The Beginner’s Guide to Amazon Dropshipping

We’ve all thought of ways to earn a living with no eight-hour work hours in bright, fluorescent light in office spaces with dull interiors. The prospect of greater flexibility in your life has enticed people from across the globe to offer their goods through Amazon dropshipping to be their preferred method.

Making money on Amazon is among the most well-known activities, side jobs, or, in certain cases, complete seven-figure business models , with more than 2.5 million users on the Marketplace and more than 40,000 products sold every minute.

As a result, Amazon dropshipping is one of the most well-known ways that sellers can sell on Amazon. It removes control of inventory from the seller’s hands and places it to third-party logistics firms and Amazon to take care of the logistics.

For those who aren’t familiar they can be a bit shaky waters. The world of online shopping is incredibly complicated however, if you take the right step-by-step, measured actions when you’re first getting established, dropshipping may be a game changer.

What is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping lets you sell your items through Amazon without having to deal with the items.

Here’s a brief outline how to do it:

1. First, you set up an account first on Amazon.
2. You have a contract with a dropshipper to fulfil the orders of your customers.
3. A customer purchases one of your items.
4. Your Amazon store will ship the item you bought to the dropshipper you have chosen.
5. After that, your dropshipper creates the order, and then delivers the order directly to you customer.

By doing this you do not alter the products which you are selling, however fulfillment of orders is the duty to Amazon as well as your dropshipper.

Here’s how to start your Amazon dropshipping venture off the ground.

Amazon Drop Shipping Best Practices

Dropshipping on Amazon offers best practices that are shared with different business model. Conducting research on your product and performing a comprehensive competitive analysis is essential prior to launching your very first products. If you don’t spend the time now, difficult future challenges are just around the corner.

Beyond the basic requirements, here are a few guidelines to think about:

1. Do not try to become a loss-leader. It may seem appealing to sell an item at a lower price to attract more customers in the initial stages. It’s true that it works. However, your business could be branded as “cheap” or undervalued, and you do not want that. Look for another aspect of your product that you are able to be competitive.
2. Appearance can be everything. Money spent on packaging, branding, and overall design is well-spent. Even if you choose an uncompetitive niche (which you ought to) There will be rivals. It is important to think about the message of your brand. Share your message. It can be a useful differentiation factor.
3. Consider lighter items and consider using ePacket to ship. Shipping costs from suppliers from overseas can eat away at your margins of profit. To ease the burden on your budget you should consider selling products that are lightweight which can be shipped via EPacket.
4. Be prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice. Even best-laid plans occasionally don’t work out. A thorough study of your competitors in your chosen niche is crucial. But, you shouldn’t get married to the area you select. Be prepared to change your mind whenever opportunities occur – and they certainly can (remember those fidget spinners?) can be very beneficial as a brand new Amazon seller.

Dropshipping is an effective way for brands to get their Amazon sellers to consider. However, it’s not all daffodils and sunshine. There are some significant challenges that come with the area.

Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages to dropshipping with Amazon. Amazon dropshipping.

Pros and Cons of Amazon Dropshipping

Dropshipping has its own significant advantages, but it also has some challenges.

The pros are first:

1. Inventory won’t be dragging your shoulders. The inventory control learning curve isn’t easy. It’s usually too steep a mountain to climb for brand-new Amazon sellers. Dropshipping can take the responsibility of managing physical inventory off your shoulders and allows you to concentrate on what you do best.
2. It helps keep the initial costs at a minimum. Using other shipping methods, including Amazon Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) is expensive. Consider all the items you’ll have to ship by yourself! This will be enough to keep your from FBM.
3. The capability for testing products at lower chance of risk. When you dropship it is possible to work with smaller order quantities and with different suppliers. It doesn’t require huge production runs that can cause you to have excess products you’re unable to remove. Dropshipping allows you to experiment with experimentation and experimenting to determine an item that’s the first one to be a big success.

Now, the cons:

A lesser degree of oversight over fulfillment processes. When you give control of your inventory and the fulfillment of orders from customers to a third party There can be disappointments.

If the dropshipper is unable to correct mistakes that are not your responsibility the consequences of these mistakes will be felt by your company.

Lower margins for profit over alternative fulfillment choices. Amazon drop shippers typically have lower margins of profit when compared to those who utilize FBM or Amazon’s other fulfillment service that is FBA, or Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA).

The reason is simple: Since you’re purchasing less products from your suppliers, you’ll be paying more per unit, thereby less profit.

Being able to maintain a high customer service quality is difficult. Since the fulfillment and control of inventory occur externally and not within the company, customer service issues can become a burden.

The process of addressing every customer concern with the highest standards can be difficult and, in some cases, impossible when you’re running an extremely tight ship.

Conclusion

Amazon dropshipping isn’t an option for all. However, it’s a reasonably secure option for new Amazon sellers to think about. When done properly The rewards far outweigh the risks and the benefits outweigh the negatives.

It’s not a 100% flawless system, but it could be a lucrative one for those willing to play around and surrender some control.

Read More : Amazon Seller FAQs: Answers to All Your Top-of-Mind Questions