As a new e-commerce mode, a dropshipping has attracted the attention of many e-business sellers. In this article, i will introduce in detail the advantages and disadvantages of a dropshipping, and how to avoid them. To facilitate our understanding, we take GoTen- Global China products as China’s largest global dropship platform as an example.
First, what is dropshipping?
The dropshipping business is a trade method, in other words, no inventory sales. Compared with traditional trade, the biggest advantage is that there is no need to consider inventory problems, nor do we need to worry about logistics problems. We only need to cooperate with suppliers, and when customers purchase goods through your e-commerce website, the supplier will send them directly to the customers. In addition, the customer does not know that you are doing a dropshipping business, because the supplier’s contract will be carried out with your information in the contract signed with the supplier.
In fact, dropshipping business is a kind of seller to save warehousing, logistics and other follow-up services. It only needs to focus on the marketing mode of trade. It seems to solve the problem of many small and medium-sized sellers. It is precisely because this pattern is also questioned by many sellers. What are the disadvantages?
Two, what are the disadvantages of a dropshipping? How to avoid the malpractice of a dropshipping
1, competitive pressure and small profit margins.
First of all, suppliers can be used to make a product that produces business. Usually there are more competitors, and the more popular products, the more competitors. This leads to price wars among sellers, thereby reducing profit margins. In such an environment, the solution is to do other value-added services within the price space to provide customers with more value.
2, shortage of goods
Because the seller does not directly contact the goods, all of them are directly shipped by the supplier. This may lead to the fact that the seller is still selling goods and the supplier warehouse is out of stock, which leads to a decline in the consumer experience, which may eventually lead to customer churn and bad reviews, which affect the seller’s brand.
However, the solution to this problem is also very simple, so long as the seller does not choose the sole supplier, when one of the suppliers is out of stock, there are other families who can immediately replenish it. Of course, many suppliers can provide information synchronization function, the seller stores and suppliers system docking, real-time update the number of goods.
3, marketing issues
It is also because sellers do not consider the problems easily occurred in the case of goods warehousing and logistics. Sellers can not see goods, and can only be sold through product descriptions and merchandise pictures provided by suppliers, which will easily lead customers to give reasonable answers when consulting certain questions, resulting in difficulty in sales. I believe many sellers’ solution is relatively simple. Before deciding to sell a product, they will buy some samples first, not only to make themselves understand this product better, but also to take pictures themselves, so as to distinguish from competitors.
In addition to an abuse that we introduced above, the advantage of a dropshipping is also very tempting.
Three. What are the advantages of a dropshipping?
1, zero cost
Of course, the so-called zero cost does not need to be invested in a single cent, but requires only a very small amount of money to start a dropshipping business. It is necessary to open the necessary cost of the online store, there may be a deposit, a shop start-up fund, etc., and the largest input in traditional trade, the purchase of goods and the cost of inventory need not be considered.
2, high efficiency
There are a lot of things to watch in running an e-commerce website, especially if you are limited by resources. And there is no need to worry about it through a generation business, because there is no need to manage inventory and logistics problems, so that we can spare a great deal of time to focus on other aspects such as store operation and customer service.
3, convenience
A dropshipping business belongs to pure online business, which enables sellers to operate business at any time and any place. The only requirement is to have Internet access equipment and networking.
4, a reasonable model.
It sounds like a business model is very rough, but in fact, its existence is very reasonable. Some super large retailers such as Sears will also use one generation business model to increase their market.
Four, a dropshipping platform is crucial.
Finding a trustworthy and reliable platform for a dropshipping business is almost half the success of a business. Why do I say so? Next, let’s take the global China product network, one of China’s largest global distribution platforms, as an example to see what services can be provided by a generation platform.
- good customer service. It is believed that most of the platforms have their own customer service teams, who are responsible for docking logistics and product quality issues. For example, GoTenhas a dedicated customer service team, which can provide 6 multiplying 24 hours service, including order fulfillment, product tracking and other issues. In addition, the customer service team also covers more than 10 languages, such as Chinese, English, French, German and Spanish.
- supplier cooperation. GoTenis working with more than 10000 companies around the world, and the supplier of the GoTenplatform involves different product categories.
- healthy competition. One of the functions of a platform is to create friendly competition environment among sellers. Sellers need not worry about vicious competition, especially malicious pricing. For example, GoTenis committed to building a friendly competitive environment among members, and they will continue to focus on maintaining healthy competition among sellers.
- technical support. Cooperation with a generation platform can get powerful technical support from the platform, such as API system. For example, GoTenhas set up its own API system to download product descriptions and pictures in batches, and upload them to sellers’ Amazon, eBay and independent station accounts in batches.
- multiple logistics options.
GoTen- global products currently includes 40 global warehouses, including 12 warehouses, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Japan. The total storage area is more than 217 thousand square meters. The platform logistics distribution system can accurately match the warehouse by automatically identifying order attributes, thus greatly reducing logistics costs. The overseas warehouse has greatly increased the shopping experience of efficient delivery. After the seller has placed the order, the fastest delivery time is only 1–2 working days.
In terms of domestic warehousing, the GoTen- Global China products, which is equipped with the global air transportation line, which has been mature by the parent company, has greatly improved the distribution time. At the same time, carrying the world’s easy purchase of a large volume of freight cars, can also greatly reduce the cost of air transport, control costs lower than the market average price of 10–20%.
