In this article, I’ll be sharing how exactly you can start a dropshipping business in Singapore. This will be an easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructional guide that’ll show you what you need to do right from the beginning till the end.
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First thing’s first; before we even get started with anything, we need to understand why we should even consider starting up dropshipping biz. For those of you who don’t know what it is (which I’m pretty sure most of us probably already know), “dropshipping” is basically when an online retailer does not keep any inventory but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to either their supplier or a third-party supplier which then ships the dropshipping products directly to the customer.
There are a few reasons why you might want to consider getting into the dropshipping business :
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1. It’s a low capital startup
A website is basically all you need aside from a hosted shopping cart where most of them come free these days, and once it has cost $50/month to get up and running, that should be more than good enough for you. Once you have your website built, managing/maintaining it would only take about an hour or two per week so this means you wouldn’t even require full-time employment to run the site meaning no overhead costs other than just keeping your site live. The beauty behind starting up a dropshipping store is that there aren’t any inventory costs which means anything that gets sold on your site goes straight to the customer, meaning you’ll never have to worry about product returns or any of that business. You can personally verify this fact with all the dropshippers out there who are making thousands per month without having invested anything but time.
2. It’s scalable
As your store grows and your supplier list expands so will your profits if done correctly, meaning you always have room for growth instead of looking for another job like most people do when they quit their day jobs (which is usually due to feeling unfulfilled). The opportunities are endless with dropshipping because it allows you to venture into multiple niches at once which means more chances of finding something that really works compared to if you were running a regular old eCommerce store. You can sell anything under the sun, literally! Just pick whatever you like, whether it’s clothing or food items like what I’m doing with my own store which you can find here.
3. It’s super passive income
Running a regular old eCommerce store (no dropshipping) means having to physically source for new products every so often but dropshipping allows you to have an unlimited supply of products without ever lifting a finger because there are suppliers out there who’ll email new product listings directly to you daily which takes up zero effort on your part once your site is set up.
4. You get paid within 24 hours
When people shop online, they’re expecting their goods within just days unless it’s something extremely delicate or is imported from overseas which can add a few more weeks. This means that once you receive the money from your customers, it’ll be in your personal bank account ready to withdraw within 24 hours.
Now that we’re through with the basics of dropshipping, let’s get down to actually listing your online store on different b2b websites. The list is below:
1. eWorldTrade
eWorldTrade is a b2b website where you can sell your products on. They also provide a drop shipping service where you can sign up for free and they’ll handle everything for you but there isn’t much information available on their site other than an email address so I’m not entirely sure how it works.
2. Alibaba
Of course, we have to include Alibaba in this list considering they’re pretty much the biggest dropshipping platform out there where people buy wholesale goods from different manufacturers and supplier around China who are just eager to find new customers instead of factories that only produce small batches per product. You can search for all kinds of products that fit into any niche really easily by just using their search bar or even using Alibaba’s own filters when browsing for products.
3. Global Sources
As the name implies, this is also another platform where you can list your online store to sell wholesale goods but it’s actually much better than Alibaba when listing your site especially in regards to dropshipping because you have a lot more control over what listings show up compared to how it works on Alibaba so there are chances of being found easier. This website is pretty popular overseas in Asia so keep in mind that most people who visit will only be from directed countries so adjusting prices/listing accordingly will help improve your sales if interested.
4. Shopify Store
It might sound strange but you can actually open an actual physical store and just include Shopify as one of your channels on the online store you create through them. It’s only a matter of setting it up with sellers from Alibaba or Global Sources where they’ll handle everything from shipping to customer support for free if using their Shopify platform which is why I’m mentioning it here because I know a lot of people prefer having both an online shop as well as a physical store under the same brand name.
5. WooCommerce Store
WooCommerce is basically another open-source eCommerce website builder similar to how Shopify works but a bit more flexible since you’re not limited by pre-defined themes and can adjust price/product specifications yourself when listing products on your own site instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you. There’s also free hosting and automatic updates (no need to install them manually).
6. Salehoo
Salehoo is another website like Alibaba where products are filtered by different categories such as home, kitchen, clothing, etc which makes things easier when trying to find the item you’re looking for within their listings. They even have a feature that lets you search based on price range or brand label if your customer asks specifically but overall it’s extremely similar to Alibaba in terms of what information they provide so just keep that in mind when getting started on one or the other.
7. TradeGecko
TradeGecko is another b2b site where people can buy wholesale goods from suppliers around China & Asia but they only have a couple of categories for products which makes it a lot easier when searching for something specific. It has full integration with Shopify and WooCommerce if you decided to build your own online store using either one of these platforms so definitely add this site to your list as well.
8. BigCommerce
Another shopping site builder similar to Shopify & WooCommerce, BigCommerce provides a lot of features for business owners who are just starting out but will require some custom coding before being able to do anything else once you’re past their basic plan if you’re serious about promoting your brand online. It’s not that bad though because they’ll provide incredible support whenever you run into any issues or bugs that need resolving so I’d recommend checking them out if you decide later on.
9. Amazon FBA Stores
This is the last website that requires an actual seller account with Amazon before you can begin using their platform but it’s sleek, simple, and extremely easy to use so if you want something easier than setting up your own Shopify store then I would definitely recommend checking this one out too. You don’t even need a logo since Amazon will provide you with a default design for your shop so it’ll be ready to go in minutes after signing up.
10. Tictail
Tictail is another great choice for selling products online without needing any prior business knowledge because they offer everything for free including payment collection service so all you have to do is list the item on your store and Tictail will handle the rest of the process. They have over 500k users currently so this can definitely help you grow even more since it’s free to use so check them out!
Conclusion
While you do have to pay a monthly/yearly fee for using Shopify & WooCommerce, this is only required if you’re looking at setting up your own online store without using any of the above marketplaces. This way you’ll have complete control over what products are being sold on your website and how much they cost but overall it’s really simple especially when compared to other ways such as getting a merchant account directly from a bank which requires a lot more paperwork and information so definitely check those two out first before going with an expensive option.
