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Mistakes are an inevitable part of life. No business, online or otherwise, could survive without mistakes. However, some mistakes can cost you your business. If you are just getting into dropshipping, you will want to dip your toes in with as much preparation as possible. After all, if you can avoid dropshipping mistakes, why wouldn’t you?
The smoother your online store launch, the easier it would be to keep your dropship business afloat. In 2020, let’s take a look at some mistakes you can easily bypass and build a successful business.
It’s understandable if you don’t want to start your online store with only trending products. After all, you want to stand out from the crowd. So, you are probably planning on opening a store with particular niche products. That’s a good idea, of course, unless you choose the wrong niche.
Before you start your business with a niche, do as much research as possible on it. Is it truly profitable? Is it a niche where there are still a good amount of people looking for those items or is it actually a completely dead market with no one willing to pay for any of the items? Are the products from the niche of your choice appealing to people? Maybe the market is thriving but because you haven’t done enough research, the products your store hosts, simply aren’t the ones customers your niche market are looking for.
So, do your research and find the niche you can actually make a profit from.
In dropshipping business, your supplier controls a huge part of how well your business will perform. You are dependent on them to both manufacture and ship your product safely to your customer.
Now, imagine a scenario where an order has been placed for a product and as it turns out, your current, singular supplier is incapable of manufacturing that product for the time being and won’t be able to for some time. Well, now you either have to cancel the order or find a supplier within a ridiculously short amount of time.. Your customer will be let down by an unfulfilled promise and you will be left with a nasty review on your website about how you don’t deliver in time.
If you have more than one supplier, this mistake can easily be avoided. Even if your most trusted supplier isn’t able to deliver on time, your second most trusted one will certainly be able to.
The thing about shipping is that it’s hard to put an exact date of arrival, especially in the dropshipping business. If you don’t have access to a ‘tracking your order’ option, it’s even more impossible to do so. You are solely dependent on your supplier’s word in this case, though they do tend to make the right estimation most of the time.
It’s important you are clear to your customer about this. If your supplier suggests it would take 10 days for an order to reach its destination, that’s what you should tell your customer, instead of claiming it would arrive in 6 days. In fact, it’s better you overstate the time of arrival, rather than understating it. If the customers assume it’s going to take a long time for their order to arrive, are it arrives a day or two ago, they are delighted. .
You should also be transparent about shipping. Make them aware of what kind of costs shipping would incur, don’t lower or raise the numbers, and be sure they are aware of any other choices they might have. Your customers value your sincerity more than anything.
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The sale itself doesn’t end the moment the checkout button is clicked on your customer’s end. Unfortunately, a lot of store owners seem to think it does and don’t bother contacting their customer after the sale.
Your customers are probably anxious after ordering online and are hoping you aren’t scamming them. Silence on your end does nothing to assure them that isn’t the case. After they have made a purchase, they want to know when the order will arrive. So, give them a step by step play of what’s happening, from when the order has been shipped to the moment it will arrive on their door. This will leave them with a good impression of your store and they will be more confident ordering from you the second time around.
In fact, even after the order has been delivered, you should ask your customers to leave a review. If the reviews are positive, more potential customers would feel reassured while ordering from you. Positive reviews certainly do help boost sales.
If you have the email IDs of your customers, you could also send them emails with special offers or just greet them nicely once in a while to remind them your online store exists.
Yes, you should have more than one supplier. As we mentioned, having only one supplier is a huge mistake. However, having too many suppliers can be a headache as well. You will have to be regularly in contact with them and you might get confused about who to contact for what item that needs to be shipped.
So, while you should definitely have a good amount of suppliers, hiring an excessive amount isn’t the answer you are looking for either. Always things should be balanced.
There you go! Those are our top 5 drop shipping mistakes you should be avoiding this year.
Even if you have been in the dropshipping business for quite some time, it’s still entirely possible that you have been making these novice mistakes. Or, you might be here after having already launched your store and seeing underwhelming sales or disastrous results compared to what you were expecting. Well, it’s never too late. See if any of these mistakes are what has been causing problems in your business and if the answer is yes, it is about time you fix them.
