How to Take Advantage of Dropshipping Companies during and after the COVID-19 Crisis?

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Business Continuity Planning - Guide, Process and Tools (61-slide PowerPoint presentation). The disruption COVID-19 caused has made businesses more aware of the importance of business continuity planning (BCP) for effective disruption-related preparation, response and recovery. Although the term "business continuity" is often used as a synonym for IT Disaster recovery [read more]

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Every business started the new year with enterprising hopes and aspirations. They felt prepared to explore new frontiers and conquer them. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 crisis forced most companies to put a hold on those plans. The pandemic had a catastrophic effect on many businesses, including eCommerce.

Even though most companies realized that selling things online is probably the only way to solve the lack of business during the pandemic, there have been several challenges for that as well, such as:

• Problems with supply chains
• Changes in regulations
• Delays in logistics
• Changes in consumer habits

However, due to the severe lack of revenues through brick and mortar stores, companies had no option but to turn to sell things online. Unfortunately, not all companies were ready with the infrastructure to get the products from the vendor and ship it to the customers.

So, if your business has been suffering due to the pandemic or you lack the resources to take care of the logistics, a dropshipping company might present the answer to your problems. These companies make it possible for any business to operate an eCommerce website and sell products without handling them.

However, you must choose a professional dropshipping company after thorough consideration and research. These are some ways in which you can take advantage of a dropshipping company to survive and grow during the pandemic.

Increase Online Revenues

Whether you have a live eCommerce website or not, it is time to concentrate on your online sales. So if you have not invested in an eCommerce platform, it is time you did that. That is probably the only investment you need to make. You can leave the rest to the dropshipping company.

Once you have chosen a dropshipping company to work with, you can select the products that you wish to sell on your website. After you choose the products, you can list them on your website after adding your profit margin. When a customer orders a product from your website, you place the order on the dropshipping company’s website and provide the customer’s address instead of yours.

That means you do not have to purchase or store any of the products that you wish to sell. However, if you want to keep your customers happy, you must ensure that you choose a professional dropshipping company that checks the product quality and shipping. You can read about the aspects you must look for, along with dropshipping company reviews of some of the options on this website.

Reduce Shipping Time

One of the biggest challenges faced by people who rely on dropshipping is delivery time. Most dropshipping websites that offer the best price for goods are based in China. However, products usually take 2-4 weeks to arrive from China. Your customers may not wish to wait for that long to receive their orders.

So how can you get more customers or retain your existing ones by providing reduced shipping time? The first way is to choose a dropshipping company that has warehouses in America and delivers all over America. Standard postal services in the United States will take about 4-7 days to deliver a product. So look for dropshipping companies that offer products at wholesale prices.

The second way is to choose deliveries from America on the dropshipping websites that you buy from. For example, if you are buying your products from AliExpress, you can select the delivery location as America. Many warehouses buy products from AliExpress and store them. They may charge a bit more than Chinese sellers, but you would get more business with the reduced turnaround time.

Adjust to Changes in Customer Preferences

The Covid-19 crisis has created several changes in customer behavior and preferences to buy products. Before the pandemic started, most people bought apparel and other fashion-related products from online websites. However, statistics have shown that there has been a decrease of more than 17% in the sale of fashion products.

On the other hand, there has been a significant increase in the sale of books and video games. If you wish to take advantage of dropshipping during the pandemic, you would need to understand and study these changes in the market behavior so that you can choose the products on your website accordingly. Some of the products that have shown a significant increase in sales online are:

• Food and groceries
• Cleaning and sanitation products
• Home supplies
• Books
• Video games
• Fitness equipment

There are several resources available on the internet that will help you to understand the range of products you should offer on your website to cater to the current demands.

Choose Your Marketing Channel

If you wish to take complete advantage of your eCommerce business through dropshipping companies, you must advertise your website through various marketing channels. Do not assume that customers would automatically land on your website. Learn about organic ways to market your website on search engines and social media. It will help you do maximize your website’s visibility and increase your sales.

Dropshipping companies have proved extremely helpful for companies that have been struggling to get revenue during the pandemic. If you have been looking for ways to boost your sale and cash flow, you can take advantage of dropshipping websites. It will allow you to maximize your profits without bothering about purchasing, storing, or shipping the products.

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