How To Build A Shopify Dropshipping Site
As you are here, you would be an entrepreneur who wants to get into the eCommerce world, but at the same time doesn’t hold the necessary resources to handle manufacturing, fulfillment, and supply chain, not to worry as a great option that would be best in your case is dropshipping.
On becoming a drop shipper, you will be able to get yourself rid of the inventory management jobs. When an item is sold from your store, it is sent to a 3rd-party, who next ships that order directly to the shopper. You are not required to even touch the sold product, just you are required to pay for what you sell through your store.
It would be surprising for you to know that developing a dropshipping website is quite easy. Well, the credit goes to Shopify as it’s the only way that takes only a day or two to develop a website, source the products, and sell them all over the globe.
Hard to believe? Keep reading.
Well, today we are here to let you know about dropshipping, why to choose Shopify for dropshipping, steps to develop a dropshipping website, its benefits, and more.
What is Dropshipping?
A retail fulfillment model, Dropshipping is a method where a store doesn’t stock the products it sells. Instead of that, when a store uses a dropshipping model to sell a product, it buys the product from a 3rd-party and ships it directly to the shopper. Resultantly, the seller doesn’t need to handle the item directly.
Well, the biggest difference between standard retail and dropshipping is that the seller doesn’t stock or even own the inventory. Instead, the seller buys the inventory as required from a 3rd-party, generally a wholesaler or manufacturer, to fulfill the orders.
Why Shopify for Dropshipping?
Although many eCommerce solutions can strengthen the roots of your dropshipping business, Shopify is being widely accepted as one of the widely-known platforms for merchants. It’s because Shopify arrives with the following traits. Let’s check them out.
Equipped with Amazing Features
Shopify provides various features that allow you to develop an eCommerce business, apart from just a website. Besides its online store builder, which eases the designing and set up of a website, Shopify holds the features to manage your marketing, sales, and payments as well.
Dropshipping-Friendly
The best part of Shopify is that it is very friendly with specially crafted dropshipping solutions. For example – Oberlo, a Dropshipping application that performs exclusively with Shopify.
Easy-to-Use
One of the most user-friendly solutions, Shopify is stuffed with various features and functionalities, but it never becomes overwhelming. In fact, the company stays all set always to guide the merchants about the working of its software.
7 Easy Steps to Follow for Dropshipping on Shopify
1. Register for a Shopify Account
It’s free to register for an account on Shopify. For that, you just need an email address to verify your account with, and with which you can sign-in. Well, no credit card or any other payment mode is required. Shopify comes with a 14-day trial pack for all its new users.
While performing registration, you will need to provide a name also along with your email address. During the free-trial phase, this name will be used to generate the URL of your store.
After it’s done, Shopify will demand your name and other details for payment handling. It’s just a short form, you don’t have to worry about that.
2. Install Dropshipping Apps
After you are done with the registration process, you will be taken to the dashboard of your store. You can start adding your products to your website from your dashboard.
For the new drop shippers, Shopify will prove to be a one-stop resource. So, firstly you need to head towards the Shopify Apps. Next, click on Apps, and then select ‘Visit the Shopify App Store. Post that search for ‘Oblero’.
A dropshipping platform, Oblero permits its users to easily search for and also add dropshipping items to their store. After the installation, you are all set to explore the items on it.
3. Search for Products You Want
Using dropshipping apps is as easy as you are shopping on an eCommerce website. First, pick the category that you would like to browse, next, hover over the product you are interested in, and then click on ‘Add to import list’.
After adding all the products that you want, click on ‘Import List’ on the navigation bar of the Oblero dashboard. Then, from there you will be able to customize the categories, descriptions, and other details.
4. Import Selected Products to Your Website
So, next, when you find yourself satisfied by performing everything you want, it’s time to select the check box lying on the top-left side of the product box, and then click on ‘Import to Store’. You need to repeat the same process for all the items you selected earlier.
5. Setting Up Your Shopify Store
Now, after you have made ready all the items you want to sell, you need to set up your store. To enhance your sales, your store demands to merge the engaging look with speed and usability. Well, no need to worry, Shopify comes with pre-designed templates from which you can pick as per your taste. Even, you can customize the theme if you want to give it a personal touch. Setting up custom functionalities can also be done by hiring a Shopify developer.
6. Customizing Your Shopify Dropshipping Store
Shopify theme customization relies on the theme you pick. By default, the available segments can be enabled or disabled, or even you can add the new segments as per your choice. To customize these sections, you are just required to specify the parameters.
You will find a navigation bar on the left which is a list of all the segments that are by-default enabled in the theme. By clicking on those sections, you can specify the details, like how many rows or columns you want to display, and more.
If you don’t want to enable those pre-set segments, you just have to click on the eye icon, and next, you will find them hidden on your website. To add a segment, you can click on the option lying at the bottom of the left navigation bar. By clicking on that, an extensive menu will be opened from which you can choose the items.
After you are done, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save’ icon, even if you want your store to get published later.
7. Setting up Payments (Include Price And Plans)
Now, after your items are selected, and your store is ready, you need a way through which you can collect the payments from your customers. Shopify performs with numerous payment processors, so you can select from a wide range of options.
To set up the payments, click on the ‘Setting’ button, lying on the bottom of the left corner of the dashboard. Next, select the ‘Payment Providers’.
Benefits of Dropshipping
An amazing business model for aspiring entrepreneurs, dropshipping is easy to kickstart. Using dropshipping one can test distinct business ideas quickly with an unlimited downside that permits one to learn a lot about how to choose and also market the in-demand products. Following are a few other reasons that will prove that dropshipping is a popular model.
Require Less Capital
Might be, the biggest advantage of using dropshipping is that it is possible to set up an e-commerce store without spending thousands of dollars in the inventory up-front. In the past, retailers were required to clutch a big amount for purchasing the inventory.
With the dropshipping model, you are not required to buy a product unless you have already sold it and have got paid by the customer. Today, it’s possible to kickstart sourcing the products and even launch a dropshipping business successfully with a little investment. Moreover, as selling-through the inventory purchased up-front is not important, fewer risks are involved in starting a dropshipping store.
Easier to Scale
By using dropshipping, most of your jobs to process more orders will be performed by the suppliers, permitting you to grow with fewer pains and less work.
Flexible Location
Well, you can run your dropshipping business from anywhere just with an Internet connection. Until you can communicate with customers and suppliers easily, you can manage and run your business.
Easy to Start
It’s much easier to run an eCommerce business when you don’t need to deal with the physical items. With drop shipping, you don’t have to fret about:
- Handling or paying for a warehouse.
- Packing and delivering your orders.
- Tracking inventory for accounting reasons.
- Managing returns and the inbound shipments.
- Constantly ordering the products and handling stock level.
Low Overhead
As you don’t need to deal with the purchasing inventory or handling a warehouse, this leads to low overhead expenses. Furthermore, various successful dropshipping stores run like home-based businesses, demanding little more as compared to laptops and a few recurring expenditures to operate. As you expand, these prices will increase, but still will be low as compared to those of brick-and-mortar businesses.
Easier to Test
A useful fulfillment mode, dropshipping is best for launching a new store, and also for business owners who are looking to test the demands of customers for additional product categories. The main advantage of dropshipping is the ability to list and sell the items before buying an inventory.
Wide-Variety of Products to Sell
As you don’t need to pre-purchase the products you sell, you can offer a wide range of trending products to your potential customers. If the supplier stocks a product, you can list it on your online store to sell at no additional charges.
Wrapping Up
It’s quite simple and fast to start a dropshipping business with Shopify as it needs very little upfront investment. You can create a dropshipping website in a day or two using an easy-to-use platform namely, Shopify. So, follow the above steps to set up your dropshipping business and start selling products.
