There’s no doubt about it, people love to buy things on the web.
In fact, 96% of US citizens have made at least one online purchase in their lifetime – and 80% have in the last month alone. What’s more, a recent study also shows that 20% of Americans have bought something while in their bathroom – a clear indication of the prevalence of mobile shopping.
Digital technologies have evolved at an incredible rate and in today’s world, consumers have the choice of making buying decisions, transactions and purchases anytime, anywhere.
What does that mean? Well, in a nutshell, it means that if you want to sell something or launch an online store, it has never been simpler. But as you may well know, with accessibility, comes saturation.
There may be competition knocking at the door, but if you know which platforms to leverage and how to use them, you stand a great chance of setting up a successful online shopping empire.
Among all of the great tools, apps, platforms and methods out there, perhaps the most powerful is a little thing called dropshipping.
Enterdropshipping
So, what is Dropshipping? It’s a branch of eCommerce that gives you the power to trade in goods without having to stock them in a physical sense.
For example, if you’re looking to set up an online store selling comedy chimp t-shirts and you don’t have massive amounts of space or startup funds, you won’t have to wade around your lounge up to your neck in XXL tees, stressing about shifting them all. Instead, dropshipping allows your primate loving online fans to buy the t-shirt of their dreams through your online store, but a third party will supply and deliver it on your behalf.
Dropshipping is a magic formula, and it works…
By using innovative platform Oberlo, Irwin Dominguez, a first-time user made a fortune of $1 million in a mere eight months. By taking advantage of the online marketing skills he gained from his original career as a local marketing consultant (a job he says he doesn’t miss at all) and harnessing the capabilities of Oberlo.com, Irwin became a huge online selling success, seemingly overnight.
Speaking to Oberlo about his empire, Irwin gave his main piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs…
“If I started eCommerce all over again, I would do it sooner.”
More than a dropshipping tool alone, Oberlo is a bustling marketplace for entrepreneurs to search for and find products to sell to their target audience. It’s a user-friendly platform that connects merchants and suppliers in a matter of moments, and its success has recently sparked its integration with Shopify. If you’re hungry to start a booming eCommerce business, Oberlo is particularly effective as it’s intuitive and helps you scale your business according to the size of its success.
Top Tips for creating your eCommerce business
For simplicity, let’s go back to our comedy chimp t-shirt selling business for a moment. Here are the steps you should take to get it off the ground and make it a fully-fledged success:
- Set up an online store or basic webpage through Shopify or an accessible website building CMS like WordPress. Platforms like this will not only allow you to customize your site with ease, but they will make sure it is automatically optimized for mobile shopping.
- Use SEO practices to make sure your online store or website performs well for the right search terms in search engines and start a blog so you can publish fresh chimp-based comedy content with your followers.
- Think about the sort of products you want to offer. Do you want to sell t-shirts alone or do you want to provide sweatshirts, vests and waistcoats too? What about novelty car dashboard figurines? The more niche you are, the better (this way, you’ll cut through the crowd and gain an all-important competitive edge).
- Once you’re all set and ready to start selling, use Oberlo to import items of stock to your store, activate automatic order fulfilment, automate inventory and pricing updates and tailor your product descriptions.
- Enjoy growing your eCommerce empire and embrace your new life as andropshipping genius!
The world of eCommerce is as challenging as it is cutthroat but follow these tips and your business will be flying in no time. Every good business has a strong network. Find out how to do so with our tips on how to build a valuable social chain.
