Do you want to start dropshipping with WordPress? If you want to start your eCommerce store with WooCommerce and a dropshipping plugin, this guide covers everything you need to know.
But before going too deep into the guide, first, let’s learn what dropshipping is and how it can generate money.
What Is Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a business model where a retailer (also known as the “drop shipper”) sells products to customers without actually stocking them.
Instead, when a customer places an order, the retailer passes the order and customer details on to a third-party supplier, who then ships the order directly to the customer.
This means that the retailer never has to handle or store the products themselves, which can be beneficial for several reasons.
For example, because the retailer doesn’t have to invest in inventory upfront, they can offer a much more comprehensive range of products without worrying about tying up large amounts of capital in stock.
This makes it much easier for small businesses and entrepreneurs to enter the market, as they can test different products and niches without making a significant upfront investment.
Dropshipping is a flexible and scalable business model that allows retailers to offer a wide range of products without investing in inventory upfront. It is an attractive option for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to enter the market and grow their businesses.
Pros & Cons of Dropshipping Business Model
Dropshipping is a very attractive business model, especially for smaller businesses and solo entrepreneurs, since it does not require a huge capital to invest. However, like any other business model, dropshipping also comes with its own pros and cons.
So, before you start dropshipping business with WordPress, it is important to understand the benefits and drawbacks of dropshipping in order to make a better decision.
Up next, we will take a deep look into both advantages and disadvantages of dropshipping. So, let’s get straight into it.
Benefits of Dropshipping
This section is going to cover the significant advantages of dropshipping. And they are:
- Low upfront investment
- Wide range of products
- No physical store is required
- Flexibility and scalability
- Better cash flow
- Easy to Get Started
- Low risk
Let’s take a deep look at each of the benefits of dropshipping.
1) Low Upfront Investment
One of the most significant advantages of dropshipping is that it requires very little upfront investment. Since the retailer doesn’t have to purchase inventory upfront, they can start selling products without having to tie up large amounts of capital in stock. This makes it an attractive option for small businesses and entrepreneurs who may not have much money to invest in inventory.
2) Wide Range of Products
Another benefit of dropshipping is that it allows retailers to offer a wide range of products without investing in inventory for each item. Because the retailer only purchases the product from the supplier once they have received an order, they can offer many products without worrying about storing them in a warehouse.
This can be an excellent way for retailers to differentiate themselves from their competitors and offer their customers a unique selection of products.
3) No Physical Store is Required
Since the retailer doesn’t have to worry about storing and shipping products, they can operate their business fully online. This means they don’t need to invest in a physical storefront or warehouse, which can save a lot of money in overhead costs.
4) Flexibility and Scalability
Dropshipping also allows retailers to be flexible and scalable. If a product isn’t selling well, the retailer can stop offering it without worrying about getting stuck with unsold inventory. Similarly, if a product becomes popular, the retailer can quickly increase their order quantity without worrying about running out of stock.
5) Better Cash Flow
Dropshipping can help to improve cash flow as the retailer only pays for the product once they have received payment from the customer. This can be especially beneficial for small businesses and entrepreneurs who may not have a lot of working capital to invest in inventory upfront.
6) Easy to Get Started
Dropshipping is relatively easy, especially compared to other business models requiring a significant upfront inventory investment. All a retailer needs to do is find a supplier and start promoting their products, and they can begin making sales immediately.
7) Low Risk
Because the retailer doesn’t have to invest in inventory upfront, the risk associated with starting a dropshipping business is much lower than other business models. If a product doesn’t sell well, the retailer can stop offering it without worrying about losing money on unsold inventory.
Above are some of the main advantages of dropshipping. However, it does come with its share of disadvantages as well. Let’s look at them next.
Drawbacks of Dropshipping
In this section, we are going to cover the drawbacks you may face when you start dropshipping with WordPress. And they are:
- Lower margins
- Dependence on the supplier
- Difficulty with returns and refunds
- Increased competition
- Problem with branding and packaging
- Limited ability to customize products
- Little control over the customer experience
- Difficulty with product sourcing
- Shipping costs
- Communication challenges
Let’s take a deep look at each point.
1) Lower Margins
Because the retailer purchases the product from the supplier at wholesale prices and then sells it to the customer at retail prices, the profit margin on each sale is typically lower than in other business models. This can make it more challenging for retailers to be profitable, mainly if they operate in a competitive market.
2) Dependence on the Supplier
Since the retailer doesn’t control the inventory, they depend on the supplier to provide high-quality products and timely shipping. If the supplier is unreliable, this can lead to customer dissatisfaction and damage the retailer’s reputation.
3) Difficult to Manage Returns and Refunds
In dropshipping, dealing with returns and refunds can be challenging as the retailer is not handling the products themselves and rely totally on the supplier. This can be especially problematic if the supplier is uncooperative or if the product is defective.
4) Increased Competiton
As the funds required to enter the business are low, the dropshipping market is highly competitive. This can make it hard for retailers to differentiate themselves from their competitors and can lead to fierce price competition.
5) Difficulty with Branding and Packaging
It can be challenging to control the branding and packaging of the products since the retailer is not handling the products themselves and rely on the vendors. This can make it challenging for retailers to create a consistent and professional customer experience.
6) Limited Ability to Customize Products
Because the retailer is not purchasing the products in bulk and does not have control over the inventory, it can be challenging to offer customizations or modifications to the products. This can limit the retailer’s ability to differentiate itself from its competitors and provide unique products to its customers.
7) Limited Control
Again, since the retailer is not handling the products, they have limited control over the customer experience. This can make it challenging to provide a high-quality experience and build customer trust and loyalty.
8) Difficulty with Product Sourcing
Finding reliable and high-quality suppliers can be a challenge for retailers, especially if they are starting. This can make it difficult to offer a wide range of products and limit the business’s growth potential.
9) Shipping Costs
Depending on the supplier or manufacturer you are working with, the shipping costs for dropshipped products may be higher than if you were to handle fulfillment yourself. This can make pricing your products competitively tricky and affect your profit margins.
10) Communication Challenges
Keeping track of orders, inventory levels, and other details can be challenging when working with multiple suppliers or manufacturers. Miscommunications or errors can lead to delays and other problems that can be frustrating for your customers.
Now, you know the advantages and drawbacks of dropshipping. Next, let’s see how to start a dropshipping business with WordPress.
How to Start a Dropshipping Business with WordPress
This section will teach you how to start a dropshipping business with WordPress. To make it better, we will divide this section into multiple sub-sections. And they are:
- Picking a niche
- Determining your products
- Find suppliers
- Creating a dropshipping website with WordPress
- Adding dropshipping products to your store
- Managing your dropshipping orders
- Tips to grow your dropshipping business
Let’s jump into the topics and learn how to start dropshipping and make money online without further ado.
1) Pick a Niche
This is the most crucial part when you want to start dropshipping with WordPress. There are a lot of niches available when you plan to sell stuff online. Some of the common ones are
- Fashion
- Fitness
- Health
- Makeup
- Dresses
- Automobile
- IT Products
And so on.
It would help if you chose a niche that suits you and you know it very well. For example, if you have deep knowledge of Health and Fitness, you can select that niche and start writing about it on your blog archive. This will give you more website visitors, and you can quickly turn those visitors into customers.
Besides, you can go through some of the existing online or dropshipping stores and see what niches they operate. From there, you can also see how well they perform and the overall profit margins and competition.
2) Determine Your Products
After choosing a niche for your dropshipping business, it is time to select the products you need to promote. Under each niche, you can find multiple products with different uses. For example, if you have chosen a makeup niche, there are products like
- Skin toners
- Creams
- Facewash
- Masks
- Brushes
Etc.
So, decide what you are going to list in your dropshipping store. You can list multiple products at the same time. But ensure you can handle all the marketing efforts without any hassle.
3) Find Suppliers
The next thing you need to do after determining your products is find suitable suppliers. There is a website called Alibaba, and so many people use it to find multiple suppliers for a product.
You can use the search feature to look for your specific product, and probably, you will see so many manufacturers promoting similar products with entirely different designs and features. From that page, you can see the supplier details.
Once you have identified your potential suppliers, Alibaba has a feature where you can contact the supplier directly through the website. So, before launching your store, it is wise to contact the supplier and ask for the product’s availability.
You are good to go if the supplier is okay with the orders. Also, you can rely on multiple suppliers for a single product or different products. There is no limit to the products you can list inside your dropshipping website or the suppliers you can have.
4) Create a Dropshipping Store with WordPress
Now, start a dropshipping store with WordPress. To set up any website, you need a web hosting service, a domain name, and a few tools/services to add extra features.
There are so many web hosting providers available in the market. Some of them are free, while others are premium. We always recommend choosing an affordable premium web hosting company because they will offer you better service and support. A few shared and managed hosting providers that we would recommend include:
Shared Hosting Companies
In our experience, good shared hosting companies are:
- Bluehost
- SiteGround
- A2 Hosting
- HostGator
- GreenGeeks
- Cloudways
and so on.
Managed WordPress Hosting Companies
On the other hand, if you prefer a managed WordPress hosting company, check out:
- Kinsta
- WP Engine
Both are premium web hosting companies, and they offer the best service in the industry. However, when you start your first online store, you do not necessarily need to choose managed WordPress hosting or dedicated WooCommerce hosting.
Besides hosting, it would be best if you also get a personalized domain name. This will act as your website’s address. You can get a domain name while purchasing web hosting, or you can get it from another domain registrar like Namecheap or Namesilo.
In most cases, a web hosting plan will cost you $10 max a month, and a domain (.com) will cost you between $8 and $15 a year.
Installing WordPress
Once you have purchased a hosting, you can install WordPress in it. You can do it manually or using the cPanel (Softaculous installer). The cPanel will be your best friend if you prefer a straightforward method.
On the other hand, if you prefer doing everything manually and exploring things, choose the first method. Even with the manual method, you can get WordPress installed within 5 minutes.
After installing it, log in to your WordPress website by adding /wp-admin to the end of your domain name. You can log in to the website with the user credentials.
It would be best to do several tweaks, like editing the website’s name, changing the protocol (HTTP to HTTPS), managing the tagline, etc. On top of that, you also need to install essential plugins for SEO, image compression, spam protection, email capturing, Google Analytics, and so on.
It will make your website better.
5) Add Dropshipping Products to Your Store
Now, you need to start importing dropshipping products to your store. In our last guide, we shared a couple of plugins that can be used. All the plugins mentioned in the article are beginner-friendly and have great features. You can pick any of them and import products directly from the target store.
For example, if you plan to import products from Alibaba, you can choose a dedicated plugin that will work with Alibaba. On the other hand, if you prefer Amazon, choose a different plugin that works with Amazon.
Importing products to the store is pretty simple. Also, you need to make sure that you have configured a payment gateway for accepting all online payments. Some of the popular payment gateways are PayPal and Stripe.
6) Manage your dropshipping orders
Now that everything is set up, you will need to promote your product and start getting orders. WooCommerce makes it easy to manage new orders. You can add multiple WooCommerce add-ons to make your online store feature rich. For example, the WooCommerce PDF invoice plugins would be a great addition if you need to provide PDF invoices to your clients.
You do not need to worry about the shipping or anything. The supplier will do everything necessary when someone orders in your store.
You can invest your time and money in marketing and gain more customers.
That’s it!
This is how you can start dropshipping with WordPress.
Now you have a complete idea to start dropshipping with WordPress. Next, let’s learn a few things that can be helpful in growing your dropshipping business.
7) Tips To Grow Your Dropshipping Business
Anyone can start a dropshipping website. But growing it and bringing new sales/customers can be a little challenging. So, here are a few tips that might help you to expand your dropshipping business.
1) Choose a Specific Niche
One of the keys to success in dropshipping is to focus on a specific niche. This will make it easier to differentiate your business from your competitors and to target your marketing efforts to a particular audience.
2) Find High-Quality Suppliers
It’s essential to find reliable and high-quality suppliers who can provide the products you want to sell. This will help to ensure that your customers are satisfied with the quality of the products and will make it easier to handle returns and refunds.
3) Offer Competitive Prices
To be successful in the dropshipping market, you will need to offer competitive prices. This means finding suppliers who offer low wholesale prices and using pricing strategies to maintain a healthy profit margin.
4) Invest in Marketing
You will need to invest in marketing to drive traffic to your website and generate sales. This can include paid advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing. Investing in marketing will give you more visitors, and you can see a spike in website traffic and sales.
5) Use Social Proof
Social proof, such as customer reviews and ratings, can be a powerful way to build trust and credibility with potential customers. This can help to increase conversions and drive more sales for your business.
6) Offer Free Shipping
Offering free shipping can be a great way to attract customers and encourage them to purchase. Many consumers are willing to pay a higher price for a product if it includes free shipping, which can increase your average order value.
7) Work on SEO
SEO is one of the crucial aspects you need to take care of. On-page SEO can help you optimize the website from the inside. An SEO plugin like Yoast or Rank Math can do that for you. It would also help to consider building backlinks to boost the search engine ranking. Better SEO means better sales and conversion.
8) Stay Up-To-Date
It’s essential to stay up-to-date on industry trends, developments, and legal and regulatory environment changes. This will help you to anticipate changes and adapt your business accordingly, which can help you to stay ahead of your competitors and maintain an advantage.
9) Use Upsells and Cross-Sells
Upselling and cross-selling can be great ways to increase the value of each order and boost your profit margins. For example, if a customer is purchasing a product from your store, you could offer them a related product or an upgraded version of the product at a higher price.
10) Test and Optimize
To be successful, it’s essential to continuously test and optimize different aspects of your business, such as your pricing, product selection, marketing efforts, and customer service. This will help you to identify what’s working and what’s not and make changes to improve your results over time.
11) Provide Excellent Customer Service
Providing excellent customer service is crucial for the success of your dropshipping business. This includes responding to customer inquiries promptly, handling returns and refunds efficiently, and going above and beyond to exceed customer expectations.
To do it, you can set up a ticketing system inside your WordPress website. Or you can also try adding a live chat widget to ensure customer satisfaction.
Conclusion: Start Dropshipping with WordPress
There are so many ways to make money online. You can start a WordPress website and monetize it with display ads or affiliate links. WooCommerce store is another best way to make money online if you have a physical or digital product to sell. But dropshipping is one of the best ways if you do not have products to sell and need to make money by selling third-party products.
In dropshipping, you will work with a third-party supplier. When a customer orders a product from your online store, you will forward it to your supplier, who will then fulfill the order. All you need to do is work on your website’s SEO, promote the website through social media and Google Ads, and attract more customers.
You can go through the Alibaba marketplace to see the available suppliers for your product. They have got hundreds of thousands of suppliers and products. So, finding the right niche for your business would be a cakewalk.
We hope you found this post useful and learned how to start dropshipping with WordPress. If you did, please share this guide with your friends. Meanwhile, you can check our blog archive for more related articles.
Here are a few similar articles you might like:
