Before considering how to get started in drop shipping, it is worth asking yourself why. If you think drop shipping is an easy way to become a millionaire, you are wrong. Yes, it is possible to make money with drop shipping, but no, it is not easy. Like any entrepreneurial project, there are difficulties to overcome and nothing is ever won. But if you are planning to open an online store, going drop shipping is clearly the least risky option. Indeed, with the drop shipping e-commerce formula, you do not need to manage stock or take care of delivery.
If you are developing your dropshipping store well and making a profit, this is the most attractive and profitable option. Saying that you can easily make money with drop shipping is a misconception that should be broken. On the other hand, you can be successful with the right tools and the right mindset.
Here are four tips that will get you on the road to drop shipping success.
To get started in drop shipping, lower your expectations
If you go into drop shipping with the idea that you will quickly become a millionaire, you are going to screw up. Not because this claim is false. Many drop shipping entrepreneurs have indeed become. But you will fail simply because you will not be ready for difficulties and at the slightest obstacle you may become discouraged.
But there are obstacles, as with any business creation. You will make mistakes in judgment, you may come across bad suppliers, choose products that will not interest anyone or fall into many other traps of this kind. But the big advantage of drop shipping is precisely that you don’t take any risks, unlike an online store based on the classic model. So you can test what works and what doesn’t work over and over again until you find the right formula.
Also, even if you make little or no mistakes, growing an online store, whether it’s drop shipping or not, takes time. We do not go quickly from the anonymity, in which you will be when opening your store, to a popularity that allows you to earn a salary in several figures. Initially, no one knows you, your online store won’t rank well on search engines, and there’s no reason people will find you easily. A drop shipping business can grow quickly, but don’t focus on that point, otherwise you’ll be disappointed again.
Drop shipping takes mental investment
For a drop shipping business to really work it’s not just about selling products, it’s about building a real brand. When you start drop shipping, it feels like you just need to put two or three products online and run a Facebook ad or two for sales to take off. It is not the case at all.
As you probably know, competition is intense in e-commerce and you are certainly not going to knock out competitors who are already well established, just because you have opened an online store. The products you choose are probably sold elsewhere and contrary to what you might think, it is not the price differences that make the difference, but the attraction of your brand.
What is a niche? This is a range of products aimed at a small number of people. In e-commerce, it makes more sense to go into niches than into consumer products. For example, if you sell lighters, you are talking to everyone. You probably think of smokers first, but in reality the whole population uses a lighter. But this is a problem because by targeting everyone, you are not targeting anyone. It then becomes very difficult to have effective marketing because your target audience is too broad.
Conversely, let’s take the example of a lighted dog leash. Suddenly, your target shrinks considerably and at the same time, the means of reaching it are much more obvious. So you’re speaking specifically to dog owners, who probably live in the city and like gadgets. You will therefore not only be able to offer other products likely to interest this target, but also to advertise much more targeted.
Find the right products before starting drop shipping
You must therefore concentrate on one or two complementary products and decline them in several colors or variations. There are several techniques for finding successful products to sell.
