Strategies to Help you Increase your Dropshipping Sales
In the last decade, dropshipping has become some of the most popular retail models used by eCommerce entrepreneurs around the world. Its convenient managing system, which includes no physical inventory, affordable startup costs, and great scalability, has encouraged many potential dropshippers to launch their online store. Besides being easy to run, the dropshipping method can also be extremely profitable, which can be proven by taking a look at the numerous successful dropshipping stores and exposing this market’s estimated values.
According to Statista, two years ago the dropshipping market was worth approximately 128.6 billion USD. Today that number has reached an estimated 196.78 billion USD and in the course of the next four years, it’s expected to increase to a staggering 476.1 billion USD. With these facts in mind, starting a dropshipping business can turn out to be quite a lucrative idea.
However, while running your store, it’s normal to stumble upon stagnant sales and an unexpected stop in your growth. This is a common experience with every type of business and shouldn’t lead to creating doubts if dropshipping is worth it. Any issues you meet can be resolved by implementing the right strategies in place. These will help your store increase productivity and elevate your eCommerce and mCommerce sales during both eCommerce peak season and the rest of the year. To save you the trouble of researching such strategies, we’ve come up with eight highly effective hacks you can use to keep your dropshipping sales on the rise.
Social media advertising
In recent years, social networks have taken over the world within the blink of an eye. They have so far generated more than 4 billion users worldwide, with Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok having been qualified in the top ten most used social apps, and Pinterest ranking after them. This has consequently caused social media to become one of the biggest and most efficient advertising strategies responsible for creating a new marketing era. Therefore, with the possibility to benefit from both organic and paid social media advertisements, your dropshipping store can easily attract a wider audience and increase customer purchases.
Find more statistics at Statista
When it comes to taking advantage of free marketing via social apps, this can be done in a variety of ways. For example, with an Instagram business account by your side, you can engage with your customers by creating captivating Instagram stories, fun reels, informative IGTV videos, and creative posts with relatable and entertaining business captions. Another example is creating TikTok videos, where you can allure visitors with your engaging TikTok bios and creative short videos that display your products, All of these can assist you in tempting your customers and impacting their decision-making process.
On the other hand, with paid advertising, you can target specific audiences and get greater visibility, something can Facebook ads can allow you to do by controlling your ad campaign via Facebook ad metrics. Conforming to Statista, in a survey carried out in the US, more than half of the respondents said that social media ads have influenced their buying decisions. That being said, these ads can help your business prosper and bring your store a significant rise in dropshipping sales.
Word-of-mouth marketing
Spreading the word about a certain product is the most ancient way of promoting your store and generating a larger customer base. Word-of-mouth marketing continues to be very relevant today as well since people still keep on sharing experiences they had with products they’ve purchased. If anything else, this exchange of information has blown up even more with customers having been given the opportunity to leave comments and reviews on any item they buy.
With consumer behavior is heavily influenced by recommendations and other people’s opinions, this advertising technique can bring you impressive sales results. To prove this point, as stated by Invesp, each year word-of-mouth advertising is responsible for $6 trillion of customer spending and accounts for approximately 13% of sales. With these numbers in mind, this type of marketing is certain to positively impact your dropshipping store. Therefore, don’t hesitate to ask friends and family to promote your products the old-fashioned way. Once people have started hearing about your store through the grapevine, expect a significant surge of customers.
Product diversity
Although not always the case, product diversity often plays a major role in boosting sales. By offering a broad product assortment, your store’s profitability can be tremendously improved, leading your business towards greater growth and success. In addition, with your inventory stocked up with a large variety of items to sell, you can reduce dropshipping cart abandonment and increase customer satisfaction. Consumers usually prefer having at their disposal multiple options to choose from during the shopping process. For that reason, you’ll get their loyalty and approval much easier by presenting wide product collections.
The ability to provide shoppers with product versatility, however, most of the time depends on your supplier. If they aren’t giving you enough product selection, then you won’t be able to do much about introducing new arrivals to your store. Therefore, finding a reliable supplier also has a big influence when implementing this strategy.
To give an example, suppose you’re dropshipping luxury bags and have decided to work with BrandsGateway. In order to increase online sales, this supplier offers a huge variety of bag styles and designs from a great range of fashion brands. In that way, you’ll be able to strengthen your product base and allure customers to make more purchases.
Limited offers
It’s no secret that many shoppers are prone to impulse buying. In accordance with Invesp, at least 84% of all customers have fallen victim to impulse purchases. This is especially true when it comes to presenting limited offers. Whenever consumers come across a product that’s available for only a certain period of time, they get the sense that if they don’t buy it now, they’ll miss out on it and won’t be able to get it later.
Therefore, building urgency around the items you offer is a very efficient strategy that can lend you a hand in improving your dropshipping sales. For example, when launching a new product, introduce it as a limited edition piece or present it with an upcoming price rise. This will trigger customers to make a buying decision at that particular moment unless they’d rather lose the opportunity to purchase it for a lower price.
Competition analysis
In order to beat your competition, you have to find out what strategies they’ve been using and what actions you can take in order to outshine them. This is best achieved by carrying out a competitor analysis. Such research can give you an insight into your strongest competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, let you assess their business decisions, and, most importantly, help you recognize your dropshipping mistakes and implement the necessary corrections.
Performing this kind of investigation on your competition is particularly important when it comes to successfully increasing your sales flow. By observing your competitors’ activities, you’ll be able to study their marketing ideas, understand how they manage to keep sales high and take advantage of what you’ve perceived in order to transform your dropshipping store into an even more lucrative business than theirs.
For instance, when it comes to dropshipping, it often happens for multiple dropshippers to use the services of one supplier. To illustrate, if your store specializes in selling high-end clothing it’s very likely for your competitors to work with that same supplier. In that case, you’ll need to thoroughly investigate the apparel market and locate the stores that offer the same fashion pieces as you. By doing this, you’ll be able to take a closer look at their promotion and selling strategies and see how can you upgrade your own marketing plans in order to outdistance your competition.
Content improvements
Your dropshipping website wouldn’t be complete without putting your copywriting skills into action. In order for your store to be awarded a high position on the Google SERPs or on the pages of any other search engine, every single content element you create needs to be carefully reviewed and optimized. This will assist you in substantial organic traffic drive to your site and, consequently, provide your store with greater exposure. That being the case, improving your headlines, product descriptions, calls-to-actions, Q&A information, and everything else, is essential in order to achieve positive sales outcomes. With the purpose of writing a well-put-together content, here’s what you should pay attention to:
- Include keywords found through helpful tools and insert those your targeted customers often use to help them find the products they wish to purchase;
- Make product descriptions short and simple, but concise and clear;
- Focus on creating relatable content in order to establish deeper connections with your customers;
- Use compelling phrases and powerful words that can easily draw the attention of shoppers;
- Take advantage of fashion photo editing apps to assist you in making your products stand out;
- Emphasize your products’ benefits and stress how they’ll contribute to fulfilling your customers’ needs.
Cross-Selling
Another way to encourage more sales is by implementing the practice of cross-selling. This strategy entails promoting additional products to your customers besides those they show interest in. In that way, shoppers are persuaded to buy one or two more items aside from the product they were originally planning to purchase. Other than an uprise in profits, the benefits of this technique also include enhanced shopping experience, greater customer loyalty, and improved brand reputation.
To illustrate how cross-selling works, let’s assume once again that you own a clothing dropshipping store selling a variety of apparel pieces including jewelry and various accessories. In order to convince your customers that these products represent a staple fashion item without which no outfit is ever completed, you need to find a way to indirectly allude to this fact. For example, whenever they search through the other clothing categories, make sure you include a “customers also view” or “customers also purchase” section to tempt them into checking out the jewelry and accessories products as well.
Target customer growth
Last but not least, our final strategy calls for growing your customer base and aiming beyond your target audience. This will clearly give you an outstanding economic elevation and assist you in expanding your business on international grounds. You can still focus on selling your products only to customers that are interested in your niche. However, try not to limit any other categories such as location, for instance. The more markets your dropshipping store targets, the bigger the revenue you’ll be generating.
Bearing this in mind, it’s best to collaborate with a supplier that can provide you with both domestic and international delivery. In this way, your dropshipping sales will benefit from considerable growth. Therefore it’s important to invest some time in finding a dropshipping supplier that offers worldwide shipping.
In case you’re looking into selling branded apparel items across the globe, BrandsGateway is on top of our minds. With delivery services that cover over 170 countries, this supplier offers convenient shipping times, affordable fees starting from $15 per order, and trustworthy carriers such as DHL, FedEx, and UPS.
In a nutshell
Having a few strategies up your sleeve can be of great help whenever your dropshipping sales experience a decline or aren’t meeting your goals. The selling tips we’ve gathered in this article will assist you in overcoming any sales stops and getting your store back on track in no time. Strategies like the ones we’ve discussed above will not only provide you with a larger income, but will also help you get ahead of your competition, target new customers, and expose your business to multiple markets located both abroad and based domestically. Therefore, by taking into account our selling tactics, you’ll be able to increase your customers’ purchases and continue keeping them in high numbers.
About the Author
Nedina Gjorgjieva
Proud bookworm, passionate content writer and devoted Arctic Monkeys fan. Always in the mood for travel and sightseeing.
