Printing Techniques And Its Types

The soul of any Print on Demand Dropshipping business is Printing. Folks today are more likely to wear products that have attractive prints on them. Apart from clothes, products like coffee mugs, posters, coasters, pop grips, notebooks are also popular when there are appealing prints on them. With the ease of ordering online and customizing it according to their designs, the trend of prints is here to stay.

Printing is paid special emphasis before deploying the product out for sale. If you happen to be an owner of an eCommerce store, it is essential that you update yourself with the latest popular culture, printing techniques, dyes, materials required and designs. Your printing technique must be carefully decided as it determines the quality and durability of the prints.

From a layman point of view, the print and cloth fabric decides whether customers will buy products from you or not.

There are many techniques available and like every story has two sides, they have their pros and cons.

Printing Techniques Used By Printrove

Printrove is a leading print on demand drop shipping company. It uses three main printing techniques to print on t-shirts and other products.

They are:

– Screen printing

– Direct-to-garment printing (DTG)

– Sublimation printing

How Printrove Chooses The Printing Technique

The printing method we use depends on the product, your design and the quantity required in one go.

The design can be finalised at any point of time. The first question that arises is about the quantity. If you are a new eCommerce merchant then your sales flow would be comparatively less and you cannot put in a lot of money to print items in bulk. In this case, you must choose the direct-to-garment (DTG) printing technique. If you are ordering products in bulk, then screen printing would be more suitable.

Coming back to design, it is the most important deciding factor for which printing method you should use. The size, colours, patterns and the type of design dictates the appropriate method.

Let’s get some deep insights about each printing technique and how it works. Here it goes.

Screen Printing

Screen printing is the process of pulling a layer of ink over a screen to produce a design. A special screen has to be made for each design which indicates that it should be a bulk order i.e there should be multiple orders of the same design.

This method can be used to print items in bulk and is economical.

How Screen Printing Works

– The woven mesh stencils are placed on the fabric and the ink is pushed through it.

– The stencils have openings which make space through which the ink will pass to create an impression of the design.

– The ink is then pushed over the mesh and pulled by a fill blade or squeegee. As the blade is pulled, the ink is pushed through the mesh onto the garment.

Only one colour can be used at a time. As the number of colours is limited, each colour requires more time, more screens, stencils, and more money.

So, it is compatible only for simple designs with fewer colours and of the same design at a time.

Pros of Screen Printing:

– Cost effective for bulk orders

– Versatile design placement

– Volume discounts (More the orders, the cheaper the price)

Cons of Screen Printing:

– Not cost effective for multiple colours

– suitable for only simple shape designs

– large upfront investment

– One design per batch

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWKOgHaze0s

Direct to Garment Printing

Direct to Garment printing (DTG) is just like using a printer to print on fabric. It can support more detailed designs with as many colours as you want.

How DTG Works

– A printer directly applies the ink onto the t-shirt with inkjet technology.

– It is similar to printing on paper.

– A special printer prints the ink directly onto the garment in the desired design.

– It uses special water-based inks, which are absorbed by the fibres of the garment.

As the printer is precise, you’ll be able to print images in much higher detail and with more colours when compared to screen printing. You can even customise your designs with DTG printing.

This method is optimal for people who don’t have a lot of money to make an up-front investment for a large batch, they can even order separately.

Pros of DTG printing:

– Extensive colour options

– Maximum detail in design

– Suitable for small batches

– Minimal upfront investment

– Easily customized design

Cons of DTG printing:

– Not cost effective for extremely large batches

– No volume discounts

– Limited design placement

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSun9DLf_64

Sublimation Printing

Sublimation printing is the process of printing onto a special sheet of paper and then transferring that image onto the fabric. This is the most preferred method of printing as it lasts long and you will never have the unfortunate “peeling” effect of a well-worn t-shirt.

Here is How Sublimation Printing Works:

  • Sublimation printing is an alternative to the traditional inkjet transfers. The sublimation ink actually becomes a part of the substrate, let’s take a mug as an example. The Inkjet transfers use a carrier sheet to print the ink on top of the fabric.
  • When the ink from the special sublimation transfer paper is heat pressed onto your mug and reaches a certain high temperature, the ink is transformed into gas.
  • It also opens up the pores of the polyester, polymer, or polymer coated on the mug you’re heat pressing onto.
  • Once the heat is transferred on to the mug, it is released and allowed to cool. In this process the gas again turns back into solid and the pores closes permanently.
  • The ink is then encapsulated within the polymer coating of the mug.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zreen1cdZCY

If done correctly, the image won’t fade or disappear over time. It gives an extremely smooth finish.

The sublimation printing process can only be used on 100% pure polyester apparel or substrates with special polymer coating. It will be suitable for coffee mugs, phone cases, pop grips, mugs, and mouse pads. Another thing is that the sublimation inks can only be used on a white base. It is not possible to do sublimation on a dark garment.

Pros of Sublimation Printing:

– Prints all over the garment

– Multiple colour options

– Maximum detail in design

– Suitable for small batches

Cons of Sublimation Printing:

– Not available on all garments

– Cannot be done on 100% cotton fabrics

– Can be printed only on a white base

Why Printrove?

Printrove is a print-on-demand drop shipping company.

We print and ship print products for online stores. We offer completely white-label products, so everything we do is under your brand.

With Printrove, it’s super easy for anyone to start a business without any upfront costs. You don’t have to deal with the hassle of out of stock or manage the inventories.

We print our products with these 3 technologies and ensure the quality is up to the mark. To know more about drop shipping or to get in touch with us>> Click here.

We’re happy to help!

Conclusion

Printing techniques are of utmost importance based on the type of product. Selecting a feasible printing technique is the real challenge as you have to consider multiple factors of designing and demands.

If you plan on starting your own eCommerce store, drop shipping will be extremely helpful. The burden of printing and delivery will be lifted off your head and you can focus on setting up your business smoothly.

The drop shipper will print, pack and deliver your product to your customers. You just have to give the order, count and design. As simple as that!

Hope this helps! If you would like to start your own eCommerce store, get in touch with us.

How To Sell Tshirts Online Profitably

When a strategy and outstanding designs are in place, selling a t-shirt online is very much profitable.

 

Questioning the probability of a profit is a safe game, but for the ones who want to scale a business to ultimate success, you need to find an unconventional way. This decade has seen a growing fandom of fictional stories and a lot of businesses profiting from the merchandising.

This decade is more accepting of ideas and is open to experimentation and expression. At this point of time, selling t-shirt is a great idea but what you need to work on is the design you choose. Let’s explore this more.

Is Selling T-shirts Online Profitable?

It really depends on YOU. You just need to be in the right place at the right time. By this we mean, you must make designs relevant to your customers at that time and change them when trends change. The t-shirt business demands a lot of current trend designs, quotes and something that people can express themselves through.

There are other factors too such as if the weather is really cold, chances are t-shirts won’t get sold as much because they are not meant for the season. Also, your pricing will affect sales tremendously as people will want to get the best deal out of it.

Process Of Selling T-Shirts Online Profitably:

  1. Research
  2. Decide on a niche
  3. Decide the place of selling
  4. Design your t shirt
  5. Source your products
  6. Print designs on t shirt
  7. Marketing Plan
  8. Customer Support and Returns

Step 1: Research

You have already begun this step since you are reading this blog post. Before you venture into something, it is very important to know everything possible about the product niche, product market, audience, competitors, success and failure stories and so on. This will also help you understand what kind of designs will work for your target audience. You will be able to track and analyse the changing trends.

Step 2: Decide on a Niche

It is an extremely competitive ecommerce world and to stand out, you must find your niche. Once your research is done, you must have an idea of the kind of designs you would want to create. Think of some designs that will become unique about your t-shirt store. The niche can be explored by looking for inspiration in and around yourself. It can be anything like lifestyle, philosophy, art and so on. You can have a look at some templates and customize around it. Nevertheless, your designs should be original and have copyright ownership.

Step 3: Decide the Place of Selling

This is an important step because you will be investing money and time in the place you choose to sell your t-shirts. Check what other online stores have been selling and what has been working for them. You can look at online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart which are already established and have your brand portal set up there. This will be an easy way to start out and manage marketing effectively. However, starting your own ecommerce store would be a great idea because that brings all the profits to you and you have more freedom with your designs and marketing strategies. You can do this easily with Shopify or Woocommerce.

To learn about all possible online sales channels for your products, read this post.

Step 4: Design your T Shirt

Everything about your t-shirt selling business’ profitability relies heavily on your designs. It is best to prepare original designs and make them good. Funny, sarcastic, relevant, revolutionary kind of designs work best for youngsters. If you are making designs based on popular culture, be sure to stay within the laws of copyright.

To learn about the design sources for your ecommerce store, you may read this blog post we wrote some time back.

Step 5: Source Your Products

You can source almost all your functions, even designs from freelancers. As for the t-shirts, you can tie up with a dropshipping company which will give you t-shirts printed with your designs as and when required. You don’t have to store an inventory. This will help you make good profits as you don’t have ready stock to manage, bear the cost of products not getting sold and also, you don’t have to spend a huge amount upfront to get started.

Read more: What is Dropshipping

Step 6: Print the Design

For the t-shirts, it would be a good option to consider a Print on Demand (POD) service. You collaborate with a POD company that will print your designs whenever there is an order placed on your ecommerce website. It’s a plus if the company also dropships your product. Another advantage with a POD company is that they have different printing options so you can choose according to the different printing techniques and quantity. There are more printing options for other product ranges too.

Step 7: Marketing Plan

This might be the last step but it is an everlasting function that you have to keep refining throughout your business life. An online t-shirt store’s marketing will work best online. You need to be very specific of what your target audience will be. Here are a few tactics you can apply to grow your brand:

  • Approach Instagram Influencers
  • Facebook and Google Ads
  • Active Digital Presence
  • Blogging and Guest Blogging
  • Offers/Discounts
  • Contests and Campaigns

You really need to explore what marketing tactic is working and what more can you do to increase brand presence. To learn more about it, you can read this post- How to Market Your Dropshipping Business

Step 8: Customer Support and Returns

How to Use Printrove for POD and Dropshipping

Printrove is an online dropshipping company that has a variety of products which brings its clients from across the country. Here are some services Printrove offers that will be helpful to you:

  • White label dropshipping
  • Print on Demand
  • Integration with Shopify and Woocommerce stores
  • A Wide Range of Products
  • Custom Branding Services

You can read more- How to Use Printrove To Build A Successful Online Dropshipping Business

 

Concluding…

Yes, selling t-shirts online can be profitable if your strategy is well thought out and structured. You just need to have a plan and original designs that would be liked by the audience. T-shirts will never go out of style, so that’s a tension off the head. Good luck selling! Check out the website and get going!

7 Little-Known Marketing tips For Your Ecommerce Store

You can score a marketing success easily by just identifying something that no one else has done. Experiment.

Ecommerce marketing is a crucial part of the ecommerce business lifespan and it is the only thing that will promise sales and jumpback after a defeat. Marketing is a broad term and has been in existence for the longest time. It started out with speakers, posters and prints which aimed at telling people about the existence of the brand. Today, it is quite the game changer for a business which makes it a highly competitive sphere.

 

Let’s delve into some tactics that not many marketers are using efficiently:

 

Diversify social media and online discussions

Personalize by writing original content

Contextual Marketing

Reduce abandoned cart

Speak the native language

Be creative with website interaction

Ask for product reviews

#1 Diversify Social Media And Online Discussions

 

Social media is definitely the most used platform for marketing because everyone is on it. It is also a problem for marketing because everyone is on it. Your competition is cut throat and grabbing eyeballs in a generation that has short attention spans- even tougher!

 

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t market on social media, it means you should figure out how you portray your brand and what tactics you can use to be noticed. Popular channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are sales booster but you can try channels that are more specific to your product niche.

 

For example, if photography and quotations are a priority for your brand, Pinterest and Tumblr will help you attract art enthusiasts. LinkedIn works well for your professional image and YouTube for your advertisements.

 

Being an active respondent on Reddit and Quora helps you understand industry questions and participate in discussions to get noticed.

 

#2 Personalize By Writing Original Content

 

Plagiarism will be an offense for every single piece of content you create but bringing original content to the table is what you should be aiming for. By original we mean, an idea that no other brand is using. If you are saying the same thing as other brands but only in a different voice, it won’t make much of an impact.

 

Personalize your content by having an original writing style, brand tone and merchandise. You need to make your customers feel like they belong to you and for that having personalized giveaways, offers, discounts, catchphrases, etc are very helpful.

#3 Contextual Marketing

 

Marketing is all about being at the right place at the right time. You must capitalize on whatever is trending on social media or current affairs at that point of time. Since people are already talking about that topic, your input on the same should be informative or funny to grab attention to your brand.

 

Amul is a great example for contextual marketing. It isn’t an ecommerce brand, but it does give you the right inspiration for your brand.

#4 Reduce Abandoned Cart

 

One of the biggest challenges faced by the ecommerce industry today is abandoned cart. This means the person browses on your website and adds items to the cart, but doesn’t end up buying it. To put it straight, these are sales you are losing out on!

 

You can help resolve this issue by putting a recovery strategy in place. Prepare an email series that reminds them of the abandoned items in their carts. You can entice them by offering a discount and reaching out to them during sale season.

 

Shopify is a platform that provides abandoned cart recovery options. Or, your can go for any ecommerce marketing automation tool, like Drip, ActiveCampaign etc.

 

Read more- Shopify vs Woocommerce

#5 Speak The Native Language

 

The one thing that is easy for the ecommerce industry and not a physical business space is the ability to reach the entire world. A website is accessible to people in all countries and if you are expanding to international business, e-commerce is a good way to do it.

 

When you do reach out to other countries you need to localise your marketing tactics and make content that is relatable to them. The famous quote- “When in Rome, do what the Romans do.” Reach out to people across the world by providing translation features on your store.

#6 Be Creative With Website Interaction

 

It is your business, you can do anything with it. You set the rules and regulations, and you can tweak it to your fancy. To stand out from your competition, be creative in aspects they haven’t explored. For example, your resources section could be more interactive and humorous. You can have fun FAQs answers and add weird facts to your knowledge base. Your website design can be creative with visually pleasing videos, animations and graphics.

Just make everything about your store unique.

Visit- Printrove Website

#7 Ask For Product Reviews

This might seem like a redundant marketing tip but we are focusing on why and how you can benefit from product reviews. You most certainly will get a reality check on how your product is doing and where the scope of improvement is, but you can also use product reviews to keep your customers engaged.

 

Most people won’t buy your product if they don’t see enough good product reviews on your product page. You gain their trust with the amount of reviews you display. It gives them confidence to pull out their wallets.

 

You can ask your customers directly to give a review of the product and ensure that your product review forms are easy and don’t take up too much time or effort.

In conclusion..

Marketing is an unpredictable function and you may have to deal with things you hadn’t accounted for. But, a good marketer will always rise to the occasion and find a way out of the situation with wit and grace. You just need to be alert and tap potential marketing tactics that could be the big break your business needs!

How Does Dropshipping With Shopify Work

Integration of a dropshipping business with Shopify is your best bet on starting a business that will rapidly grow.

 

The booming e-commerce industry has multiplied the competition level for online sellers which has led to the rise of various platforms. Shopify is one such platform that helps a business grow to its maximum potential, and if it’s a dropshipping business, there is an added advantage.

Let’s understand the concepts of dropshipping and Shopify, and explore how they work together.

Understanding Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a business model that involves 3 parties – seller, dropshipper and customer. The seller owns a store (online/offline) which works in association with a dropshipper.

When the customer places an order, the seller transfers the details to the dropshipper who makes the product, packages it and delivers it to the customer.

The seller does not have a readily available inventory, so when an order is placed, the seller purchases it from a third party which is the dropshipper.

Read more- What is Dropshipping- Guide 101

Understanding Shopify

Shopify is a Canadian based e-commerce company that helps businesses start, manage and run an ecommerce store in its full capacity. It is a completely cloud based system which eliminates the work of upgrading and maintaining the software. This also makes it easy for people to access their store from anywhere in the world.

If you are looking to start a dropshipping business, then shopify would work surprisingly well for that.

Why Choose Shopify for Dropshipping

People who choose to go ahead with a dropshipping business model have already considered the costs, target audience and niche product line that would sell online. By using a platform like Shopify, dropshipping becomes much easier to manage and growth is guaranteed.

Why are we so confident about Shopify working well with dropshipping? Here is why:

Ease of website setup and design

If you are someone who is just starting out with not enough knowledge about website development and design, then Shopify is made for you. The setup is very easy and it offers a variety of design themes to get your store customized and ready to go live.

Faster to Build

Since most of the operational functions like store management and inventory control are taken care of by Shopify, it is built faster and is extremely easy to use.

Wonderful features

There are a million features available on Shopify for your store. Their design themes are built by professionals so there is very little need for any modification.

Exclusive dropshipping apps

Shopify provides exclusive dropshipping apps such as Printrove in India which has an integration for the store set up and takes care of operations such as adding products, fulfillment and sending shipping updates to customers.

If you are choosing between Shopify and Woocommerce, you can read Shopify vs Woocommerce: Which platform to choose?

How does Dropshipping with Shopify work?

Since Shopify already has a setup for dropshippers, its interface and functions are also specific to dropshipping. For example, Printrove has an integration with Shopify which helps the customers to start a store using Shopify as a trial.

This integration of Printrove with Shopify helps the seller in this way :

  • Seller gets a fully functional store and then has to install the Printrove App to have their operations in sync.
  • The seller can easily connect his domain to the store which will become personalised and give a complete brand experience for his online store.
  • Many third-party Payment gateway options are available with Shopify, to accept payments through cards, wallets and net banking, covering all the digital payment methods.
  • An SSL Certificate comes as a standard security protocol for a Shopify store.
  • Smooth functioning of the business because Shopify looks after everything such as web hosting, caching and security along with dropshipping and ecommerce aspect.

You can get a Shopify Trial with Printrove.

7 Steps For Creating a Dropshipping Store on Shopify

Step 1: Create an account

The most obvious beginning to any store, create an account on Shopify and choose a free trial to get started. Here, you should have your product niche and brand name fixed. Once you fill in the details, Shopify will ask a few more questions like physical address, and if you have any existing products on sale.

With Printrove, you get a free Shopify trial store so you get started with your business immediately and don’t need to create an account separately on Shopify.

Step 2: Add products

Once you have registered, you will be directed to the Shopify dashboard where all your operations will happen. You can begin by choosing design theme, adding a domain name and products. By adding products first, you will be able to easily decide on the design of the store and the domain name.

Printrove’s integration with Shopify helps you add products to your store in single click.

Step 3: Design your website

Your products are now uploaded so you can move to designing and setting up your store. You can click on the “Online Store” in your backend and get started. Shopify offers a variety of themes that are free. If you have the budget, you can also explore their marketplace for more theme options.

Step 4: Add a domain

You will be getting a URL from Shopify regardless of your domain set up. It is better to have a personalized domain name as that will make your business look professional.

Click on “Online Store” where you will get 3 options- 1) Transfer third party domain 2) Transfer a domain 3) Purchase a new domain.

Step 5: Choose a Drop Shipper and Set Up Payment

Shopify already gives you app integrations of a variety of dropshippers that you can choose from as mentioned above. You just have to select on a dropshipper and then set up payment. Shopify has some default third party payment options which you can select and set up your payment mechanism.

Printrove Dropshipping works with Shopify well, because:

  • You get a Shopify trial store for free so you can explore
  • Getting the Printrove App for Shopify will automate all your functions
  • You can easily import products from your Merchant panel to your Shopify store for print on demand and drop shipping.
  • Order fulfillment and delivery will be handled by Printrove so you don’t have to manage inventory. The collaboration of Printrove with various delivery companies ensures on time delivery.
  • Automatic updates will be sent to the customer regarding the shipping details.
  • Tracking the shipment options helps you locate your orders directly from the Merchant panel.
  • You can get your team on board based on their roles because of the multiple user support on Shopify

Step 6: Select a Plan

If you have registered for the 14 day free trial, you can now scale up to having a paid plan by just entering your credit card details. If you get your Shopify store with Printrove, then you get a trial account.

Step 7: Customer Support

The reason dropshipping and shopify work remarkably well together is that they both understand the importance of marketing and after sales services. When its an online store, you are answerable to your clients in more ways than just one.

With dropshipping, you get more time to market as the production and fulfillment is done by a dropshipper. With shopify, your store is managed and well set up, which again, gives you time to brand it well.

Use the advantage of both to grow your business by knowing How to Market Your Dropshipping Business Online.

Shopify provides you with customer support services that are imperative for your business to establish trust with the customers and improve from their feedback.

To Conclude…

Dropshipping and Shopify work well together and can be considered as the best option for your ecommerce business start. To be able to use the robust Shopify platform at the very beginning of your business can be an added advantage for you, and that’s why Printrove offers the shopify trial. Huge opportunities come your way as you get to experiment and play with your product designs as well as the architecture of your Shopify store.

How well you’re able to manage your orders with your dropshipping supplier can also be tested right here. Need help in picking up the right dropshipping supplier for your ecommerce business? Check this out.

 

Shopify v/s Woocommerce: Which platform to choose?

The decision to choose between shopify and woocommerce is all a matter of what your current priorities are for your store.

Overview of Shopify and Woocommerce

Things to Consider for Your e-commerce Platform

Basis of comparison: Shopify vs Woocommerce

 

Our choices make us what we are and when it comes to growing your business, there is no room for- “ I didn’t have a choice”. You always have a choice to go beyond substandard means of accomplishing tasks and choosing what is best for your business.

We understand your business is your baby and you would want the best for it, which is why if you are looking to set up an ecommerce business, we have options for you and comparisons.

Overview of Shopify and Woocommerce

Before jumping right into the comparison, let us begin with what these stores do individually.

Shopify

You are rid of the tension of web hosting, caching, security etc because Shopify does it for you. It is an ecommerce platform for entrepreneurs to set up their own stores and accept payments in one place so you don’t have to be on multiple platforms to get things done.

Woocommerce

It is an e-commerce plugin that has been built for WordPress which gives you a Content Management System to run your online business. There is enough liberty to customize your store because of Woocommerce’s open-source nature.

While they are both wonderful in their own capacity, you can choose the one for you based on your needs.

Things to Consider for Your E-commerce platform

Since you are starting out with your store, it is important to lay down objectives and determine your metrics that represent your growth scale. Along with this, for your e-commerce store, you need to decide the following:

Budget- The primary decision since that will decide how much initial cost you are agreeing to spend for a fully functional ecommerce store.

User Interface- As you are just a beginner, find a portal that is user-friendly so you won’t be spending too much time in learning the software.

Scalability- The platform should be able to support your business efficiently as it grows and expands in terms of business and product expansions.

Integration- Decide the number of services and third-party tools you want to use and integrate them to grow your business.

Payment Options- Any business should be able to offer multiple payment options so the customer can pay in the method that suits them.

Basis of Comparison: Shopify vs Woocommerce

Cost of the platform

Starting a business, you need to consider all kinds of costs that you will have to incur with initial capital, variable costs and setting up the e-commerce store.

Shopify- The basic plan starts at $29 monthly and if you decide to upgrade it will be $79. There is also an advanced Shopify Plan for $299. This is a good option if you want to start right away and have Shopify help you out.

Woocommerce- It is freely available as it is a wordpress plug-in. You will need a domain name, SSL Certificate and WordPress account to use Woocommerce. A domain will cost approximately $14.99, certificate of $69.99 and an account for $7.99 based on the services you choose. If you already have this, then Woocommerce doesn’t cost anything.

If you are someone who is just starting out then it would better to choose shopify as it looks after all the technical aspects.

Is it easy to use?

Shopify- It’s very easy to use because Shopify by itself manages your products, sales and inventory, so you don’t have to worry about it. While this is a plus, it can also mean you don’t have enough control over the functions of your website.

This may not be as problematic because hopify also provides a lot of options which are good enough to start off with.

Woocommerce- There is complete freedom to design and manage all the operations of the website exactly how you want it to be. However, woocommerce is not a hosting platform which means you will need to install it and manage the website security as well as updates. Backing up your content would also be a regular function with Woocommerce but they do have some automation options.

The Features

With Shopify, there are a lot of existing ecommerce tools that come in the basic version. They are helpful in selling, some of them are:

  • Website and blog
  • Discount codes
  • Unlimited products
  • Abandoned Cart recovery
  • Built in Inventory Management

The one thing Shopify has and Woocommerce doesn’t is the abandoned cart recovery option. This is very important with ecommerce business because the customer will have a better website experience. They won’t have to fill in the details of the products they had selected again. This way you don’t lose sales.

Woocommerce, on the other hand also has a great set of features, such as:

  • No restriction on customization
  • Built-in Blogging
  • Free WordPress plug-ins
  • No shortage of themes
  • Uptime and Pagespeed
  • SEO optimization

Designs and Themes available

Shopify

The designs and themes available on Shopify are outsourced which means they have been made by professionals. The quality of design is supreme and the themes are current and engaging. The colour palette has ample options and it is also mobile responsive.

If you aren’t happy with the design, customizing them is easy.

Woocommerce

It opens a window to the world of possibilities because you can do anything you want with your website. It would be a perfect fit for you if you are wanting to experiment and make something of your own from scratch. However, you really need to invest a lot of time when using Woocommerce.

The time it takes to build

You first need to determine if you need a website setup fast so you can begin with selling or you want to spend more time on the set up to let it match your expectations.

If you are choosing the former, Shopify is an option for you. Your store will get live sooner and as a beginner it will be easier to manage the operations because Shopify manages most of it.

If you are choosing the latter, Woocommerce is your best bet. You need to have a higher degree of knowledge in website building and designing to use Woocommerce. If you have someone with the technical know-how, you will have the website you are dreaming of. Only drawback is that it will take longer to make.

Payment Options Provided

This is a crucial option you need to provide for your customers because they will find freedom is choosing payment method convenient for them. The more convenience you give, the more sales it drives.

Both Shopify and Woocommerce provide around 100 payment gateways. In India, they work on third party gateways such as:

  • PayU
  • PayTM
  • PayPal
  • RazorPay
  • CCAvenue
  • Cashfree

They also accept different payment methods like Cash on Delivery, Net Banking, Credit/Debit Card, EMI, Wallet, UPI and PayPal.

These third party payment gateways charge a 2% transaction fee on your transactions, so here, shopify and woocommerce stand on the same position!

Customer support

Shopify wins here, again!

A 24/7 customer support available over the phone, email and chat. You just need to give some helpful guides, forums and setup wizard, Shopify looks after the rest.

Acknowledging your customer queries and grievances is a very big part of managing your business. It expands your scope of improvement and helps you retain customers despite their issue with your company. This is your way of keeping your customers happy.

Woocommerce does not have any customer support option as it is more about making your own website. The focus is placed entirely on the building of a website. Since you already have a technical expert on board for Woocommerce, the customer support would be managed by them.

Shopify customer support is good for people who need engineers and advisers.

Have you reached your decision yet?

Let us summarize it for you:

Shopify

  • Faster website building
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Customer support services
  • Easy to use

Woocommerce

  • Freedom of customizing website
  • WordPress plug in
  • Create own designs and themes
  • Suitable for advanced use

If you have arrived at a decision of which platform to pick and are looking to dropship, then we are happy to tell you Printrove has an integration with both Shopify and Woocommerce! You can effortlessly push products from the Printrove Merchant Panel directly to the store of your choice. If you are choosing Shopify, then we can help you with getting started by providing a Free Shopify Trial.

How to Make a Business Plan for your e-commerce store

Without a plan, you are just a sailor with no wind in your sails and no direction you want to arrive at.

 

Importance of Business Plan

Things to do before making business plan

Elements of an e-commerce business plan

 

 

An idea can come to you anywhere and anytime, what matters is if you are capitalizing on it. There are so many ideas that have popped in our heads and we have delayed working on it due to sheer laziness. So, if you are here researching on your crazy business idea, then we applaud you for your diligence. You have won half the battle already!

Importance of Business Plan

“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”- J.R.R Tolkien

The author was speaking of an imaginary world, but it could be applicable in real world scenarios too. Think about it, starting a business without a contingency plan for risks, like the dragon, would be negligent. Along with planning for your business, you need to find all the elements that will affect your business directly or indirectly.

Business Planning will make or break your business. Without a plan, you are just a sailor with no wind in your sails and no direction you want to arrive at.

You can read more- Business Models

Business Planning will help you:

Account for risks and weaknesses

Knowing the strength of your competitor and the potential risks that your business could face will help you prepare for it better. It will help you understand where your weakness lies and how you could work on improving. Knowing is better than ignorance.

Communicate with Stakeholders

Your business plan will help you find a direction and motto which can be communicated to the investor, employee or partner easily. It is a tool that will put your business ideas on paper and if the stakeholders like the direction you are taking, you have successfully convinced them.

Make better decisions

Your focus doesn’t get concentrated in one aspect of your business, say- sales strategy. With a business plan, you work on management, human resources, finance, marketing etc with equal attention, hence helping you take informed decisions.

Getting funds for your business

Potential investors will want to see a written document of your business plan before they finalize on you. It is better to give them a detailed and thorough plan so they are on the same page as you. Your funding will depend on how good and professional your business plan will be.

Things to do before making business plan

Determine when you need to have a plan

It’s a trick question. You always need to have a plan. However, a business plan needs to be put in place when you are starting something, for example: You are just starting out with your business, you are looking for funding or if you are venturing into a new niche within your existing business.

Research on competition

You can begin to make your plan by researching on requirements as well as taking inspiration from companies that are in the same niche as yours, i.e competitors. It will help you understand what strategy is working for them and what isn’t.

Find a promising niche

You need to be unique in what you are selling, that is the only way an audience will come to you. You have to give the customer what they want and aren’t getting elsewhere. So, do a heavy research on what you want to sell.

Starting an Online store

The first step would be obvious- building a website. You can try Shopify as it is a platform completely dedicated to building ecommerce stores and managing them. Shopify is easier to use as compared to other website development options because it has minimal manual work. Since you are new to the ecommerce world, it has a lot of resources providing information about online selling.

Dropshipping would be a great option for new sellers as it is budget friendly.

You can learn more – What is Dropshipping 101

Printrove is a dropshipping company that gives you a free Shopify trial.

Starting out on a platform like Shopify will help you kick-start your business.

Elements of an e-commerce business plan

The choice to enter an e-commerce business at this time is proactive and wise because recent studies have projected an 84 billion ecommerce market by 2021 in the country.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t rid you of the responsibilities and meticulous planning an e-commerce business plan requires.

Ask yourself these questions and their answers will lead you to a concrete business plan.

What is your business model?

How do you want to deliver your products?

What sales channels will suit your business?

What is your marketing method and budget?

What is the pricing of your product and profit margin?

How do you plan to launch your business?

Once you have established answers for these questions, you’ll have a rough sketch on what to put in your e-commerce business plan. You can arrange it according to the following elements:

Executive Summary

You will be writing this at the end but it will be an outline that will cover your entire plan. Organization of your content will make things clearer for you and also avoid extra work. Your selling point will strongly emerge in this summary.

You will have to include these in your summary:

  • Your mission statement which should be crisp and reach the point you are making directly.
  • The objectives you will be targeting, there can be many objectives but ensure they all work towards a singular goal.
  • The essential information of start date, founders, key players etc.
  • Product information because that is your main pitch
  • Growth plan

Company Description

This will be a longer description of your summary, delving deeply into your company information and how you choose to describe it. It will include:

  • Stating who the ownership mantle belongs to
  • what the business model will be
  • what are the company requirements
  • how will the operations go about.

Products

This is where you emphasize on what product you are selling and how will it be a success. You have to account for:

  • Expenses of raw materials and production
  • Method of acquiring the product
  • Determining the life cycle of the product so you’re aware of how often you need to update
  • Making a strong distinction of the product from its competitors

Market Analysis

This involves defining who your target audience is and how you plan to attract them towards your store. The research and analysis will help you strategize your sales and marketing plans.

Under this element, you will be studying about the market segmentation, competition and industry.

Marketing Strategy

Like any other business, even an ecommerce store will have to put in place a competitive marketing strategy to boost sales. Being an ecommerce store, you will have a good digitally active audience so you should use it to your benefit.

  • Prepare a content strategy for social media and website
  • Promote your store with Online and Offline Ads
  • Hire a PR team to look after your media mentions
  • Write catchy taglines

You can read more – How to Market Your Ecommerce Business with Dropshipping

Operation Plan

It might sound tedious and redundant but it is important. Your operation plan will include deciding on the the office hours, employees, location and management team. This part of the plan will be the main activity you will be doing the entire day. So, plan well for your hours and employees because they are huge contributors to your business.

Financial Plan

You can still forget about making a business plan but you can’t escape from making a finance plan!

Financial planning will reduce risks or surprises of sudden losses because you have accounted for them already. You will only achieve success if your financial planning has been smart and you haven’t incurred a lot of losses.

You mainly have to account for the raw operational cost as the capital remains fixed, current assets and profit/loss projections. This operating cost will be of raw materials, production, advertising, compensation etc.

Introducing dropshipping into your ecommerce business can help you cut down on a lot of costs. Learn about the pros and cons of dropshipping here.

Growth Tracker

How will you judge if you have done well without celebrating the small victories? It is very important for employee morale and company growth that you set small targets and acknowledge them when you achieve them. It will become a regular motivational boost.

Your growth tracker will be defined by you, so it can be getting a blue tick on social media or getting your first bulk order, it is up to you. It can be smaller goals such as crossing 100 likes on Instagram and getting 5 positive reviews.

The next step..

Once you have your business plan ready, it is time to approach investors and get the funding you need for your business. It can seem a little intimidating to have so many things in place, but when you have a plan, you have a direction. Without a direction, you will be just a headless chicken running around!

Dropshipping Supply Chain and Fulfillment Process

Order Fulfillment and Effective Supply Chain operation is key to having a successful Dropshipping business.

What is Dropshipping

How does Dropshipping Work

The Supply Chain for a Dropshipping Business Model

What is Supply Chain Management

Why is Supply Chain Management Important for Dropshippers

 

What makes us who we are today? Our journey through life. In a slightly less philosophical association, a supply chain is the journey of a product – from the ideation stage to reaching the end customer as a finished product. The fulfillment process, on the other hand, is about how the order placed gets delivered and this is where dropshipping comes into the picture.

Let’s break down this complex concept into smaller parts.

What is Dropshipping?

It is an inventory-less ecommerce business model in which there are 3 parties involved: The seller, the customer and the dropshipping company.

When a customer places an order on the seller’s website, the seller notifies the dropshipping company about it who makes the product, packages it and gets it delivered. This means that the production happens only when an order is placed and the seller only has to manage the website and its marketing.

You can read more about Dropshipping here.

How Does Dropshipping Work?

A dropshipping model would look something like this:

  • Customer places an order on the website
  • Once the order is placed, seller informs drop shipper
  • Drop shipper makes the product
  • Product is packaged and delivered to end customer by drop shipper
  • Payment is made by the end customer to seller which is cumulative of drop shipping charges as well as profit for the merchant.

You can read about its profitability in India here.

The Supply Chain for a Dropshipping Business Model

Manufacturers → Wholesalers → Retailers

Manufacturers are the ones who, as the word suggests, make the product. Right from the ideation stage to the final product stage, manufacturer looks after the production.

They don’t directly sell the product to the end customer instead they sell it to wholesalers and retailers who sell it to the customers.

If you are buying from a manufacturer, then the costs are comparatively lower but you will have to place a bulk order.

Wholesalers are the ones who buy in bulk from the manufacturers, might or might not make slight changes to the product and then sell them to retailers. They also have a minimum bulk order criteria but it is generally much lower than the manufacturer bulk order requirements.

Retailers purchase from the wholesalers and sell it directly to the end customer. It can be anyone who is selling (not necessarily fulfilling) and is in direct contact with their customers.

Dropshipping can come into this chain at any point because any of these parties can provide the services of dropshipping. It is an invisible helping hand that keeps the business going.

For example, if the manufacturer also provides dropshipping services, then the product will be made, packed and delivered by him under the brand name of the wholesaler/retailer.

Here, the original seller does not need to have a ready inventory at their business location.They are just outsourcing it from the dropshipping company.

The dropshipping company only stores the stock and ships it when there is an order placed.

What Is Supply Chain Management?

It is managing the supply chain process in a manner that it works effectively without any glitches or miscommunications. It is an intangible source (because management can’t be touched) more like a controller, that ensures the smooth functioning of the supply chain.

A lot of companies hire Supply Chain Management Professionals because they are operating on a huge scale and with expansion comes a lot of responsibility.

Why Is Supply Chain Management Important For Dropshippers?

With a pumping market expansion and merging of global boundaries, it is important to manage your supply chain process for a smooth business operation.

While it is an ideal option for inventory business models, it applies to dropshipping companies too. Without a disciplined supply chain management, the manufacturer would end up making too much or too less of the stock and if there is a problem in one part of the chain, everyone else is affected, including dropshipper.

Online dropshippers usually work with technology and customer relations so it is important for them to be aware of the stock requirements and be able to assess or predict market demand. The fulfillment of the order is everything that dropshipping aims for and hence a supply chain management is important.

Concluding..

Dropshipping business model would help a seller in terms of inventory storage, order fulfillment, packaging and of course, production. This can help an online seller be location-independent and focus heavily on the marketing and business development strategies. So, even though there is an invisible force existing in the supply chain (dropshipping), the white label services make it a credible one.

How To Market Your Drop shipping Business Online

Develop a well defined marketing strategy and engage in conversations that are relevant to your industry

 

There is no dream big enough that can’t be achieved and by that we mean, make the impossible attainable. If you are starting out as an entrepreneur in the e-commerce world and you have chosen to partner with a dropshipping company, you can do so much with your business. Your production and delivery is handled by the dropshipper and thus, you can focus on business development and marketing.

Marketing is a wide spectrum and to hit the right note can be intimidating. Your research on the market structure and buyer personas need to be crisp and relevant. Use all the information you have and channel it in the direction you want your brand to take.

The thing with marketing is that you aren’t just selling your product, you have to sell a thought, an ideology or a lifestyle along with it.

So figure out what your business future should look like and then when you arrive at the marketing strategy, you can refer to the points below.

Here is How you Market Your Dropshipping Business

  1. Build Trust

No business will survive unless your customers have established a firm confidence in you. Like most human relationships, a business relationship also requires you to put in a lot of effort. You need to be more interactive with your audience and make them believe about your transparency in operations.

You can do this by adding testimonials to your website of your existing or past clients, customers or partners who will speak about their experience with you.

Adding a customer review page will also help because it will make it easier for you to grow your brand. Potential customers could refer to past reviews and then come at a purchase decision.

The bad reviews can be taken into serious consideration for product improvement and your response to them will also make the customer realize that you aren’t leaving them high and dry.

2. Set Your Marketing Budget

You first need to identify who your target audience is and what channels you need to use to reach them. If your product is targeting a teenage audience, then social media would be the best bet. You can run google ads and facebook ads to get their attention but do it keeping in mind the budget you have.

If you think your marketing strategy is definitely getting you sales then it won’t hurt to invest more in your budget. At the end of the day, your product will only sell if people know about it.

3. Find Your Niche Audience

Just like you would look for a group that shares the same interests as yours, you should look for groups that your niche audience hangs out in. Find discussion forums like Reddit, Quora and Tumblr and participate in the discussions there.

Don’t try to aggressively market your brand as they are there to seek more information on the subject. The more credible your information, the more people will look towards your product.

4. Free Samples To Influencers

One of the best ways to make sales is by getting affiliates for your brand. Most affiliates are bloggers and influencers on social media who have a good range of followers and can reach a wider audience.

Here, your audience is already defined for you and you are directly interacting with them. Provide free samples to your influencers so they can try it and write about it in a way that will appeal to their audience.

Free samples will get you more affiliates and they will get the freedom to actually try the product and experiment with it.

5. Communicate With Bloggers And Press

It might sound redundant but it is actually very important to stay in touch with bloggers and the media houses. The new updates on your store will be covered by these platforms and it will only make your outreach circle wider.

Your comments and mention on blog posts will drive more traffic to your website because only people interested in your industry will be reading up on them.

6. Email Marketing

Despite the emergence of social media, emails don’t lose their ground. They are the epitome of the online world expansion. For professional and business deals, email marketing is the best option. There are a lot of things you can manage to cover when you have an email list of your target audience and existing customers.

Follow up is a very important function as it helps you understand the customer’s perspective and reminds them of your existence. Follow up email series will help in getting a response from your customers and taking the conversation forward.

Promotional emails create awareness in a more professional and organized manner as you will be providing them with all the necessary details and because you are personally addressing them, they will feel important.

Newsletters will help you update your existing customers of what is new at your company and what do you plan to come up with next. All doubts and queries could also be solved when you are personally emailing them.

7. Encourage Sharing Of Your Content

The “word of mouth” version of the online business world is sharing of your profile and links to the website by people who already follow you. You can also approach friends and family for this, get as many people you know to share your social media profiles and websites.

It helps in spreading the word and once people see that there have been so many shares, it automatically makes them believe that so many people trust your brand.

Concluding..

You have an added advantage when you drop ship: Time. That’s right, you will get abundant time to focus on marketing and business developments which can help you cross your own expectations of business growth. The only thing is you need to believe you can make it big and work diligently on achieving that.

How to Build A Trust-able Brand with Dropshipping

With more time and power in your hands to handle your business, dropshipping helps you in creating a trustworthy brand despite the division of work.

  • Understanding Dropshipping and Why it works
  • What is Branding and Why is it Important
  • How do you build a trustable brand with Dropshipping

While Shakespeare must have questioned “What’s in a name?”, businesses may have also pondered upon the importance of having a brand name. Dropshipping is a relatively new concept and because of the delivery and production being in the drop shipping company’s hand, it might seem impossible to create a trustable brand. Well, that is not true.

Let us understand this with more details.

Understanding Dropshipping and Why It Works

The thing with e-commerce businesses is that for the rest of world it looks easy but in reality it is just as tough as any other business model. The set of risks and problems are different from the traditional methods but, there are risks.

Traditional businesses would probably opt for products that aren’t niche just to save losses from experimentation. E-commerce gives you an audience that is looking for something beyond the regular range of products (it is moving to ecommerce for regular products as well now) and it can be difficult to ascertain the profit margins and contingent losses.

Dropshipping comes to rescue ecommerce businesses by providing them a service that can promise convenience, timeliness and credibility. In short, Dropshipping is a business model in which a seller works with a third party company (dropshipping company) to produce and deliver their products.

The online business of the seller displays a variety of products and once the order is placed, the dropshipper prepares it and delivers it to the end customer.

Still confused? Read- What is Dropshipping

The advantages? You are saving on:

  • Money
  • Workforce
  • Inventory
  • Location Rent
  • Divided attention to business activities

Have a good look at the Pros and Cons of Dropshipping to make an informed decision.

Once you have shared the responsibility with a drop shipper, you can concentrate on the core business operations like: Marketing, Expansion and Branding.

What is Branding and Why is it Important

In its purest definition, branding is what differentiates you from your competition. Think about a brand you like and list down the things you remember about it. For example, you like coca cola.

What do you notice about it?

The brand name: Coca Cola (Coke)

The brand colour: Red and White

The brand tagline: Taste the feeling

There might be many things more that you remember about coca cola like the emotionally impactful advertisements or their sponsorship in huge events. The point is, you don’t call it cola or soda anymore. Coca cola is a brand name that has become a representative for the soft drink industry as a whole.

This is the importance of Branding- making your product seem like the only product in the market.

Your business gets its own recognition because of a unique logo that people remember as your brand. The logo is the face of your company and it should be an easy but powerful one so people remember it.

Your business value increases because of your brand image which will make it easier for you to launch more products and services. You will also benefit because of the referrals coming in as you generate new customers.

You will be able to establish loyalty in your customers as well as employees because they will want to belong to a brand name. Branding also gives you a professional edge and presence in the marketplace because your company name defines you.

There are many advantages to branding and even if you are in a dropshipping business collaboration, branding is important and possible.

How Do You Build a Trustable Brand With Dropshipping

It is similar to building a brand regardless of a dropshipping company involvement, however, there are a few functions that will be specific to dropshipping.

Let’s begin:

  1. Create a Brand

People live for the stories. The journey is more fascinating to an onlooker than the final destination a person has arrived on. You need to spill your brand story all over the brand as this will act as a USP. Create a brand story with essential details and glorify parts which you think define your brand.

It is important to create a brand because it serves the most crucial purpose – sets you apart from your competition.

Notice all the leading brand competitions and how you think of them as different:

KFC and Mcdonald’s

Cafe Coffee Day and Barista

Adidas and Nike

2. Decide your Brand focus and Tone

You need to have a mission statement which will make your objectives clearer for you as well as your audience. That one thing which you are offering and the purpose behind it needs to be defined so the focus of your brand has a direction.

The second thing you need to decide is the tone that you want your brand to showcase. Are you a sarcastic brand, funny brand, young brand, professional brand?

Your taglines, advertisements, social media interactions and discussions will determine this. Choosing a tone heavily depends on what audience you are targeting, for example – Apple has a superior and classy tone as it is targeting an upper middle class audience – “if you don’t have an iPhone, you don’t have an iPhone”

3. Choose a Name

This is what your audience is going to call you when they speak about you to other people. Make sure it is a simple and approachable name. You can choose a name that subtly hints at what your brand does or do the complete opposite.

There are a lot of options you could use to name your brand, you can even make up words or merge two words. Make a list of all the options you want to consider and then based on popular opinion, settle for a brand name.

For example- Our brand name- Printrove is derived from two words:

Print- which means our print on demand option, hints at what our brand does

Trove- means a treasure chest, stating our variety of options

4. Write a catchy tagline

Taglines are everything. When you attach a catchphrase to your brand, your popularity will speak of it indefinitely. Every discussion forum will address it, everyone will remember your brand by this tagline, every competitor will target it etc.

A good tagline will put your brand in focus and in everyday conversations. There have been so many great taglines used by brands that have made them so popular:

McDonalds- I’m lovin it

Tata Tea – Jaago Re

Pepsi – Oh yes Abhi

L’oreal – Because you’re worth it

Garnier – Take Care

KFC – It’s finger licking good

Jockey – Jockey or nothing

5. Design a Logo

We cannot emphasize enough on how important it is to design a good logo. This is the first point of contact your audience has with your brand. You need to have a logo that is a combination of creative and simple.

The colour scheme you choose, the fonts, the size of the font, the background etc matter a lot when you are designing a logo.

Be sure to have a logo that you would want your audience to remember as it will be a part of all your events, sponsorships, packaging etc.

6. Plan a Sales and Marketing Strategy

Since you are collaborating with a dropshipping company, you get more time to focus on your marketing and sales strategy.

Choose which sales channel you want to use and what kind of audience are you targeting. For marketing, outdoor and indoor marketing methods need to be considered. Your logo, brand name and tagline will appear up close for everyone to see and you should make sure it is correctly placed,whether on a hoarding or a pamphlet.

Social media marketing will also work wonders for you as this is where you can give your brand a voice and tone by the kind of posts you publish.

7. Be Original when Dropshipping

You need to keep one thing in mind when you are dropshipping that your dropshipper is providing the same products to a lot of other companies as well. This means that the product quality and build is the same and you can’t change that.

What you can change and make your product still unique is the design. Choose a dropshipping company that gives you an option to print your own designs on the products.

Your brand logo will anyway be differentiating you from your competitors but a specific design will be your USP.

8. Request for White Label Services

White Label services mean that the dropshipping company will be producing and delivering products but under the brand name of the seller. So, every function which requires a brand name will be attached to the seller’s brand name:

  • Label on Products will be of the Seller’s Brand
  • Custom Brand Pack Ins which include small notes or coupons of the Seller’s brand
  • Custom Packaging with the Seller’s brand logo and design
  • Custom Shipping notifications which update the end customer about shipment under the brand name and not the shipping company

You can learn more on how to find the right dropshipper here.

Concluding…

Contrary to the popular preconceived notion that branding is not possible with dropshipping, we hope this article clears that doubt because dropshipping is much more than what the definition provides. A wide range of possibilities open up when you dropship and handle business operations with dedicated focus. Printrove offers Custom Branding Services which can fulfill all your requirements.

Is Dropshipping Profitable In India

Drop shipping is an extravagant and slightly risky business whose profitability heavily relies on your product type. If your product is niche and in high demand, you will be flourishing. If not, the loss won’t be as much since you don’t have a ready inventory.

Coming to India, Drop shipping has worked wonders for many drop shippers and over time the customer experience has also improved. Let us understand this better.

How Does Drop Shipping Work?

An inventory-less business model, drop shipping has 3 parties involved in its process: The seller, the end customer and the drop shipping company.

A seller sets up an online store which displays the products. A customer navigates on this ecommerce website and finds the product he is looking for.

Once the order is placed, the seller informs the drop shipping company. The dropshipping company then makes the product, packages it and delivers it to the end customer.

Under ideal circumstances, the work gets divided between the seller and the drop shipping company and good coordination between them gives the customer a good experience.

When it comes to India, drop shipping is definitely a profitable business because of many reasons. If it is not working out well, then you might find the reasons for the same listed below.

Reasons why Drop shipping works in India

Dropshipping is a hit concept and a profitable one in India because there is so much scope of growth and experimentation in the market here. Here are a few reasons why it works:

 

  1. Cost effective: For new businesses, drop shipping can help in saving the initial costs as well as later costs. It is a budget-friendly and easy-on-the-pockets business model, which can sail your business to new heights. For developing countries, this is a really good option.
  2. Lowered risk: The risk of loss isn’t as significant in drop shipping as other companies because there is no stock left. A product is made only when the demand arises. For Indian companies, this can be helpful in not attracting huge losses considering the shipping and tax costs are also a lot.
  3. Internet Penetration: In the last decade, internet penetration in India has scaled a very high margin which has made online selling a very big deal. People are using internet on their phones and the convenience has led to them to order things online rather than go buy them from brick-and-mortar stores.
  4. No Inventory hassle: There is no unnecessary headache about where to keep the inventory and then aggressively market to make sure all of it is sold. It eases the pressure of selling as you are not directly responsible for production. India has a higher cost of goods and taxation, so dropshipping offers the solution where it’s possible to only produce as much as you can sell.
  5. Automated Functions: If you notice, dropshipping functions can easily become automated which makes it easier to concentrate on other business aspects such as branding, marketing and business development. Functions like- placing orders, tracking orders, setting prices, performance review, promotions, ads etc can all be automated and don’t require you to manage them on a regular basis.
  6. Purchasing Power: Another major development that has taken place in India is the increase in purchasing power due to more disposable income. People want to buy more and are aware of brands that are popular across the globe. For example- A few years back, did you imagine having a closet full of Manchester United merchandise? People are more specific and ready to spend now.
  7. Niche Products Availability: Like the example above, bringing niche products to India is attaining power in your own hands. Electronics, merchandise, clothes, books etc become more of value because it is what the people exactly want. For example- if you are selling T-shirts with popular culture quotes or you are giving signed celebrity posters, it can make your business fly.
  8. Supplier Language benefit: India is a great country for many reasons, one reason being that we are a land that speaks multiple languages. English, being one of our greatest strengths, helps us in interacting with many countries, thus, widening our market space. This leads to getting more options for delivery and purchase across and outside India.
  9. Location Independent: You are saving on rent cost because you don’t really need to have an office. The ‘Work from Home’ idea can be put to use if you are an online seller because all you need is a laptop and well, the right business sense.

 

Reasons Why Dropshipping Wouldn’t Work

Despite the many advantages, if your drop shipping based ecommerce business isn’t faring well, then the reasons could be:

 

  • High cost of goods and taxes can increase overall costs tremendously leading them into a loss.

 

  • Sometimes, the shipping time can be more than usual because of inadequate transportation or not enough funding for smaller distribution channels.

 

  • Since it is a new concept, customers might be resistant to it and question the credibility of the company if it is being delivered by someone else.

 

  • Refunds and Returns become a difficult task as the entire process has to reverse. It is time consuming and may attract a loss.

 

  • The fundamental reason drop shipping is not working out may be the quality of the product. Like every business, even drop shipping has to give something of value to the customers.

 

  • If the seller’s website looks cluttered and the behaviour is unprofessional, then it might affect customer experience vastly. Improper coordination between the seller and the drop shipping company is also a show of unprofessional behaviour.

You can deal with all these problems by finding the right drop shipper and figuring out a way of building a good coordination between you and your drop shipper. Plan a good budget keeping in mind the shipping and taxation costs so you can still make a good profit.

India is a growing market and starting a drop shipping business could work wonders for you. Just find the right niche, and the right drop shipping partner! Here is how you can start your dropshipping business.

PRICING CALCULATION

The final price of the product is calculated by adding the product price, taxes and shipping.

The displayed product price includes the cost of the blank product and the printing charges. There are no additional printing charges applied for this product. 

Goods and Services Tax is charged on the product price.

Shipping is charged at flat Rs. 60 for a 500 gram package. Cash on delivery is available at Rs. 50 charged extra. View detailed info.

SCREEN PRNTING vs DTG vs DTF