Drop shipping for beginners

[Pet Nanny]

I have been thinking of opening an online shop to go alongside my pet sitting business for the past year, obviously selling pet-related products.
I did buy a few products (pet related jewellery), from Ali express but to be honest they are such low quality and sell on ebay for pennies, so although I have sold enough so as not to be out of pocket, I am loathed to continue down that route.
I know absolutely nothing about drop shipping, but since I do not have the time to buy products and sell directly to our clients, drop shipping seems the sensible way to go. However, I have absolutely no clue where or how to start.
Can anyone advise of any videos, reading material that may be useful going forward. There is so much on utube but from what I have seen so far, it seemed very much ego based, with people wanting you to subscribe to their own particular programmes!
I understand that I would need to use 'shopify', rather than a wordpress shop to sell products, so I really need advice with regard to the whole process.

 

[finleydesign]

Hi You should be able to find enough info on here, however a few things to consider

Dropshipping - You're not alone, you need to work out what it is your going to sell, what is your USP vs anyone else who has the same dropship account

Shopify - Why have you said, "i would need to use" not sure where you got that from, many many other solutions do the same thing

But overall think you really need to find the drop shipper first, as without that, there's very little else you can get involved with, from there you can start to put all the other pieces together

 

[Pet Nanny]

Well my niche has to be pet products since I hope I could link my shop to my website. I was under the impression that in order to do drop shipping I would need a platform such as shopify , rather than a wordpress shop! I have also been told that I would need to join Oberlo since they do the best pet products. They is so much to learn and I wonder if I should look to paying someone to sort it out for me, but again, who do I go to!

 

[Paul Murray]

Shopify - Why have you said, "i would need to use" not sure where you got that from, many many other solutions do the same thing

The OP wants to use Oberlo, which is exclusive to Shopify.

@Pet Nanny I'd start by doing a bit of research into the products you can sell, what your market desires, what the competition is like, etc. Think about how you're going to market this online store, there's already a lot of competition for pet accessories. Will the products you sell be available cheaper elsewhere, for example on Amazon?

Oberlo has a 'free' plan that doesn't require a monthly fee, so giving it a try for a few months probably won't break the bank. You'll only need to cover the cost of the Shopify store, plus whatever time and money you spend on marketing of course. You won't be paying for stock and Shopify doesn't lock you into a contract so you can just drop it when you want.

*EDIT*

Just noticed Shopify have a guide on dropshopping – https://www.shopify.co.uk/guides/dropshipping

 

[wayzgoose]

Dropshipping is not such a mystery. You're still retailing, just don't need to stock the products. Any ecommerce site will do the job. In the past we did very well with a couple of companies that do personalised tags. Give us a shout if you're interested and I'll dig the links out for you.

 

[Mr D]

Dropshipping will tend to be higher price or lower margin than stocking the products, also tends to have higher postage than you have available yourself.
For example an item at £10.99 plus £3.99 postage from a dropshipper versus £8.99 plus £2.99 postage from a retailer who has the stock.

OK you get a website set up. Then what?
Market the website? A lot of people start with the idea that they create a site and the customers come flooding in. What will draw them to this new site rather than the few million others also created this year or the many more already in existence and further up search engine results?

 

[wayzgoose]

@Mr D The website is already up, just needs the ecommerce side adding. Same job as everyone else then to get the products seen. Must stop being so negative ;-)

 

[Mr D]

@Mr D The website is already up, just needs the ecommerce side adding. Same job as everyone else then to get the products seen. Must stop being so negative ;-)

Yes the marketing is often the expensive bit. Or the time consuming bit.

 

[antropy]

Well everyone's covered what I was going to say!

1. The Shopify guide to dropshipping above is very good and worth a read.
2. You don't actually need to use Shopify to dropship, all you need to do usually is make sure the supplier gets a copy of any order emails.

 

[dan19900]

Shopify dropshipping is much harder than they like to make out.

Try Amazon- Ebay, much easier.

 

[Tigris]

Try Amazon- Ebay, much easier.

You already have the traffic that way

I am looking at doing a similar thing myself but more for technology/computer stuff as this is my 9 - 5 job as well. Just a little unsure on insurances and other legal things I need.

 

[Pet Nanny]

Thank you to everyone who has offered advice, which is much appreciated. I think that I need a mentor! Someone who is an old hand at this who could give me some practical advice, since I still have no clue as to where to start

 

[SH247]

Thank you to everyone who has offered advice, which is much appreciated. I think that I need a mentor! Someone who is an old hand at this who could give me some practical advice, since I still have no clue as to where to start

Read the shopify dropshipping guide posted above, will give you a good idea of where to start

 

[Kiwi1234]

I've done shopify dropshipping (paid ads on Facebook) for months. It is very unprofitable and most people are leaving it now since it is saturated and Facebook is killing it. I highly recommend against doing it, it has become so saturated it is becoming a get rich quick scheme with all the courses promoting it.

Alex Becker, for example, runs ads for dropshipping then in his normal YouTube videos says anyone dropshipping without trying to make a brand is stupid. He totally contradicts himself. It is a mess, don't do it (unless you do something really original and off facebook)

 

[wayzgoose]

Messaged you, Pet Nanny.

 

[cornucopiagifts]

drop shipping is big in places like america, it is starting to take over in the uk as well, but most of the stuff you will see advertised are to use big companies that take forever to ship, my own personal recommendation is to find a uk company that sells the products you like and then either contact them direct and ask if they will be willing to dropship for you as most of the good companies will not advertise this type of service up front. However as an established owner of a pet sitting company they may well be very willing to talk to you.

 

[SEO.co.uk]

I think it's very important to focus on our core business and continue to market that. Big brands start small. It's good to have a proper link building plan in place over time or content marketing that will help your current business.