If you want to start a business but don’t know what to do or don’t have a lot of money, dropshipping is a good place to start. So, what exactly is dropshipping? It is a method of e-commerce fulfillment in which sellers offer items that are not in stock. The wholesaler or supplier, on the other hand, delivers the products to the customers directly.
Advantages of Dropshipping
1. You can do it anytime, at your home
The beauty of dropshipping is that you can work from the comfort of your own home and start your business quickly. You can begin dropshipping with a personal computer or a smartphone, and an internet connection.
Dropshipping is suitable for stay-at-home moms, young entrepreneurs, hobbyists, someone who simply wants to earn extra cash, or someone who wants to leave the jungle called the corporate world.
Dropshipping is also recommended if you want to lower your rental and other overhead costs in order to increase your profits.
2. It is a low-risk business
Traditional retail requires a large initial investment because you must buy products in bulk in order to sell them, despite the fact that there is no guarantee that everything will sell in time.
Dropshipping is less risky because it does not require a large investment to get started. You pay the wholesaler or supplier only when your order arrives.
3. You don’t need storage space for your products
Dropshipping eliminates the need for a warehouse or large storage space for your products, removing one of your concerns. That will be handled by your wholesaler or supplier.
And because you won’t have to pay for a franchise location or store rent, the money you save can be used to buy more products, allowing you to earn a higher profit.
4. You can do it part-time
Running a dropshipping business can be done part-time. It does not require your attention 24/7, unless your products are in high demand.
When it comes to managing your store, you can always use your e-commerce platform’s additional plug-ins or add-ons to automate tasks, giving you more time to focus on bigger tasks.
5. You can turn your hobby into a money-making business
If you’re a hobbyist who believes your product will sell well, it’s time to turn that hobby into an additional source of income. It will be fun to earn money by doing things that you are passionate about.
6. Your skills will improve as a business owner
Dropshipping, among other things, will improve your social media management and customer service skills. It will help you grow as an entrepreneur, and the experience will teach you how to properly manage a business.
7. It is a flexible business
Dropshipping enables entrepreneurs to work from virtually any location. It also enables you to sell and offer a wide range of products based on market demand and trends. You can easily shift to selling a new product that you believe will sell well to online shoppers.
Disadvantages of Dropshipping
1. It is a one-man show
You are responsible for managing your online store, as well as processing orders, attracting customers, and providing customer service as a dropshipper.
You must also be familiar with the e-commerce technology that you are using. If not, there are some features that you may find confusing or fail to use. If you still have enough money to hire someone, you can always hire someone to do the job for you.
2. Shipping problems
One of the challenges that a dropshipper faces in the business is meeting delivery deadlines. Because shipping is already out of your control, you can only rely on your wholesaler or supplier to ensure that orders are delivered to your customers on time.
One issue is that each wholesaler or supplier may have different requirements for processing, billing, and shipping orders which affects order fulfillment.
3. Lack of information about the product
To respond to customer inquiries, you must be extremely knowledgeable about your product. Unfortunately, the wholesaler or supplier may overlook giving you information about the description, availability, and more. As a result, question and answer exchanges between a dropshipper and the wholesaler or supplier may take some time, causing delays in resolving customer concerns.
It is important to choose a reliable wholesaler or supplier, who will be upfront with you about product features and the real score about stock inventory. Otherwise, instead of managing your customers, you will be dealing with wholesalers or suppliers. If this is the case, your store will undoubtedly suffer.
4. Providing customer service may be a problem
Because dropshipping is a one-man show, there is no one to provide customer service except you, unless you hire someone to do so. One of the factors that can make or break you is your responsiveness. Customer dissatisfaction will result if you are not responsive.
Lack of information about product features, stock availability, and delivery schedules can lead to a delayed response to your clients, as you must still communicate with your supplier or wholesaler about these before responding to your customers.
5. Competition
There will always be competition, especially in business. Your competitor may offer the same product at a lower price, or you may offer yours at a lower price, affecting your earnings.
6. Reliance on stock
Because you buy your goods on an order basis, you don’t know how long your wholesaler’s or supplier’s stock will last. It will be a problem if your product becomes popular with your customers and the supply runs out.
7. Low profit
When you purchase a product on an order basis, the pricing from your wholesaler or supplier may differ from when you purchase the items in bulk. Furthermore, you cannot sell your goods at a high price when your competitors sell them at a low price.
8. Returns
Returns are unavoidable. Because you are unaware of the quality of the product you are selling, your customers may decide to return it later. Your supplier may accept them back, but they usually do not. Finally, you will use your money to replace and ship the product to your customer.
9. Expensive shipping cost
Shipping costs are high, especially when you offer products from multiple suppliers and your customer orders from each one. To fulfill product deliveries, you must bear the shipping costs for each supplier.
The Specter E-commerce Dropshipping Course
Despite its drawbacks, dropshipping remains a promising e-commerce business. The key is to understand how it works before you start your business.
One option is to enroll in a dropshipping course such as The Specter ECommerce Dropshipping Course. The course will teach you everything there is to know about dropshipping. It is an excellent resource for aspiring business owners who want to start a dropshipping business as soon as possible.
The Specter E-Commerce Dropshipping Course is a 10-week program but you can study the lessons at your own pace. You will also have full access to the training materials even after the program is over. You can simply return to the lessons whenever you want.
Take advantage of the course’s low price and a slew of great bonuses while you can. Get the benefit of having a dropshipping coach or mentor by your side throughout the course and your dropshipping business journey.
Who Created The Specter E-commerce Dropshipping Course
Lorraine Chen created this fantastic course with the goal of teaching others how to earn money online, have freedom, and be their own bosses through a dropshipping business.
In this course, she will teach you how to:
- Promote your business strategically to earn a seven-figure store.
- Provide you with dropshipping suppliers
- Guide you in picking the right products to sell that can generate $10,000.00 in sales within 30 days.
- Store Design
- Drive traffic to your dropshipping store
See the course overview below for an idea of how the course will work:
Course Overview
Week 1: Introduction And Mindset
- Introduction to the business model in detail to assist a complete beginner to achieve results fast.
- A comprehensive understanding of how to generate money.
- A refresher on the fundamentals of Dropshipping.
Week 2: Selecting Niche
- Spot the perfect niche for you and how to make sure it is something you love.
- A Checklist of Lorraine’s niche selection tool.
- The same process that an entrepreneur uses every day is now available to you.
Week 3: Product
- Identify the best products to make quick, lucrative sales.
- Learn insider resources to find products no one else is selling so you always are in front of the curve.
- Learn a unique way to approach wholesalers to obtain significantly higher margins and thus become far more profitable.
- REFINED product selection checklist.
- Time-tested and proven product selection processes
Week 4: Store
- “3 pointers” store design. This allows you to earn 30% more on each sale.
- Create an online store in minutes, even if you’ve never worked with a website or an online store before.
- A checklist that outlines exactly what your store requires and what YOU MUST eliminate.
Week 5: Ads
- Learn how to spend minimal money (just dollars a day) for maximum ROI.
- Set up super cheap ads and scale to 1000’s a day.
- Drive the RIGHT traffic that generates sales
Week 6: Scale
- You now have the entire system and foundation.
- Countless examples of beginners taking their store past the 10k/Month mark
- A walk through turning your $50-$100 a day ROI campaigns into $1000 a day campaigns
- Turn $10k a month into a straightforward repeatable process
Week 7 to 10 – Elite Series
Lorraine will teach you how to make a lot of money through dropshipping. She will show you how to get multiple clients by enlisting the assistance of the right people. Specter E-commerce will show you how to turn your website into a money-making machine.
Doing business will always have advantages and disadvantages. The thing is, you have to figure out how to make it work for you. Overall, a dropshipping business requires not only your determination but also your patience. So, you must understand how it works in order to make it work for you!
