Finding a profitable niche is key to wholesale dropshipping business success. Each store owner has different goals, experiences, and skills.
Sometimes, you want a career change and dropship wholesaler stores might offer you the best opportunity. You don’t want a “boring, dead-end job,” you want an “exciting, profitable career.”
You might also wonder if certain merchandise is easier to sell online. We will help you sort through these concerns. We will explore goals, industries and specific merchandise in this “Wholesale Guide: What Should I Sell Online?”
What Are Your Goals?
What do you want to achieve with wholesale dropshipping? That is probably a good place to start. There are a number of different types of online store owners, each with a different focus. We shall discuss three of the most common: 1. Profit, 2. Second Job and 3. Hobby. Each has his own business model for achieving happiness or making money.
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Profitable
The vast majority of business owners want to make as much money as possible. Successful wholesale drop shippers need to sell merchandise that others want. What are the hottest niche items?
If you want to maximize your profits, then it doesn’t really matter if your product fits your own personal preferences. You need to sell what other people want, not what you want to buy.
Of course, some very profitable jobs can be very boring. But, what can you say? Is digging ditches exciting work? No.
Advantages:
- Profitable
- Popular
- Efficient
Disadvantages:
- Mundane
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Second Job
Are you a workaholic? Some people made so much money while they were young and now they have semi-retired. Then, they got bored, so they purchased or launched an eCommerce store. Now, they want a good cash flow for their wealth portfolio.
Others return from their primary jobs and sell merchandise online. Their primary job pays the bills and their eCommerce website gives them extra spending cash.
Look for “money spinners.”
The best business model for a second job eCommerce store would be rare, luxury goods offering a high-profit margin. If you handcraft certain goods, then you could have a nice markup. This allows you to turn your skills into good money.
When you have a boss, he might not appreciate your skills. An eCommerce drop shipping store allows you to see how much you can make. It gives you freedom.
One drawback to a second job is that you don’t have a lot of time to devote to it. Therefore, you should find a product that is low maintenance and does not require much customer service.
Also, you don’t want a lot of returns. You might not be the most efficient because you are not working full-time, but you can still have some fun if you do it right.
Advantages:
- High-Profit Margins
Disadvantages:
- Not Much Time
- Poor Customer Service
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Hobby Store
“Find a job, you enjoy doing and you will never work another day in your life” – Mark Twain.
Who wouldn’t want to run their own hobby store with fun merchandise? If that is your goal, go to it; but, remember your business model. Perhaps, the most successful business model for an online store based on your personal preferences would be “Hard to Find, Luxury Items.”
Think about a special cigar shop where patrons can discuss their favorite brands. Some of the best cigar brands are from Cuba. Aussies might love to make special orders to satisfy their “Wish List.”
A hobby store might be stuck at a certain size. It might not be able to attract as many people because it is more based on personal contacts. Simply, build this fact into your business model by selling low volume, expensive, luxury items.
While these businesses might be more fun to run, they might not be very efficient. They also might not be the most profitable.
Advantages:
- Luxury
- Customer Service
- Sense of Accomplishment
Disadvantages:
- Less Profitable
- Low Turnover
- Inefficient
Core Competency
Each successful online brand develops a core competency and makes money by optimizing this important factor. You are not, Amazon, Alibaba or eBay, so don’t try to be them. Surely, you can learn from their success stories, but also focus on your own advantages to beat them at their own game.
Customers want to know “what you can provide them.” Use your own talents to build up your customer base. When musing over your product line, you might want to consider these key factors:
- Cost
- Complexity
- Competition
- Shipping
How do these impact online stores?
Accessory Cost
Create a business plan that factors in all the time you will spend with your customers. Certain products will lead to more talk time. When you first open a shop, you will need to spend more time educating your new customers on new product specifications.
Expensive, luxury, high-value items will have higher profit margins, so you can justify spending more quality time on pre-sale customer service. You will want the highest product cost versus pre-sale service expenses. Also, think about expensive accessories.
“Don’t get stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
Don’t create a business model where your time is not properly rewarded. Although clothing might not have a high mark-up, you can make your money on the accessories.
If consumers buy a smartphone from you, they are likely to buy the case from you also. Take the opportunity to upsell. With the ideal shopping cart software, you can “suggestion sell” a suitable accessory.
Complexity
Do you need to explain how your product works? Wholesale Consumer Electronics and software might be more complicated and require more discussion. Human nature has also dictated that people tend to ask more questions when spending more than $200 or so.
Competition
How competitive are you? How much competition is there in your industry? Decide whether you prefer a lot of competition or little competition selling your merchandise.
If you are shy, you can sell exotic merchandise that might be harder to find. These rare items will not be as popular, so there will not be as much competition.
If you are competitive, then figure out the “point of difference” between your website and others. What do you have to offer? Why should consumers buy from you?
In order to gauge the “competition” level of each market, you can use the Google Keyword Tool. A “competition rating” graph and the number of “global monthly searches” are displayed.
Can you Beat Amazon On Price?
As Amazon has continued its expansion, some of our largest brands have challenged them on price. And guess what, they’re not doing too bad. yes of course when you look at the latest trending electronics, this may be difficult. Not only are you competing against Amazon, but also against Harvey Norman, JB-HiFi, Good Guys and so on.
The fact is, that with all the hype that was raised about Amazon’s entry, not much has really happened. Local retailers have not seen any declines in revenue that are directly linked to Amazon.
The fact is, people are still buying from local stores and are not phased by Amazon and their marginally lower pricing (on certain items).
Shipping
For better or worse, Amazon has helped establish free shipping as the model for eCommerce. Therefore, you must take this into consideration. A study showed that a high percentage of Aussie shoppers leave websites when they discovered that shipping was not free.
It is important to plan accordingly. You must include shipping into your overhead. How can you handle a variety of shipping costs for different sized merchandise? You might lose money on large items and make money on the smaller items due to free shipping. For better shipping management, you can opt for a useless order management tool such as OrderCircle, which also has automated shipment that can save you excess costs.
Specific Merchandise
So, you have whittled your choices down to one promising industry. Now, you can start to look at specific merchandise listed on Amazon, eBay, Alibaba or Bonanza.com. Scroll through the search results to see all the variations.
Open up a spreadsheet and type in name, price, and category for the merchandise. Write down a dozen products that you want to sell in your online store. Do you feel comfortable selling this merchandise? If you do, then you are on your way.
Feel Comfortable
Be honest about your goals for your eCommerce store. Consider your own strengths and weaknesses. Find a product line that allows you to achieve your goals.
Online sales might involve more free shipping and exotic “Hard to Find” purchases. With high-profit margins, you give yourself more room to grow and be successful.
Nowadays, you have more tools to help you become successful. Find the product line that you feel comfortable marketing. All successful businesses provide their customers with the products they need. Now, you can do the same through wholesaler dropship eCommerce.