8 Benefits Your Dropshipping Supplier Should Offer You
The eCommerce industry is quickly becoming a part of the everyday life of people around the world and claiming an increasing share of the total retail market year by year. eCommerce is projected to account for 21.8% of the worldwide retail industry by 2024. There were over 2 billion people who purchased goods or services online throughout 2020 which generated sales of over 4.2 trillion USD during the same year.
Due to the fact that dropshipping is an eCommerce business model that requires relatively low initial investment to start off, it is becoming increasingly popular among those who decide to sell online. According to statistics, in 2021, 27% of eCommerce retailers trust dropshipping and see it as a beneficial path to take when it comes to trading online. When retailers choose dropshipping as a way of doing business they give up a significant portion of control over the goods they sell, the shipping, and the fulfillment processes. Considering this, it is inevitable for dropshippers to find the perfect supplier they can work with by establishing mutual trust and an outstanding work relationship.
In previous articles, we have introduced the best dropshipping suppliers in the USA, the top 20 best UK dropshipping suppliers, those suppliers who are best in their game in Italy, and many more. But before you could get to a point where you are actually picking a supplier to work with you need to carefully evaluate all the benefits your dropshipping supplier can offer to you. In order for you to not miss anything important, in this article we compiled a list of benefits you should look for when making a choice.
Outstanding customer service
When it comes to the benefits your dropshipping supplier should offer to you, there’s no doubt that customer service is the number one priority for any dropshipper. In order to run a successful dropshipping store and be able to assist your customers the best, it is vital that you can reach your supplier any time you encounter an issue with the process of dispatching, delivery, or the product itself. Always look for suppliers that have staff equipped with adequate language skills and can offer you multiple channels you can communicate through quickly such as WhatsApp, phone, Skype, and email.
Also, keep an eye on if the supplier has a FAQs page or a Helpdesk option as these already answered questions can be a huge help when you are feeling lost at any point throughout your sales process. To make sure that your chosen supplier has outstanding customer service we recommend you always check trusted rating websites such as Trustpilot where you can read reviews on your potential future business partner. BrandsGateway is the perfect example of a dropshipping supplier that is constantly receiving exceptional reviews and feedback from its customers which is a sign of the team’s dedication to offering premium services and support.
Building your website
Although today you have a wide range of Content Management Systems (CMS) that facilitate the creation of online stores without requiring coding knowledge, not everyone is feeling comfortable using these to build a website from scratch. If you do not have the knowledge or the confidence to do so, you would benefit hugely if your dropshipping supplier can offer you the option of building your website, i.e a turnkey dropshipping solution. Explore your options and find out if your supplier can link you with a trustworthy company with a web development team that can provide you technical help along the way when creating your first dropshipping store. For example, BrandsGateway has partnered up with Lemon.Dev – a company that can custom-build any dropshipping store. If you choose to dropship luxury fashion products with BrandsGateway and want to build your store hassle-free, Lemon.Dev is the right choice for you.
Automation with your dropshipping store
Integrated automation to your online store is indeed a very important benefit your dropshipping supplier should offer you. This way your sales and fulfillment process will not be as labor-intensive as it would be if you are doing everything manually. Also, this will allow you to have more time on your hands to focus on other important factors of your business like branding, marketing, and customer support. To be able to set up automation you would need your supplier to offer plugins to the CMS (Content Management System) you used to create your website. The most popular CMSs are Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and Shift4Shop with which you can easily create beautiful and customer-friendly online stores.
As an example, BrandsGateway’s in-house dropshipping plugin includes automatic inventory updates which means that inventory levels are updated and synced with your store’s inventory in real-time so you can avoid selling products that are out of stock and you can cancel listings of these as well. Also, with their order automation feature, all orders placed on your website will automatically go through to their system so once you pay for them with a single transaction they will be ready to be packed and dispatched to your end customer. Moreover, you can enjoy a currency converter option as well which will allow you to sell and display your prices in any currency you like. Lastly, by completing the category mapping you will be able to enjoy the benefits of bulk importing your products to your store alongside the product pictures and descriptions that BrandsGateway is providing to you.
Business advice on your store
When you are new to the dropshipping game it can be a great benefit if your dropshipping supplier can offer you business advice on how to run your store the best way possible and reach the desired sales you are aiming for.
BrandsGateway largely invests in providing its customers with a designated account manager that deals solely with their stores and is always up to date on their progress. Moreover, you will have the option to benefit from a brainstorming session where you can discuss and get advice on your marketing and growth strategies and receive feedback on your online store.
Avoiding Minimum Order Quantities (MOQ)
When you are in the dropshipping business you are not keeping and managing your own stock, so in case your potential supplier has Minimum Order Quantities, these will affect the lowest number of units an end customer can order from your business. MIQ in dropshipping can make make your store less attractive in the eyes of a consumer. Therefore, it’s better to partner up with a supplier that doesn’t follow this approach.
Especially when it comes to selling higher-priced items. If your customers are required to purchase more than a single item that costs a lot of money, they will pass. Therefore, if you have set your sights on dropshipping luxury apparel and accessories you will need to find a supplier like BrandsGateway that does not require a MOQ. This will allow your customers to place an order as small as they wish and receive even a single item and you will still make significant profits.
Margins you can achieve
Undoubtedly, one of the most important benefits your dropshipping supplier can offer you is a high-profit margin because, at the end of the day, every business is aiming for the biggest profit possible. You should be always aware of the potential profit margin you can earn when selling the type of goods your dropshipping supplier can provide to your business and customers. Because this can serve as a great point to evaluate potential suppliers and select the best you want to work with in the future.
Of course, your profit margins will vary depending on the niche you are serving with the products in your store, so first do research that’s specific to your niche so you have a baseline for comparison. Once you have a baseline, calculate the profit margin you can achieve with each and every supplier that you are choosing from. Have in mind that by dropshipping luxury fashion products you can have the possibility of higher profit margins that you would have with dropshipping low-ticket items. Having said that, if you select BrandsGateway to be your dropshipping supplier, you can benefit from margins as high as 250%. You can easily calculate your profits with BrandsGateway by multiplying your wholesale price by the markup and subtract the wholesale price and any additional expenses like shipping fees.
Logistics and shipping
If you choose dropshipping as your business model for your eCommerce store you will give away most of the control over your inventory logistics such as handling, fulfillment, and shipping. This is why transparency on these processes is one of the most important benefits your dropshipping supplier should offer to you. It is not recommended for any dropshipper to work together with a supplier that does not have clear policies on these matters as they will directly affect customer satisfaction and hence the reputation of your business as well.
First, you have to check if the dropshipping supplier of your choice is shipping to the countries or territory you want to cover with your eCommerce store. Once you ensure the compatibility, ask your supplier where the merchandise is warehoused as the country of origin and destination will have an effect on the taxes and duties your customers will have to pay on their orders. This is an important thing to highlight on your eCommerce website so your customers do not feel that they have been charged for hidden costs they had no information on before making the purchase. Finally, try to choose the supplier with the best possible shipping rates possible.
With this in mind, if you pick BrandsGateway as your dropshipping supplier you can benefit from having the products stored in four locations around the globe, namely the United States, Italy, Germany, and Sweden. This will allow your supplier to ship from the closest warehouse directly to your customer which will then help to eliminate some taxes and duties. Moreover, when partnering with BrandsGateway you can enjoy 5-day worldwide shipping starting as low as 15 EUR/17 USD per package.
Supporting media
To display the products you are selling in your eCommerce store in the best light, receiving professional product images from your dropshipping supplier is an important benefit. Some are even offering you SEO-optimized product descriptions that will help you to rank higher among search engine results and make your store more visible for potential visitors. But this is not all that an excellent dropshipping supplier can offer to your business.
If you decide to work together with BrandsGateway, you can even receive social media image templates that can help you with designing your future paid advertising campaigns across all your social media accounts. This supplier also provides you with written guides on advertising on social media and SEO optimization created by marketing experts, so you can up your game when it comes to promoting your store online.
To wrap up
As you can see there are numerous aspects to take into consideration when you are choosing the supplier you will work with in the future as a dropshipping eCommerce store owner. Once you decide which niche you want to target and you know your targeted audience in depth you can make the best decision by evaluating all potential dropshipping suppliers based on the above-mentioned attributes and benefits they can offer you. It is also advised to review your suppliers time-to-time to see if they are still the best options for you. Watch out for new suppliers and potentially new benefits other dropshipping suppliers can offer to your business.
About the Author
Lilla Stefanovszky
Fashion marketing professional turned digital marketer. My name is Lilla and I have been working in the fashion industry for 5 years. Currently working at BrandsGateway and helping with the development of the marketing strategy and on occasions writing articles for our audience. When away form the computer, I enjoy outdoors and running with my dogs.
