subject: Why Choose Drop Shipping? [print this page] Many people get their first experience of selling on the web through eBay, selling junk from a clearout or raising money for a vacation or holiday. Ebay is a great, fun way to get started with e-commerce, no big up-front fees, no software to buy or complex web store to set up. But what if you get the 'bug' and decide to become one of the new breed of internet entrepreneur?
Many choose to sell through eBay or Amazon, and there are considerable advantages to this. Both eBay and Amazon bring traffic to your products in the form of customers who are already interested in buying, so one of the most difficult aspects of web sales, bringing in website traffic, is done for you. Of course the competition is close at hand, but selling through one or both of these channels can be very rewarding and if done using drop shipping, relatively effortless.
Using a drop ship supplier is the simplest way to get started on web sales. Unlike conventional businesses, if you use a drop shipping model you buy no stock, you simply advertise one of your drop ship supplier's products in your store and when a sale is made, you purchase the product from your supplier who then sends it straight to your customer.
If the product doesn't sell you can simply choose to sell something else. With no investment in stock you've nothing to loose.
Shipping rates can be a problem when your business is new. Bulk rates aren't available to you and you may find it necessary to charge your customers a lot in shipping, making your goods less competitive. Drop shippers will have bulk shipping rates, and more experience when it comes to packing and shipping.
If this is your first internet business the opportunity to allow someone else to handle this peripheral, but essential aspect of the business, while you concentrate on learning the gentle art of internet sales, is not one to be missed.
As your business grows you may decide that you have built a loyal clientele and want to move to your own hosted e-commerce store. Again there is a lot to learn.
You'll use the sales skills you learned on other platforms to develop your own store where, without the transaction fees of eBay or Amazon, you'll retain more of the profit. Is this the time to shun drop shipping and go for true wholesale?
A step by step approach is most likely to be best. By this time you will know your product and know how and why it sells. Investment in inventory is less likely to be a risk, but shipping is something you may want to leave until your store is fully set up and running smoothly, making regular sales.
At that point you could consider the move to true wholesale, holding inventory and shipping, all through your own store. Or not.
There is one more aspect of a drop shipping which should be considered. Using the drop shipping model you can run your store from anywhere, and I don't just mean a laptop by your pool rather than an office.
You can literally travel anywhere and still administer your store, as long as you have an internet connection. So if the thought of a world cruise, or a villa on a Greek Island appeals to you, forget inventory and warehouses, and settle for drop shipping and the location independent lifestyle.
All you need to decide is where to go.
by: Kirsty Hale
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