How to Do Drop shipping? | 5 Key Steps

You dream of getting into e-commerce but you don’t know where to start. Have you considered drop shipping? This concept makes it possible to manage an e-shop without stock. The supplier takes care of all the logistics. It’s a great way to test the e-commerce business without taking any risks. But how to do drop shipping? It is essential to prepare your project well to develop a drop shipping store that works. Here we decipher the 5 key steps for a successful launch.

1. Choose a legal status

To start drop shipping, you must declare your company and be registered with the RCS (Register of Commerce and Companies). The choice of status depends on your goals. Are you embarking on the adventure alone? Is it a main activity? Is it a way to earn extra income?

If you are alone and want to get started with a minimum of costs, opt for the status of auto-entrepreneur. Procedures and management are simplified as much as possible. When your turnover exceeds the thresholds in force, and if you still manage the structure alone, you can move to the EIRL or the EURL, or even the SASU. If you have one or more partners, then you will need to create a company. The regimes recommended for drop shipping are, in this case, the SARL or the SAS. The specificities of each of these legal statuses are clearly presented on Le Coin des Entrepreneurs.

2. Find a profitable niche

If you want to make a living from drop shipping, don’t go into it blindly. You will need to find a profitable market niche that will allow you to generate a sufficient margin.

The choice of your products will be decisive for the future success of your shop without stock. Faced with increased competition, differentiation is essential. Do not multiply the universes: generalist shops, where, for example, costume jewelry rub shoulders with dog food and childcare, are to be avoided. They return a “catch-all” image. In addition, faced with e-commerce giants like Amazon and Discount, which offer all types of products, the chances of breaking through are almost nil.

What will set you apart from the competition is your uniqueness and the quality you offer. By specializing, you will personalize your offer. It is therefore strongly advised to create a niche store offering 3 to 4 complementary trendy products, or even a single-product store. The range offered may expand as your drop shipping store grows. You will also stand out if you develop real expertise in your niche. By becoming a reference with Internet users, you will gain notoriety and legitimacy.

3. Define an effective e-commerce strategy

Your strategic choices will depend on the type of products marketed, your target and your budget. The first challenge will be to make yourself known and therefore to make your e-commerce visible without stock. You will need to determine the most relevant traffic acquisition lever for your business: social networks, paid referencing (AdWords) or natural referencing (SEO). After analyzing the behavior of the target audience, you can choose the platforms best suited to your objectives. It will then be necessary to establish a precise editorial calendar for the distribution of your messages.

In any case, enhancing and highlighting your products through quality editorial content and good visuals will be decisive. This will result in catchy titles, impactful messages, optimized product sheets, beautiful photos and demo videos. Engaging content will allow you to capture the prospect’s attention, build customer loyalty and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Developing and implementing a digital strategy requires many skills. The Internet is full of specialized blogs and other quality content that is a veritable mine of information. However, using an experienced web marketer will help you get your drop shipping store off the ground and make your drop shipping store profitable faster. For the realization of all your editorial content and SEO audits, do not hesitate to contact ghostwriting companies or to constitute your project team on Web.

As you will have understood, drop shipping cannot be improvised. A personal and financial investment (professional support, training) is essential to succeed in this ultra-competitive sector. After having sourced your products, created your e-shop and made your first sales, you will need to increase your turnover to develop your business. To do this, discover without delay how to improve the conversion rate of an e-commerce!

4. Find reliable suppliers

Aliexpress and Big Buy are the e-commerce giants specializing in drop shipping. However, the quality, delivery times and customer service vary significantly between products. However, your credibility and your reputation as a distributor will be closely linked to those of the wholesaler with whom you will be working. Indeed, you will totally depend on him for the entire supply chain (product conformity, respect of delivery times, etc.). Hence the importance of choosing the right suppliers when starting out in drop shipping. Web drop and Cdiscountpro are French drop shipping players. They offer a wide and diverse range of products. Concerned about quality and customer service, they are a very interesting alternative to the behemoths of the sector.

The ideal is still to establish partnerships with local suppliers (craftsmen, SMEs) to whom you can offer to do drop shipping. Indeed, if you are positioning yourself in a qualitative niche, it is very wise to canvass companies that sell the high-potential products you are targeting. By working with a little-known brand, you will give it visibility. You will also offer quality products that are not found everywhere on the Internet. And, icing on the cake, delivery times will be short. You will then benefit from a significant competitive advantage.

Finally, for more security, have a drop shipping contract drawn up with your suppliers. This agreement, which determines the obligations of each party, will allow you to work more calmly.

5. Create an online store for drop shipping

You can opt for a turnkey solution. Shopify, the world leader in the creation of online stores must now reckon with Dropwise, created by the French publisher of e-commerce solutions, Wiz shop. These platforms are directly connected to the catalogs of pre-selected suppliers. They allow you to download the targeted products to supply your shop, in a few clicks. You can also install apps on the Shopify App Store to help you boost your sales, like AfterSell which allows you to upsell your customers and maximize your average order value.

Ergonomic and intuitive, they do not require any prior technical knowledge. On the other hand, the Dropwise solution is cheaper and particularly suitable for beginners. Indeed, it offers complete and free training to get started in drop shipping. In addition, this platform allows you to be automatically connected to the French supplier Cdiscountpro.

If you have technical skills, you can create your own e-store with Prestashop or WordPress. Otherwise, it is possible to use the services of a freelance developer or a digital agency. There are many plugins for drop shipping that allow you to add features but also to optimize your store without stock. So, Woo Commerce Drop shipping and Dropship.me are dedicated to WordPress. As for Web drop-market, it works with Prestashop. Consulting a comparison of drop shipping solutions can help you make your choice.