Years ago I tried to be a dropshipper.
In this article I will talk to you from experience.
I'll tell you What is this about being a dropshipper, and the advantages and disadvantages of the dropshipping business model.
💡 But most of all, I'll give you one Alternative which I think is much better.
An alternative that you won't find in the other dropshipping items you read, because most of them will probably try to convince you to become a dropshipper.
Let's do it.
What is a dropshipper?
I'll tell you in simple words, that you don't have to use technicalities to understand us.
A dropshipper is someone who is dedicated to selling something they don't have, usually online.
Imagine that Pedro, for example, sets up an online store, and wants to do it following the dropshipping model.
Pedro will set up his online store like any other, as would Amancio Ortega with his Zara stores, for example.
The difference is that Pedro will have no stock, he will have absolutely nothing he sells.
Everything Pedro will sell in his store belongs to other people.
Pedro is simply an intermediary.
✅ First, you charge the customer, and then you pay the supplier, to send the product.
Dropshippers usually have an online store full of products from other suppliers, and when they sell one, they pass the order to the supplier to be responsible for supplying it to the customer.
Examples of dropshippers
Although the concept of dropshipping is modern, it has been around for years.
Do you want an example of a dropshipper who has been making money all his life, and besides that he's not online?
Easy.
A travel agency.
A travel agency is a simple intermediary, nothing more.
It offers you a lot of travel packages that are not organized by them, but that they organize others.
When you book a trip at an agency, the agency in turn passes the order to the organizer who has set up that trip, and pays him what he asks for.
Obviously, a% of the money stays in the agency.
Travel agencies, even if they have never been called that, could be said to be dedicated to dropshipping.
Despite this, it is true that technically a dropshipper is someone who has an online store.
But, as you can see, the business model is very similar.
What do you need if you want to become a dropshipper?
As you can imagine, to be a dropshipper you don't need a lot of things.
You need, of course, much less than a traditional store. Basically, you need:
👉 An online store or website.
👉 Suppliers who agree to give you a commission when selling their merchandise.
👉 Traffic, visits to your website.
They are few, but not easy. Especially the last one, since without visits to your website no one will buy from you, and they are not easy to get hold of.
Advantages and Disadvantages of being a dropshipper and doing dropshipping
Let's look at the ✅ advantages and ❌ disadvantages of this business model:
✅ You need low initial investment. With no stock, you can start with very little money.
✅ You don't need logistics to ship products or warehouse.
✅ You can sell a lot of different things, because you don't have to buy or save them.
✅ With a simple computer you can manage your entire business.
❌ The Barriers to entry are very low, and anyone can be your competition.
❌ You have no control over shipments or products, so You don't control the satisfaction of your customers.
❌ There are A lot of competition, and succeeding as a dropshipper is increasingly difficult.
❌ Your margin will be quite low.
Although dropshipping is generally recommended as a business model, in my opinion The disadvantages weigh heavily, and they must be taken into account.
As I told you at the beginning, personally I tried to be a dropshipper, and it didn't work for me.
Of course, there are people who do succeed, but it's not easy.
My advice, if you are going to try it, is that you have patience, and that you learn little by little and without haste.
Don't think that by spending a lot of money on a dropshipper course you're sure to succeed, and spend time and see it step by step.
Since I think that being a dropshipper in the traditional way is not easy at all, I'm going to give you a more original alternative with less competition.
An alternative to the classic dropshipper
The alternative is inspired by the example I gave you before, that of the travel agency.
Don't be a traditional dropshipper, don't set up an online store where you sell the same as the other thousands of existing dropshippers.
Because yes, there are thousands, even tens of thousands, trying the same thing. Look for something different.
Become a dropshipper for services, rather than a dropshipper for products.
It's something that makes a lot fewer people, and that has a lot more potential.
Look, I'll give you an example, and I also give you a specific strategy to carry it out.
✍️ Your supplier
Go to personal trainers, surely there are dozens of them in your city.
✍️ Your offer for them
Get them customers without them having to do anything.
They give you permission to use their brand, and they give you permission to get people to try a class for free.
✍️ Your benefit
I don't know what a personal trainer benefits from each client, on average, but I'm sure it's hundreds of euros.
You have 2 options:
- Get paid for every customer that ends up paying at the gym
- Get paid for each person who tries the class for free.
In the first case, you could easily ask for 100€.
In the second, maybe I would try 15 or 20€ per person.
I haven't tried it personally, so my advice would be to try it out.
✍️ How do you do it?
Here's the key.
Actually, in this business, you are the dropshipper, and instead of getting physical sales for your supplier, you get customers who will try your class for free.
And to do that, my advice is to use a simple 3-step system.
You'll like it, I'm sure.
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