Selecting suppliers is a critical step that every dropshipping business needs to take. But there are so many factors that need to be taken into consideration when you’re looking for dropshipping suppliers.
Even if you already know which products you want to sell, and you’re sure that they’ll prove to be successful for your business, you need to make sure that you find dropshipping suppliers that can provide the high-quality service that your business deserves.
That’s exactly why we’ve put this article together. We’re going to give you all the advice that you need to find the best dropshipping suppliers for your store, and we’ll let you know the difference between dropshipping vendors and dropshipping wholesale too. Plus, we’ll throw in some red flags that you should look out for when you’re searching for dropshipping suppliers.
Let’s jump into it!
Finding Dropshipping Suppliers
Generally speaking, dropshipping suppliers aren’t known for their ability to market themselves to their audience, so finding the right dropship suppliers can be a difficult task.
You need to know in advance that finding dropshipping suppliers for your business could take a while. Another thing that you should take into consideration during your search is that you’re selecting suppliers which are likely based in Asia – the language barrier could take a little getting used to.
Nevertheless, you can find the right dropshipping supplier for your business. Here are a few steps that you can take to ensure that you find the right one:
1. Research
Once you’ve decided on the products that you would like to sell, research which dropshipping suppliers are out there, and which ones suit your needs best. You might need to choose whether to go with a domestic or overseas supplier depending on the number of suppliers in your chosen product niche. When you’re selecting suppliers you’ll need to dive deep into raw material sourcing, delivery times, and service potential.
2. Contact Suppliers
Talk to the dropshipping supplier that suits your needs and start a relationship with them. Talking to them allows you to ask questions about the service that they provide. They may even provide you with contact information from some of their current customers so you can get first-hand experience of working with the supplier before committing to them.
Maintaining a good relationship with your dropshipping suppliers from the very start means that when you start doing business together you’ll have trust. This will make it easier to get questions answered quickly, and disputes resolved straight away. After all, you’re on the same team.
3. Order Samples from the Supplier
Once you’ve chosen your top two or three suppliers to do business with, order samples from them yourself. Test their quality of service, delivery times, packaging, and other supplier-related questions that you may have so you are entirely happy with the choice you make. Ordering samples from a dropship supplier is an essential part of selecting suppliers as it will allow you to witness first-hand how your customers will experience your store.
4. Order From the Competition
If one of your competitors is using the same supplier as you then you can find out how the supplier packages their products and offers their services, like custom labeling. If your competitor uses other suppliers you can order from them to get an idea of the level to service you need to provide to rank in line with the competition.
5. Find the Right Supplier for Your Business
When you’re selecting suppliers, many can seem great when you look at their reviews and the products that they offer, but once you dig into the business they may not suit your audience. This could be because of the raw materials they use, the way they do business, or how they deal with returns. Be sure to talk to suppliers and get to know how they do business before you commit to working with them. Although you can choose not to use a supplier after issues arise, the damage might have already been done and your brand could have been harmed.
6. Dropshipping Suppliers to Avoid
It is hard to know which dropship suppliers to choose but there are some tell-tale signs that a supplier is to be avoided at all costs. Apart from bad reviews, negative feedback, and cheap quantity products, there are other factors that can anticipate a bad dropshipping supplier.
If a dropship supplier insists on monthly or ongoing fees to do business with them this is a bad sign. Ongoing fees could mean a supplier is part of a directory as opposed to a single supplier.
It is normal to have pre-order fees that increase slightly depending on size or complexity of an order, or decrease with bulk ordering. The research will highlight suppliers that charge higher than normal pre-order fees, which you want to stay away from.
Minimum order size is another thing to keep in mind when choosing a dropship supplier. Most of the time a supplier is willing to charge the minimum order fee and fulfill orders as they come in. This means that if a supplier’s minimum order size is 200, you must pay for the 200 units upfront but the supplier will fulfill the orders as they come from your online store. Suppliers that refuse to do this should be avoided as they are more suited for dropshipping wholesale.
Importance of Dropshipping Suppliers
Dropshipping suppliers are integral to every dropshipping business. Without suppliers, dropshipping businesses cannot sustain themselves, as they won’t have any products to deliver to their customers. That’s why it’s essential that you know how to find dropshipping suppliers that will help your business to succeed without any hitches. Let’s dive in to our top tips for finding dropshipping suppliers with Oberlo.
How To Select Dropshipping Suppliers on Oberlo
What is Oberlo?
Oberlo is a marketplace that makes it easy to find awesome products to sell online.
With Oberlo you can access a huge variety of different products with just a few clicks. Whether it’s fashion, electronics, toys, beauty, or the next trending product – Oberlo makes it easy for you to find products from dropshipping suppliers all over the world and instantly add them to your own online store.
It costs nothing to add products to your store with Oberlo – you can use our forever free plan and start dropshipping today.
How Does Oberlo Work?
Oberlo helps you to find products to sell online by connecting you to dropshipping suppliers across the globe. You can easily find dropshipping suppliers and browse our marketplace to discover a huge variety of products, and then add them to your store with just a few clicks.
Once you’ve made a sale your supplier will ship the products from their warehouse straight to your customer’s doorstep – you’ll never need to worry about storing, packaging, or shipping your products.
Instead, you can focus on the things which really matter – growing your brand and making sales.
Benefits of Dropshipping From Multiple Suppliers
When it comes to dropshipping, don’t feel like you need to rely on just one supplier to source your products. There are numerous benefits that come with selecting multiple dropshipping suppliers for your business. Let’s take a look at them below.
1. More Products Available
When you’re finding dropshipping suppliers for your business, you need to be thinking about the products that the suppliers are offering. One of the key, clear benefits that come with selecting multiple suppliers for your business is that they’ll likely be able to offer you a wider variety of products for your store. It’s always good to have more options – it’ll make it easier to find products that your customer loves if you have more choice.
2. More Business Relationships
As a dropshipper, relationships with your suppliers are so important. After all, without them, you won’t have products to deliver to your customers. This means that it’s in your best interest to have a positive, fruitful relationship with your suppliers.
If you decide to use multiple dropshipping suppliers to source your products from, you’ve got the potential to start and grow numerous business relationships. This can end up being a great asset for you as your business grows and scales.
3. Custom Labeling
AliExpress suppliers typically do not offer custom labelling support for dropshipping businesses. However, if you can demonstrate to them that you can generate consistent revenue by selling their products, you’re more likely to open up opportunities for them to offer this service. You can always contact each drop shipping supplier via direct message and inquire further into this personally.
4. Assess Your Product Quality
When you’re selecting suppliers to help you run your business you’ll want to find ones which can provide you with high quality products. This means that working with multiple dropshipping suppliers, especially as you’re starting your business, will help you to better understand the quality of the products that you receive through your test orders. If you can compare products from different dropshipping suppliers during your selection process, you’ll be much more educated on which ones are best suited for your dropshipping store.
5. Understand Your Customer’s Experience
As a dropshipper, it’s important that you try to understand your customer’s experience with your store. This is especially true when it comes to the delivery of your products. Understanding your customer experience will help you to identify ways where your dropshipping suppliers can improve the service that they provide for your store. This is potentially even more important if you’re drop shipping from multiple suppliers, as the service that they provide may vary slightly.
Source: Oberlo - https://www.oberlo.com