Dropshipping is an industry looked at by prospects with skepticism. Some have managed to build long-lasting businesses, while some barely get any traction at all.
Being one of the most cost-effective businesses out there, dropshipping is not without its pitfalls. For both prospective entrepreneurs and established businesses, there are several factors that you need to avoid.
This post covers ten of them. So, let’s begin, shall we?
1. Don’t fall for the “guru” talk
We’ve all heard of them. The dropshipping “experts” and “gurus” make the drop shipping experience out to be so easy. Well, it’s not. It’s hard, takes time, but it’s rewarding when you put your mind to it.
More often than not, we get ourselves mixed up in the guru talk and fail to account for the amount of effort it goes into creating an eCommerce store.
The ideal thing you can do is to get a slow start and build it up. Since it is a cost-effective business, it can be started at a minimal cost. This section isn’t to badmouth the experts. There are so many good people in the industry whom you should listen to, but never have unrealistic expectations.
Dropshipping is a tough journey, and only those with the right amount of patience can tread the waters of this industry,
2. Not focusing on your web store
Dropshipping is a part of eCommerce. And like all eCommerce stores, you need to optimize it to ensure that your website is customer-focused. One of the most important ways you can ensure that is by optimizing your website.
From the images on your store to the design, the load speed, the bounce rates, and more – there are many tasks you can do simultaneously to improve the customer experience of your website in the long run.
Now, you could do it yourself, or you can hire an expert to do it for you. The entire thing is dependent on you.
A good combination of search engine and website optimization leads to the best customers.
3. Having a poor customer journey
Modern customers are bombarded with promotions, deals, and dropshipping eCommerce websites advertising their stuff all day long. In the midst of all that, what can you do to take the competitive edge?
Well, improving the customer journey always helps in turning customers into leads. If a customer lands at your store, you need to ensure that they make the purchase as quickly as possible. This means optimizing the journey of a customer from product discovery to checkout – making it as simple and quick as possible.
4. Being in over your head
This heading might sound vague but it holds. Ecommerce, and dropshipping in particular, is a slow game that requires you to advertise (organically and inorganically) your products to reach more customers. This constant lookout for new channels for marketing purposes is challenging, yet fun.
As opposed to that, if you are just a bit too confident about your product; the “build it and they’ll come” mindset, you’re in over your head. The modern landscape is competitive and you need to be aware of that.
5. Not planning for seasonal sales
Seasonal sales are a godsend for an eCommerce store. They allow you to reach more customers and improve the bottom line for a particular quarter of a business.
More often than not, budding dropshipping stores don’t focus on the holiday season and miss out on the holiday season. Because of this, it’s important to plan before the season begins.
6. Not adopting automation
Automation is the need of the times. You can’t expect to do everything by yourself, now can you?
Your dropshipping eCommerce store order management, account management, and other back-office systems shouldn’t be administered manually. It’s 2021, wake up already!
Investing in the right automation software helps you manage things, and make decisions effectively.
7. Using Blackhat dropshipping methods
Ah yes, the bane of the dropshipping process. There are plenty of ways businesses can go about dropshipping. Some try to market their products through paid mediums while some focus on marketing organically. But some perform Blackhat dropshipping methods bordering on fraudulent practices. While that might give you some success when starting, it’s not a long-term strategy and can lead to a bad reputation in the industry. With no one buying from you, you’ll regret ever having chosen the Blackhat methods.
8. Jumping on influencers quickly
One of the best ways you can get your dropshipping business a good boost is through influencer outreach. But here’s the thing: influencers aren’t cheap. If you’re low on a budget, then you should try to wait until you have enough money to reach out to influencers.
9. Losing your nerves quickly
We’ve iterated this time and time again throughout this post that eCommerce and dropshipping take their time to develop. Yes, you could market it significantly and gain a repute very quickly, but you need to work on it to make it succeed. Of course, it’s not a one-off thing, you’re making an eCommerce store for the long run. Because of this, it’s important that you invest time in it and not lose heart when the going gets tough or you look like you’re not making any money.
Your eCommerce store is your creation, and you need to have a heart when things don’t exactly go your way.
10. Not having a marketing plan:
This is similar to having a “build, and they will come” mindset. You can’t expect a modern eCommerce store to gain repute without doing proper marketing.
With the right marketing plan planned out beforehand, you can avoid the hassle of running into marketing issues later down the road. Marketing is very important for any business, and you need to plan and adjust your marketing plans as you see fit.
Key takeaway:
Dropshipping eCommerce is a wonderful journey, but it comes with its fair share of pitfalls. To stay on top of the game, you need to plan for every eventuality.
We hope you liked this post. Thanks for reading.