It’s no secret that the eCommerce industry has boomed during the past two years, spurned on by the global pandemic. With physical storefronts having closed down due to COVID-19, more people have turned to online shopping as their new norm. So much so that according to Forbes, the growth of eCommerce since April 2020 is at 129% compared to the years prior.
Indeed, the Covid-19 pandemic transformed the eCommerce industry into a much bigger giant than it already was. So, if you want to get your slice of the action, here’s how you can start a profitable online dropshipping business during times of crisis.
There are a few leading platforms in which you can sell your products online, such as eBay, Amazon and more. eBay has a large and loyal customer base that brings tons of organic traffic to your store, so it saves you a lot on costs compared to running ads. A user-friendly platform, starting off on eBay requires no initial start-up cost.
There are multiple suppliers to work with when running a dropshipping business. Such suppliers include Amazon, Walmart, HomeDepot, Costway, Wayfair, Banggood, AliExpress, and many more. Each supplier is unique in its way.
While you can work with any of them, for starters, we always recommend AliExpress – a huge online retail service and a very known dropshipping friendly platform.
AliExpress is full of Chinese sellers that you can use to source products for your online stores. Most of the warehouses are in China, although they also have US warehouses, and in many other countries offering faster shipping to North American customers as well as Europe.
AliExpress makes the whole product research process simple. There are two places in which you can find your first winning product, the AliExpress Flash Deals section and the AliExpress Dropshipping Center.
AliExpress Flash Deals
The first method to find winning products is in AliExpress flash deals category, which you can find on their main page or search AliExpress Flash Deals on Google.
Flash Deals are super discount deals that offer 48-hour special low prices that can really spark sales. Also, this method will allow you to kill the competition by snatching products when their prices are at an all-time low.
AliExpress Dropshipping Center
The second place where you will find winning products is in AliExpress’s dropshipping center. You can find the hottest selling products based on selling history, product rating, and selling performance. For example, here are the results for the search phrase “air purifier”.
Also, there’s a product analyzer where you can research products one-by-one for further in-depth analysis. Just fill in the product’s URL and see the performance.
Search for trending products that are experiencing a rise in sales. These products will have a much higher probability of selling.
Since the start of the outbreak, some product categories are peaking in sales products like exercise equipment, kids toys and family games, cooking tools, and a lot more products to sell during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once you have a list of products, the next step is to upload them to eBay. There are two ways to do this. The first method is uploading them manually. See below on how to create your listing.
The downside of this method is that you will need to copy every single product’s details to eBay, including title, description, category, pictures, item specifics, etc. More so, you will not be able to tell when the product drops out of stock from the supplier site. Or when the price changes, leaving you vulnerable to selling lower than your cost.
The second method is to use an all in one dropshipping tool that can grab all the products information from the source page and upload them directly to your eBay store in a template of your choosing.
For this, we can use dropshipping tool, AutoDS which includes an uploader that helps you to fully automate this task.
Got your first order? Great! Now you just need to fulfill it. You can do this manually by ordering the product from your supplier and entering the buyer’s shipping address. Dropshipping at its core!
Just make sure to fulfill the order as soon as possible to comply with your shipping and handling policy. You’re also responsible for upload tracking information on eBay on time. So be sure to check daily with your supplier for tracking information.
Another way to fulfill orders is by using the AutoDS Automatic Orders feature. It automatically orders the products from your supplier directly to your buyer, leaving no room for human error. Plus, your customers will receive their orders much faster. It will also automatically update the tracking numbers and send three automatic messages to your buyers to ensure the top-notch customer experience.
Choose from multiple suppliers to automate your orders from – Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, and AliExpress.
“There is no doubt that we are in tough times; a lot of people are losing their jobs, and businesses are being closed. At the same time, we see that Amazon hit a 1.543 trillion-dollar market cap. Also, eBay, Rakuten, Walmart stocks, as well as many other eCommerce companies are going up. There’s a global shift towards social distancing; more people are depending on eCommerce, even those who had no idea about buying online now started to explore shopping online. This just may be the right time to get a piece of this promising industry called eCommerce.” – Lior Pozin, CEO & Founder of AutoDS, the all-in-one dropshipping tool for eCommerce businesses.
Expansion through automation is the key to every successful dropshipper. The more you grow your store, the more you’ll need it.
Since dropshipping doesn’t require an initial investment to start, it becomes even more comfortable and more worthwhile to begin.
Looking forward, we hope that these best practices will help you kickstart your eCommerce business and unleash that entrepreneur inside you that you always knew you had. Take action, put in the work, and the results will follow!