WordPress, E-commerce, and Dropshipping (Updated for 2021)

Dropshipping refers to a flowering eCommerce business model which enables a seller to forgo the tradition of buying inventory up front. Dropshipping inventory is not purchased until after the customer has bought from the retailer (normally on his eCommerce store), which then automatically sends for the product from the manufacturer. The partnership between the manufacturer and the retailer allows for a wide range of products to be offered for fairly cheap prices with very little upfront risk for either business. There are even a number of automation tools like ShopMaster for your website or AliDropship, which is a chrome extension, these let you pull products directly for your shop. So the whole process sounds simple, right? Well, yes and no. Picking a good niche and actually setting up your dropshipping WordPress site is where this becomes a bit harder. For the purposes of this article we will be discussing the strategy and tools you will need to start dropshipping on your WordPress website. We will also go over a way to find a good niche and product to start with. Let’s begin with another overview on what dropshipping is and how it works:

1. An order is placed by the customer on the retailers online store or WordPress website.
2. The store or store owner then digitally sends the order and details to the the dropshipping supplier.
3. The dropshipping manufacturer then sends the product directly to the customer utilizing the retailers branding.

It’s a lot harder to choose a niche than many people are willing to admit. But, it is totally essential to really narrow down your niche as you’re starting. No matter howgreat of an entrepreneurial mind you have, you will not be able to compete in a highly saturated niche like makeup without first building up from what we refer to as a “micro-niche.” Picking a good micro-niche will be essential for setting up your Dropshipping WordPress company. You may be asking, what is a micro-niche? A micro-niche is a sub-niche of a sub-niche. Let me give you a function example, you want to sell women’s clothes, so you focus on yoga gear, and then you focus on yoga gear for pregnant women. The competition in yoga gear is immense, the competition in women’s clothing is nearly unassailable. So you start in pregnant women’s yoga gear and work your way up vertically from there as those sales start rolling in. This is the best way to ensure your business is scalable. Once you find a good micro niche you are well on your way to becoming an eCommerce titan.

Sourced from Fat Stacks Blog

One of the reasons why dropshipping has become so popular is that it is incredibly easy to set-up and requires minimal start up capital. In its entirety, it only really involves roughly three easy steps: Find a supplier, build your website, and start selling your goods. Here at Caveni we can walk you through each step and even build your dropshipping WordPress website for you! But, we understand if money is tight and that isn’t an option. There are plenty of alternatives to build a simple website to get started. You should always pick a platform based on your own research and knowledge of websites design. Clickfunnels are a great way for someone totally new to start, you can start there if needed! If you have some experience we recommend WordPress, it is far more versatile and can stay with you no matter how big your eCommerce business gets. WordPress dropshipping is easily the most effective method for making huge amounts of money. Someone who is new to the eCommerce industry can find the whole dropshipping WordPress model extremely easy to work with as an introduction to the space. However, we do recognize that simple Shopify stores are easier to get started.

In the drop shipping model you will see nearly nothing invested upfront to get your business off the ground. In a traditional business much of the early expense is lost in just the setup. Purchasing your inventory, finding a location to sell, and getting employees often makes a line in the sand on affordability for many prospective business owners. Your primary cost will be in the setup and running of you website: you can expect to pay for the building of the website, the hosting, the theme, and any included apps. If you want a quote on building an eCommerce website, you should click that button right next to the text to see your options.

If you want to set up your own website the best way is to first buy hosting. BlueHost is probably the cheapest, but we are fans of WpEngine. Here is our page on hosting options. Once you have your hosting and domain name, you are ready you can set up your website and start populating it with your products using a platform like Woo Commerce. With the basics covered you are ready to start going out and marketing those same products!

Just as the initial expenses are low, you will also see a minimal cost in overhead, since there is no need for the business owners to pay for things like an office, a storefront, a warehouse, or even employees. This eliminates some of the minor expenses that many don’t realize are present as well: electricity, heating, healthcare, etc. The expenses of your business are made manifest in just the cost of your website, any improvements or changes you seek to make over time, and in any advertisements you may want to run to generate interest in your business.

You may be asking, what is a cost estimate to get started? You could easily begin your business with around a thousand dollars, but for the best quality 2-3 thousand is recommended. As you scale your business you should expect to spend more on things like SEO, PPC ads, and potentially a better website. However, when you are just starting out getting your Social media accounts going and paying a small amount for PPC ads is the best way to get that initial cash flow for your dropshipping WordPress business. We wrote an article explaining a bit more about what Pay per Click is if you want some further reading. If you want more information on SEO, head over to our New Jersey SEO page. SEO is the long term goal for your company, as it will ensure you continue to show up in the search results when people look for your product.

Sourced from Shopify.

Perhaps the greatest benefit is that the business owner who is in the wordpress dropshipping  game can work from anywhere, coffee shop, hotel room, or the front seat of your lambo, you can work wherever WiFi is offered. The business model relies on a lack of commitment to physical space, meaning that business can be conducted from anywhere with little regard for employees. Your product variety can and probably should be very substantial, you can rely on a large ticket product that you market heavily or hedge your bets on a number of smaller products which allows you multiple revenue streams on your dropshipping WordPress website. We recommend the latter, using product research to determine what is best suited for your business micro-niche and then expanding beyond that. There is almost always a supplier for any product you think will sell well, so don’t be afraid to delve into a that hyper-specific niche and start letting the cash roll in.

Dropshipping also offers ease in scalability. In a traditional eCommerce retail model you will need to invest much of your resources in finding more products, locations, and employees to scale your business. With WordPress dropshipping you will only need to upgrade your hosting for traffic and perhaps hire a few customer service employees. However, the costs of scaling are significantly reduced compared to any other business model. This not only benefits you, but it also mitigates much of the risk that other business see when it comes to scaling.

Sourced from Oberlo.

Dropshipping in WordPress is the best way to go about starting your eCommerce empire. Hopefully some of our tips were able to help you out with getting that dropshipping company started in earnest. We want to see as much eCommerce as possible, it is only going to benefit everyone involved so we are always happy to hand out free advice to young entrepreneurs looking to become their own boss using WordPress dropshipping. Taking that first step is always the hardest part to starting something new, but once you make the leap you will be able to achieve. We would love to hear your feedback on any information you are still looking for, we would be happy to add your suggestions into the article, just leave a comment below!