MerchMixer makes it easy to get into US dropshipping by connecting you with thousands of vendors. Choose from more than a million products and add them to your store with a few clicks.
That said, there are a lot of things that you must learn to run a successful dropshipping business.
For one thing, dropshipping has its advantages:
No need to buy and stock inventory which keeps start-up costs low.
Vendor/supplier handles fulfillment. No need to worry about packing and shipping the product.
Because you won't have to account for shipping and fulfillment expenses, items may be priced significantly cheaper in a direct-to-consumer model. This is fantastic for customers, who will most likely pay less than the cost of acquiring the same goods from Amazon or other internet retailers.
And disadvantages:
No control over the product
It's difficult to grow your company without adding extra personnel or outsourcing fulfillment, which means you'll eventually need more resources than if you were operating independently.
Still, dropshipping is a great way for people looking to get started with eCommerce with a very minimal investment. However, there are a few things that you must know if you want to come up with a profitable dropshipping business.
I. Choosing the right product
Lean towards products that exude a "wow" factor. This is critical since you'll primarily be promoting the product through social media.
Choose products that solve an immediate problem.
Choose a product that you can honestly say you'd buy for yourself (or at least know someone who will).
II. Your Online Store
Shopify makes it easy to start an eCommerce store using a selection of customizable themes. Choose one that looks clean and professional.
Buy and use a custom domain for your store (.com) instead of the free Shopify subdomain. This makes your online store appear more reputable.
For beginners, we recommend starting a single product store or a niche store. These tend to have better conversion rates compared to a general online store.
III. Advertising your dropshipping store
You can scour the web for existing content about your product and use them to create your ads. Eventually, you will need to create original content for your ads to avoid copyright troubles and stand out from your competitors.
Create new content for your ads as they'll eventually stop converting as people get tired of seeing it in their feeds.
Create ads with the intention of grabbing people's attention as quickly as possible.
IV. Marketing
You can start promoting your dropshipping store on Instagram. DM influencers or theme page owners and negotiate a rate for a shoutout (sharing your ads with their followers).
Eventually, you can scale using Facebook ads which offers more targeting options albeit at a higher cost.
Consider branching out to other ad networks like Google ads, Pinterest, Tiktok, Snapchat, etc. The idea is to figure out which social networks work best for your niche.
Remember that you can't rely on social media alone to drive sales, so you'll eventually need to build a strategy around other channels like email marketing, PPC ads, or influencer marketing.
For more information, check out our blog post on the subject — Dropshipping: How to Start from Scratch.
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