How You Could Dropship Your Way to Financial Freedom
An entrepreneurial mindset, an inquisitive nature, and a bit of starting capital are all you need to generate enough internet income to ‘live the dream’ and become completely financially independent.
Dropshipping is the hassle-free way to make money from eBay, and it carries a number of distinct advantages for people who are just starting up. With dropshipping, you only pay for the goods you have sold through your store, freeing up working capital to keep your business ticking over. A third party stocks and ships your goods on your behalf to customers through services like AliExpress. So what are you waiting for? Here’s how you can dropship your way to financial freedom.
Choosing A Product Niche
In the first instance, you may need to test a few different markets before you find your financial ‘sweet spot’. That is, the products that bring in the highest sales figures within a niche that is popular, but not completely over-saturated.
As you research target niches, think about popularity and longevity. Is there going to still be a market for this six months down the line? Is it worth the investment? Even if dropshipping is low cost, it isn’t completely without risk.
Look at Google Trends and social media analytics tools to build a picture of your target market and demographics in more detail. The more data you have to hand, the more informed decisions you will be able to make about your niche.
What Makes Some Niches More Popular Than Others?
It’s a myth that some niches aren’t popular enough for wannabe dropshippers to want to get involved in. Any niche can be profitable, you just have to ensure that you’re targeting the right people to bring in sales.
It will help if you have a personal interest in the products you’re selling, as you will already identify instinctively with your target audience. You will also have a better idea of the products that would be the most suitable to sell.
However, make sure that you conduct extensive research into your competitors, analyzing product selection, catalog categorization, use of imagery, and so on.
Sourcing Products
In searching for the products you wish to sell online, consider the product pricing and profit margins. This will be key to determining the speed with which you can grow your dropshipping business. Remember, in the journey to making your first million, it’s a lot easier to sell 10,000 units of a $100 product than it is to sell 100,000 units of a $10 product.
Tips for product selection:
●Go for products that you can customize with your own branding
●Test your products by ordering samples beforehand
●Check delivery times and the suitability of the product packaging
Once you have sourced around 20-30 products, you can add them to your store using a dropshipping plugin like Oberlo. Dropshippers should allow you to rename your products, so change the product details to suit your audience’s preferred search terms and keywords. Think about the lifestyle benefits of the products and list these as bullet points in your product descriptions.
Many wholesale merchants will allow you to use their images to help you market their products online, but consider taking your own product photos to provide a unique look. White backgrounds work well for product shots. Be sure to include multiple images of your listings from different angles – lifestyle imagery works well too.
Consider Selling Through Alternative Channels
Look at listing your goods on alternative marketplaces like Etsy to utilize the traffic on these massive sites for your own brand. Standing out from the competition hinges on your ability to maximize the appeal of your product listing. Change your titles and descriptions to optimize for ‘best match’ using Title Builder.
Marketing Your Ecommerce Store
Next, you will want to set up paid advertising campaigns on Facebook to help you bring in customers. Facebook allows you to target your ad campaigns to highly specialized audiences.
Set up a page for your brand and head to the ‘campaigns’ tab to set up your advertising. Look back at your previous research to come up with content ideas. Vary the headlines, images, and messages, and test them using Facebook Insights to discover which ads draw the most traffic to your store.
Look for interests your target audience shares, and make sure you don't set your filters as too narrow or broad. Ideally, you want to target around 100-500K users. If you are setting international sales restrictions, don’t forget to include these in your filters. As far as setting a daily budget, you may want to start low and scale up your spending, once you find the products and ad formulas that work best.
Many dropshippers find that one or two products tend to bring in the big sales figures. In this case, push them front and center in your Facebook ad campaigns. There are many other methods you can try to market your goods, so don’t be afraid to change methods and products until you create an eBay brand that works for you.
Maintaining Smooth Operations In Your Store
eBay store creators can also access an extensive catalog of useful plugins designed to make your life as an online shopkeeper easier.
Whether it’s sales tax calculators, abandoned cart email tools, retargeting apps, or social proof pop-ups – the list is endless. The goal of automating sales processes through eBay dropshipping tools is to free-up more time to dedicate to addressing customers’ queries and feedback. By placing emphasis on offering high levels of customer service you can also start to draw in positive reviews and increased sales figures on the back of these satisfied customer comments.
Dropshipping your way to financial freedom through services like eBay and Amazon hinges on your ability to come across as an honest and reputable seller who is there to meet your customers’ needs. With good research, access to accurate sales figures and a good eye for trends, you can build a profitable eBay business in the space of a few weeks.
Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. On her blog, VictoriaEcommerce, she regularly shares tips for would-be entrepreneurs looking to establish their own online brands.