This is part 3 of the series on Starting a Drop Shipping Business. You can read the previous article of this Series below: 

• Part 1 : What is drop shipping and the advantages of drop shipping.
• Part 2 : The Disadvantages of drop shipping business and should you start it?

After discussing both advantages and disadvantages of drop shipping business, I think you should have a clear mind that whether this business is suitable for you.

Just like other kind of business, if you want to start a drop shipping business, then you must learn the proper way to start it. You must have a strategy that will maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages and risks. This is what this article about.

Below are some of the tips that I will give you if you want to start a drop shipping business:

The Basic Steps to get started in Drop Shipping Business

1. Find a good drop shipper. Just like what I said in part 2, in most of the time, you will have to depend on drop shipper to handle your after sales service such as shipping and returns. So finding a good drop shipper is a must and definitely is the most important part for this business. This is why I will recommend you spend more time on this research before you start a drop shipping business.  Don’t worry, I will cover more information on this in next part, part 4 of this series.

2. Market Research. When you have a few reputable drop shippers on your list, then you can start researching the market. This is one of the hard parts for business owner. First you must find a niche market that is not too niche until lack of demands. Demands are very important in business. However, at the same time you must look at the competition of a targeted market because high demands always come with high competition. So your job is trying your best to find the win-win situation. Of course, you can start with some products and test the market. You will gain more experience and eventually able to look for a niche market later. In general, you must look for:
   • A niche market with targeted buyers
   • There are plenty of demands and ready buyers in the market
   • Less Competition in the market

   
   

3. Products Selection. Now it is time for you to select a few products to sell based on your selected niche market. Please remember to sell only a few products and make sure it is really target on the niche market’s demands. From my experience in running my own business, this will help you to be more focus in marketing efforts and advertising costs. At this moment, you are the one who handle the business. So it will be easy for you if you select a few products to sell.
   
4. Be Prepared to handle backorders and returns. Yes, you can let your drop shipper to handle this for you. However, I encourage you to put some attention on this and if possible build a system to handle this. Try your best to make the process more convenience for your customers and make sure the whole process can run smoothly. If possible, try to collect your customers’ contact emails and numbers for further follow-up and relationship building.
   
5. Treat this like a real business. Please remember, this is your business. So please be honest with your customers and please DON’T SPAM! I saw a lot of business owner try to bring traffic to their web pages and stores by spamming. I can say that their business will not last longer as they are putting their business image on risks. We are trying to build a long term business, aren’t we? So be careful to decide every steps you take in business.

Above are 5 tips that I can give you to get started in drop shipping business. Some of the steps might take you a long time to get done but don’t worry, take your time. This is not a race. As long as you get every done properly, then you drop shipping business will have a good foundation and it will be easy to success.

In next part, as I promised just now, I will talk about how to select a good drop shipper and some of the questions that you must pay attention. You can subscribe to my RSS feeds or bookmark this site by pressing CTRL + D for next updates.

This is an article that I wrote and put in the “How to Make More Money” which is about achieve financial freedom by making more money. You can read other relevant articles over here.

Related posts:

1. A review on Starting a Drop Shipping Business, Part 1 This is an article series about drop shipping. This series...
2. A review on Starting a Drop Shipping Business, Part 4 This is part 4 of the series on Starting a...
3. A review on Starting a Drop Shipping Business, Part 2 This is part 2 of the series on Starting a...
4. A review on Starting a Drop Shipping Business, Part 5 This is part 5 and also the last part of...
5. 5 rules to Profit from Drop Shipping Business There are a lot of ways to start an online...
6. Business & Income : Simple Steps to Start Business I always believe that to achieve financial freedom, we don’t...