Dropshipping Online Business Guide: The Bestnaija Live Class

Discussions on businesses and entrepreneurship: news, starting tips, ideas, challenges, proposals, plans
Comment
User avatar
eMade
VIP VIP
Location: Abuja
 

April 13th, 2020, 11:01 am

This guide from Bestnaija is to help every and anyone interested in the dropshipping business to have a firm footing start in the online business and to understand the basics for success in this endeavor.
DROPSHIPING-GUIDE-BESTNAIJA.NG.jpg
At times like this when the whole world is grappling the effects of Covid-19 pandemic, physical businesses are suffering but online businesses have the chance to succeed as they do not need physical presence to thrice. Here comes dropshipping as a viable option.

When done right, dropshipping can replace your day job and feed your family.

You may wonder: what is dropshipping all about? Lets do this.

WHAT IS DROPSHIPPING BUSINESS?
Dropshipping (or drop-shipping) is a model of online inter-mediation business whereby you (the drop-shipper and retailer) resell goods from manufacturers, wholesalers or other sellers, to final consumers or buyers without you having the physical goods in store yourself.

What this means is that: you link final buyers of any goods to the manufacturers or wholesalers who have those stuffs in stock. You do not need to have the goods in your store before you perform this inter-mediation role.

For this to work effectively, the following 5 models must be available:

1. MARKET: Identify your target market or buyers to whom you want to sell

2. MEDIUM: You identify or create a medium through which you want to reach or advertise your products to these customers

3. SELLER: You identify and create arrangement with the manufacturers of big wholesalers or supermarkets from whom you want to order these products.

4. PRODUCTS: Your choice of products to resell will now be determined by your type of customers and the sellers you have on board.

5. STYLE: This is the overall business style you choose and the brand you build for yourself.

THE BESTNAIJA DROPSHIPPING CYCLE
The dropshipping cycle takes the following path.
DROPSHIPING-FLOW.jpg
Study the cycle and then we will expatiate more on the 5 models mentioned above.

As can be seen in the flow, the final customer goes to your MEDIUM and does two 3 things:
1. Sees your products
2. Orders from you
3. Pays you.

Then upon receiving the orders and payment, YOU now place order for the products from the MANUFACTIRER OR WHOLESALER OR BIG MARKET. And you put the BUYER'S address in there. You pay the MANUFACTURER OR WHOLESALER the amount agreed and you keep YOUR COMMISSION. Then the WHOLESALER sends the goods to the BUYER's address, quoting your details.

Now, the cycle is complete and you make your cut, everyone is happy:
Buyer gets the goods
You get your cut (commissions)
Manufacturer/Wholesale Supermarket makes the sale

Now, finally, lets Xray the 5 models: MMSPS

MMSPS MODELS
MMSPS is a jargon concocted by Bestnaija.ng to mean: Market, Medium, Seller, Product, Style


1. THE MARKET
The Market refers to your final buyers or consumers. Te people you want to sell to as a drop-shipper. Most times, people sell to buyers in their local countries, whereas some dropshippers have international scale.

There are factors to consider before settling for one choice here:
Currency: Its easy to sell to people who shop in same currency as you do. This will help make exchange and payment easy.
Payment methods: The payment methods available will determine if you can sell to certain market or not.
Available products: The products offered for sale will go a long way to determine who you advertise to. If you have expensive jewelries, you are better off targeting the rich and affluent and not the rural locals.
Advertising means: Available medium, s shall be seen has a lot to determine who you can sell to.

2. THE MEDIUM
This medium is a critical part and determinant of your dropshipping career! The medium is any means by which you reach and showcase your products to your intending buyers. The medium can be simple or complex. Whereas, it must accomplish at least 3 roles:
Showcase: It must display your products for sale in a way that the buyer can find you trsutworthy and competent to deal with.
Ordering system: The medium must incorporate seamless ordering system such that intending buyers can request right away
Payment system: How do you wish to collect payment securely in such a way that everyone's interest is protected? And in case of dispute, resolution is seamless?

As state earlier, the medium can be simple or complex.
Simple mediums cans be your social media handles like Facebook, Twitter, Whaatsapp Business, Instagram and others.
Complex medium can be your Shopify pages, Aliexpress shops, Konga or Jumia stores etc.
In fact, the simple mediums can help just direct traffic to the complex back-ends where automated ordering, payments and shipping can be initiated.

In order to address all the major areas, there are some ready-made CMS systems you can use that will serve as your online store where you can display your products and take orders and receive payments too, and you can also collect all the necessary data needed for successful shipping and delivery. We can discuss this in more details as the discussion will be open soon.

3. THE SELLER
The seller here represents the manufacturer or big wholesale supermarket (online or offline) who has the products in store. You cannot forge dropshipping arrangement with just any seller. Some have ready-made arrangement for dropshipping and its just rock and roll once you are ready. Example is Ali Express and Amazon. You can forge such arrangements with Jumia, Konga and virtually any store without them even knowing. All you need them to do is service your orders for products you(or your market) are interested in.

Good markets (where you can both sell and buy) include: Ali Express, Amazon, Konga, Jumia, and more. Even local manufacturers.

4. THE PRODUCT
Now at this juncture, I must emphasize that the choice of products alone can determine the overall success of your dropshipping business. If you spend on creating an online store and you enlist products that won't sell, that amounts to wastage of money and time. This is not the time to engage in unfruitful ventures.

The products represent the items and goods you want to showcase to your market and buyers. OF COURSE, if you showcase products that interest them and that they want or need, you are in luck! But this is not a matter of luck but of research, preparation and research.

You must research the market and the ease of transacting those products before you choose them. You may even decide to specialize in certain products and not necessarily general products. Sample products that usually sell with little efforts include phone accessories, smart watches, fashion accessories and more.

So, try and get this right: SELL PRODUCTS THAT WILL SELL!

5. STYLE
Your style is you. This comprises your modus operandi, your pricing, your brand and every other thing that will add up together to your proftit or loss.

PROFITABILITY
First, lets talk about profitability: your profit of course will depend on your costs and your commission.

If the price stated on your medium does not give enough room to cover your cost and give spread for profit, then you are wasting precious time. At the same time, in the very competitive market, if your prices are too high, you won't sell.

That is why you must get the pricing well! And that is why you may nee to deal with large wholesalers or manufacturers directly so that you can have price rebate and other commissions that single buyers won't have.

DETERMINING YOUR COSTS:
You must be aware of your costs so that your business model can be profitable afterall. Your costs include
1. Cost of online shop - hosting, domain name, design
2. Your time costs and other input like data costs
3. Tax payments
4. Staff salaries (You are a staff)

Bearing these in mind, you can model your business very well.

BREAK-EVEN POINT
Note too that you may not make profit in the beginning. Every business has its own break-even point. You may need to reach certain sales level before you can break even. It is important you understand all these concepts.

ONLINE STORE - RECOMMENDED
We recommend you have your own online store where you have control. It could be standalone, or it could be sub-let. But uniqueness of your brand can go a long way to determine how large you can become.

We must also state that you should be ready to start smart an scale larger quickly. Te initial capital needed is not much because you don't order products with your own money. The major cost goes to your mediums:

Smart ways to succeed:
1. Build large social media followers (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter) and advertise to them. Let the adverts lead them to your dropshipping page optimized for easy ordering and payments with card, transfer or USSD.

2. Product images must depict quality and your store must be easy to use and navigate.

3. Manage your pricing very well and make sure high pricing does not send buyers away.

4. Be reachable for phone support. People trust businesses that offer support both online and offline.

5. It can be hard in the beginning but do not give up. Stay focused, be committed and you will break even soon.

Questions and contributions are now allowed.
Finally, there is an online firm that I know which can hold you by the hand during all these processes. Its GO Digital NG, Twitter: https://twitter.com/GODigitalNG
Follow them for consultation and set-up of your online store n addition to other digital services.

Please share...

Learn more about ✓ VIP Members: https://www.bestnaija.ng/61848 ✓ Referral: https://www.bestnaija.ng/62508
User avatar
AK Horsfall
VIP VIP
Location: Port-Harcourt
 

April 13th, 2020, 11:06 am

Continue.... :clap:
I'm a living success and from a Royal Priesthood.
User avatar
Hotsaint
VIP VIP
Location: NIGERIA
 

April 13th, 2020, 11:12 am

Continue boss very interesting
Stream my latest song
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5nGO87k ... =copy-link
User avatar
eMade
VIP VIP
Location: Abuja
 

April 13th, 2020, 11:24 am

Post is updated live. Reload to see. :excited:
Learn more about ✓ VIP Members: https://www.bestnaija.ng/61848 ✓ Referral: https://www.bestnaija.ng/62508
User avatar
Hotsaint
VIP VIP
Location: NIGERIA
 

April 13th, 2020, 11:27 am

Am Following
Interested class I must say
Stream my latest song
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5nGO87k ... =copy-link
User avatar
AK Horsfall
VIP VIP
Location: Port-Harcourt
 

April 13th, 2020, 12:07 pm

I'm interested
I'm a living success and from a Royal Priesthood.
User avatar
Hotsaint
VIP VIP
Location: NIGERIA
 

April 13th, 2020, 1:18 pm

Good class I must say @ emade
Now how do we contact godigital Ng
Stream my latest song
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5nGO87k ... =copy-link
User avatar
Rossie
Junior
 

April 13th, 2020, 1:23 pm

Wow! I must say best Naija has really improved. I'm back now. :good:
User avatar
AK Horsfall
VIP VIP
Location: Port-Harcourt
 

April 13th, 2020, 1:29 pm

Rossie wrote:Wow! I must say best Naija has really improved. I'm back now. :good:
Happy to have you back
I'm a living success and from a Royal Priesthood.
User avatar
Rossie
Junior
 

April 13th, 2020, 1:55 pm

AK Horsfall wrote:
Rossie wrote:Wow! I must say best Naija has really improved. I'm back now. :good:
Happy to have you back
Thank you sir. Hmmmm. How do we get more.members to join? Any reward?
User avatar
eMade
VIP VIP
Location: Abuja
 

April 13th, 2020, 1:56 pm

Rossie wrote:
AK Horsfall wrote:
Rossie wrote:Wow! I must say best Naija has really improved. I'm back now. :good:
Happy to have you back
Thank you sir. Hmmmm. How do we get more.members to join? Any reward?
We have a referral system. Your referrals are recorded and rewarded eventually.

See dashboard.php?i=referral
Learn more about ✓ VIP Members: https://www.bestnaija.ng/61848 ✓ Referral: https://www.bestnaija.ng/62508
User avatar
Excelsior
Senior
 

April 13th, 2020, 2:38 pm

The time is now! Now, you agree that dropshipping is still going strong in 2020! In fact, this is the right time to start your dropshipping business. Here is why:

1. The world has embraced ecommerce
2. More people are buying online than ever before
3. Merchants understand the concept of dropshipping and are willing to work with them
4. Sending online payments is easy
5. Can help with online paid marketing campaigns
6. The upfront cost is almost zero
Coolsammy11
Newbie
 

April 14th, 2020, 12:35 am

Join this WhatsApp group to learn how to make at least 2k daily
User avatar
eMade
VIP VIP
Location: Abuja
 

April 15th, 2020, 11:24 am

eMade wrote:Finally, there is an online firm that I know which can hold you by the hand during all these processes. Its GO Digital NG, Twitter: https://twitter.com/GODigitalNG
Follow them for consultation and set-up of your online store n addition to other digital services.
That's how to contact them. Via the Twitter account.
Learn more about ✓ VIP Members: https://www.bestnaija.ng/61848 ✓ Referral: https://www.bestnaija.ng/62508
Bash888
Senior
Location: Kontagora
 

April 4th, 2021, 2:54 pm

So interesting
Comment
  • See also...
    Comments
    Views
    Last post
  • Information
  • Online

    Users browsing this section: No members and 0 guests