Dropshipping is a remarkably popular business model. No more up-front inventory costs or shipping logistics. Dropshipping retailers can send products directly from your wholesaler to your customers. Most of the dropship services charge you a monthly fee or upfront one-off payment in order to use their services. This would be a sufficient time to figure out whether dropship service is suitable for you. Your decision should be based on the availability of the product you are planning to dropship and the suppliers you have access to.
There is no better time to start a dropship business and look for dropship retailers. With the recession gradually fading out and more jobs becoming available in the future, you will be nicely placed to dominate the niche you choose to get involved in. In traditional business models, the majority of the costs are related to setting up and running the retail operations, such as purchasing inventory.
Since dropshipping eliminates that step, and thus the cost of it, all you have to pay for is the associated costs of running your website (hosting, theme, apps, etc.). The manufacturer’s role in a dropshipping business model includes creating products, carrying inventory, shipping products to customers on behalf of the retailer, replacing defective products, and restocking them. They sell products to the retailer at wholesale prices assuming the risk of unsold inventory.
Dropshipping can be very profitable if you hit the right market and is fully scalable, so you can build a business of whatever size you want. The start-up costs for this business model are almost non-existent, and the business can be operated from anywhere in the world you have a computer and an Internet connection.
Even if you only dropship some of your products, you’ll be freeing up resources for the items that need extra attention. It even allows you to offer items that would normally be impossible to ship due to your location’s limitations, like extremely large or perishable goods. You can be based anywhere in the world, and your items will still reach customers. The convenience of using dropshipping is there is no middleman, your order comes direct from the company. One of the biggest benefits of dropshipping retailing is that you don’t ever have to handle the merchandise.