What Does It Mean To Drop-ship Products?

By Gina Parks


When a manufacturer handles the shipping on behalf of a business, selling items that the retailer can't stock, this is what is called drop-shipping. This would allow any business owner to showcase his or her items for sale but not have to pay for overhead costs, not the least the steep costs of shipping.

This gives you the illusion that the retailer is stocking and shipping everything, simply because when it comes to drop-shipping, the company who makes the product isn't relevant - this isn't like affiliate marketing where you represent another company.

This has been done quite successfully for years by such big names like Sears and Wal-Mart. But these days, drop-shipping is now gaining popularity among ordinary people who run their own Internet-based business.

For example, John Smith sells custom T-shirts. Not surprisingly, opening Jane's catalog or opening her website on your browser would display some of the most beautiful wedding gowns you have ever seen. A customer will choose and submit an order to John's Custom Ts. Jane would not be the one sending you the item - she would outsource the shipping to a drop-shipper, who would fulfill the order and get it to your address.

Jane knows nothing about the wedding gown that was just shipped, as she has never had it in her stocks, nor has she been responsible for manufacturing and shipping the product. He is the order taker, that's who he is. But should you fail to receive your order on time, or if it may be damaged, you may have to go straight to Jane - though this depends largely on the drop-shipping provider.

For example, let's say you want to sell a specialty muscle building supplement, but don't have the facilities or financial means to build a business from scratch. Fortunately for you, there are manufacturers whose sole purpose is to custom blend and fill orders like this. In that case, it would be called private label drop-shipping in that the manufacturer would take your custom request and then label it with your label and ship it in your name.

Drop-shipping can be quite beneficial to you in more ways than one. This frees you up to focus more attention towards simply taking the orders and making sure you present your items well. Your forte would be marketing and sales - getting consumers to see your offerings. There's no hassles with hiring employees to maintain a large manufacturing concern.

As for the manufacturer, they can do what they specialize in doing, which is making the products while you take care of the business side. This is an extension of common sense business practices as you let others specialize and do the same on your end. There are more benefits that we can mention.

The days of entrepreneurs spending so much on overhead and watching these costs eat into their profits is over - they can now save through drop-shipping while taking care of what they should be taking care of - marketing their product to the public.




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