How Dropshipping Can Be Your Route Into Starting Your Own Business

December 6, 2017

Opening an online dropshipping business can be an excellent way to start generating an income fast.

If you are low on startup capital, it can be a struggle to find further funding. And, if you are still holding down an existing job, you’ll need a reliable way to boost your cash flow in your spare time that doesn’t eat into your day (too much).

Opening an online dropshipping business can be an excellent way to start generating an income fast. You need very little upfront investment, and the learning curve is no longer as steep as it once was thanks to apps and easy online tools.

Here is how dropshipping can be a viable route to starting your own business.

Find A Profitable Niche + Audience

You will want to test if your new business is viable, so experimenting with product offerings is critical. With dropshipping, you are going to have to be super careful about profit margins, so high-value items might make more sense.

If you are doing print-on-demand, try ordering small sample batches and road-testing your products with friends and family.

Once you have a niche, you will have to hone in on your audience. You will want to ensure that you 100% understand their purchase motivators and retail habits, so use social media analysis tools to help you build up a set of profiles for your ideal customers.

Building Your Branding Message

Part of building yourself up as a business will hinge on your ability to create a unique and reliable brand aesthetic.

Take your audience research notes and plan your logo, fonts, editorial writing style, imagery, photography, and videos around content your audience already consume, and brands they already engage with.

Branding is a fun exercise, and it will also aid you in your business planning skills. Talk to your co-founders, think about your company values, and plan out how you can build loyalty in your brand over time.

Source Your Products Easily

Part of what makes dropshipping such an exciting model for wannabe internet retailers is its flexibility.

You find your supplier, list their goods on your site, and then you place an order on the customer’s behalf once they have themselves placed an order. A third party supplier handles the storing and shipping of the goods, so it’s ideal for business owners with little to no capital to spend on inventory. There is a range of tools you can access from your online storefront that will allow you to stock your DIY dropship store in seconds.

Take note of your competitors, and plan your pricing accordingly. If you want to make a profit fast, consider premium quality goods.

It is unlikely you will beat the large online retailers on price. Therefore, your store should aim to offer something unique and high-quality instead, like cool designs, a great brand story etc.

It’s All About The Marketing

Running ad campaigns on Google Adsense, Facebook, Instagram, etc. will help you snag your first orders. Based on your audience research, you will need to craft enticing sales messages with inspiring imagery (including video ads). Make good use of Insights and set up your campaigns to run in sequences.

There are many different ‘combinations’ in sequential advertising that can work. Make the process of creating and testing your campaigns easy by setting up automated plugins for things like product retargeting ads, referral programs, etc. The choice of automation apps is extensive regardless of the ecommerce host you opt for.

Alongside your campaigns, you should also look to build up your name ‘the old-fashioned way.’ Get the word out by guest blogging and making genuine connections with influencers and customers on social media.

Dropshipping is a fantastic way to build a side hustle business from scratch. It allows you to explore ecommerce options whilst buildING a primary business enterprise with a steady stream of income. If you always keep your audience as the focus and learn to make sense of audience analytics, you can quickly scale your business.

Victoria Greene is a writer and branding expert. She runs a blog called Victoriaecommerce. On her blog and elsewhere, she likes to share tips with startup owners looking to generate a profit with ecommerce.