing knowledge and actionable information with other business owners. I created this website to share my favorite tools, resources, events, tips, and tricks with entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, small business owners, and startups. Digital marketing knowledge should be accessible to all, so browse through and feel free to get in touch if you canโ€™t find what youโ€™re looking for!

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