How to build your own Drop Shipping Store from start to finish. (VIDEO)
November 3, 2018
What is Drop Shopping?
Drop Shipping is a business model that allows you to connect with Suppliers and sell their product without having to purchase or stock inventory.
The diagram above from Oberlo is a simpler, more visual explanation of the model but to put it bluntly...
1. You create the online store
2. You list their product for sale at retail price
3. Customer purchases product, pays you retail.
4. You send the order to the supplier and pay for it at wholesale whilst taking your profit
5. They fulfill and ship the item out to the customer
Some Pros and Cons of the Drop Shipping model are
Pros
Low Start-up costs and overheads
Low to No Inventory costs
Low risk - can shut up shop on your terms when you want
No warehousing or staffing costs
Sell and test a variety of products with low risk
Cons
Little to no control over shipping and dispatch
Relying on suppliers stock
Less profit
Customer service falls back on you
The main point to take from this is that its low cost to entry and if it doesn't work out you can stop with having to sacrifice a tonne of money, on the other hand if you make it work well, you could have a nice side hustle that can make you some good money.
Right, now that you have a understanding of the business model lets get into building you a store and adding products from Drop Shipping Suppliers.
First, lets sign up to Shopify and take advantage of their 14 Day Free Trial. Its easy, just enter your Email Address, Password and a Name for your store, no payment info required
Then answer a couple of questions and fill out a basic form so you can get paid, as David explains in the video it important to fill the form out correctly because if the store goes well then you will have and fully functioning business of which should have the correct information.
7 Reasons why Shopify is the best platform
Once you are through to your new store, get your URL ready to Copy and Paste into the box provided when you go to connect your Oberlo to your store. It should be 'your-store-name.myshopify.com'
Below is a walk through video from start to start (of you having a fully functional online store) Below the video I will simplify the steps and give pointers from my own experience.
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1. Sign up to Oberlo with just an email and password, no payments details needed. www.oberlo.com
2. Search through their massive amounts of products from their Suppliers
Conduct product research beforehand to give you better guidance when going in and finding what you want to sell
How to find products to Drop Ship
3. Add products you want to sell to your import list
Aim to use 'Verified' suppliers but if not stick to Oberlo's other suppliers that are still good but haven't reached 'Verified' benchmarks. If you use AliExpress suppliers, check out there store feedback, get in contact with them, and make it easier on yourself by aiming to stick to one or two of these suppliers.
4. Edit products in Import List before sending them to your store.
1. Add Collections and Tags so they automatically group together in your store, will be touched on later on in the video too
2. When changing the descriptions to fit with your market, format the description the same with each product
3. When choosing prices make sure you take into account exchange rates if you are selling your products in your countries currency and not USD. (Note when you pay your supplier wholesale price and shipping you will be paying USD so make sure if your customer is paying in, for example NZD that it is still enough to pay the wholesale USD price and USD shipping costs to make profit.) www.xe.com is the best place to check exchange rates
3. Try to be consistent with image selection for the main display image, ideally a shot of nothing but the product on a white background. There is nothing worse than picking the available images higgilty piggilty then having your online store looking like a google search for random images.
5. Connect to Store - after signing up to Shopify before anything else, just copy and past your new Shopify Stores URL into the space provided.
It should be 'your-store-name.myshopify.com'
6. Integrate Oberlo and Shopify and work your way through the options and settings to suit you and your store
7. Import all products into store
8. Pick a Shopify theme
There are 10 great FREE options to choose from to keep costs low
9. Customize your store
- Another great place to get stock images for your website is www.pexels.com
- Always aim to use a Logo and Branding with transparency for aesthetic reasons
- Learn basic photo resizing and editing techniques to perfect your sites look
10. Create Collections
Put yourself in the customers mind when building your collections
11. Add 'About Us' and 'Contact' Pages
Click to find out how to write a great About us page
12. Work your way through the Shops settings
This stage is pretty self explanatory and easy to work your way through. Just head to the Settings Cog in the bottom left hand corner and work your way through each aspect.
NOTE: Legal section - Shopify creates templates and fills in your details for Privacy Polices, Terms of Service, and Refund Policies, Which saves you a tonne of time and money on legal fees. I do recommend however, once Shopify creates them, have a read through and make sure you agree and they comply with your requirements.
13. Add Footer contents and links
Add your social media links here and maybe move the email sign up here if your page is to busy
14. Click Disable Password Page to allow customers into your store
15. Pick a Plan - BUT DON'T WORRY YOU WILL ONLY GET CHARGED ONCE YOUR FREE TRIAL PERIOD IS OVER.
16. Connect a Domain
Choose your domain wisely, make it easy to remember and easy to spell when heard verbally
17. Remove Password Page officially
Uncheck 'Enable Password'
18. Test the site.
Watch the video as David walks you through the most important part, fulfilling a customers order.
Marketing
-Create great branding and logo
-Set up social media channels, and then link the corresponding apps in Shopify so that you can integrate you products on your Facebook Store and give your Instagram Shop-able posts, Also integrate Messenger app into your store so customers can message you directly
Here are some great resources to help you with your digital marketing.
- Social Media Marketing for Businesses
- How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 8 Easy Steps
If you have any questions 'LIKE' me on Facebook and flick me a message.
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Disclaimer: I can not guarantee you will make any money or be successful. Making money and being successful all comes down to your determination, skill, motivation to learn and adapt, and a dash of luck.
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