Dropshipping business is very popular nowadays, it is not a difficult task. It is very easy to do this business because people are constantly liking marketing on the internet, and people like to shop for both small and big things online, which saves both their time and effort.

This is the process of selling goods from a wholesaler, this business is slightly different from other selling businesses. In this article, we have explained how it is different. When you learn about how to start dropshipping, you will understand why it is different.

How to start dropshipping for free? step by step.

There are three keys to Dropshipping

Customers:  Customers buy products from you at the retail price.

Dropshipper: When you get an order from a customer, you forward the order to the supplier, pay them the wholesale price, and add the margin and your profit

Supplier: Suppliers deliver products to customers Maintain your retard and packaging

If customers have any issues related to product delivery or quality, customers can contact you, who is responsible for forwarding them to the supplier.  

Virtually 30% of all online stores are using dropshipping. The competition is quite high in this industry. Many other dropshipping sites sell the same product with different branding, so making your brand stand out and recognizable is difficult.

However, there is a way to achieve this by choosing a niche. This simply means targeting specific groups of customers on which a business should focus.

For example:- meowingston

START WITH YOURSELF.  In which category are you most interested or knowledgeable?  The more you know about your niche, the easier it will be to know what really works for your audience.

LOOK AT TRENDS.  To ensure that you make a profit, consider selling products that are high in demand regardless of the season. Check out the list of trending products from Google for product inspiration. Tools like Google Trends are great and are also great for locating them.

CHECK OUT THE BEST-SELLING PRODUCTS ON AMAZON. To make sure that your niche has growing or stable sales, it will be really useful to review the sales history of your niche on Amazon because it is the largest online marketplace. AMZScout’s tools will also help you identify the trending products that are suitable for selling.

After researching and listing down several potential niches for sale, conduct market research to have a good knowledge and access to the industry.

INDUSTRY VALUE AND MARKET SIZE.

Collect information on the market of your niche’s size, trends and growth rate. Collecting and analyzing this data will show you if there are enough customers interested in buying the product you are choosing to sell.

TARGET AUDIENCE. Consider the niche’s area, like age range, gender, income level, hobbies, and occupation. This research will help you with branding.

CUSTOMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR.  Understanding the market and observing what buyers drive to purchase the product and how often they do so helps determine your pricing and marketing strategies.

MAIN COMPETITORS.  Use tools like Google Trends to find the brands that and dominating your niche industry. Observe and analyse their strength, weaknesses, mistakes, etc., and identify the market gaps your niche and business can cover.

Once you choose a range of products and niches to sell, let’s move on to the next step.

FIND DROPSHIPPPING SUPPLIERS

The suppliers you choose are really important and they will really impact you success of your business. Apart from supplying the products, they also handle logistics and customer deliveries.

The simplest way to find a genuine supplier for your dropshipping business, platforms like Doba, SaleHoo, AliDropship, and Wholesale2B. Some companies like Printful and Printify can also create custom, print-on-demand items for customers.

Consider the following when searching for suppliers:

LEGALITY AND REPUTATION.  Check the supplier client list and ask for their business license to avoid fraudsters. Check reviews to check the company’s service quality.

MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY.  Check if the supplier has a minimum order for advance payment. Generally, the more items you buy, the lower the cost.

ADDITIONAL FEES. Apart from the wholesale price, other costs like monthly subscription, packaging, refunds, and platform fees may also apply. Keep all these in mind while deciding the profit margin. A good benchmark after calculating all these costs is 20-40% or more

CUSTOMER SERVICE. Check what customer support channels the supplier offers. Make sure they respond promptly and can help you with any issues in case of buyer complaints.

PRODUCT QUALITY. Order samples and review the item to see if it is of good quality and the packaging is secure. It is also a good idea to compare similar products from different suppliers.

ORDER FULLMENT PROCESS. Pay attention to the time it takes for the supplier to process and deliver orders. Also, choose a supplier that can handle returns well.

WEBSITE BUILDER OR CMS INTERACTION. There are some dropshipping platforms like AliDropship that offer an extension for your website so you can import products from there in just a few clicks.

Before establishing a working relationship with a supplier, it is a good idea to draw up a dropshipping contract agreement. This document outlines your business arrangements with them, such as the wholesale price of goods, delivery standards, damaged goods, and so on.

BUILD YOUR BUSINESS BRAND IDENTITY

Beyond choosing a niche, strong branding can set your business apart from the competition. The more unique your branding is, the more likely your target audience will remember you and buy from you.

Our guide on how to build a brand can help you get started. For a dropshipping business, here are the most important steps:

DETERMINE YOUR BRAND POSTING. Determine what key value or attribute your customers can get from you and not from other similar brands. Highlight this element in all your marketing and branding efforts.

COME UP WITH A MEMORABLE BUSINESS NAME. Users are more likely to remember names that are easy to pronounce and type. If you need help, use our AI tool that can generate countless business name ideas for you to use.

PICK AN AESTHETICALLY PLEASING COLOUR PALLETTE FOR YOUR BRAND’S VISUAL IDENTITY. Choose colours that suit each other, look attractive, represent the business, and appeal to the target audience. Get inspiration from our website colour scheme guide.

CHOOSE FONTS THAT ARE UNIQUE AND EASY TO READ. For the logo, use a distinct typeface that expresses your brand identity. Meanwhile, choose a more familiar and readable font for web content, social media visuals, email newsletters, etc.

DESIGNING A LOGO THAT LOOKS  SIMPLE YET GRABS ATTENTION. People should be able to easily identify what your business sells and represents. To save time on logo creations, take help from AI.

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

You’ve decided what you want to sell, secured a supplier, and developed a branding strategy. Now it’s time to understand how to create a website for your business.

People should be able to identify easily what your business sells and represents. Take the help of AI to save time on logo creation.

For one thing, it offers complete agency over your branding and business, from customizing themes to choosing payment gateways. And unlike e-commerce marketplaces, you don’t have to pay any platform fees, so you can enjoy higher profit margins.

To create a website, you need a domain name. Most companies will register their business name with a .com ending, as most users are familiar with this extension.

The next step is to choose a platform to build an online store. For users with little or no coding experience, the choice is either a website builder or a content management system (CMS).

Let’s learn what they are, how they differ, and what types of users each is best for. To simplify this comparison, we’ll use Hostinger eCommerce website builder and WordPress as examples of a website builder and CMS, respectively.

A website builder is a beginner-friendly platform designed to make building websites quick and easy. It typically has a visual, drag-and-drop interface where users can add content elements and move them around directly on their website layout.

WordPress

Like a website builder, WordPress is a content management system, i.e. software used to create websites. The difference is that the user dashboard is a bit more complex. That is, there are usually separate interfaces to manage certain tasks.

For example, WordPress has a back-end admin panel to manage pages, write and publish content, insert media, install themes and plugins, and access other settings.

While WordPress can take some getting used to, it does allow you to perform more complex tasks. For example, you can install plugins to add more features to the CMS, such as displaying product reviews from third-party sites or recovering abandoned shopping carts.

Advantages of WordPress

Extensive plugin collection. WordPress has over 60,000 plugins that allow you to turn a simple website into a portfolio, an eCommerce store, an online publication, and more.

. WordPress powers over 43% of all websites, so plenty of forums and resources are dedicated to helping other users with the platform.

Multi-user feature. If you run the business with multiple team members, you can create user accounts for them and manage their access to the online store.

Disadvantages of WordPress

You don’t need to know how to code to use WordPress, but some basic knowledge can prove helpful to further optimize your website. Make sure any plugins you install are developed and regularly updated by trusted vendors to avoid security issues and slow performance.

Pay attention to the following elements when creating an online store.

User experience. Customers should be able to navigate the online store and quickly find the products they want.

Payment gateways. Enable multiple payment options that are most used among your target audience. Be transparent about additional taxes and shipping costs that customers should consider.

Product descriptions. Write a clear and persuasive text for each product to convince users to buy it.

Contact form. With it, customers can easily contact you and ask about your business and products.

Mobile optimization. The website should be easy to navigate on both desktop and smartphone screens.

Prepare the Dropshipping Business Finances

It is best practice to keep your personal and business finances separate from the start. This way, it will be much easier to note expenses and revenues related to your online business. Doing so is also better for legal procedures.

What you should set up will depend on the country and region, so we recommend consulting a local financial advisor to make sure everything is covered. Generally, it is good to have the following ready for a dropshipping business

Business bank account in the name of your dropshipping brand. Use this only for business transactions, such as receiving payments from customers and paying suppliers.

Resale certificate. Many regions require businesses to have this to sell products from elsewhere. Check with your local government to see if you need to register and pay for this certificate.

Sales tax. Some countries require customers to pay for this. Check with your company’s local government and suppliers for sales tax nexus regulations. Then, factor this cost into your product pricing.

Maintenance fees. Include platform fees and marketing costs in your budget and pricing to help maintain and grow your business.

Register Your Dropshipping Business as a Legal Structure

Another important step is to understand the legal status of your dropshipping store. This includes checking if you need a business license to dropship in your location. Remember to research specifically for your country.

For U.S. businesses, you will need a tax ID number and an employer identification number to file taxes and apply for wholesale dropshipping accounts.

For India, you’ll need a GTS number.

Once you have researched the regulations, consider setting up a legitimate business entity to protect yourself from legal liabilities. Doing so can also open up opportunities to work with better suppliers and business partners.

These are the three most common business structures:

Sale proprietorship. With this structure, your dropshipping business finances will be taxed on your income. This option is riskier because your business is legally tied to your assets.

Limited Liability Company (LLC). This sets up your business as a separate legal entity, meaning you’ll have personal liability protection. However, as a business owner, you’ll meet several legal requirements when it comes time to pay taxes.

Corporation. Like an LLC, this option registers the dropshipping business as a separate legal entity. However, corporations are owned by shareholders and overseen by directors rather than a few business owners.

In addition to registering your business structure, create the following web pages to make your online store look more professional:

Return policy. This page can increase customer confidence by letting customers know that your dropshipping business is a safe place to shop.

Return or exchange policy. Many customers are hesitant to buy from an online business because they can’t see the product with their own eyes. This page tells them that they are free to return or exchange the product if it doesn’t suit them.

Terms and conditions. Manage expectations and protect your business with a legal document that outlines the rights and responsibilities of your business and your customers.

Privacy policy. This document shows that your business takes your customers’ information seriously. It explains how you collect, use, and disclose their data.

Optimize and Market Your Dropshipping Business.

You have published a website, and your business is now legal. Let’s promote your products to win customers.

With digital marketing, you can promote your dropshipping business through various channels. Check out these ways to drive traffic to your online store and increase sales:

Search engine optimization (SEO). This term refers to the practices that are adopted to improve the ranking of a website and gain more visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Blog. Create content that tells your target audience how they can benefit from the products. For example, write lists or how-to guides that include these items.

Email marketing. Build an email list by adding a subscription form to your store and offering an introductory discount every time a user signs up. Some examples of emails to send are announcements of new product launches and discounts.

Social marketing. Share products on different social networks to reach more potential customers. Visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok are great places to start. Notebook Therapy is a good example of a dropshipping brand that is successful with this strategy.

Referral marketing. This strategy is best if you’ve made some sales. It involves asking customers to share referral links to your products with their friends or family. Every time someone purchases through the link, the referral gets a commission, usually 10-20%.

Affiliate marketing. This method is similar to the previous method, but it involves content creators promoting products, and the commission rate is usually higher.

Performance marketing. Get more visibility for your business by paying for ad space on platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads. Although they can be expensive, they also have advanced audience targeting settings, allowing you to reach the right customers more easily.

In addition to these methods, some business owners choose to display their products on their websites and e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. This helps them reach more customers on platforms they are more comfortable with.

If you’re interested in doing this, consider using a multi-channel selling tool like Sellrite to make inventory and order management easier.

Conclusion

The dropshipping model is a great way to start an online business without having to manage inventory, making it suitable for those with less experience and budget.

Here is a brief overview of how to launch your online dropshipping store:

• Choose a company and research the market to determine what products to sell.
• Find reliable and legitimate dropshipping suppliers to source products from.
• Brand your dropshipping business to make it stand out from the competition.
• Purchase a domain name and create an online store using easy-to-use platforms like WordPress.
• Arrange the necessary finances to protect your business and personal assets.
• Register your dropshipping business as a legal entity.
• Optimize the online store and marketplace products to increase traffic and sales.

We hope this article helped you learn more about the dropshipping business and how to start it.