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The very first question we tend to be asked by a curious eCommerce entrepreneur is “How can I use your services to build a business?”. Well, we are writing this to answer that very question with a detailed explanation for every step and how Printrove helps you with its various services to help you fulfill your drop shipping entrepreneurial dream.

This blog is split into the following:

1. Where do I sell?
2. What do I sell?
3. How do I sell?

Where do I sell?

This is the most important question of all. Figuring out where to sell is probably the most important part of starting up a new business.

The FREE Solution

In today’s crazy social media world, there are so many platforms which can be used to market and sell your products for FREE. From creating Instagram accounts to running a business using WhatsApp, there are a plethora of options available to you as a modern retailer. You can have direct interactions with your customers and answer their queries almost instantaneously.

The only downside to this option would be scalability. You can start generating sales by talking to your customers one by one and collecting orders. But, obviously, there is a limit to the number of people you can talk to in a given day. This limits your option to scale your business and increase your revenue.

To get something, you either have to spend your money or your time and sometimes both.

To make your products reach a larger audience, you can list your products on Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, and your own eCommerce website. You can sell for free by spending a lot of time on social media for spreading the word. But, before jumping on to any channel, you must also evaluate these sales channels to find the one that suits your eCommerce business. If you wish to speed up the process, then there are paid methods for marketing that you’ll learn later in this Guide.

What do I do to Build a Scalable Brand in Drop Shipping Industry?

The most effective way is by creating your very own eCommerce store. In this era of YouTube and Udemy, learning how to build a website is as easy as learning the alphabets. But one solution stands out from the rest in building eCommerce websites i.e Shopify.

Shopify is a brilliant option to quickly and easily build eCommerce websites with absolutely no coding required. It provides everything from hosting, SSL certificates, file storage, inventory management, bulk importing catalogs, excellent apps and a complete dashboard to manage your orders and customers.

Get a free Shopify Store from Printrove

Printrove has an awesome option of getting you a fully built, elegant looking and ready-to-use, beautiful Shopify store free of cost.

All you have to do is buy the Shopify package from Printrove. You get a fully built Shopify store similar to this one here, complete with cataloging and support.

The entire amount that you pay to Printrove is added to your Merchant account as credits which can be used to place orders. Plus, you do not pay anything to Shopify till you get your 50th order which is more than enough time to validate your business.

All you have to do is think of a good brand name and purchase a domain. Your own personalized eCommerce store will be set up in no time with Printrove.

What do I sell?

Now that we have a website ready for you, the next question you may ask Printrove is WHAT do I sell on my website?

Printrove is a print-on-demand drop shipping company which means that it provides printed merchandises of various products like phone cases, t-shirts for men and women, crop tops for women, mugs, coasters, notebooks, posters and button badges.

Printrove gives you an option to sell all these products printed with your own designs on platforms that you prefer. Mockups are available for all the Printrove’s products which you can use to create a catalog for your very own merchandise store.

How do I source designs?

Alright, you must be thinking, everything sounds really nice but where do I find the designs to sell on my store? Well, this is where your hustling skills are tested!

If you are a designer or a graphic artist, you can just create your very own designs. You create an identity for your store which reflects you and your brand. The most awesome thing about this is only you have the design files and no one other than you can sell the products that are available on your store as you are the only one with the actual design files.

If you are not lucky enough to be a designer, you can always search for amazing royalty-free and non-licensed graphic designs and arts on the Internet. Use your Googling skills, you can create a complete design library for yourself. Apart from this, you can use websites like Etsy to buy digital designs or Upwork/Freelancer to hire designers to make designs for you. The sky’s the limit.

Read in detail about how you can source fresh designs for your online drop shipping store.

My Designs are set. How do I upload products to my store?

Once you have created a library of your own designs, the next step would be to create mockups and upload the products to your store.

A mockup is a digital image file which you can use to create product images for your store. For example, you take a blank t-shirt mock-up of a particular color and place your design on it. Printrove provides blank mock-up files of all its products. Apart from this, you can even purchase mockups from sites like Envato to create product images. Printrove also provides a free mockup generation tool on the merchant panel which can be used to create mockups without using Photoshop.

Bulk Mock-up Generation and Cataloguing Services by Printrove

Printrove currently offers 260+ phone models, 20+ variations of t-shirts, 8 different types of colored mugs and more. So a single design will have to be placed in 350+ mock-ups. This means that with a small design library of just 10 designs, you can create a catalog of more than 3500+ products.

You must be wondering, “How can I create so many mock-ups and then upload all these products one-by-one to my store?”. This is where Printrove’s bulk mockup generation and cataloging services come in the picture. Basically, what Printrove does is that it takes all the designs from you, generate the mockups, upload the images to its servers and gives you an Excel file which can be used to bulk upload these products to your store – Shopify, Woocommerce or any other. Printrove will even help you upload these products to your store.

How do I sell?

Alright! You have your store set up, your products are uploaded, a payment gateway is connected and you’re ready to make your first sale.

It’s time to generate some traffic and drive people to your store. This is where Facebook Ads comes into the picture.

Facebook Ads

The best way to generate traffic and market your website is by using Facebook ads and targeting your preferred audience. This is definitely the trickiest part of the whole business, but once you master it, there is no looking back.

There are tons of tutorials and gurus out there on the Internet that will help you master the art of selling through Facebook ads. You can run Ads for as low as Rs. 100 per day which can push interested people to your website. All you need is a good creative, neat title and a trustworthy looking website. Then you run ads, learn from it, strategize and pivot your targeting and grow. This is the best part of running your own business. You are in complete control of it. The harder you work, the better the results.

We here, at Printrove, will be coming up with super awesome blog posts with tips and tricks on how to market your products. There are a million other things to drive sales and so, you should never stop learning.

Alright, I have my first order. What now?

Yay! You have received your very first order. Congratulations!

The first step is to sync your products with Printrove. You will have to add all the products from your store to the Printrove SKU library which is a one time process. This way every product in your store is linked to a product in ours. Whenever you get an order, Printrove knows what to ship.

The best news is you don’t have to do a thing after this. Using the Printrove Shopify app, your orders are automatically pulled to the merchant panel and processed at a click of a button.

The product details, address and other details are pulled to the merchant panel automatically. Once we process the order, you receive the tracking number. You can enter this tracking number in the Shopify backend and mark the order as completed. The package is shipped to your customer under your brand name along with your own invoice.

After this, it is a matter of design, market, and repeat, and you have a fully functioning business.

Any More Questions?

We understand that drop shipping is a fairly new concept in the industry of eCommerce. With this latest advent, we have seen a lot of ambitious newcomers rolling out their eCommerce stores. But, they’re falling away because of just one reason – Lack of knowledge.

More than a definition, drop shipping has a lot of nitty-gritty details that you must understand before getting started.

Considering all the interactions we’ve ever had with our clients, i.e. the Printrove Merchants, we have put together this guide. Hoping to clarify all the questions that you had, we’re closing this write-up. But, wait, we’re also opening up to a lot more questions from you.

Ask your questions and share your views in the comments, and our team will be answering all of them one-by-one.

Shoot!

Selling has always existed ever since we gained senses. It’s the flowing blood of any business. Talking about eCommerce, a beautiful new concept in business is of Print on Demand. As the name says, you get something printed when there’s a demand for it. So easy!

Well, Wikipedia says that “Print on Demand is printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of singular or small quantities.” The same concept has now been expanded to a lot of other printable products at Printrove offers like phone cases, t-shirts, coffee mugs, pop grips, mouse pads, coasters, posters, and notebooks.

Read: How To Use Printrove To Build A Successful Online Drop Shipping Business

Stop piling on your printed designs and waiting forever for people to come in and buy from you.

What if the design you just got printed on the 100 phone cases needs a correction?

What if no more than two pieces were sold out of your 150 posters in almost a quarter year?

What if the 50 animal printed notebooks, that you just bought thinking the 10-year-olds will like it, nobody seems to pick that one up?

A lot of similar questions will run through your mind and this printed products store will not work out as you wished. The reason is very clear – Following a traditional selling method, you have accumulated a huge stock of similar looking products and you don’t have buyers for it. Every person who visits your e-store wants to have a lot of design options to choose from and you certainly cannot afford to have 200 pieces of 500 designs each. Right? Right.

Why waste all that money and resource into something that is uncertain of getting sold? This pulls in the Print on Demand concept to be applied to your store. When an order is placed by a customer on your e-store, it gets forwarded to us. We take care of the printing, quality checking, packaging, generating the invoice in your name and finally shipping the package to your customer’s place.

With a Print on Demand setup at the background of your e-store, what do you have to do?

As the owner of an eCommerce store where all your orders are fulfilled by us on the Print on Demand model, you have some responsibilities. Here, check these out:

1. Concentrate on your website

Make your website attractive because that’s the first impression. A messy website is not going to make anyone click through any of the listed products. Make the design of the website relevant to your shop theme and continuously improve the process of buying on your website.

2. Work on your pricing and discounts

You already know how much each product costs you, and so you should make clear selling prices for each. If possible, work around the discounts while taking care of the profit margins. There is no fixed way to decide the price you should sell. But, definitely you know the audience and that will help you fix that.

3. Display your best work

Either pick out the best designs from your personal art collection or simply choose from our design library. Serve your customers with the best you can and that will make them come to you for more later on. No shitty designs from today!

4. Increase the number of design options

Since this is running on a Print on Demand model, you’re not piling up even a single piece of your product. This provides you with a golden opportunity to give your customers a great number of design options to choose from. Why stick with 10 designs when you may have 100 or more?

Read: How To Source Designs For Custom eCommerce Store

5. Stay updated with trends

Your likes and dislikes may or may not match that of your customer’s. Instead of depending solely upon your instincts while choosing product design and also your website look-and-feel, just step out. Look for what people are buying, appreciating, liking or looking for. Go according to the trends your customers are following because they’re the one finally buying.

6. Invest in marketing your brand

When everything’s ready, you need to focus on marketing your brand. What we pack and ship to your customers is printed on demand under the name of your brand, including the invoice in the package. Whatever spread around is your brand name. People are most likely to trust a brand when they have already heard the name or seen them online. Correctly marketing your brand will help you get more customers and increase your ROI dramatically.

7. Keep in touch with us

It’s not about wasting your time calling and to email us all the time. It’s about checking in at us at your own pace just to make sure things are going okay and if you have anything to discuss. We love talking to entrepreneurs like you who are always on their toes to get things done.

Why Print on Demand?

Setting up your own retail store offline is a hectic job and we all know that. It’s something you don’t want to get into or if you’re already stuck there, you want to come out of it. Print on Demand model for your eCommerce store simply gives you the freedom to work out on the artist inside you and breaks your financial limits of all kinds.

To know how you can join Printrove and be an entrepreneur with the least investment you ever imagined, reach out here.

An eCommerce website is a way forward for you if you own an office or a shop and you want to increase your sales quicker, reduce your business operating cost and increase profit margins for your business.

Offline market retailers were the key players and those days have passed. With the advent of the Internet and the increased number of mobile users, eCommerce websites allow small business owners and people to sell products online.

Online shopping is increasing day by day and becoming the most convenient method to buy products. Additionally, these websites allow you to employ a range of marketing and sales techniques that will give people an extra reason to stick to your website and buy online.

Here is the list of reasons to push you to start selling online:

• Internet in every hand
• Huge customer reach
• eCommerce is growing fast
• Free from brick and mortar
• Fewer costs to set up an online store
• Easy to start selling
• Risk-free business
• Increase brand awareness
• Prices are set, no need to bargain
• Up-to-date catalog
• Quick product delivery
• Easy payment options
• Higher margins on each product
• Quicker customer support
• The store is open 24/7
• Can be operated from anywhere

Let’s look into it one by one.

#1 Internet in every hand

The Internet is becoming a major part of our lives. There has been an exponential growth in the number of internet users. Almost everyone now has a smartphone enabled with 3G or 4G, which has changed India’s traditional internet system. People these days don’t like to go to the market for shopping, so most of the people prefer shopping on eCommerce websites without any fear.

#2 Huge customer reach

eCommerce paves a path for you to reach more customers. Whether you are a startup or an existing seller, there are always new customers to serve. You can target customers all over the world. You don’t need to suffer to promote your business locally, it will automatically spread in a broad space. Unique audiences are set for all eCommerce websites and sellers, it is the best way to grasp the widest audience for new sellers.

#3 eCommerce is growing fast

Indian eCommerce business is attracting customers even from cities where people have narrow access to the internet. There has been a significant increase in the investment of eCommerce business, with the increase in awareness about the benefits of online trading. Based on the Indian infrastructure, the Indian eCommerce market is expected to reach $188 billion by the end of 2025.

#4 Free from brick and mortar

Setting up an online store is very easy and the cost is not as big as starting a brick-and-mortar shop. You do not need to pay for space, rental, electricity bills, employees or for maintenance. Apart from these, you need a warehouse or inventory to store the products for your offline store and a showroom to showcase your products to the customers. All these expenses are saved by selling products online.

#5 Fewer costs to set up an online store

Online stores are cost effective. You only need a professional website designer or an agency to create and design your business website. Once your website is ready, you can integrate your website to a plugin of any drop shipping service providers. As an added advantage, you don’t need to buy a domain or set up a website since there are online shopping websites available where you can sign up for a seller account.

#6 Easy to start selling

You can start selling your product as soon as you want to. A week is enough to start selling your products online. It can get sooner with drop shipping business models. Dropshipping model is successful because you only need a good business idea rather than a physical store. You don’t need to maintain your inventory.

#7 Risk-free business

It is completely risk-free as you do not have any inventory to store. So there is no fear of damage or stealing of products.

#8 Increase brand awareness

Searching on Google is the first thing every customer starts with to buy a product online or offline. So when they search for a product in Google, your brand will appear on the search results page. This will increase your brand awareness so you will be always in front of your customers. This will make your brand popular among the customers and they can trust your brand.

#9 Prices are set, no need to bargain

Bargaining is not possible on eCommerce sites. They just add the products they like to the cart and checkout when they are done shopping. Hence, people will buy on the price you set for your products. The price has to be nominal, of course. Therefore, there is no need to bargain.

#10 The catalog is always up to date

Printing of catalogs is not needed anymore as it is costly and outdated. The catalog in your eCommerce store will always be up to date. You can easily modify your price, description, availability and other details according to your preferences for the product. When you update, it will be updated automatically to all similar products in your store.

#11 Product delivery in less time

You can build a loyal trust amongst the customers by serving them secure and fast delivery. Because people will rush to online stores if any product is not available in offline stores. This way you can serve them faster.

#12 Easy payment options

There are several ways of receiving payments from customers. You can opt for direct bank transfers, credit cards, debit cards, cash on delivery and many more modes of payment. Customers prefer online transactions as they are very secure and quick at the same time. Payment gateways and wallets have become very popular now too.

#13 Higher margins on each product

It is easy to make higher margins on each product because there is no bargaining at the time of selling. To increase your sale, you can offer discounts on different items which will give you great earnings. You can also upsell products to increase the overall margins.

#14 Quick customer support

The best way to keep your customers stick to your online store is the customer support. When a customer has some queries regarding your product or service, and when the product you sold was defective you should provide sales support. Your best customer support will keep the customers coming back to your store and will increase your sales over time.

#15 The store is open 24/7

An online store removes the time barriers of shopping. Most of the customers are working and they find time for online shopping only at night time. 24/7 open shop will help the customers to shop online whenever they are free. So you will always have orders on your online store.

#16 Business can operate from anywhere

Online stores reduce the restraint of selling products from offline stores which are fixed. You can operate your eCommerce website successfully from anywhere around the world. This makes your business more easy and flexible.

Conclusion

So there you have, these are the reasons why you should start selling your products online. Customers are not afraid to buy online. Many have already moved to buy everything over the Internet. Customers have a clear understanding of how online retail works and it is considered to be the natural part of their shopping experience. Majority of the people believe strongly that their favorite retail outlets should have an online presence too.

eCommerce is the biggest growing industry globally which is the simplification of selling your products online. Sell products online, grow your business worldwide.

Don’t miss: How To Use Printrove To Build A Successful Online Drop Shipping Business

Happy Selling!

The eCommerce organizations now know that buyers are preferring online shopping. Their websites need to be designed in a more presentable and user-friendly manner in the competitive business world. Before buying a product, the buyer explores all the details about the product.

So, your website has to be more informative and active, as there are so many other options available which can put you down on the ladder. The users are very intelligent nowadays, accordingly, everything has to be well-planned, creative and careful.

You might think that your website is well-organized and looks good, but it may not be delighting for the customers. You have to consider from the customer’s point of view before launching your website. The features you love the most may be difficult for the users to navigate, so they might route to the other websites. You have to be very careful in each and every step to attract more customers. But there might be a few mistakes you commit which can really annoy users on your eCommerce website.

See how little factors can annoy eCommerce users.

Chosen specks for you.

1. Impossible to find basic information

Customers need your business’s address, directions, working hours, contact number, and email on your About or Contact section. When a customer clicks on your profile, they need to ingest your basic business details. If these details are not made easy for the users to view, it frustrates customers and thwarts from visiting your website.

Customer’s Registration is a great effort in marketing. Although, most of the users prefer to scroll through your website and get out without signing up for an account. So it would be easier for customers if your website has a guest checkout option, and it will increase the customers to get back to your website frequently.

2. Out of Stock Items On Display

Out of stock items on Display can annoy your customers to a great extent. The customer finds the product, place the orders and waiting for the product. The item is not delivered as the item is out of stock, that will make the customer feel very disappointed. This breaks the trust in your store, the customer gets pissed off and never look back on your store.

To avoid this, once the product is not in stock give auto hide or mention the item is “out of stock-back soon” message. Make sure that you bring the item back to inventory as soon as possible. Making the customers wait for a long time can affect your business.

3. Slow Website

The more gongs you add to your website, the slower it loads. Your website has to load faster. The slow website brings in less productivity. Slow websites make the customers give up on your site. Slower websites can also take a hit in the Google’s search ranking.

Ensure that all your graphics, music and additional features are compressed into the smallest size possible. Take the help of a web designer to make your website optimized and load faster. This step can prevent customers from pissed off on your website.

4. Confusing Coupon Codes

Coupon codes are a great way to promote your online store and attract more customers. Coupons encourage them to spend some more time on your website and purchase products. Customers are annoyed when the coupons are not working. This makes customers feel cheated.

Sometimes, the coupon codes are very confusing like how users should use the coupon or promotional codes. Give a clarity of how the codes can be used to purchase products from your online store let it be of free shipping or discounts.

5. AutoPlay Videos / Music

The most horrified and ridiculous audio or video pop-ups come up and force the user to watch it. This is not a good idea. No one wants to watch that music when they click on a website. By all means have a promotional video as optional, so that the user can decide to watch or skip it.

The online consumers are savvier and have very less time, so design your website to avoid such annoying content on your Online Store.

6. Poor Customer Service / Lack of Communication

Customer service is the one which differentiates the average e-Commerce store from the best Online store. It maintains loyal repeat customers. Instant confirmation and tracking details should be sent to the customers via email. The queries have to be addressed and resolved as soon as you can. Best customer service can bring in more customers and build trust in your online store.

Delayed update or being unprofessional can ruin the reputation of your store. This makes people avoid shopping from your eCommerce store. Providing customer service is not a difficult task, and it is the most important customer retention tool.

7. No direct link to Social Media

Customers find it easier to check out your business on Social Media instead of constantly checking your website. Most shops, cafes, salons eCommerce store post their special offers and discounts on Social media to keep their followers engaged. Include prominent links to your Social media accounts to your online store.

Keep updating your customers engaged and keep updating your business activities, offers, deals and new arrivals. Lack of engagement and no proper resources can give a drop to your to your Online selling website.

8. Outdated content

Updating your content is a must. If you don’t have the frequency to update your website, Then keep the content simple with the basic essence of your business. The information about sales, events and new merchandise can be posted on your social media accounts.

The blog posts also have to be posted frequently, if not, don’t have a blog section. If a customer clicks on the blog and if no recent blog posts are published, they get a bad reverence for your website. This can really annoy the customers and they might look for other online stores to purchase.

9. Not mobile Compatible

Mobile devices are most widely used to go online. The count is increasing every day. So, be fanatical and optimize your online store and website. This makes it easier for users to read and navigate on phone and tablet screens. Optimizing and updating your online site for Mobile will show customers that you have a modern business and you are responsible and care about their user interface. On failing which, the users are annoyed and reduce their visit to your site.

Conclusion

All of these are simple, common mistakes on your online store that can annoy the users. Many businesses behave as though communicating on a straightforward, personal level with a customer is somehow unprofessional. Make sure you deal with problems and satisfy the customers to build a long-lasting relationship.

Create a plan and execute it on your online store, keep updating your website, optimize it periodically, keep engaging your customers. Most importantly, think from the customer’s point of view and design your website. Give a brief description of how to use promo codes. Provide best customer service to the users. These are a few tips to make your customers engaged with your online store.

Today’s eCommerce is moving towards a different dimension and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a part of it.

Indian eCommerce is expected to hit $100 billion online retail revenue by the year 2020. And drop shipping is a concept which has much relevance in the GST regime.

Sellers must abide by the registration requirements and declare their turnover to tax departments of multiple states. It is expected that under GST law, India will become a unified common market with reduced compliance costs, and eCommerce business will notice major changes.

We’ve tried to answer all your questions about GST and its impact on drop shipping.

What is GST?

GST – Goods and Services Tax is an indirect tax which took over many indirect taxes in India. It was passed in the parliament in the year 2017. GST in India is a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination-based tax that is imposed on every valuable addition.

In eCommerce, the role of GST has specifically taken up marketplaces and has come out with rules and regulations specific to this segment.

There exists 3 tax components under GST namely CGST, SGST, and IGST.

CGST:

CGST is Central Goods and Services Tax. It is collected by the Central Government on an intra-state sale (Tamil Nadu – Tamil Nadu).

SGST:

SGST is State Goods and Services Tax. It is collected by the State Government on an intra-state sale (Tamil Nadu – Tamil Nadu).

IGST:

IGST is Integrated Goods and Services Tax. It is collected by the Central Government on an inter-state sale (Tamil Nadu – Other States).

CGST and SGST are applied to sales within the state and IGST is applied to sales to other states.

The tax is paid to the central and state government as CGST and SGST at the rate depending on the HSN codes of the items. The tax rate of CGST and SGST are always half of that of IGST.

Why GST?

This is a common question asked by so many consumers in India. GST is implemented to cut off all the indirect taxes that has been applied on goods.

GST is advantageous in the following ways:

Removes cascading tax effect
Higher threshold for registration
Composition scheme for small businesses
Online simple procedure
Lesser compliance
Defined treatment for eCommerce
Increased efficiency in logistics
Regulating the unauthorized sector
Completely technologically driven

GST Number

According to GST India 2017, GSTIN is basically a 15-digit number which has replaced the Tax Identification Number (TIN) that business entities were allotted while registering under a state’s Value Added Tax law.

Your business can be a One Person Company (OPC) or sole proprietorship or can be both. In any case, you will require the GSTIN to carry on your business in India lawfully.

Paying GST vs Filling GST

There is a common misconception between paying GST and filling GST. Actually, they both are different.

You don’t have to pay GST if you’re not selling your products to Indians. But it is mandatory to file GST if you’re an Indian resident doing business.

In order to file the GST, you can approach a chartered accountant. They will automatically file your GST when the time comes for a nominal fee.

GST implementation in Printrove

Printrove’s business model

Printrove operates under a business model wherein the merchants catered to are businesses, which, on receipt of orders for the respective products from end customers, place an order in turn with Printrove. These orders are produced by Printrove, and on completion, are shipped directly to the location of the customers (ship-to address) on behalf of the merchant.

A single order, from beginning to end, involves three parties:

1. Printrove, being the principal manufacturer and distributor of the products;
2. Merchant, being the business that places an order with Printrove, and;
3. End customer, being the source of the order.

There are two separate transactions to be considered. The first transaction is between Printrove and the merchant, who places orders with Printrove. This transaction is consequent to the order placed by the end customer, which is the other transaction.

The tax applicable to each of these transactions depends on the place of supply and location of the parties.

There are a few scenarios to understand GST better. Since Printrove operates from the state of Tamil Nadu, all the scenarios are explained with respect to Tamil Nadu. Here it follows:

Conditions of IGST

Export, as defined by the IGST Act, occurs when:

• A supplier is within India
• A recipient is outside India
• Place of supply is outside India
• Payment is received in convertible foreign exchange.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned cases make it clear how the GST is applied to various circumstances in the case of drop shipping in India. GST opens a lot of opportunities by increasing the number of sales channels and enabling us to do business with other registered businesses. For more info on registering for GSTIN please get in touch with a chartered accountant who can help you getting a GSTIN and monthly filing.

Well, this is all about GST — Goods and Services Tax.

Don’t-Miss: How to Get the GST Invoice from Printrove to Claim Input Tax Credit

 

 

Drop shipping business is the most popular way to get started with eCommerce industry in today’s time. Dropshipping is an order fulfilment method in which they don’t maintain inventory, just prepare the product, pack it and send it directly to the customer. If you’re looking to start your own eCommerce company, starting up with a drop shipping platform would be a great idea. It will be an exciting business with low startup cost and good margins.

The only drawback is that much of your business is out of your hands. On the other hand, it is the most profitable business, if done right.

The right time to start selling your products is when the product is selected, suppliers assured and your business is legally established. The next step is to decide how to sell your products to the prospective customers. There exist different sales options, but you’ll most probably pick one or a combination of selling on your own online store, eBay or Amazon.

Steps to consider while starting an eCommerce Drop shipping business:

There are five basic steps to start your dropshipping business.

Step 1 – Select products to sell

Step 2 – Find trusted suppliers

Step 3 – Set up your business

Step 4 – Evaluate your sales channels

Step 5 – Market your products

Daily Operations of Your Dropshipping Business

Your Dropshipping business should be well underway! From this point onwards, it’s all about maintenance and growth. Experience is the key to master e-Commerce retailing. As the business grows, you will probably find new methods and paths to fine-tune operations for better efficiency and increased sales. You will discover how to fix issues with suppliers, handle with customer service issues and market your business’s label.

Once all these steps are set, you have to start evaluating the sales channels.

Most popular and Rewarding Sales Channels for eCommerce:

1. Dropshipping on eBay

eBay is the well-known world’s largest auction site for physical goods online. Begin by deciding what products to sell, then source those products from a wholesaler that can guarantee quick and reliable shipping.

Volume is the key to successful dropshipping. Few sales will not give you a huge return, most dropshippers gain only a few dollars per sale. Elements such as pricing, marketing efforts, and timing can shape or shatter the dropshipping strategy.

The Pros of Selling on eBay

• Easy to Get Started
• Access to a Large Audience
• Less Marketing

The Cons of Selling on eBay

• Listing Fees
• Constant Monitoring and Re-Listing
• Can’t Customize Your Sales Platform
• No Long-Term Connection With Customers
• You’re Not Building an Asset

To learn more about selling on eBay, click here.

2. Dropshipping on Amazon

Amazon is the online retail giant, which stocks and sells a number of items, but umpteen of the products listed are sold by third-party merchandisers via Amazon’s website. Amazon also acts to help assist the sale and to resolve any problems that come up.

The Pros of Selling on Amazon

The advantages and benefits are same on Amazon similar to eBay. It’s easy to get started in Amazon. You get instant access to a huge range of audience and you don’t need to fear about your marketing or SEO.

Amazon provides their own fulfillment warehouses which is the most amazing benefit for the Merchants. This will allow Merchants to compliment their drop shipped products without bothering about packing, shipping, warehousing and delivery.

The Cons of Selling on Amazon

• Exposure of Sales Data
• No Long-Term Connection With Customers
• No Customization

To learn more about selling on Amazon, click here.

3. Dropshipping with Facebook

As an eCommerce entrepreneur, Facebook is the most fundamental platform for advertising your eCommerce business. It is quite popular and useful because many other marketing channels operate on similar systems to Facebook ads.

The easy and cost-effective way to sell more products is adding a Facebook store to your Dropshipping business. You can set up a Facebook business page by building a following and create organic traffic with product promotion. Running ad campaigns on Facebook can get you more people to your store without constraining them to travel to another website.

Connect your website to your Facebook store and make use of the platform to drive more sales. Do basic research for underrepresented Facebook pages and create a following for your business. It doesn’t take an immense Facebook ad budget to build a big crew of Facebook fans in a short span of time. It is easy and free so that customers don’t have to leave Facebook to make a purchase. And, the less checkout process brings in a higher conversion rate.

If you haven’t seen good results in your business, selling in Social media can be a great option for your dropshipping operation. You can get much higher revenue for every penny spent on creating your Facebook store.

The pros of dropshipping with Facebook

• Brand awareness
• Drive website traffic
• Targeted advertising
• Generate business leads
• Customer service and feedback
• Monitor and improve

The Cons of dropshipping on Facebook

• Time and Resources
• Skills
• Budget
• Negative Feedback

To learn more about selling on Facebook, click here.

4. Dropshipping with Instagram

Instagram has become the most favourite platform for businesses. It provides the advantage of being a less saturated market. It has immense benefits of utilizing this channel so that the market keeps filling up with companies.

Create a content strategy, use elements of high performing account to use Instagram for marketing, decide the composition that how and what will be shown on your page. Build a following organically. Make sure you post at least 4-5 times a week.

You have the building blocks for using Instagram for business, but learning something new can be daunting. Take your time and start getting comfortable using Instagram and settings. Remember to be strategic of what to post and who you follow. Having a clear idea about Instagram for your business by experimenting can surely keep you on track towards business growth and success.

The pros of Dropshipping with Instagram

• Instagram is all about photos
• Connects to Your Target Audience
• High Engagement Rate
• Post Your Contents Easily
• Visual Representation of Your Business
• Allows You to Respond Quickly
• Increase Your Reach

The cons of Dropshipping with Instagram

• Not Everyone Is on Instagram
• Limitations on Your Contents
• Advertising Is More Difficult

To learn more about selling on Instagram, click here.

5. Drop shipping with your own online Store

The best alternative to selling online with Third-party websites is establishing your own online store. This can replace sales channels like Amazon and eBay, but you can still have a mix of both the worlds. This is one of the most attractive sales channels for people who are interested in building a successful dropshipping business.

The Pros of Selling on Your Own Store

• More Control
• Easy Design
• Mobile Ready
• No Third-Party Fees
• Building a Real Business

The Cons of Selling on Your Own Store

• Less Free Traffic
• Take a long time to get off the ground

You can get your own Shopify Store or Woocommerce Store with us. Let us know, just in case!

Wrap up

At this point in time, you will be asking yourself “which platform to opt for my eCommerce business?” To choose the best one, you’ll need to ask more questions and evaluate your priorities. Prioritize whether you need High-profit margins or more exposure to an audience.

To expose your product to a larger crowd, Online retailers like Amazon or eBay and social channels like Facebook or Instagram can be used. These are effective channels which will cut your margin but get more sales quickly.

Secondly, have a long-term goal, control over selling your products. You can set your own boundaries and work independently.

Lastly, think about how you can serve better and bring value to your customers. Moreover, think which platform will provide you with the most value.

Evaluate the available sales channels for your niche, and start selling!

Loyalty is a very heavy word and it is equally heavy to practice. This trait is the basis of a healthy and secure relationship and it takes years to establish. The drawback? You can lose it as quickly as you earn it if you hurt the sentiments of the other person.

 

In the language of business, your customer’s loyalty is very finicky and you will have to work really hard to develop a stronger faith in your brand. Your mistakes should not let them turn away from you.

The ecommerce business has made it easy for people to set up stores without the need to find a physical place. To add to that, the attention spans are at an all time low so you have to grab it in a mere amount of seconds. Hence, the competition is neck to neck.

People may buy a product from your store once but to get them back is a miracle considering the amount of options they have. You need to create a heavy brand awareness and image to stay in this business.

Here are 10 tips to help you achieve their loyalty –

 

1. Absolute transparency

The foundation of any relationship is firm only when it is built on trust. Every detail of your company should be out in the open for your customers. Gaining access to information will help them establish trust with your company.

Even if there is a glitch or something has gone wrong in shipping, you must keep them informed and take full responsibility of the situation. This can help you not lose your customers especially if it is an ecommerce business.

When you are accountable for your mistakes, it shows humility. Being truthful about what they should expect can work out amazingly well if you exceed those expectations later.

 

2. Customer Appreciation

Being an ecommerce business you don’t have to take much effort to communicate so use it to your advantage.

A thank you note or a mail acknowledging that you are grateful they chose to place their faith in your brand. After spending a lot of time on websites, customers finally arrive at yours and buy something.

You have to appreciate their time and make sure that they are to have brought the product from your website.

You should provide them everything you have promised and thank them for their feedback.

 

3. Establish a sense of belonging

Human psychology has spoken very highly of the need to belong. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs also places it in their chart. Why do you think that is?

Feeling a sense of belonging makes a person feel safe and happy. If they are choosing to buy from your company you should make them feel welcome. You can get them subscribed to a newsletter or interact with them on a personal basis.

They should feel a part of your brand as much as any employee in your company.

It is already an ecommerce business which does not have face to face communication so an extra effort will be required.

Updating them on your new products and communicating any news with their personal names would be a good way to do it.

 

4. The power of referring

Word of mouth is the oldest but most trusted method of marketing. Your customers should be happy with the personalized experience you provide them so they consider referring your brand to anyone.

Being an ecommerce business, your referrals will happen through shared links and recommendations.

You can provide them with some incentive or boost their points if they can get a friend hooked on your website. It can be a free coupon or discount which should get them to actually speak about your brand.

A simple thank you message would also work because acknowledging their effort is very important. They are doing something good for your brand.

 

5. Personalized emails

Whoever said email marketing is dead doesn’t know what he is talking about. A personalized email with their name and a brief study on their buying patterns would be a great way to establish loyalty.

The biggest marketing aspect of an ecommerce business is email marketing.

They should feel like they are the first ones to know about your new product releases and offers. According to their buying pattern you should find relevant content for the email.

The more relevant it is, the more they will buy from you. Your emails should let them know that you understand what they want and you will give them exactly that.

 

6. Quality content

What is the one thing your ecommerce business has that the others don’t? Quality content.

Your content should consist of all the necessary information and at the same time be engaging. You can cover a lot of current topics that related to your brand in any way possible.

If you are adding to their knowledge and getting them to read something interesting, they will remember your brand. After the remembering, they will come back to buy from your store because of the brand voice you create in your posts.

Don’t try to force them to buy your product. Sometimes, just have an interaction with them about things that matter.

 

7. Get feedback

It has become easier to get feedback and save paper at the same time because you are an ecommerce business. A casual survey or feedback form will help you grow your business. You will understand what you need to improve so they come back to buy from you.

Asking for their feedback will also let them know that their opinion matters to you. They can give you a better idea of what they are expecting from the product and what is not working about it.

When you improvise you must thank them for their feedback and introduce them to the changes you have made. By doing this, you are earning their trust and making them a part of your brand development.

 

8. Socialize

You should be active on all social media platforms and messengers so they know you are available to answer their doubts and grievances.

Once again, ecommerce has made it extremely convenient to communicate so utilize it.

Any kind of interaction should be initiated from your side so they know that you do care to respond.

You can start a group for loyal customers on which you post daily about anything and everything related or non related to your brand. This will increase brand recall.

Your social media platforms should be a way for them to directly interact with your brand. All their questions, comments and suggestions should be responded to.

Introduce a live chat on your website so you can guide them through the website while they are placing an order.

Be there for them and they will be there for you.

 

9. Work on your Loyalty program

Ecommerce business has made it easy for you to navigate your success pattern and assess campaigns.

Once you have the database of your loyal customers in place, you need to define your brand’s social responsibility to them. For example, if your tagline is “excellence”, then you can hold contests and reward people with excellent achievements.

The activities that you hold for your brand should be communicated to your customers. Through your social activities they can feel safe when buying from you.

Your loyalty program should include exciting offers, rewards, coupons and discounts so they feel privileged to be a part of your brand.

 

10. User generated content

You can turn your customers into your brand advocates. Any pictures posted by them about your brand or tagged your brand will become an advertisement for your brand.

You can feature them on your social media profiles if they post with your products and tag your brand.

Their ratings and reviews can also be a big boom for your sales and they record the highest rates of conversion.

You can reward them with exclusive t-shirts that have your brand logo so they feel a sense of belonging.

This will put your ecommerce business in spotlight.

 

Concluding…

With these tips in mind, all you need to concentrate on is providing good service and quality products. That is the biggest part of customer retention. Your product must fulfil their needs. Once you have them in your loyalty program, you must give them everything you promised and treat them with a splendid customer experience.

Ecommerce business can be tricky but once you master it, there is only prosperity.

Running an online store is not at all easy, it is a challenging task. The first step you have to do after creating an online store is to promote it. An online store is becoming popular day by day among customers as an overwhelming choice, so it is a must to market and advertise your online store efficiently. You can promote your online store and generate targeted traffic with little hard work, plan, and creativity.

Why is it important to promote your online business?

Creating an online store is one side of the coin, and the other side is promoting your store for increasing the online sales. To establish more sales you need to have a creative plan, use of SEO, content marketing, social media marketing and PPC to reach out to your target customers. After that, make your customers understand your products and services to build trust and make a purchase.

The benefits of promoting your online store are:

• Increase brand awareness
• Provide appropriate information
• Increase Customer Traffic
• Build sales and profits

To obtain these benefits and attract more potential customers, here are the 10 ways to promote your online store to smash out your sales target.

#1 Targeted Advertising

Digital media can help your online marketing by delivering the right message to the right people at the right time. Target advertising includes the use of Facebook ads, Google Adwords, and Pinterest.

Facebook targets users by including and analyzing personal information and interests in their profiles. You can filter a specific group of people based on their interest. Facebook Ads make it easier for you to target people who have an interest in products similar to yours and promote it to them with no effort. To reach the objectives of making website conversion effective, consider running Facebook ads to get more traffic and then, make sales.

Google Adword provides an option to target people according to their keyword search and location. You can select the time and devices on which it has to appear. Additionally, you can pay only when folks click through and land on your page making it cost effective.

Pinterest is the growing social networking platform. It promotes your product, brand functionality in an easy and fun way. Create an enchanting account for your business, follow people who are following the brands bound to your target audience, add “pin it” button to your products so that people can easily share them.

#2 Facebook

Facebook is one of the platforms you must use to promote your online store. Reasons to choose Facebook is it’s easy to use, efficient and cost-effective, promote your message to the right people, and finally, it works!

You can create engaging and interesting business pages with no cost and are simple to handle. Don’t forget to engage your target audience regularly. Your posts must be inspiring to your target crowd, easy for them to relate and shareable. To make it more simple, there are a number of scheduling tools you can use to schedule your posts at specific times.

#3 Remarketing

Remarketing is a feature that allows you to stay connected with the audience who have visited your site previously as they browse online. You can simply tag the products and categories you wish to promote and run a campaign so that relevant ads appear in the web pages of people who have visited your website before, shown interest but, have not made a purchase. The ads will appear continuously on the visitor’s web page until they clear their cookies.

#4 Guest Articles

Blogs and guest articles for magazines are powerful means to reach out to your target buyers. Search for relevant online and offline blogs and magazines, and browse lists like the 100 most popular blogs in your sphere. Build a personal relationship by following them on social media, comment on their blogs, retweet their posts so they get to know who you are and what your expertise is. Later send an article to them.

Spend some time reading their blogs and websites, or interact with them on their forum to provide impartial advice, comment on other articles and answer questions. Most importantly, use your brand name and logo as your profile details like bio, display picture.

#5 Offers and Competitions

Giveaway is a great advantage to promote your online store. People love the feeling of getting something for nothing and winning. Offer things for free in return for your website visitors and for people who give feedback on your products, usability, and appearance of your online store.

Make sure that people learn something about your product with every competition or offer you run, as a token of the entering process. This will make people think of you immediately if they wish to purchase any specific item that your brand offers.

Meanwhile, encourage people to develop their involvement with you as much as possible by offering a significant percentage off for future purchase in return for leaving a review. The more incentive they have to shop with you, the more those people will tweet about your product or promote your online store on Facebook. They will become your promoters in no time with giveaways.

#6 Customer Stories & Articles

Followup with the purchase to find out why that person bought your product. All your customers will have unique stories to share. Ask your customers to send pictures and make delighting stories about it in your website. Customers will promote your store by sharing that story.

Having a customer gallery works wonders. Pictures are worth everything, ask your customers to send in pictures and videos of themselves using your products. Picture gallery of your products and customers’ pictures will enhance your website and speak volumes to potential customers.

#7 Promote via Affiliate Sites

Affiliate marketing benefits every retailer with an online store. Affiliate marketing is a process of using the third party to promote your products. Sign up for a commission-only promotional workforce. Wise shoppers first look to discount websites to see if they can save anything before making a purchase.

Voucher code and discount code websites can lead to a rush of potential customers to your online store, including many who have not visited your site ever before.

#8 Beat the Nerves

Using a new online store for the first time can be nervous for the customers. Providing free delivery and free returns to everybody can encourage the first-time buyers to hit the checkout button. It will attract them to return to your store and promote it amongst their friends and gatherings.

#9 PR Stunt

Do something exorbitant to grasp people’s attention. You can ask people to return for free clothes, this can attract huge media around the country and give you excellent coverage. Rather, open a Pop-Up store in a shopping mall or popular venue or out-of-town shopping centers for a few days.

This will help you promote your online store by creating a buzz, encourage spontaneous purchases and build your brand awareness.

#10 Strategic Partnerships

Build a strategic partnership with non-competing websites that have a similar target market. The key is to find partners with a matched vision and complementary products. Strategic partnership results in mutual benefits. It helps to serve the marketing workload, and your potential buyers will benefit from a greater number of trusted resources.

Work together for a joint promotion or ask for an advertising slot in return for free advertising on your own site.

Conclusion

Selling your products in an online store builds brand awareness and grows credibility with your target customers. These are proven methodologies to promote your online store and boost your sales force. Try out these techniques and attract more new customers. Follow up to make customers willingly buy from you again, and again, and again.