Wondering how to do dropshipping? Popular in the USA, dropshipping is a method that lets you create an e-commerce site without inventory and is slowly gaining ground in France.
Discover how to have a functional e-commerce site in just 8 steps.
What is dropshipping?
On your online store, you sell a supplier's products who takes care of shipping the merchandise. In return, they pay you a commission on the sale. It's easy to set up, inexpensive and low-risk.
There are two different ways to get started in dropshipping:
- You receive your customers' orders and set the quantities to be produced by the supplier yourself
Warning! In this situation, you, the retailer, bear the costs of overstocks.
- The supplier receives the orders placed by your customers and decides the quantities to manufacture himself
This second option lets you open an online store without inventory and focus on other important tasks without worrying about costs linked to excess stock.
Step 1: Choose your niche for dropshipping
Before you begin, you will need to choose your business. What will you sell? Don't take this question lightly and consider conducting market research beforehand. Indeed, there's no point in launching into a saturated market.
Think about differentiating yourself on a booming sector on which you can add your personal touch.
Step 2: Create your dropshipping business
An e-commerce business is a company. You won't be able to sell your products or negotiate with suppliers if you don't have a SIRET number.
Do you want to start alone, with minimal expenses?
We recommend opting for the micro-entrepreneur status. Its simplified administration is perfect for testing your project and collecting your first sales.
The micro-enterprise scheme allows you to benefit from very attractive advantages:
- Significant accounting relief
- Reduced operating costs
- Simplified tax calculation
- Simple calculation of your social contributions at fixed rates
Create your micro-enterprise easily in just a few clicks on the website www.autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr.
Also read : Which legal status should you adopt?
Step 3: Find and contact your suppliers
How to do dropshipping without suppliers? Finding good suppliers is the very essence of a dropshipping business. As it is still underdeveloped in France, don't expect to find suppliers solely via Google. However, you will have no problem finding foreign suppliers.
Brands and wholesalers do not always announce this possibility on their websites. Approach them directly to find out if this option is available.
Also consider professional sellers on marketplaces such as:
- Amazon,
- eBay,
- AliExpress,
- Alibaba
- Cdiscount,
- Rakuten,
- Fnac
- Joor, etc.
As well as automation tools for CMS platforms.
To help you choose, we have put together a comparison of the best dropshipping solutions.
Step 4: Build your dropshipping online store
It's time to grow your e-commerce! For that, you can use a dropshipping solution like Dropizi.
Developed in France and accessible to everyone, Dropizi also gives you access to:
- A complete video course with around ten modules (entrepreneurship, niche products, SEA, SEO, email marketing, etc.),
- Support from a team of Business Coaches
- And many features (notably the DropiziRank).
You can also hire a professional developer. It can provide you with an online store that meets your needs and your customers' expectations.
A professional can deliver a fully functional site, with efficient ergonomics and all the features necessary for an e-commerce site.
Step 5: Work on your SEO
To attract your e-commerce site's first visitors, think about working on your keywords.
Using Google Keyword Planner, find the phrases your prospects use to search for your products.
The goal is to build a list of keywords to insert into your site's structure and into the content.
Also read : Amazon: how to optimize your keywords to boost your sales?
Step 6: Write the product descriptions
Once the site is set up, obtain the photos from your suppliers and create the product pages.
Warning: For the sake of your SEO, do not copy product sheets from brands or wholesalers; write unique descriptions in which you include your keywords.
This work is often long and tedious, but you can, for example, hire a freelance writer on Redacteur.com.
Redacteur.com is a web writing platform that connects you with professional freelance web copywriters. For needs such as writing descriptive pages, product pages, blog articles, etc., contact quality writers on Redacteur.com.
Step 7: Develop your web marketing strategy
When your e-commerce site is ready to make its first sales, think about promoting it! To do this, create profiles on the social networks where your target audience is present.
- For an online store whose products target the general public, turn to Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
- For B2B, consider LinkedIn and Twitter.
Also use the Google Ads advertising platform to run targeted campaigns on your keywords. You will appear front and center when users search for those terms.
Also consider create a blog to boost your SEO and have high-quality material to share on your social networks.
A web marketing strategy is built for the long term: you will not get results the day after your actions! To give yourself the best chance, some freelance experts can support you in implementing your strategy.
Also read : 8 steps to create a high-performing company blog
Step 8: Analyze and optimize your dropshipping site
Once your e-commerce site is launched, your final mission—not a minor one—will be to analyze and optimize! You must track all available data and metrics to grow your business.
For this, analyze the traffic results from Google Analytics and the conversion results of your main customer acquisition channel.
You must be able to track every conversion. This will allow you to analyze your conversion funnel and pinpoint what works so you can eliminate what doesn’t.
The secret to success is constantly testing new opportunities and refining your current campaigns based on analysis of past ones.
Also read : Analyze your conversion funnel with Google Analytics
All these strategies work together and establish a virtuous digital communication system.
Are you ready to to start dropshipping ? Don't hesitate to hire a professional freelance provider on Codeur.com to help you with all the steps. To do this, post your project for free in a few clicks and quickly receive numerous quotes!
