Dropshipping is a very viable choice if you want to start a business online. It is cheaper than traditional buy-and-sell since you don’t manage your products’ inventory. Instead, a supplier will handle inventory management for you.
Follow our guide to start your own dropshipping business today!
What is a dropshipping business?
Dropshipping is an online selling model where the seller doesn’t need physical inventory to operate. In this business type, when a customer purchases a product, the seller will forward it to their supplier to process the shipment.
A lot of new entrepreneurs prefer this setup since the cost barrier is low. In dropshipping, the vendor typically pays in advance for the item at a discounted price. Dropshippers is working directly with the wholesale supplier or manufacturer.
The income will be generated from the difference of initial item cost and the retail price they sell the item.
Step by Step Tutorial to Start Dropshipping Business
Here are the simple steps you can follow to start a successful dropshipping business.
Step 1: Decide whether dropshipping is for you
Just like any other business model, dropshipping has its pros and cons. Let’s explore first whether dropshipping is suitable for you.
First off, assess the initial capital you have. If you have a small capital and can’t start a full blown e-commerce business, dropshipping is definitely for you. It doesn’t involve creating your inventory so the initial cost will be far less compared to managing your own.
Dropshipping may require less upfront capital since there is no inventory management involved.
The biggest cons of dropshipping is you don’t have control over their product catalog. As a dropshipper, you also have limited customization.
Since you don’t own your own product inventory, you can’t have customized branding and packaging. This hinders if you want full control over branding and product quality.
Step 2: Choose a product catalog
Once you decided to use dropshipping as a business model. It is now time to choose what products you want to sell.
The key here is balancing your passion with market research. You want to choose a product that you will love, at the same time, a product that has customer demand.
You should also consider the competition of the catalog you choose. Since high competition means it will be harder for you to get a consistent flow of buyers.
Step 3: Choose a platform for your dropshipping business.
Choosing a platform is your next step in starting your dropshipping business.
- Alibaba. A wholesale marketplace offering a vast range of products at competitive prices for bulk purchasing.
- Aliexpress. A popular platform for dropshipping with low-cost, single-item purchasing and global shipping options.
- Dropify. A Philippine-based dropshipping platform that simplifies product sourcing and fulfillment for local entrepreneurs.
- Lazada. A leading Southeast Asian e-commerce platform offering a variety of dropshipping opportunities.
- Oberlo. A Shopify-exclusive app for discovering and importing dropshipping products directly to your store.
- Shopee. A Southeast Asian e-commerce site with flexible dropshipping opportunities and a user-friendly mobile app.
- Shopify. A robust e-commerce platform enabling store owners to manage dropshipping and direct-to-consumer sales.
- WooCommerce. A WordPress plugin that turns websites into customizable online stores perfect for dropshipping.
Step 4: Find a reliable supplier
Next step is finding a reliable supplier for your dropshipping business. For this, you need to consider a few things.
The first thing to do in this step is to research a reputable supplier. To do this simple look for positive reviews, high ratings, and a proven track record.
To make sure that your customer will get the best quality products, order samples to assess the quality firsthand. This will give you confidence to promote this to your customers.
A few things to consider also when finding a reputable supplier is to verify their shipping speed, way of communications, and checking their return policies.
Aside from being a platform for ecommerce and dropshipping, the brands mentioned above such as Alibaba and Aliexpress are good choices to find a supplier. You can also check Banggood for supplies.
Do some product promotion
Now you’re ready to start dropshipping business. The next step is to get an audience to get some sales.
In promoting your dropshipping business, you have two main marketing options. Paid promotions and organic promotions.
Organic traffic promotions can be from posting via facebook, uploading a video on tiktok or Youtube, or doing organic SEO.
Meanwhile, paid traffic includes ads such as Tiktok Ads, Facebook Ads, and Google Ads.
Wrapping Up
Just a recap we tackle how dropshipping works and a step-by-step guide on starting a dropshipping business in the Philippines.
If you need help in setting up your dropshipping website in the Philippines, feel free to contact us to help you get started.
