If you’ve ever been interested in starting your own online business, you might have heard the term “dropshipping” thrown around. But what does it truly mean? How does it work? What are the benefits? And, most importantly, how can you make money from it?
Dropshipping is an order fulfilment method where a business owner purchases inventory as needed from a third party- usually a manufacturer or wholesaler. They don’t keep the products they sell in stock.
This is different from the traditional retail model because the drop shipper doesn’t own inventory. They simply act as the middlemen.
How does it work?
Two of the most common approaches are to find a supplier in your city (or anywhere) or to seek out a platform like Sharesell that connects you and your business to thousands of suppliers. On Sharesell, you can browse through various products and choose the ones that pique your interest, set your price and begin selling!
As a business owner, all you have to do is send your purchase link to your customers and when the sale is closed, the product is sent directly from the suppliers to the customers.
Just like any other e-commerce business, it takes dedication and focus to get your startup running and successful. When done well, drop shipping companies can become reliable and convenient partners to suppliers.
Benefits of drop shipping
The drop shipping industry, valued at $150 billion dollars is a great business model for aspiring business owners to adopt because it’s accessible. It helps you learn a lot about the market by testing different products. It can also help traditional retailers test the customers’ appetite for a new product before investing money in that product.
Here are a few other reasons why dropshipping with Sharesell is a great idea:
1. Easy to start
Since you don’t have to deal with sourcing physical products or manufacturers, dropshipping is super easy to start. You don’t have to worry about paying for a warehouse, packing or shipping orders, tracking inventory or managing stock. All you have to do is set up your reseller account, close a sale, and make easy money.
2. Less capital
This is probably the biggest advantage of dropshipping: it’s possible to launch your online store without having to invest thousands of naira in inventory. With this model, you don’t have to purchase a product unless you’ve made the sale and you’ve been paid by the customer. And because of this, there’s less risk involved in starting a dropshipping store.
3. Low running cost
Because you don’t have to manage inventory or rent a warehouse, your running cost is quite low. In fact, many successful resellers run their online stores from home and this doesn’t require more than a phone and internet connection.
4. Flexible location:
You can run your business from virtually anywhere so long as there’s an internet connection. As long as you can communicate with your buyers and your suppliers, you can manage your business and make money even on the go.
5. Wide product selection
You can offer an array of trending products to your customers as the need arises. When your supplier lists a new product, you don’t have to wait till you can afford to buy it, you can just list it on your store with a few clicks.
The dropshipping model has numerous advantages but like all businesses, dropshipping has its complexities — limited customization and branding, your supplier going out of stock or shipping errors, and more. The good news, however, is that with Sharesell, these hurdles have been resolved and wouldn’t prevent you from building a thriving, profitable dropshipping business.
Starting your dropshipping business on Sharesell is very easy and can be completed in just 4 steps
1. Register as a reseller on Sharesell
2. Select products from a wide range of options
3. Adjust the pricing to make money.
4. Create a link and distribute it to your clients and friends.
5. Complete the transaction and earn a profit!
We manage the pick-up and delivery of the goods to your clients everywhere in Nigeria, and we immediately credit your account once the product is delivered. It’s that simple!
