Tweet
Dropshipping used to be so easy
Going back a couple of years, most people looking to set up a dropship business would choose, what was at the time, the simplest business model for success. You would see what products were selling, find a supplier for your drop ship products, and then simply list them on one of the biggest marketplaces in the world, eBay, and wait for them to sell. With the millions of people who were looking to buy items on eBay everyday, as long as you had the drop ship products they wanted to buy, at the right price, it was one of the easiest and fastest ways to start making money with dropshipping.
eBay is no longer the key ingredient for dropship success
Fast forward a few years and for most dropshipping businesses, eBay no longer provides the opportunity it once did. As the world's biggest online auction site has grown, there are more and more sellers offering the same items, and customers who are only interested in buying at increasingly lower prices. For dropship businesses who have to add their eBay fees onto the cost of sourcing and shipping their drop ship products to the customer, profit margins have got smaller and smaller, until it no longer makes sense to use eBay if they want to make a profit.
What's changed, and what does this mean for the future?
So is this the end for dropship opportunities? Hardly. What is does mean is that those who have the right approach, and see it as a business rather than some kind of get rich quick scheme, have adapted to maintain the kind of profits that will sustain their dropshipping business. They now look at other ways of marketing their drop ship products; Amazon, their own websites, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media.
Has it become more challenging to develop a profitable dropship business? Possibly. But running any business is a challenge, which is why it's worth it when you get it right. If anything, the changes in the dropshipping market will mean that it becomes less attractive for those looking for a quick buck, and who generally give the industry a bad name. Which means that the professional dropship businesses will continue to grow - great for them, and for the customers. Also, more and more people will start to see dropshipping as a way to get started, before developing their enterprise using other business models. With its low cost of entry and sustainability, dropshipping is a way for ecommerce businesses to establish themselves, so they can gain the investment capital and experience needed to move on and start using traditional wholesale suppliers, who offer greater profit potential.
While the concept of dropshipping hasn't really changed, how you need to approach it in order to be successful certainly has. Those who still see selling drop ship products as an easy way to make some quick money, will not doubt end up being the ones that say a dropship business can't succeed. While those who approach it as they would any other new business startup, investing time and effort, and looking to grow their business with a view to the long term, will be the ones that prove a dropship business can still be a great opportunity.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4814022
Going back a couple of years, most people looking to set up a dropship business would choose, what was at the time, the simplest business model for success. You would see what products were selling, find a supplier for your drop ship products, and then simply list them on one of the biggest marketplaces in the world, eBay, and wait for them to sell. With the millions of people who were looking to buy items on eBay everyday, as long as you had the drop ship products they wanted to buy, at the right price, it was one of the easiest and fastest ways to start making money with dropshipping.
eBay is no longer the key ingredient for dropship success
Fast forward a few years and for most dropshipping businesses, eBay no longer provides the opportunity it once did. As the world's biggest online auction site has grown, there are more and more sellers offering the same items, and customers who are only interested in buying at increasingly lower prices. For dropship businesses who have to add their eBay fees onto the cost of sourcing and shipping their drop ship products to the customer, profit margins have got smaller and smaller, until it no longer makes sense to use eBay if they want to make a profit.
What's changed, and what does this mean for the future?
So is this the end for dropship opportunities? Hardly. What is does mean is that those who have the right approach, and see it as a business rather than some kind of get rich quick scheme, have adapted to maintain the kind of profits that will sustain their dropshipping business. They now look at other ways of marketing their drop ship products; Amazon, their own websites, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media.
Has it become more challenging to develop a profitable dropship business? Possibly. But running any business is a challenge, which is why it's worth it when you get it right. If anything, the changes in the dropshipping market will mean that it becomes less attractive for those looking for a quick buck, and who generally give the industry a bad name. Which means that the professional dropship businesses will continue to grow - great for them, and for the customers. Also, more and more people will start to see dropshipping as a way to get started, before developing their enterprise using other business models. With its low cost of entry and sustainability, dropshipping is a way for ecommerce businesses to establish themselves, so they can gain the investment capital and experience needed to move on and start using traditional wholesale suppliers, who offer greater profit potential.
While the concept of dropshipping hasn't really changed, how you need to approach it in order to be successful certainly has. Those who still see selling drop ship products as an easy way to make some quick money, will not doubt end up being the ones that say a dropship business can't succeed. While those who approach it as they would any other new business startup, investing time and effort, and looking to grow their business with a view to the long term, will be the ones that prove a dropship business can still be a great opportunity.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4814022