Start A Dropship Program For Your Online Store

Drop shipping is a distribution method primarily used by online businesses to fulfill orders placed by customers on their ecommerce site. If retailers use a dropship program, they do not carry any inventory, instead all of the products are held as inventory by wholesalers or sometimes even the manufacturers. Right after an order is placed, the online retailer receives shipping information and payment then the customer order is transferred to the drop shipper to be completed. They are then responsible for shipping all of the products that are ordered out to that customer. The online retailer earns the profit margin from the wholesale and retail prices.

Drop shipping is a great way to start an ecommerce business without a lot of start up cost. In fact several home based businesses have grown to be very successful using this method to sell online. The first thing you must do is find suitable vendors to work with. There are a wide variety of vendors to select from, but they are not all reliable. This step seems pretty simple, but apparently finding a suitable vendor for your dropship program can either make or break your business. The key is to spend a lot of time researching all applicable vendors and choosing ones that you think are a good fit for you. Think of it as a partnership, you take care of the first part of the order and the vendor takes care of the rest. The only way to have a successful e-commerce business with satisfied customers is if both parts of the system work in unison.
The initial step is compiling a list of possible vendors to use for your dropship program. Find vendors that offer products you are looking to sell in your online store and then find out if it is well established and reputable. How many years have they been in business? Can they deliver what they promise? Are you able to make a profit based on the price you are getting the goods for? After choosing the best ones, contact them about their services and try to order a few products. Then narrow it down by comparing the quality of each product, the delivery time, inquiry response time and how well they are able to customize the packing slip and shipping label to match your business logo.After you made your decision about which vendors to use, you must make sure that your ecommerce solution is able to manage your dropship program. Make sure the following features are provided:
QuickBooks integration for simple point of sale management and trackingCreate unlimited number of vendorsAutomatically contact vendors when their products are orderedReal-time shipping calculations based on drop ship location and carrierVendors have their own admin area to add products or update inventory
People usually decide to run a dropship program for their business, because of the freedom it entails and minimal risk involved. There are a few disadvantages such as not having control over the merchandise and not being the only retailer they supply to. However there are also several advantages for starting this type of business. Here are just a few:
- Little to no inventory
- Saves time by having someone else handle the order fulfillment
- Saves money by not requiring a lot of overhead cost
- Product images and details are already available for you to use on your web site
- Huge selection of products to choose from which allows you to sell more than you could on your own.
Finding an ecommerce solution with a reliable and efficient drop ship tool is critical to the success of your online retail business. You can’t simply hope for reliable drop ship vendors, the best way to guarantee that they are doing their job is to have the ability to track and manage their activities from your store admin.

Source: Google.com