Starting a drop shipping business is actually not too difficult when you consider that the part about finding a manufacturer who drop ships is much simpler than lining up a building to lease, designing and setting up the production line, employing workers and office people, ordering raw materials, etc. But what do you need to do?
Well, first you’ll need your business plan. What are your business goals? Who is the demographic that you’re targeting? What kinds of products do you hope to offer? Much of this you may have already brainstormed, but it’s important to nail down just what you hope to do. It’s so easy to get off track and forget your main purpose when you get in the throes of working your plan.
For example, if you run a destination wedding business and you want to offer theme fashions for the wedding customers, it might get overwhelming if you launch a new section on the fashions and forget that the site is primarily about destination weddings. Don’t get side tracked with that side niche.
A big consideration is, do you plan to use the Internet exclusively or utilize mail order catalogues – or both? If the Internet is your tool of choice, then you’ll need to design (or have designed for you) an easily navigable website.
Avoid the temptation to get flashy and busy and artsy on your site. Simple and clean makes sense with basic, relevant navigation that makes it easy for your customers to find what they want on your site. It’s the same with a catalogues. You’ve seen catalogues that look more like a kindergartener’s art project with tiny images and crammed in text. It’s not easy to look at.
Now the nitty gritty of setting up a drop shipping business is far bigger than the scope of this article. But there are some excellent sources online to help the drop shipper get started and stay up to date with “who’s who.”
You’ll need to find a great resource that teaches drop shipping in-depth and someone who can guide you in the intricacies of getting reliable sources, finding quality products that sell in an evergreen niche, and more.
Drop shipping is definitely one of the simplest ways to get your own online business up and running in the quickest way possible. Just know that, as with all business, this will take determination and persistence – and hard work. There is no “golden ticket” to be found here. But it can be the next best thing for you!
