WooCommerce Drop Shipping: WHAT, WHY, and HOW
An online business is a great way to expand your existing brick-and-mortar business with new experiments.
And suppose you are looking to start an online store and not very keen on handling the inventory, packaging, shipping, staff, and other aspects of a typical online store. In that case, there’s no better time to jump on board the exciting opportunity of dropshipping!
According to Google Trends, searches for the term “dropshipping” have been at a peak in the past years.
Why is it so?
The answer is simple. It’s an easy way to start an online business with low risk and no upfront investment and is perfect for those with a limited budget or who are new to the idea of selling online.
Read on to learn what dropshipping is, why it is essential and how it can be done quickly.
What Is Dropshipping?
It is a business pattern that allows you to sell products online without ever holding them in inventory. The concept is easy: You have to import products from your supplier and list them on your site by setting up your prices.
When a user places an order, the third party ships them directly to the customer. This way, you can minimize the resources needed to launch your e-commerce business and earn a profit by keeping a margin on every product sold.
Benefits of WooCommerce Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a business model that has several benefits when compared to other traditional eCommerce business models.
- Low overhead costs:
There is no specific need to find a physical location for your store, buy or manufacture the product, or worry about storing it in a warehouse. - Scalability:
Scale your dropshipping venture either by opening another dropshipping store in a different niche or by offering a wide range of products by expanding your product categories. - Independency in the location:
Dropshipping brings flexibility as you can operate from anywhere and anytime. All you need is an internet connection to access your store.
Challenges in Dropshipping
Though it is a popular strategy for businesses, there are specific challenges associated with dropshipping. As a start-up owner, it’s essential to be aware of all the challenges dropshipping has:
- Reliance on Third-Party Suppliers:
Suppose a third-party supplier fails to execute an order as promised for any reason. It can badly affect customers’ experience. These relationships are hard to manage, and you may run into difficulty because of it. - High Level of Competition:
Dropshippers may have a more challenging time standing out from the crowd if they cannot offer unique products or services or find a niche that isn’t oversaturated. All you need is to put more work into differentiating yourself from the competitors. - Difficult Customer Support:
If something goes wrong with the order or a customer claims that the product received is defective, you won’t be as hands-off as you think. Dealing with the supplier to resolve the issue can be a big hassle. - Tight Profit Margins:
There is a lower profit margin as the process involves outsourcing from a third party. For improving revenues, you need to increase sales volume as a traditional retailer.
Nonetheless, it is a lucrative industry, and even though the challenges are there, it still can be an excellent area to expand your business in.
Why WooCommerce is an Ideal Option For Dropshipping
Before diving into how dropshipping works, let’s talk about why WooCommerce is one of the best options for dropshipping stores. WooCommerce is the most widely used e-commerce platform around the globe. Some of the reasons are:
1. Famous and Demanding
For beginners, WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It’s a free, open-source platform like WordPress, so you don’t have to pay for it.
2. Choice of Themes
With a variety of themes explicitly designed with WooCommerce in mind, you can customize the functionality and design of your store and get it to appear exactly the way you want. You can even customize the look of your product pages.
3. Availability of Plugins & Extensions
There are thousands of plugins and add-ons explicitly developed for WooCommerce to add more features to your store. These extensions help you to integrate your store with numerous dropshipping providers and other platforms.
4. No Transaction Fees
Another reason WooCommerce dropshipping is an excellent option is that it has no hidden additional charges like other e-commerce platforms.
How to Get Started with Your WooCommerce Dropshipping Business
To start your dropshipping business, you’ll need the following things:
A niche for products you’ll be selling
Finding a niche with low competition is not easy. You need to identify your product category or categories, main products, and target audience. The latter will help you in your marketing and promotional activities.
A few ways to know your audience:
- Spend time where the audience spends time i-e social media groups, subreddits.
- Learn about them through surveys.
- Conduct in-person interviews.
A reliable supplier for providing you with products with a reliable shipping method.
Once you have selected the products, it’s time to talk about finding product suppliers. You can browse through different marketplaces to see if they have the products you want to sell.
The most important thing is to ensure that the supplier is reliable and will deliver your products quickly.
Things to keep in mind are:
- Check the supplier ratings before starting dealing with them.
- Examine their shipping times and policies.
- Check the product ratings and reviews to know more about their products.
- Test the product quality yourself if possible.
- Make sure the supplier responds to inquiries and messages on time.
A WordPress website with WooCommerce to list those products
1. A domain name and hosting
Start your website foundation by purchasing a domain name and hosting. Pick a URL that represents your business and is easy to remember.
Then select a host where your website stores all of your website files and displays them to visitors worldwide. WordPress.com eCommerce hosting plan is a great place to start, including everything you need for an online store. For other options, please take a look at our list of recommended hosting solutions.
2. Install WordPress And WooCommerce
WordPress
WordPress is an open-source website-building platform designed to be accessible for people of all technical experience levels. It has an easy-to-use visual editor that builds pages without any coding and is entirely customizable.
Mainly the hosting providers offer WordPress installations while others, like WordPress.com, come with WordPress and WooCommerce pre-installed, so you can start creating your site on the go. Check here for installing WordPress on all major hosting providers.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free extendable plugin specifically for WordPress with all the tools you need to sell your products online. It includes adding products, collecting payments, setting up shipping requirements, and a lot more. It comes with hundreds of extensions to expand the functionality of your store and help you scale your business, and take it to the next level. Check here for installing WooCommerce.
Start Your WooCommerce Dropshipping With Pie Register’s WooCommerce Add-on
Pie Register is a great plugin to sell your digital items. Although it is a WordPress Registration plugin, it is equipped with numerous essential features and add-ons.
With the WooCommerce Add-on, add fields for billing and shipping addresses to your Pie Register registration form and synchronize them with the WordPress WooCommerce plugin without any hassle. You can also view and edit the information added through the add-on right from the Pie Register’s ‘Profile’ page.
An Additional Bonus For You
Tips to Grow Your WooCommerce Dropshipping Store
Here are some additional tips to help you flourish your business:
Focus on marketing
There are many tools you can use to market your products. From social media to paid ads, you can find your ideal customers and retarget opportunities through these platforms.
Create content
Apart from selling your products, focus on providing value to your customers. Create content based on the products you sell.
If you run a clothing brand, create videos to show different styles or have influencers do it. If you sell dog food, create blog articles around dogs’ health and wellbeing.
Build trust with customer reviews
Ask your customers to leave reviews on your website and social media. It can help build trust among new buyers and show you what to change to improve your business strategy.
Leverage Google Shopping
Put your products on Google Shopping to help you increase visibility and convert new customers. Usually, consumers start their shopping journey with a Google search. Google Shopping acts as an aggregate e-commerce marketplace where customers can get a snapshot of relevant products, compare prices, and see the stores that sell them all at once.
CONCLUSION!
It’s not over. It’s just a wrap! You have plenty of possibilities to extend your dropshipping store’s features. The great thing is that dropshipping can prove to be a profitable business if you can tap into the trends and tips. There are some downsides to dropshipping, but you cannot deny its importance with plenty of upsides. In addition, you get the flexibility to partner with thousands of suppliers, all with the power of WordPress!!
That’s it! We hope you found the guide helpful.
Have a question in mind or some suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.