Best Ecommerce Platforms for Dropshipping

The best ecommerce platforms for dropshipping

While the dropshipping business model has various benefits such as the need for less capital, the ease of getting started, and a flexible location, selecting the best hosted ecommerce software is key to your success. That’s why we’ve selected three platforms to match the needs of any dropshipping business.

How to prepare to launch your dropshipping business

There are a few critical steps to consider when starting a dropshipping business. Since wholesalers or manufacturers make or break this business model, it’s important to have the right setup from the very first moment of launching the online storefront. You’ll likely come across fake wholesalers, so that’s our first tip: to keep your eyes open and work only with genuine wholesalers. It’s something that’s a bit harder to accomplish, but it’s doable.

Spot fake wholesalers

By applying a handful of simple tactics, you’ll be able to spot non-genuine wholesalers or suppliers way before you sign the contract. For example, fake wholesalers are eager to charge a monthly fee only for the privilege of ordering from them. That’s not the case with supplier directories, which charge a fee for access. This is a good investment, because supplier directories screen suppliers and list only legitimate ones. If a wholesaler offers products to the public at ‘wholesale prices’, that’s another good sign that you are dealing with a retailer offering products at inflated prices instead of a genuine industry player.

Keeping the above in mind, there are certain expectations you will encounter such as pre-order fees and minimum order size.

Find the right suppliers

While it is possible to make a sale without any help from software, it isn’t without a product or service. And since you are aiming to get into dropshipping, then it has to be the former that you’re looking to sell. The best way to do that is by getting right to the source, the manufacturer, because this enables advantages such as ensuring a legitimate wholesaler or, if the manufacturer doesn’t deal with dropshipping, then they can at least introduce you to the wholesaler that they work with.

Working with a legitimate wholesaler brings several benefits such as gaining access to customer service with knowledge in the field that you operate in and, secondly, since most wholesalers have products from a variety of manufacturers, this will allow you to sell all the products from the supplier’s catalog.

A successful dropshipping business requires investment both in terms of time and money. Time investment could mean a lot of things, but focusing on essentials such as learning how the dropshipping business works inside and out, preparing for sales scenarios (even for the worst-case situation), and collecting information about the market and the customers you are targeting will all give you the understanding needed to succeed.

It’s easy to say that you should invest a lot of money in the business right from the start because the ROI is good, but the reality is that this type of business requires less monetary investment than knowledge. If you aren’t familiar with how things work on every level, then you’ll likely be at the mercy of a variety of service providers such as designers and programmers, and this will cost you a lot. By opting for an ecommerce platform subscription, it is possible to start a dropshipping business with low investment and then gradually grow as the business evolves.

Selling on other marketplaces

Once you have an account with the wholesalers and the list of products you are going to sell is ready, the only thing that is missing is the online storefront that customers will use to make a purchase order. To fill that gap you’ll want to pick an ecommerce platform to help, and with this you’ll want either a hosted or self-hosted platform. The latter provides the advantage of offering all the necessary tools to set up an online store in just a few days, without requiring any coding skills.

Every ecommerce platform has a number of free templates to choose from that can be customized to reflect your brand. They all give users access to a variety of payment gateways and payment processors that are integrated well into the platform, so you don’t have to worry about accepting payments or collecting taxes because that’s also included in the software. All you need to do is customize it based on the tax requirements of the targeted area of operations.

Since all ecommerce platforms offer a free trial version, the best way to decide which one is the most suitable for your needs is to sign up for a trial account. This way it’s possible to determine whether help is needed to start the dropshipping business. It’s that simple.