7 reasons why you should start making money with dropshipping today
Barbara Karen
…and 5 reasons why you shouldn’t. Dropshipping has been the talk of the town in the last year – perhaps because it can be an easy way to make money from home, and since we’ve been quarantining, why not hit two birds with one stone and make a buck in the process? But is it still worth it in 2021? Let’s find out if it’s the gold mine, that we should all start digging, or if there are other options to head for.
What is Dropshipping, and why has it become so popular?
Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment method with an integrated plan to a third party who has the product you wish to sell stocked and handles everything from warehouse management to shipping to returns. Simply put, dropshipping eliminates any product handling on your part. You might never even see or feel the product you’re selling.
The first thing you need to do is open a shop – a lot of new e-commercers choose platforms such as Shopify when starting out, since it’s an easy setup, when you’re all green in the world of html. Shopify also offers supplier databases to easily integrate your shop to.
Now you just need to invest in great search engine optimization and other practices to market your shop to the right consumers.
So why should you start dropshipping?
This is the process when you have an online shop with a dropshipping model:
A customer places an order for your product in the checkout of your shop
Your shops integration automatically sends the order to your supplier
Your supplier will then prepare the order and ship it directly to the customer
Sounds like an easy process, right? Well, it can be! Many starting out with selling products “by proxy” have made quite a passive income on it.
Let’s list the benefits of dropshipping:
- Less capital required
- Easy to get started
- Low overhead
- Flexible location
- Wide selection of products to sell
- Easier to test
- Easier to scale
These are the cons of utilizing dropshipping:
- Low margins
- Inventory issues
- Shipping complexities
- Supplier errors
- Limited customization and branding
Is dropshipping still worth it in 2021? 🙈
The concept is still building its way through to the entrepreneurial souls out there; Hard work is naturally required when building an online store with this business model. The model isn’t perfect nor an easy way to a passive income, but it definitely has the potential and advantages, if you know how to quickly and easily navigate through the lurking rough seas.
Read about the other method and gain control over your business.