When deciding whether you should purchase products from a dropshipper versus a wholesaler, there are many factors you’ll have to consider, such as the quality of each type of supplier available for your product, your commitment to that product, and your capital, which may or may not allow you to make large initial orders.  One of the most important factors you’ll consider is profitability.

It is usually more profitable to purchase products wholesale.  Generally you can purchase wholesale  for around 50% retail price, while the average dropshipper’s price is around 75% of retail.  However, when wholesaling you have to consider the cost of storing, packaging, and shipping the product yourself.  These are expenses that cut into your profits, as is the time you spend taping boxes, driving to the post office, etc., since this time has a monetary value.  Thus, depending on the exact price you’re getting your products for, wholesaling isn’t always more profitable than dropshipping.

For this reason, when you have potential suppliers, potential products, and potential supply-chain options, you should create a chart to ensure you’re making the best decisions.  Obviously, the chart is only as valid as the numbers you punch in, so make sure your figures are as accurate as possible.

Below is an example chart calculating the relative profitability of selling the same two products from a wholesale supplier vs. a dropship supplier.  The potential products are sleeping bags and juicers.  As you can see, it would be more profitable to purchase the sleeping bags wholesale.  Conversely, due to expensive packing materials and shipping fees, one would actually lose money buying and selling the juicers wholesale, so dropshipping is the better option.  I’m assuming that my fictional entrepreneur is storing the items in their garage or basement, so there are no storage costs listed.

Dropshipping Vs. Wholesaling Profitability Chart

dropshipping, pricing and profits, wholesale

Some of the most common questions I receive on this forum are “How do I find a dropship wholesaler?” or “How do I find suppliers?”.  Most people have at least heard of dropshipping, but there is some confusion as to what a dropship supplier does exactly.  For instance, the term “dropship wholesaler” is not really accurate.  A supplier EITHER dropships OR sells wholesale.  They are not the same thing.

What is a dropshipper?

A dropshipper processes individual orders and ships them directly to your customer.  When you make a sale on your website or on eBay, you order the product from the dropshipper and have it sent directly to the buyer.  A dropshipper may offer you wholesale prices, but generally they charge some kind of dropshipping fee and you purchase orders individually, not in bulk wholesale lots.

What is a wholesaler?

A wholesaler sells bulk orders of products, say, 20 t-shirts or 100 candles.  You keep the product at your house or in a storage facility and you process and ship your own orders.  Selling products this way is more time-consuming and requires a greater investment, but you usually get the products more cheaply than you would from a dropshipper.

How can I find suppliers?

There are many ways to find suppliers.

• Google Searches: You could perform a Google search, say for “bowling ball dropshippers”.  Unfortunately most of your results would be middlemen masquerading as legitimate dropshippers, or international suppliers from places like China.  Even if you did find a legitimate dropshipper this way, it would be the same dropshipper a hundred other people could find.
• Trade Shows: Trade shows are actually a great way to meet quality suppliers.  The only downside is the time and expense of attending trade shows in places like Las Vegas.
• Databases: You can use a quality database to find suppliers.  If you choose this option, remember that not all databases are created equal.  Some databases are never updated, have very few suppliers in each category, or do not screen out fradulent suppliers.

Wholesale Match’s database is continually updated: we add new suppliers every week.  We have many suppliers in each category, and if we don’t have a supplier for the product you’re looking for, we will actively search until we find a supplier that works for you.  If we receive a complaint about a supplier, we investigate and remove them from the database.

Wholesale Match is the only database that has a Research Team who will do the work for you and provide professional results.  Wholesale Match is also the only database that provides a 100% money-back guarantee if you do not make back the cost of your membership (as long as you use our services at least once a month).  For these reasons, I would recommend using Wholesale Match to find dropship and wholesale suppliers.

finding suppliers, wholesale

Dropshipping 101

The first step of starting  dropshipping business is to find a great supplier for your products.  Unfortunately, it’s not easy to find a quality supplier.  There’s no Yellow Pages for the real professionals, and there are a boatload of scam artists and middlemen masquerading as legitimate dropshippers and wholesalers.  They make their money off membership fees and selling you products that are too expensive for you to resell for a profit online.  How can you avoid middlemen and find a quality dropshipper or wholesaler who will provide you with products that will allow you to make money online?

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

There are plenty of supposed dropship or wholesale suppliers who will allow anyone to sign up and who promise to supply thousands of different products.  If there are no restrictions to sign up with them, they are probably not a legitimate business.  A real wholesaler must by law get your Reseller’s Permit and Tax and ID number, otherwise, they are not allowed to sell you products tax-free for resale.  If they don’t bother to do this, they are probably actually selling you products retail and calling it wholesale.  The fact that they have thousands of products of all types isn’t a good thing either.  It’s impossible that they are manufacturing or even importing all these products themselves.  More likely they are purchasing their products from dozens of different suppliers and reselling them to you.  Thus, they are a middleman, not a legitimate supplier.

Don’t dropship with the Invisible Man.

If the company seems to have no history with the BBB or other agencies, no successful online businesses they are currently supplying, and no physical address where their warehouse is located, you are probably in communication with a scam artist.  A legitimate dropshipper or wholesaler shouldn’t be evasive or sketchy about their business details.  One of the biggest red flags is if they refuse to give you product information until after you pay some kind of fee.  A real dropshipper/wholesaler will send you a pdf file with all their products and prices, or provide a login to a reseller’s website.  Prices and products are only kept secret when they are not really provided at wholesale prices or when they don’t exist at all.  Which brings me to my third point:

Finding a dropshipper shouldn’t be like buying a gym membership: don’t pay hefty sign-up fees.

You should also never pay an exorbitant fee to sign up with a supplier.  A small processing fee of less than $20 isn’t unreasonable, but anything over that is the sign of a scammer.  Don’t confuse sign-up fees with dropship fees: many dropshippers charge a dropship fee, but that is to cover shipping costs and is only charged when products are ordered and shipped.  Dropship fees usually range from $1-15 per order.  Wholesalers may require minimum order amounts, but again this is not a sign-up fee – the money is used to purchase products, not pay the supplier.

Manufacturers are your goal.

The person you really want to buy your products from is a manufacturer.  In some industries that isn’t possible and you are required to purchase from a distributor.  Middlemen are your last resort.  It’s possible to make money buying and selling products from a  middleman, but more often the cut they take won’t allow you to make a sufficient profit.  Your goal is to buy straight from the source, the manufacturer.

Use a reliable source to find suppliers.

You may get lucky and find a good supplier through a Google search or a free directory, but every Tom Dick and Harry has access to the same free sources you do.  Most legitimate suppliers don’t post their information online because they don’t want to be hassled by a bunch of would-be entrepreneurs.  Your best bet is to find real dropshippers and wholesalers is to pay for access to a quality database.  If you decide to use Wholesale Match’s database, our Research Team will do the work for you.  We also guarantee that you will make the cost of your membership back within a year, or we will refund the annual membership fee in full (as long as you give us the opportunity to work for you at least once a month).

dropshippers, finding suppliers, wholesale

Wholesale Match is not the only database of dropship and wholesale suppliers, but we like to think of the other guys as MacDonald’s while we are Le Caille.  After all, any burger will get you full, but a real meal satisfies the soul.  We like to satisfy the soul.  Thus, while Joe Shmoe will give you a login password and set you loose on his database, we run a full-service operation: educational articles, a full-time support line if you have any questions about dropshipping, website design, SEO, or what you should buy your Aunt Mildred for her birthday, eBay resources, and finally our Research Team.  The Research Team exists for the sole purpose of doing the research for you.  If you are looking for suppliers for hockey sticks, Christmas ornaments, bowling balls, or anything else, simply submit a Research Request to our Research Team and they will provide you with an extensive list of dropshippers, wholesalers, and/or affiliates in 1-3 business days.

photo credit: Duchamp
photo credit: gbrunett

The following are answers to some FAQs about Research Requests:

How do I submit a Research Request?

Simply login to the Wholesale Match website at www.wholesalematch.com, click on the “Suppliers” button, and then scroll down the page.  On the lower left-hand side you’ll see a button that says “Can’t Find What You’re Looking For?  Submit A Research Request.”  Click that button and the submission form will pop up.

Why not just search the database myself?

You are more than welcome to do that, but you will probably want to also submit a Research Request for the following reasons: First, we’re better at searching than you are.  We’re familiar with the suppliers in our database and we know the best suppliers for your specific product.  Second, we have access to more suppliers.  While we update our database regularly, we find dozens of new suppliers each week and may have located a new one for the product you’re looking for.  Third, if there is a paucity of suppliers for the product you’re looking for, we will search until we find more.

Are there any guidelines when submitting Research Requests?

While Wholesale Match customers have unlimited Research Requests, we generally ask that you limit your requests to five products at a time so we can allocate our resources fairly.  Once we email you a list of suppliers, you are welcome to submit a request for five more products.  We are often able to return Research Requests within 1 business day or even a few hours, depending on the products requested.

How do I get the best results from my Research Request?

The more clear you are, the better.  You are welcome to ask for specific brand names or styles or types of products, though of course you will get more results if your category is still reasonably broad.  You can specify if you don’t want international suppliers, if you are open to wholesalers as well as dropshippers, and so on and so forth.  If there is any confusion about your Research Request, you can always call our customer service line to clarify.

Your time is valuable, and the Wholesale Match Research Team will save you countless hours searching for suppliers.  If you have not already taken advantage of their services, I urge you to do so.  If you have submitted a Research Request in the past, I would recommend doing so again, as they may have found additional suppliers for your products in the meantime.

dropshipping, finding suppliers, wholesale

You need ideas for products you can sell online for gadzillions of dollars in profit.  I get a bizarre pleasure out of making lists.  Thus was born the third installment of Products You Can Sell Online For A Profit.  The following are products that we here at Wholesale Match have many, many dropship and wholesale suppliers for.  As always, these products need appropriate targeting and marketing in order to be successful: nothing is guaranteed.

photo credit: Bill Hails

Product Ideas:

African products
Baby Boomer products
BBQ sets and marinades
Beer-themed products
Cake decorating supplies and equipment
Children’s dress-up clothes (costumes)
Chocolate-dipped fruit
Christmas ornaments and wreaths
Collegiate sports-themed products
Diabetic products
Doll clothes
Egyptian products
Fancy aprons
Fancy robes (bathrobes, kimonos, etc.)
Flags
Fondue sets
Freeze-dried camping/emergency food
Geriatric care products
Gloves and scarves
Gourmet cookies
Gourmet popcorn
Greek products
Henna kits
Hiking products
Japanese Anime products
Journals
Juggling supplies
Karaoke equipment
Laptop bags
Left-handed products
Mailboxes
Manicure and pedicure supplies
Maps
Masks
Moccasins
Model trains
Musical instruments
Native American jewelry and belt buckles
Nightlights
Obama products
Products made from a particular material like cedar or stone
Puppets
RC toys
Robotic toys
Rock hunting supplies
Roller derby supplies
Scales
Science kits
Security and nanny cameras
Sorority and fraternity items
Swords and armor
Tarot, Astrology, and Palmistry supplies
Tea and tea sets
Tie-dye kits
Tropical/vacation clothing
Unusual or hand-made board games
Vegan products
Walking sticks and canes
Water bottles
Weightlifting supplements and protein shakes
Wind chimes
Wine accessories

photo credit: TheMarque

If you would like a list of dropshippers and/or wholesalers for any of these products, simply submit a Research Request to the Wholesale Match Research Team by logging into the website, clicking on the Suppliers button, and scrolling down to the lower left-hand side of the page where it says “Can’t Find What You’re Looking For? Submit A Research Request”.  Our Research Team will email your results in 1-3 business days.

Product Ideas, dropshippers, dropshipping, product research, wholesale

Finding a great supplier is one of the most important steps in setting up your online business.  Whether you’re looking for a dropship or wholesale supplier, I would advocate using Wholesale Match, since we have thousands upon thousands of quality dropshippers and wholesalers in our database, and we add new ones every day.  The Research Team will actually go out and find new suppliers for you if you haven’t found what you’re looking for in the database.  But even after we find you some solid potential suppliers, you’re going to have to do the work to get set up with them, including contacting the suppliers, setting up an account, and negotiating your terms.  The following are some common pitfalls would-be online business owners often encounter while getting set up with suppliers:

First: Explain clearly what you’re looking for when you call a potential supplier. I can’t tell you how often people call the customer support line and say, “You sent me a supplier for ping pong paddles, but I called them and they don’t dropship.”  Then the customer service team calls the supplier back to see if their policy has changed, and in fact they do dropship.  What goes wrong?  Often when somebody calls a potential supplier, they don’t really explain what they’re looking for.  Some companies dropship every day, but aren’t familiar with the term “dropshipping”.  Some will tell you that they only wholesale, but they have no minimum and can ship to any address, so they are in effect actually a dropshipper.  Communicate with your potential supplier, and take the time to learn about their company.  Don’t just ask one or two questions and then hang up the phone.

photo credit: alicepopkorn

Second: Be prepared to use more than one supplier. For convenience sake, many people want a supplier who can provide them with all their products in one place.  So if you were selling, say, meditation stones, yoga mats, and seaweed facial masks, you might expect your supplier to stock all those items.  However, they might carry only yoga supplies, or only spa items like seaweed masks.  You might have to use two or three or even six or ten suppliers to get the range of fantastic products you’re looking for on your website.  Sometimes you’ll get lucky and find a supplier who carries everything you want at a great price, but usually you’ll find a better deal shopping around, using a few different suppliers.

Third: Have your business plan ready long before you start supplier-shopping. Do your product research, plan exactly how you’re going to market your website, and have your budget laid out.  That way, when you finally call a supplier, you’ll sound like a professional and they’ll be excited to work with you.  Imagine for a moment that you were a distributor of soccer cleats, and some random guy called you and said, “Hey, I’m thinking about maybe selling soccer stuff online, but I dunno, I might do golf.  But probably soccer, at least for now.  Wanna supply me with cleats?”.  Not likely.  While most suppliers are happy to start a partnership with a new retailer, they want to work with solid entrepreneurs who have their stuff together.  They may ask you questions about your projected sales volumes, credit score, website, etc., and you need to be able to answer intelligently.

Fourth: Get your Reseller’s Permit and Tax ID Number. A lot of people try to get around obtainng their Reseller’s Permit and Tax ID Number by using suppliers who don’t require them, but the best suppliers want proper documentation, and anyway, it’s the law.  Spend the time and the little bit of money it will cost you: it’ll save you a mountain of problems later on.  A Reseller’s Permit is required to purchase products tax-free for resale purposes, and a Tax ID Number is necessary to submit your taxes at the end of the year.  If you want your online business to be successful, treat it like a real business and set it up properly, without taking short cuts.

Fifth: Be prepared to pay initial order costs. If you want to start an online business, you need capital.  Some e-business newbies believe they will be able to get their website up and running and start selling products for $100 or less.  The truth is, there are going to be additional costs.  One of these costs might be initial orders from suppliers.  While many dropshippers have no fees to sign up and will allow you to ship individual orders, others require you to make a large initial order or put down a deposit before they’ll work with you.  This is rare, but more common with certain categories of products like clothing.  After your first $100-500 order, suppliers are usually willing to do single orders, or a much smaller volume.  You could choose not to work with suppliers who require a deposit or larger initial order, but unfortunately you would be cutting out some of the best dropshippers and wholesalers.

dropshippers, finding suppliers, wholesale

There’s a lot of controversy over which of Amazon’s online business programs are worth using and which are not.  Basically, Amazon now offers dropshipping and fulfillment in addition to their affiliate program.  While I think the fulfillment service may benefit some online businesses, I would recommend against using Amazon’s dropshipping program.

photo credit: chrisparkeruk

Rundown of Amazon’s Programs:

Amazon’s Affiliate/Associate Program: Amazon’s “Associat” program like any other affiliate program.  You sign up for it, then provide links to specific products on your website.  When those products sell, you receive a percentage of the sale (up to 15%, depending on the product and your sales volumes).  Like any affiliate program, there is money to be made here, but it works best in conjunction with other online ventures like a blog or a product line of your own (otherwise how will get people to your website?).

Amazon’s Dropshipping Program: Amazon allows you to resell any product off their website.  Once the item is sold, you order it from Amazon and have it shipped directly to the customer.  This is how all dropshipping works: you advertise a product you do not actually have possession of, and once the sale is made, your order it from the supplier and have it shipped to the customer.  The problem is, with dropshipping you want to avoid middlemen whenever possible.  And what is Amazon?  A middleman.  They are not the manufacturer of their products – they are someone who stands between you and the manufacturer, taking a cut of the profits.  An even bigger issue is that, as far as I can tell, Amazon does not offer ANY kind of discount to dropshippers.  This means that you are purchasing a product for full price, will have to mark it up to make a profit, and then will be competing with the exact same products being sold on Amazon for cheaper.  Finally, Amazon sends the dropshipped product in an Amazon box with an Amazon packing slip and shipping label.  So if your customer somehow managed to miss the fact that the same product was offered more cheaply on Amazon, they now have a glaring indication that the product can be purchased direct from Amazon next time.  This will nix most repeat business.
I’m not saying it’s impossible to make money dropshipping through Amazon.  People swear up and down on the messageboards they’ve made a profit reselling Amazon products on eBay, for instance.  But just because you can make twenty bucks doing it doesn’t mean it’s a sustainable business model.  I’m all about building your company name and customer base.  You want to build a business that will grow exponentially over the years.  There’s no growth in trying to find people oblivious enough to pay super-retail so you can clear a small profit.

photo credit: Steve Keys

Amazon’s Fulfillment Service: This is the most promising of Amazon’s programs, in my opinion.  Fulfillment is when a company outsources their product storage, packing, and shipping.  Besides handling those services, Amazon also provides customer service and returns.  Basically, you would order a batch of products wholesale and have them sent to Amazon’s warehouse.  They would store the products for you, and whenever you received an order, you would forward it to Amazon for packing and shipping.

Why might you need fulfillment? If you’ve found a dropshipper you love, then there’s no reason to use a fulfillment service.  Your dropshipper does the storing, packing, and shipping for you.  However, certain items are not available for dropship, or are much cheaper when bought wholesale.  If you decide to purchase wholesale, you may want an outside company to handle storing, packing, and shipping (due to the variable prices and the hassles of doing it yourself).  That is when you would consider Amazon.

The benefits of using Amazon over other fulfillment services: I’m not going to say that Amazon is the best fulfillment service that ever existed; I have no idea if that’s true.  However, Amazon has an extremely efficient storage and packing system in place.  They have negotiated for cheap shipping rates, and their shipping is known for being blazing fast.  You should be aware that  Amazon will include a “Fulfillment by Amazon” sticker with every package.  Some people consider this beneficial as the good name of Amazon lends credibility to your business and product, but other people do not want their customers to know that shipping is handled by an outside company.  Amazon charges according to the volume of product they fulfill, and they provide shipping labels, inventory tracking, and Super Saver Shipping options.  Finally, you can use Amazon’s fulfillment service to sell products on Amazon, your own website, eBay, or pretty much anywhere you please.

photo credit: mescon

Fulfillment services are not necessary for everyone.  As I said, the easiest option is simply to use a dropshipper.  However, if you are looking for a larger profit margin or to sell something that can only be bought wholesale, you may want to consider fulfillment to streamline your operations and ensure consistency in shipping time and expenses.

affiliate programs, dropshipping, online business, wholesale

There are definitely pluses and minuses to using an international dropshipper or wholesaler.  Sometimes the latter outweigh the former.  But other times, with certain products, you have to be a little more adventurous in order to make a sustainable profit margin.  Really, it all comes down to how risk-averse you are.  If you want a stress-free business experience, an international supplier is probably not for you.  If you don’t mind taking a little risk for the possibility of greater reward, than an international supplier might be just what you’re looking for.

First: The Benefits. Using a dropshipper or wholesaler based somewhere like China or Thailand is likely to get you a product about as cheap as possible, which will often off-set the increased shipping costs and allow for a larger profit margin than with an American supplier.  A second benefit of international suppliers is that probably very few other Americans are using the same dropshipper or wholesaler, so you won’t be competing with other websites selling the exact same products.  International suppliers also provide products that are rare or impossible to get in the States, like authentic ethnic items and imitation products.  Finally, most Asian-based dropshippers are extremely anxious to build relationships with US-based sellers, in sharp contrast to some persnickety domestic suppliers.  Thus, they are usually very accomodating.

photo credit: ajagendorf25

Second: The Negatives. Selling with an international supplier is a lot more chancy.  Your experience will be as good as the supplier is, and it’s hard to tell ahead of time how reliable and sophisticated a foreign company is.  The main issues are the language barrier and possible customs/shipping hassles.  Also, the quality and consistency of the product is not always on par with American companies.  For instance, one of my associates makes a lot of money buying clothing from an Asian company and selling it on eBay.  She buys around 5-10 items of clothing at a time.  The items are good quality, but the sizes vary drastically.  She’ll buy two Smalls, and one will be tiny and the other quite large.  This isn’t a problem, because she simply posts them as Small and Large on eBay, but it could be a problem if you are dropshipping the item directly to your customer.  Also, some customers are annoyed when they purchase from an American company and the product arrives from Asia.  Many international suppliers provide blind dropshipping, but you have to check with the company as to exactly what this entails (for instance, sometimes a packing slip is still included).

How To Make It Work: The number one thing you have to do is strenuously research your potential international supplier.  The major players will be reviewed on sites like Dropship Forum (dropshipforum.co.uk) and Rateitall.com.  Here you’ll discover if other retailers have had negative experiences with the dropshipper you’re considering.

When you do contact an international supplier, have a list of questions ready and make sure you get them all answered – when dealing with a language barrier, it’s easy to get off track and neglect to have all questions answered fully.

You’ll want to cover the following bases:

1.Shipping Policy: Shipping is extremely important – even though you warn customers that shipping may take up to 2 weeks, they may get annoyed waiting and, if you’re selling on eBay, blast your rating.  If an international company can’t stick to a strict shipping schedule, ditch them and find somebody else.  Asian dropshippers are aware of this issue, and many companies now offer next-day processing to expedite shipping as much as possible, but it will still probably take about 10 days.  Check exactly how items are shipped, (blind or not blind), and how long it will take (the company should use reliable services like UPS, DHL, FedEx, etc.).
2.Fees: You will want to check if there are any fees associated with their service (order fees, monthly fees, etc.), and whether there is a minimum quantity of products you have to buy in order to get the best price.
3.Refund/exchange policies: When dealing with an international supplier, a 12 month guarantee is desirable and not unreasonable.  You’ll want to know if the company handles refunds and customer complaints themselves.  (You may want them to deal with it for your convenience, but keep in mind this will tip off your customer as to the real supplier of the product, and they quality of the customer care may be sketchy).
4.Quality Control: You are well in your rights to ask about the supplier’s quality control.  Ask how they maintain quality at the factory level and at the warehouse.
5.Promotional Materials: Will they furnish product descriptions, photos, etc.?
6.Catalog Updates: Make sure they update their catalog regularly so you’re not selling items they don’t actually have – they should email you if they run out of stock on anything.
7.Payment: Most dropshippers and wholesalers in China only accept payment by Western Union or wire transfer (really, this is all they can do – credit cards are under government restriction in China).  This method is not always secure – make sure the account is used solely for these kinds of payments.  Also, be aware of the cost of this kind of transfer – it can be as high as $15.  To protect yourself further, use an escrow service so they can’t take the money out until the product has arrived.
8.Samples and Tests. Quality companies which usually send you a sample order so you can test the quality of the product.  If not, order something yourself so you can get a run-through of the ordering, shipping, receiving process before you start using it on customers.  (Note: A lot of Asian companies ship all their products as “samples” since this avoids customs hassles if the quantity is a dozen or less.  Obviously this is not honest, but it is common).

Be Aware: Brand-name products from China are 99.99% guaranteed knock-offs/fakes/replicas, whether the company acknowledges it or not.  Some are made to look exactly like the real thing, while others are sold as unbranded alternatives- a phone that looks very much like an iPhone, for instance.  If you are purchasing a brand-name product from China, assume it is fake.

photo credit: simonlesleyphoto
photo credit: Davvyk

Some common products dropshipped from Asia include: computers, computer components, cell phones, mp3 players, lingerie, clothing, jewelry, watches, handbags, shoes, pet products, and electronics accessories of all kinds.

There are a lot of people who make money using international dropshippers and wholesalers, but there are others who have had obnoxious experiences and ultimately failed.  I would recommend reading the message boards to get some real-life examples of the kind of issues you might come up against (just Google “Using Chinese Dropshippers” and you should find some examples).

In my mind, the risk might just be worth it: I don’t mind a little drama if the profit is there.  Only you know how much excitement you can stand.  If you do use an Asian supplier, you’ll have to exercise your due diligence even more than with a regular dropshipper or wholesaler.  If you are interested in checking out international suppliers, simply specify your interest in your Research Request to the Wholesale Match Research Team.

dropshippers, finding suppliers, pricing and profits, wholesale

One of the best ways to bring customers into your dropshipping or wholesaling website and to build sales is to capitalize on special events and holiday offers.  Practically every month of the year has some kind of holiday or event that can be turned into a promotion.  For example, right now you could be promoting “Back To School” specials, “Dorm Room Deals”, and “Empty-Nester Vacation Packages”.

photo credit: divemasterking2000
photo credit: tsuihin

Holding special promotional offers is important for two reasons.  First, people love a sale.  They love to feel like they’re getting a good deal.  Plus, a sale price creates a sense of urgency, a call to action, to prompt people to purchase immediately.  Second, holiday promotions help with SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  People searching for “Dorm Supplies” will come across your “Dorm Room Deals” on portable microwaves, hot plates, and irons, instead of skating right over your dropshipping website for small appliances and electronics.

Holiday/special event promotions are also a great way to upsell and group purchases.  In previous blogs, I’ve talked about creating a unique product out of dropshipping items.  One of the best ways to do this is to build a gift basket or kit out from various products you carry.  This allows you to create a product that no one else offers, and also sell some smaller items that usually get overlooked.  For instance, you could create a “University Survival Kit” or a “Beat the Exam Blues Gift Basket”.  Grouping items is an excellent way to overcome shipping costs for small purchases, and consumers have a strange attraction to things that “go together” (consider the Amazon Books sales technique where the novel a customer is browsing is offered together with a similarly-themed novel at a discounted price, or the ubiquitous sales technique of “customers who purchased this item also purchased…).

photo credit: billaday
photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³
photo credit: David Reber

These tactics work extremely well for a dropshipping website, but keep in mind that you can also apply them to eBay. Grouping and gift baskets are a great way to beat the comparison/competition of eBay.

dropshipping, eBay, internet marketing, wholesale

This is a somewhat advanced blog for people who have a dropshipping or wholesaling website in place, but want to improve its performance.  I won’t talk extensively about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because the blog post for tomorrow will be devoted exclusively to that topic.

First: The Home Page. Your home page is the first place people come, the first indication of your dropshipping or wholesaling company’s nature and values.  It needs to be striking, attractive, and impeccably organized.  Your goal is to get people to click on links and move deeper into the website.  You want to reduce your bounce ratio: people bouncing right on to the next site.  One way to reduce bouncing is to cut out animation and cumbersome pictures.  You want your website to be visually appealing, but it needs to load quickly so people can click the links immediately.  Many a time I’ve moved on to the next place because I didn’t want to wait for some cheesy intro video to load so I could search for a product.  You want to optimize the file size of all pictures on your website for efficiency.  The best way to do this is to decrease the quality of the image.  Obviously, there’s a line here, but most digital images are at a much higher quality than a monitor can display.  You can usually reduce a file to 1/5th size without changing the visual appearance of the photo.  You can also crop the photo to make it more impactive and less space-consuming.  Resizing the photo is not nearly as effective as decreasing the quality of the image, and you don’t want to compromise your visual aesthetic by switching to a bunch of thumbnails.

photo credit: jenschapter3
Other home page tips include displaying top-selling and new products on your home page, and making the other pages of your dropshipping or wholesaling website easily reachable within 2-3 clicks.  Make sure your contact information is visible on ALL pages, including your home page, and be sure to add a search bar.  There is nothing more annoying than clicking all over the place trying to find a product because there’s no search bar to guide you.

Second: The Sales Process. Make sure your products are logically arranged, attractively pictured and described, and easy to add to the shopping cart in any quantity (absolutely every time a product is visible it should have a “buy” button attached).  One of the best ways to increase sales is to recommend similar products when something is selected.  Make sure the add-on products are optional: never, never add them automatically to the shopping cart, or the whole cart is likely to be ditched; fight shopping cart abandonment every step of the way.  Also, use “calls to action”: sales, clearance, limited-time offers, “buy these items together and receive 20% off your order”.  Create a sense of urgency to combat shoppers thinking “I’ll come back and buy this after Jimmy’s soccer practice.”  They won’t come back: get them the first time.

photo credit: vic15
Other sales tips include making your dropship or wholesale products more attractive by writing unique descriptions (this also helps with SEO as it creates fresh content and may prompt people to create backlinks to your site), and having satisfied customers write reviews about your best products.  Because you are not always able to get  elite brands by dropship or wholesale, this is also important to create value and security for brands which are quality, but possibly not be as well known as, say, Nike or Apple.  Create links to other products on your website (this also helps with SEO and gets people to the other pages of your site) but don’t overdo it.  Finally, I’ve said it before but it’s worth beleaguering the point, make sure you have plenty of payment options, your security features prominently displayed, and cheap or free shipping in place.  Never make the customer go through an arduous registration process, and never ever resell their information.  You may think you’re going to get away with it, but the last thing you want is for someone to notice that after purchasing from your website, their spam quotient tripled.

photo credit: Jim Crocker

Third: Monitor your progress. Each time you implement a new marketing technique, keep track of how your sales and customer satisfaction ratings increase.  Don’t waste time and money on inefficient initiatives.  You can use analytics software to help you, and also to monitor customer behavior so you can see where your problem areas lie.  Keep up your SEO, forever and always.  One simple SEO tip: your products should have keywords in their titles, and you may want to consider adding long tail as well as short tail keywords.  (Long tail keywords are more specific and less searched for, but they also have less competition, so you can get a higher ranking in the search engines using them, though obviously less people will see your higher ranking).  If you haven’t had a lot of success with short tail keywords, give long tail a try.  One of the best benefits of long tail keywords is that they have a higher conversion ratio (look vs. buy ratio).  Because they are so specific, it is more likely that someone who finds your website while searching for “candy bar gift baskets” is going to make a purchase than someone who was simply looking for “gift baskets”.

Other things to watch: If a product is selling poorly, remove it from your website and replace it with something better.  Don’t advertise out of stock products; it really annoys people.  Compare your sales and your SEO with other similar websites so you can see what they’re doing well and one-up them.

photo credit: altair19h50m

Retail is war, and while I would never advocate doing anything underhanded, you have to fight to stay ahead all the time by planning your attack, shoring up your weak places, and beating the competition through superior techniques.

dropshipping, selling products online, website design / help, wholesale