Dropshipping. You see it coming by a lot these days. It's easy, fast and you can start from home. You buy products cheaply, sell them for 6 or 7 times your purchase price, and cash in. Often this is done through Chinese platforms such as AliExpress, where many products can be bought for a pittance. Once a customer places an order with you, you forward it to AliExpress, who sends the order back to your customer. Easy, right?
Simple money making, but does it really work that way?
As easy as it sounds, it is not. The Internet is changing, consumers are changing, and the demands of these consumers are increasing. Your customers want a quality product, delivered quickly. If that doesn't happen, you may soon receive negative reviews, run an overcrowded customer service department and, at worst, receive questions from the general public, as with the series#BOOS of Tim Hofman happened.
Warranties? You don't have any.
"How fast can I deliver a product to my customer?" is a question dropshippers will frequently ask themselves as they ship their products to customers via the billion-dollar company AliExpress. 'Ordered today, delivered tomorrow' is certainly not in the cards. Even with the 'Standard Shipping' method offered by AliExpress, the product is at least a week away.
The products are often not tested for safety and do not have European standards. Also, your customer may receive the product in AliExpress packaging. Apart from the fact that the products are cheap and you could sell them with high margins, it also brings many uncertainties and difficulties.
Is there an alternative?
Dropshipping can also be done through European suppliers. It works the same way: youlinksYour webshop is not selling to AliExpress, but to a European wholesaler. The orders you receive are automatically forwarded to the wholesaler, who in turn ships the order to your customer. The products are always tested before they reach your customer.
The benefits? The order usually reaches your customer within one business day. He or she receives a track & trace code from courier services your customer is familiar with(PostNL, DHL, UPS). So you and your customer, always know where the order is at that moment. In addition, European wholesale simply has a customer service, where you can always go for the questions you have.
Are you curious about how this works and want to know more about it? Feel free to let us know via[email protected]or send a message via the 'Support' button, bottom right of the page.