当代人通过用新时代的解决方案改造传统企业，不断扩大“创业”范式.
新企业家提出的项目不仅能产生相当快的利润 (与传统企业相比) 但也注重可持续性.
在此之上, COVID-19 迫使我们呆在家里，思考如何用工作收入替代的可能性.
“在家工作”文化也促使我们探索在线平台. 难怪直销市场预计会有 28% 年增长率 经过 2025.
什么是直销?
Dropshipping 是一个过程，当卖家从客户那里接受订单并将订单转发给制造商然后由制造商履行订单时.
基本上, dropshipping 的过程是这样的:
- 你找到一个以 $300.
- 您列出的自行车 $400 在你的网站上.
- 客户从您的商店购买自行车.
- 你从批发商那里买自行车 $300 并将客户的运输信息通过电子邮件发送给他们.
- 批发商将自行车发送给客户.
- 你刚刚做了 $100.
在过去的几年里, dropshipping is gaining in popularity as it allows you to start your own e-commerce business just in a couple of days.
您需要的所有工具都在线, 其中大部分的价格与午餐的价格相同. 这意味着您可以立即测试新想法并继续测试，直到找到一个可行的想法.
直销与传统模式
传统的零售模式要求您为所提供的每种产品保留大量库存.
直销模式的美妙之处在于您不需要生产或储存任何东西. 你 identify a product that might be in demand, 寻找可以提供该产品并将其出售给客户的合适供应商.
这完全切断了制造的需要. 即使您将制造完全外包给其他人, 你必须考虑许多障碍. 蓝图, 计划并实际确保生产物品, ETC.
当您计划自己制造一些东西时，成本和相关风险总是很高. 这一切都随着直销而消失. 您只需选择您喜欢的产品并开始销售. 使用现有工具, 你可以在几天内启动并运行!
您可以在阿里巴巴等网站上为您的产品找到供应商
开始直销业务
虽然直销可以由任何人完成, 低进入门槛允许激烈的竞争进入市场.
您不必签署长期协议或投入大量资金. 当然, 钱会让你前进得更快, 但你可以投入时间. 您将使用的许多工具都是免费的或提供试用期, 所以 starting to dropship has never been easier.
当有预测说 直销将达到 $557 十亿 2025.
开展直销业务的好处:
- 设置简单，因为您无需拥有工厂或雇用任何人即可开始. 所有工具都在线, 他们中的大多数都提供试用期和宽限期.
- 所需资金有限, 最小化风险.
- 不断测试新想法的可能性, 如果您无法启动和运行业务，则不会专注于业务.
如何开始直销业务?
Dropshipping 是一种超越电子商务或“实体”商店的传统理念的业务.
It takes the meaning of outsourcing to a new level. There are several main steps to start a dropshipping business. Let’s have a look at them.
步 1: Decide where you’re going to sell
Dropshippers have to decide where they want to sell their products. A number of online marketplaces like 易趣网 和 亚马逊 come to mind when you are starting out as a dropshipper.
当然, the setup is very easy, but the store is not really yours. You are building it on somebody else’s platform. Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of these options.
亚马逊
亚马逊提供了许多企业可以在其平台上运行的选项. 生产商可以选择直销, 批发, 或使用私人/白色标签.
让我们快速停下来澄清什么是私人标签以及它与白色标签有何不同.
自有品牌意味着您以自己的品牌销售商品, 但它是由其他人制造的. 带有私人标签, 你会提供产品的规格/设计和制造商 (第三者) 会生产它, 把你的标志放在上面.
白色标签类似于一个小扭曲. 白标意味着制造商已经有一系列商品，您可以在其中进行各种调整, 但这不是你的设计. 否则, 逻辑保持不变.
亚马逊直销的优点:
- 获得庞大的客户群: 多于 197 每月有数百万人访问亚马逊 购买或检查有趣的产品.
- 快速研究: 亚马逊有很多工具可以分析市场并选择最佳产品进行进一步研究.
亚马逊直销的缺点:
- 上市费用高: 如果您正在处理利润率非常低的产品, 那么上市费用可能会非常高. 亚马逊的上市费用取决于产品类型 (费用范围从 $1-$3 平均为 13% – 取决于帐户类型。) 并且有时会导致 dropshipper 的低利润甚至负利润. (亚马逊有改变收费的历史, 上次他们显着 减少附属公司的佣金, 让许多联属网络营销商倒闭).
亚马逊上的亚马逊账户类型
- 不可持续的重复销售: 亚马逊的主要关注点是产品而不是卖家. 该平台致力于扩大向客户提供的产品. 在某些直销模式中, 重复销售是一件好事. 人们购买的东西将在一个月内用完, 他们回来找你买更多. 亚马逊很难做到这一点，因为访问者往往不会从同一个卖家那里购买商品.
- 缺乏定制化: Dropshippers 无法决定用户界面, 品牌推广, 模板, ETC. 品牌可能很难在亚马逊上反映他们的营销愿景. 当然, 有一些可用的设置, 但你还在亚马逊平台上.
易趣网
虽然不是显而易见的选择, eBay 是一个非常受欢迎的直销平台. 在 eBay 术语中, 它被称为产品采购.
在 eBay 上直销的优势:
- 轻松开始: 在 eBay 上, 您可以轻松地从创建一个帐户开始, 列出产品. 无需完成额外的手续即可开始.
- 观众多: eBay 是最大的在线平台之一 (就像亚马逊一样) 你可以有很多潜在客户搜索产品. eBay 制定了严格的客户保护政策，确保卖家不会对他们的问题视而不见.
在 eBay 上直销的缺点:
- 上市费用高: 上市费用包括成功费用，可以是 10% 销售价格或有时甚至更高.
易趣上市费用
- 不断重新上市: eBay 采用拍卖模式, 因此，您将不得不不断分析和重新列出您的产品.
- 严格的 eBay 模板: 为您的产品创建专业页面需要您遵循 eBay 模板, 因此，可用的定制非常有限.
- 没有长期的商业价值: 当您在 eBay 上列出产品时, 您将自己限制在产品的一两次销售中. 由于平台上的竞争加剧，您不太可能获得重复销售. 所以, 您的企业最有可能以有限的规模运营. 再次, you are building your business in somebody else’s “house”.
Your own store
Nowadays there are so many options to create your own store in a couple of clicks, that it truly seems like one of the best choices that you can make.
Advantages of dropshipping on your own store:
- Independence. The first and most important point – it is truly yours. Amazon can ban you, eBay may change its policy tomorrow but your own store will remain yours. You can edit, 优化, and evolve it however you like without any limitation. 在别人的平台上总是有风险的, 当然, 它有它的优点.
通过您自己的商店进行直销的缺点:
- Independence. 你没看错. 最大的优点也是它最大的缺点. 你只能靠自己. 您必须从零开始设置所有内容. 万一出了问题, 你只能靠自己.
虽然开自己的店似乎势不可挡, 这是确保您不受第三方支配您可以做什么和不能做什么的唯一方法.
例如, 使用 Ecwid，您可以开始使用您的 WordPress 上的网上商店 或纽约其他网站 立刻. 或者你可以建立一个电子商务网站 你自己 – 无需经验或编码技能.
您可以使用 Ecwid 自行制作的免费电子商务网站示例
步 2: 注册您的公司
这是一个关键决定，取决于您是想将自己展示为个人还是企业实体.
所以, 你应该作为个人还是公司出售?
It is preferable to work as a business when going into dropshipping.
Business accounts, as opposed to personal accounts, have a stronger and more legitimate presence which makes them trustable for both online e-commerce websites as well as manufacturers and most importantly customers.
Having that said, there is no problem in branding and marketing your shop with your own name (or any other personal name). Personalization and the feel of an individual approach always attract interest from customers.
无论你在哪个国家, 税收将是一个你必须保持秩序的问题. 由法律实体代表是有意义的，因为您可以用您的成本来降低您的收入 (但那是另一个话题).
销售税是大多数国家的常态. 在某些州/国家, 您还必须申请一个 EIN 号码才能开始在线. 还, 联系您当地的会计师，了解支持您业务的所有法律手续.
当然, 如果你只是试水，你可以用你的个人名字开店, 或者有其他原因你必须这样做. 但如果你认真对待它并计划扩大规模, 从一开始就拥有法人实体将有所帮助.
步 3: 查找直销产品
成功的直销业务最重要的是您要销售的产品. Some sellers decide to go on an extensive manual search to find their product. This can not only consume a lot of time, but it can also be tough to analyze the market trend and conduct competitor analysis.
This is when product research tools come into the picture. Product research tools can help you find the “perfect item” to sell online by conducting competitor research and market analysis.
Why do dropshippers need product research tools?
- Competitor research. 产品研究工具可帮助您了解产品类别中的竞争强度. 这将使您免于投资最终可能带来零利润的产品.
- 估算收入和支出. 这些工具可以帮助您估算您的利润，作为未来决策的基础.
- 检查各种市场. 您可以通过浏览国际市场和了解客户的选择来了解要销售的产品.
- 简化产品采购. 产品研究工具可帮助您轻松地一次检查多个项目. 这可以帮助您快速生成一份物有所值的产品清单，并开始搜索供应商.
市场上有许多产品研究工具. 最好的研究工具是那些可以提供市场完整图景的工具, 它的参与者, 和产品. 这是对直销商中一些流行的研究工具的快速比较.
流行的产品研究工具
丛林侦察兵
Jungle Scout 具有许多功能，使产品搜索更加可行. 它可以帮助您评估任何产品的需求, 使用高级标准. 随着时间的推移评估对您自己的产品的需求. 或者帮您找到潜在买家正在搜索的关键词.
- 价钱: 基本月度计划从 $39 并上升到 $129 开启更多专业功能. 年度计划可能花费大约 $19 每月一个基本的和 $84 获取更多高级功能.
- 销售估算的准确性: Jungle Scout 使用一种“accusales 算法”，它通过 1 每天十亿个数据点. 他们声称在统计方面进行零猜测. 有时, 他们的估计可能会产生误导. 例如, 产品在某个月可能有很高的需求. The merchant sells a large number of quantities for a week but then goes out of stock. 在这种情况下, the sales estimate will show a reduced number and give a false picture.
- Popularity amongst users: Jungle Scout doesn’t come with a free trial period and can be a bit expensive. This is one of the reasons why a lot of new dropshippers can have second thoughts regarding using this product.
You can also use Jungle Scout to find qualified suppliers based on your search criteria. 图片来源: junglescout.com
H氦 10
这个工具会整理 450+ 百万产品可用. 帮助您了解需求, 趋势, 和特定产品的用户偏好. 计算潜在盈利能力或为热门产品制作有针对性的广告.
- 价钱: 氦 10 附带免费试用期，可以访问 Helium 10 套房. 其他计划包括开始于 $97 每月和精英计划开始于 $397 每月.
- 销售估算的准确性: 氦 10 使用“X 射线工具”分析各种关键统计数据，从销售估算到赞助广告. 在这种情况下, there isn’t a clear answer on how precise the data are. 氦 10 explains that they have a proprietary algorithm and assure the users that the data provided are very accurate.
- Popularity amongst users: While Helium 10 is praised by many, in comparison to other tools, having access to all the features may sum up to a quite hefty price. There are cheaper options.
AMZScout
The keyword search tool ensures that you can find keywords that have high search volume and low competition. It can help you rank higher on search pages, 反向查找 ASIN 以检查竞争对手, 与 eBay 比较价格或估计销售额.
- 价钱: AMZScout 可以花费大约 $44.99 每月. 您也可以通过一次性支付 $199. 免费试用.
- 销售估算的准确性: AMZScout 的销售估算工具免费使用. 因此，您可以尝试检查它是否适用于您自己的产品，看看它是否有效, 不用付钱. (或者将其与您使用的其他工具进行比较。)
- Popularity amongst users: 超过 50000 卖家正在使用 AmazonScout, 免费试用让您可以检查您对界面的喜爱程度，并将其与其他解决方案进行比较.
You can search Amazon’s product catalog with advanced filters to find the most successful products. 图片来源: amzscout.net
Manual research
Though we went through the main research tools, here are a few manual ways to check to see if something sells or not.
Have no idea where to start at all? Want to try out your hand in dropshipping but never did it before? You may draw a lot of inspiration in a subreddit where people discuss what they would buy if it was for sale.
我不会把我的整个业务都建立在那个 subreddit 上, 但有一些有趣的利基市场.
社交媒体平台
我们都厌倦了在我们最喜欢的社交媒体上看到广告, 通常, 我们只是忽略它们, 但在这种情况下, 他们可以帮助你. 在每个推广的帖子/广告下，您可以看到喜欢的数量, 分享, 和评论. 如果这些数字在附近 100, 这是一个值得考虑和进一步研究的产品.
SmartOnlineShoppers 播放了一个姿势矫正器的视频广告，该广告获得了超过 4000 个赞， 600 评论. 这是进一步分析产品及其直销店的绝佳机会.
如果他们在身边 500 您可以确信该产品是成功的，因此代销商正在投入越来越多的钱.
在大多数情况下, 如果你点击链接, 您将被送到直销店. 您可以通过页面格式轻松识别，因为它们中的大多数使用针对移动设备以及页面支持的平台进行了高度优化的格式.
趋势
另一个很好的建议是研究趋势, to predict which products will work in the upcoming season. Check out our detailed guide on finding trending products online.
步 4: Find dropshipping suppliers
At this point, you already decided if you will go with Amazon, 易趣网, or your own platform. You should have your product analysis done. You decided on the product that seems to be interesting both from the perspective of the market size and potential margin.
Now you have to find a supplier for your product.
As we discussed in the introduction, dropshipping 是接受客户的订单并从制造商处向他们运送产品.
为什么是制造商而不是其他在线商店? 最大化您的利润. 你必须直接去你正在寻找的项目的生产.
更多的: 在哪里为您的在线商店找到批发供应商
我们将涵盖流行的选择, 特别关注速卖通, 这是直销的首选平台.
一些受欢迎的供应商是:
阿里巴巴
Alibaba offers products in many categories and mainly deals with Chinese manufacturers and wholesalers. You can sign up for free and use their services. The choice of products is also limitless.
(Keep in mind that Alibaba is predominantly B2B, meaning bigger volumes will be expected by the sellers).
全球速卖通
While Alibaba primarily deals with B2B customers, AliExpress deals with 企业对消费者. It is a popular choice for dropshippers because it has a huge variety of products and manufacturers it also allows to order small (or single) 项目.
Everything you will find advertised and sold online can be found on AliExpress. The choice is staggering.
批发2B
Another popular option for dropshippers. This platform is a directory of various suppliers. 他们已经超过 100 dropship companies from the USA and China with over 1 million products. Access to the directory is free. 学习更多关于 connecting your Ecwid store to Wholesale2b.
打印的
Perfect if you want to sell merch with your design. You upload your prints/designs and Printful prints them on clothes and accessories of your choice. They will take care of packaging and shipment and are ready to work with dropshippers. A great choice if you want to be in the print-on-demand niche. 学习更多关于 connecting your Ecwid store to Printful.
Manufacturers
In the beginning, this will not be your main choice. But in later stages, you may decide that you want to take the manufacturing of your product under control.
You can talk directly to your local or foreign manufacturers, but these are reserved for some very special cases and niches.
如之前提到, the dropshipping field is heavily dominated by Aliexpress. The process goes like this:
- You will choose a product on Aliexpress
- Create a store to sell your products.
- Start your marketing campaigns and fulfill the orders from Aliexpress.
所以, you’ve found a supplier, what’s next?
Contact all the suppliers that you chose and get to know the cost of buying from them. Ask them about the minimum order quantity, delivery time, and the packaging charges.
You can learn a lot from a number of orders and ratings. That way you know that the supplier can work bigger volumes and not skimp on quality or delivery time. The last thing you want is to strike a golden niche and have problems with getting the product delivered or delivered in bad quality.
Things to pay attention to:
- Chat quickly with the chosen suppliers to make sure that their reaction time is acceptable. This would also be a great opportunity to make sure you get all your questions answered.
- Check with them how fast they can deliver, if they can go lower on pricing, who would be your contact person, 等等. A lot is already automated by platforms like Aliexpress but if you are really sure that this might be the winner, it’s worth checking directly with the manufacturer.
- Make sure products look and work as promised. 当然, you can send the product to buyers directly without seeing it even once. But it’s better to check out the products yourself.
You will not be doing it for every testing store that you will launch. 通常, this is done when you found a niche that works particularly well and you plan to further expand in that particular niche.
After you are done with choosing your suppliers you can proceed to:
- Adding products 到你的商店
- Importing products to Ecwid store
- 或者, Creating your inventory (目录) 与 Ecwid (used as a showcase, not as a store)
步 5: Plan your product page
A good product page is essential. The traffic that you will be getting is usually cold or semi-cold – meaning that you have to persuade visitors that your store can be trusted. The right product page will turn a visitor into a potential customer and a potential customer into a repeated customer.
We will go over some main aspects that you should research further as there is much more to each part of the topic. Find more about converting visitors into buyers in this extensive guide.
This simple design is bringing Inspireuplift several million dollars in sales each month. 图片来源: inspireuplift.com.
价格
When pricing the product there are a lot of things that you should take into consideration:
- Shipping cost. You can include the shipping price in the cost of the product and offer free shipping on the product page.
- Marketing cost. It should be included in the final pricing to account for the costs involved. You can not know the exact price for conversion for a product from the start. Figuring it out requires some testing of your ads and overall marketing approach.
There are several ways to approach pricing products. Mostly it will depend on the margin that you plan to achieve.
Low margin products should be sold at big volumes. For beginners it is easier to start with a high margin because of several reasons:
- Wider margin for testing and failures. Bigger margin allows you to experiment more. You will be targeting a smaller market, but each sale will bring good profit that allows you to test more items, 广告, ETC.
- Smaller orders. 在这种情况下, it is not a bad thing. You will have to deal with a much smaller number of orders so you can be sure to set your order processing correctly.
- Easier to deal with returns. You might have to deal with returns. This is much easier to do with a high-margin product as there will not be too many of them and there is space for error already calculated into the price.
I would suggest trying out your hand at products with a 25-50% margin. Meaning that the price that you see it being sold for (在亚马逊上, 易趣网, Facebook, 等等) is for example $50, while the price on Aliexpress is under $25.
More on how to price your products can be found here.
Product description
Customers can’t touch or test a product when shopping online. That’s why you need to write a detailed product description that will answer all customers’ questions. Here’s how to do that:
- Include all the essential details like material, 尺寸, 牌, instructions for use, 等等
- Explain how your product solves customer’s pain points
- Add customer reviews to the product description for social proof.
读 how to write product descriptions that sell in our detailed guide.
Photos
Photos are the key. It is the only way your customer may see how the product looks to decide whether to buy it. You can go with simple photos with a plain background. 在大多数情况下, you will be able to get all the pictures that you need from a supplier. But if you decide to go with your own, avoid these mistakes:
- Avoid blurry images, they are a big turn off for the customer.
- Do not use filters too much. 一天结束时, you have to show the true picture of the product.
- Focus on the product.
- Make sure the lighting helps to emphasize the quality of the product and its looks.
- Go with multiple pictures. 选择 3-5 to use on your product page.
While the first image lists products nicely, it is always a good idea to show the product in use. Image resource: aliexpress.com
Check out this post for a more detailed guide on how to take quality pictures for your product.
影片
While you can use photos for some simple products, videos will do much better for the ones that you need to see being used in real life.
One of the most sold dropshipping products is posture correctors and teeth whitening products. Those would be very difficult to promote through photos only. What makes the marketing campaigns so successful are the simple videos which show people how to use the product and what it could do for them.
在很多情况下, you will have some video samples from your supplier, but if you are going to make your own, it is as easy as making it with your smartphone.
步 6: Set up payment methods
Platforms like Amazon or eBay will force you to use their payment methods (当然) but if you go with a more independent route of creating your own store you will need to accept payments somehow. 当然, the easiest way to accept payments is through a service that is connected to your online store.
Ecwid makes this very easy. Connecting to your payment solution is a question of a couple of clicks.
Ecwid provides 多于 50 支付网关. While Ecwid will not charge you for that, you have to check if a particular provider takes any fees.
目录, 存货, and customer/transaction information remain in sync with your Ecwid store. So you just have to worry about bringing more customers in.
步 7: Plan your marketing efforts
Since dropshipping has a very low barrier of entry, competition is strong. Pushing on price, 送货, marketing tactics is all part of fair game.
But before your customers will impulsively purchase or start comparing the prices, you have to get them to your product page. So how do you do it?
Organic search
You may take a longer but more profitable road of making your store rank organically on Google. Take note that ranking your site organically will require a lot of work. One of the ways to rank quickly is to start building links to your site but even if executed successfully it takes up to a year before you start seeing results.
When you are just establishing your store, this is not the main method you should go for. Only when you established that your dropshipping product sells, you may think of digging deeper into SEO and keyword research.
If you really want to go deep into SEO, it is good to start thinking of it right at the beginning of your dropshipping project. Research the niche, 关键词, and see if your site is optimized well for Google.
As I said in the beginning, SEO will not be your first pick of promotion for dropshipping. When you will start out, you may want to go with paid ads or social promotions to get a quick test of your product viability.
付费广告
Paid ads are your go-to option. They allow for the quickest test of your store and also the quickest results. You can set up your store, put some ads in motion, and the next day you already know if your product/ads/store is working.
谷歌, 亚马逊, 易趣网, Facebook, Instagram的, 推特, 平特雷斯特, Youtube – all of those platforms offer paid ads.
You might want to check out these resources:
- How to Run an Effective Instagram Ad Campaign for E-commerce
- 谷歌智能购物: All your Google Advertising in One Easy Tool
- 5 Ways To Lower Your Facebook Ads CPC
Giveaways and contests
One of the ways to quickly (and for a fairly low price) create a viral promotion of your store are various contests and giveaways.
This is something that you should do only after you have already established that your product sells, your site works, and payment systems are properly set. Contests can bring a lot of sudden traffic that you should better be prepared for.
还: 25 Social Media Contest Ideas to Promote Your Online Business
Get creative with contests, 例如, asks followers to come up with the best caption
影响者
Get in touch with influencers in your niche and ask them to advertise your product. It can start as simple as contacting somebody on Instagram with enough followers and paying them for a shoutout, that can range from $xx to $xx, xxx depending on their reach.
学到更多: 如何利用 Instagram 上的小网红来促进电子商务销售
But it does not stop there. You can reach out to bloggers, YouTubers, or webmasters of various related sites – with a proposal of a product review, guest post, or other forms of promotion.
Get Ready to Start a Dropshipping Business
Dropshipping business is a good option for people who are passionate about starting an e-commerce business but lack the investment. It is a level playing field for people coming from various backgrounds. Everyone starts from scratch. The result will hugely depend on the time and energy that you are going to invest in it.
While the start might be slow since you will be learning a lot and making mistakes (so learning even more) you will quickly pick up the speed and your following stores will be built quicker and will perform better.
Do not get discouraged if your first, second, third store does not go through. The key to dropshipping is to constantly test. Some stores will perform okay, some will perform great and some will fail.
Keep moving forward.
Start a Profitable Dropshipping Business with Ecwid
