In this article, I will be sharing how you can go about starting a dropshipping business in Kenya without stress. The question of how to start a dropshipping store is one that many people have been asking me lately so what better way to answer questions than by writing an article on it? In the past 2 years, I have been overwhelmed with numerous requests from Kenyan young men and women who are desirous of starting their own online businesses but don’t know where to start from. Hence, I decided to put pen to paper and jot down all my thoughts for all those interested in getting into the world of eCommerce.
Table of Contents
So just what exactly is Dropshipping?
First things first: What is dropshipping? Dropshipping is a business model in which a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the eCommerce store owner doesn’t have to worry about shipping products or storing inventory.
A lot of stores use this model because they think it’s cost-effective. In most cases, they are right because this is an excellent business model for newbies who don’t have any capital to invest in setting up their own warehouses and buying products in bulk quantities hence making it easy for them to get into selling online. It also helps you remain competitive and of course run your business without having to worry about costs of storing products, shipping, and handling all those logistics on your own.
There are a few downsides to the dropshipping business model but they shouldn’t scare you off because there are ways around them if you know what I mean. Those downsides include: –
Dropshipping is a Business Model Not A Product
The first thing I always tell people who want to start their own eCommerce store is that Dropshipping isn’t product-driven, it’s profit-driven, or in other words profit = revenue – cost. This simply means that for one to start making money through dropshipping, it’s necessary to be able to purchase products at wholesale prices and resell them at a higher price without adding any additional costs like shipping among others which might make you end up with zero or less profit.
You must be asking yourself how this is possible without adding any extra cost? Well, it usually boils down to research which I will discuss later on in more detail. For now, what you need to know is that there are ways around it by reselling products at very low costs while still making a lot of money. This isn’t sustainable but for newbies starting out it’s essential because they have nothing to lose if it doesn’t work out after all the only thing you have invested so far is time and some little cash on hosting your website.
How To Purchase Products At Wholesale Prices
The first step involves coming up with a product idea that can be profitable regardless of whether you’re selling it online or offline. Then you can then look for wholesale dropship suppliers that offer products at wholesale price and even drop shipping. This is the much-talked-about profit = revenue – cost formula which I mentioned earlier in this article.
The thing with finding a profitable product to sell is it must be selling like hot cake either online or offline but preferably both because as much as we want to stay away from the competition there’s always going to be lots of it any time you’re dealing with customers who like buying items which are trending fast and furiously on internets such as cell phones, laptops, and other gadgets.
List Your Business on Top B2B Websites:
We share with you the list of top b2b websites.
1. eWorldTrade
eWorldTrade is a b2b website that is leading in the business-to-business trade industry. eWorldTrade was established so that all the businesses can be able to buy and sell internationally with more ease. The popular categories on the eWorldTrade website include industrial supplies, electrical & electronics, foodstuff, automotive parts, chemicals, building materials, etc.
2. Alibaba
Alibaba is a Chinese electronic commerce company that was founded by Jack Ma way back in 1999. It deals with international importing and exporting business to consumer market services for small and medium scale businesses via web portals such as Alibaba among others which are localized overseas versions of the parent company’s website. It helps you find new customers from overseas no matter your location or product type to create a global marketplace. And it’s important to mention that Alibaba was the first company to ever use the B2B Dropship model.
3. Global Sources
Global sources is a product sourcing site where you can find suppliers for your dropshipping business in more than 200 countries and regions that are ready to export products directly from their own warehouses. It provides access to international trade data & marketplace, sourcing services both online or offline, online marketing solutions, etc.
4. TradeIndia
Tradeindia is one of the leading b2b portals in India which helps Indian manufacturers to connect with buyers across the globe by helping them look up potential customers who are looking for their specific products or categories of products they might be selling on Tradeindia among other things. This means that if you’re looking for dropship suppliers to sell your products, then Tradeindia is the answer. It has more than 10 million registered members and over 2500 suppliers selling its products.
5. Amazon
We all know Amazon for shopping online and it’s an awesome amazon prime video library of movies and series. What most people don’t know is that it acts as a dropshipping supplier of books and other gadgets such as amazon kindles, fire sticks, etc. If you’re looking to sell products on Amazon then this tool will be very helpful because it can source used items from amazon warehouses easily with one click which means more sales for you.
6. Made-in-China
Made in China is the number 1 wholesale B2B marketplace where manufacturers can list their factory products to sell directly to buyers around the world on the platform operated by made in China Ltd. It’s an e-commerce company that specializes in international trade and provides an online sourcing platform for manufacturers, suppliers, exporters, and importers to do business.
7. Sears Classified Ads
Sears classified ads is a service for buying & selling which was launched in early 2017, it helps you advertise your product with ease on sears’ huge customer base of millions of buyers all over the world. You can sell everything from cell phones, laptops, furniture appliances, etc via their classified ads website or even on social media networks such as Facebook where people are always looking for something new to buy no matter the value. The point is that they’re always spending money online so why not leverage on that by using these websites?
8. TradeKing
Tradeking is another trading company that specializes in stock trading and has an e-commerce and retail arm which allows individuals or businesses to list their used items for sale. It provides a platform where you can buy and sell products ranging from electronics, clothes, collectibles, etc via its online classifieds website that’s currently in the beta release as of May 2018.
9. DHgate
DHgate is the number 1 wholesale marketplace for more than 100,000 manufacturers and suppliers all over the world who sell their products directly to buyers online. They’re both drop shippers and drop buyers because they transact with their suppliers directly for fulfilling orders by themselves or they provide a platform where people can find wholesale suppliers and connect them with buyers if they don’t have access to these suppliers themselves so it means there are lots of opportunities for both suppliers and buyers.
10. Etsy
Etsy is an online e-commerce website for handmade or vintage items where you can sell your own products using their platform if you’re a supplier who has their own businesses that deal with these items directly. It’s just like the other online marketplaces but its’ main focus is on hand made goods by individuals themselves which makes it different because not everyone can make money via amazon or Alibaba, sometimes having your own small business might be the only solution to getting things done, but it takes hard work and determination to make it happen. Let’s say you want to sell T-shirts on Etsy, first thing first is doing research about what kind of T-shirts are in demand at that moment than creating your own designs for that niche.
Conclusion
As you can see there are lots of websites that allow people to buy and sell their products online so why shouldn’t we take advantage of them? It’s a fact that eCommerce has become a very huge industry that is expected to grow even bigger in the coming years. Just stay focused, develop one skill at a time and try to get deep into it then success will surely be yours.
