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A wave of e-commerce across the Indian Subcontinent has cleared the pathway for new business models such as Drop Shipping. It can be quite confusing to grasp this at one go but we have made it simple and structured for you.

What is Dropshipping?

In its simplest sense, Dropshipping is a third party company that works in association with an online seller. The seller does not have a readily available inventory as the product is purchased by the dropshipping company only when an order is placed.

A normal business model would look like this:

• Customer places an order on the website.
• Once the order is placed the owner of the website (seller) finds the stock
• The product is packaged and shipped to end customer by the seller
• Payment is made by the end customer to the seller

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

Pros and Cons of Dropshipping

This means that drop shipping is a third company that makes products on demand for online sellers so they don’t have to keep ready inventory and worry about production.

This way the online seller isn’t incurring any heavy initial investment costs which can be a great option for new companies to kick start their business. Due to the division of work, there is enough focus on all aspects of business operations then. There is no compulsion of location because it is an online domain where selling and purchasing is taking place.

There are some downsides to drop shipping too. Your reliance on a third party increases because they are doing the main part of the business. The profit margins are on a lower side as you have to divide the cost between your company and the dropshipper.

Every business is risky, it’s up to you which risk you choose to take. That makes all the difference.

You can read more- Pros and Cons of Dropshipping

Let us show you how Printrove makes it an easy process

f you are looking for a drop shipper and don’t know what metrics to consider, then let us guide you. It can be overwhelming enough to decide on drop shipping, then comes the next crucial step- finding the right drop shipper.

You must be aware of their performance with other clients, the quality of their products, what services do they provide- branding and tracking notifications, customer experience, delivery time etc. A lot needs to be taken into consideration when collaborating with a dropshipper.

They can make or break your business.

Refer to our post for more- How to find Dropshipping Wholesale Suppliers for Your ecommerce business

 

Aren’t Dropship Manufacturers, Wholesalers and Aggregators Same?

No, they are not the same even though some of their functions coincide. It is specific to the service each drop shipper is providing.

A manufacturer produces the products on their own and it depends if they have a drop shipping program. Some manufactures may not provide drop shipping services. If they do then it becomes a little easy on the pockets for the retailers.

A dropship wholesaler purchases a product in bulk from the manufacturer and then looks after the packaging and shipment process for online e-commerce retailers.

A dropship aggregator is an amalgamation of everything. He buys different products from multiple manufacturers and ensures in providing a good variety to the retailer for selling. If you choose an aggregator then you can save on multiple shipping costs but there is a high commission you will have to pay your aggregator.

Who Is Dropshipping For?

Since this kind of business needs you to have a divergent thinking pattern, it is most suitable for entrepreneurs that are looking to start out. However, if a seller is looking for immediate high profit margins then it can be a little disappointing.

New Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur who is just setting foot in the business world can find the drop shipping option viable since it is easier to manage business operations. When the workforce is divided correctly, then the dedication is channelled more powerfully. The drop shipper handles the production and delivery, the new seller can focus on marketing and business development.

Cost Saving Entrepreneur: The biggest selling point of dropshipping is cost saving because you don’t have any overhead expenses of inventory and warehousing. You are making the product only when there is a demand for it and this way you are not attracting losses. A budget specific entrepreneur will benefit most from this business and will be safe in the aspect of not incurring too much loss.

Out of the Box Entrepreneur: A creatively driven entrepreneur will be ready to experiment with this business model because honestly, it is about taking a chance. For entrepreneurs who stick to the rules and are resistant to change, drop shipping will not work out.

Expansion Driven Entrepreneur: If you are an entrepreneur that is wanting to sell a lot of product types under your brand name and are looking to expand extensively in the product segment, it becomes possible with drop shipping. When you provide variety, you get a good customer base and to manage that variety, drop shipping steps in.

Experimental Entrepreneur: If you want to try out a new product and seek validation for the same, you are taking a risk. You can reduce this risk by not having a huge stock ready for selling and instead dropshipping it. This way, if the product fails or requires alteration, you aren’t really incurring a heavy loss and your product requirements are managed by the dropshipper.

Dropshipping won’t work out only if entrepreneurs end up in bad marketing strategies or don’t find the right drop ship wholesaler. `

It is through meticulous planning and creating strategy that you can consider to start a dropshipping business. Coordination and patience are two important qualities you need to possess to float your business.

If you want to start a drop shipping company of your own then there are some things you should keep in mind. You can read in detail about them here- How to Start a Dropshipping Business In India.

Finding the correct drop shipper for your e commerce business is vital because you are placing a serious responsibility on them which affects your business directly.

Overview

• Acquaint yourself with the Supply Chain
• Decide your Drop Shipper Needs
• Search for Drop Shippers
• Build a Contact list and Contact Drop Shippers
• Order a Sample
• Order from Competitors
• Be a Part of Social Media Groups and Forums
• Attend Trade Shows
• Look for Order Management and Transparency
• Find how returns are managed
• Custom Shipping Notifications

How often do you come across someone who wants to share your workload? You are in charge of business development while the other company makes and delivers the product to your end customers. A Utopian concept, that’s what drop shipping is!

Unlike the failure of most Utopian concepts, dropshipping sails through the world of business remarkably well. There are drawbacks, certainly. But, for a person who wants to start young and invest carefully, dropshipping works wonders.

Let us enlighten you more.

Drop shipping And Its Benefits

Dropshipping business model is one that works without an inventory. Let’s make this easier- You want to sell t-shirts online and you get a new website designed for your store. You list all your products online, but you don’t have all the products readily available. A drop shipping company’s association with you will put the responsibility of getting the product ready whenever the demand arises. They will then pack the product and deliver it for you to the end customer. This way you aren’t spending on the initial inventory cost and you have someone who is only focused on the product while you can manage other business operations.

The benefits of dropshipping are many, some of them being-

• Low budget requirement
• Lesser business risk
• Stress free about inventory
• Division of work
• Location independent

If you are a new company that is choosing to invest smartly, then drop shipping is the option for you. Once your decision is made, a lot of questions arise. The first question being- How to find drop shipping wholesale suppliers for your e commerce business?

How To Find Dropshippers

It is crucial to decide on an ideal drop shipper because you will be depending on them to run your business smoothly. A reputable and trustworthy drop shipper can be found if you follow the steps below:

1. Acquaint Yourself With The Supply Chain

Before you begin to search for dropshipping wholesale suppliers, you should be aware of the supply chain and how it works.

Manufacturer – Wholesaler – Retailer (You) – End Customer

It is important to understand the industry supply chain because they determine how your product reaches the end customer and the pricing. If the wholesaler is also providing drop shipping services, then the prices might be lower. If they aren’t providing drop shipping services then it becomes expensive because of added factors such as increased shipping costs, extended travel time and longer wait time for customers.

It depends on your product too how the distribution channel will work. If they are fragile products it is advised to directly ship them to the end customer instead of all the middlemen. If they are durable and strong products, a longer distribution channel will be good and budget friendly.

2. Decide Your Dropshipper Needs

You need to be completely sure of your business goals and how you plan to communicate it to your drop shipper. Write down everything that you will be expecting from your drop shipping supplier and where you see your business panning out. Anything that does not align with your plan, can be easily dismissed because you are clear about what you want.

If you are expecting a higher profit margin, then your dropshipping and fulfilment process will have different supply chains. If you want to work more on brand image, the stress of product delivery can be shared with a dropshipper who delivers under your brand name.

Some drop shippers are looking to build a rapport and partnership with your company so they are driven in the same direction as you.

Options are many, you just need to know your goal.

3. Search For Dropshippers

You can use a variety of sources like software that list drop shippers or guides that direct you to them. The most convenient option is search engines as you will find drop shippers that are easily discover-able and you can read reviews about them.

Use the correct words with Google to reach what you really want to find. When you want to dig in deeper with your research, you will have to consider multiple questions that would arise in a person’s mind regarding drop shipping. Conversing with industry majors can also be a good way to get recommended dropshippers.

4. Build A Contact List And Contact Each Dropshipper

Once your research is in place you will have a list of drop shippers that come close to what you want from them. Contact each one of them personally because personal interaction will give you a definite idea of their functioning and if it is reasonable.

Discuss extensively on your business goals and if you see a sync in their response with your activities, you are good to go.

5. Order A Sample

The business is yours and you have to do everything in your capacity to seek out the best for it. Before you finalize on a drop shipper, we recommend you order a sample first to get a fair idea of how their customer experience will be and the quality of their products.

You may read more about ordering a sample here.

6. Order From Competitors

Find out competing drop shipping companies and order samples from both so you know the difference from a customer’s point of view. This will help you make an informed decision and give you a solid base for comparing and decision making. Do not make “price” as your only decision-making factor; instead, look at the product quality, the packaging, the branding, and the complete experience.

7. Be A Part Of Social Media Groups And Forums

Social media is much bigger than we estimate it to be. Over the past decade, its growth has skyrocketed in all spheres of communication which includes marketing and customer relationships too. Join Facebook groups related to your products and you will receive the latest news updates on your industry and easily make contacts that will lead you somewhere.

It would be good for you to also participate on discussion forums about your industry or check out forums of drop shipping companies and see what the existing customers have to say.

You will know the common opinion and also learn a lot about how this industry functions.

8. Attend Trade Shows

Being present at relevant events is extremely crucial to businesses because people might forget about your existence. If your presence is felt in trade shows and events, you will build more personal contacts and learn more about the industry than you could have ever expected.

It will help you understand which kind of people you can work with and establish a better relationship with them. It might be expensive but the time investment will be good.

These are some tips that you should keep in mind when you are looking for a dropshipping wholesale supplier.

9. Look for Order Management Process and Transparency:

It is extremely important for you to be in sync with your drop shipping company in terms of order processing, order fulfillment and cost factors.

Look for companies that are giving you real time updates on the orders, for example- orders that are shipped, still in progress, previous orders etc.

The progress can be updated in stages like ‘Received’, ‘Processing’, ‘Ready to dispatch’, ‘Shipped’. This way you have more control over managing your orders.

10. Find how returns are managed

It can be difficult to manage returns on products since there is a third party involved. Your customer experience is already compromised since they didn’t get what they wanted.

Nevertheless, look for a drop shipping company that has a fair return policy and it is cost effective too. It shouldn’t hamper your profit margin vastly.

If it is a print on demand company, inquire about their replacement procedures, if there are added expenses to print again or would they do it for free, reverse shipping charges etc.

11. Custom shipping notifications

Your overall brand experience needs to be perfect and for that you need to choose the best services that are available. Most times once the product is shipped, the end customer receives SMS from the delivery company and not the seller website. This can confuse them and question the authenticity of your brand.

Check with the supplier if they are sending custom branded emails and SMS notifications or the generic ones about the tracking updates.

Final Thoughts

There is no business that comes without risk. Drop shipping can be a little overwhelming to understand but once you fall into the pattern of functioning, it becomes easier and more beneficial than other business models. So, tread through the process of finding the right drop shipper very cautiously as this will either make or break your business.

It is always a good idea to be safe rather than sorry later. Ordering samples from your drop shipping company is a plus for your business awareness and responsibilities.

 

What is drop shipping

Why should you order a sample product

What should you look for in the sample order

How should you order a sample

 

Entering the e-commerce world requires you to have a fresh set of skills and business sense to deal with the digitally advanced interaction platforms. The potential risks in e-commerce are quite similar to offline businesses which is why you should have a contingency plan in place. Taking a chance can be very stressful and anticipatory, but if you aren’t taking a chance, then what are you even doing?

What is Drop shipping?

The e-commerce market has made it possible to have more kinds of business models and one of the most promising one is drop shipping. This is a model in which the seller does not have the products before an order comes in and when an order comes in he outsources the product from a drop shipping company and has it delivered to the customer. The seller does not have a ready stock and doesn’t even see the product when it is shipped.

To read more about drop shipping, click here.

Why Order A Sample First From Your Drop Shipper

Whichever designation you hold in a company or in a business of your own, being careful is the first thing about any business. Why? Because of the large impact the potential risks could have on you and your business.

Even with drop shipping, you are placing a huge amount of faith in your drop shipper with the primary function of your business – production and delivery.

So, it wouldn’t hurt to invest in the cost of a sample product instead of directly placing an order for your paying customer and also bulk orders. Additionally, you will become sure about a bunch of essential things when you order a sample.

What To Look For In The Sample Order

• First and foremost, the quality of the product that you are planning to sell will become determined once you actually hold the product in your hands.

 

• Place yourself in the customer’s shoes and understand how the entire process works out for them. This way you will be sure of the customer experience and if you want to change something.

 

• You will get a personal tour of how the fulfillment and shipment process works when you drop ship, which would help resolve all your doubts regarding drop shipping.

 

• You will understand if your drop shipper is trustworthy and can be relied upon. You can know what to expect in high demand scenarios and build a relationship with the drop shipper accordingly.

 

• You will be able to photograph the products personally and put it up on your website which would be great for marketing and brand presence.

 

• The pricing, tracking of the shipment, automated messages, your branding, packaging and more will become clear to you to confirm on the partnership.

 

How To Order A Sample

First of all, check with your drop shipper whether they provide sample orders before partnership. Every drop shipper has different methods of order placement. A lot of traditional manufacturers-turned-drop shippers might have some constraints on that, so it’s better to clarify beforehand.

Next, inquire about the process they have for placing sample orders – through emails, calls website forms etc. Look for any contracts they want you to agree on for placing the sample order.

Also, make sure about the prices of the products.

Printrove, as a drop shipping company, has evolved its process of placing sample orders. And, now, it is as simple and similar as placing orders for your actual customers. This is how things work at Printrove for placing the sample orders –

Step 1 Visit the Printrove website and register as a merchant with your email id.

 

 

Step 2 You will be directed to your Merchant Panel Dashboard which will look after every single aspect of your association with drop shipping like design, orders, revenue generation etc. By default, the account gets created on the Free plan.

 

 

Step 3 On the left side of the screen, you will find Orders. Click on “Create Your Own Order”.

 

Step 4 Under the “Create Your Order” section, you have to fill in all the details of the product, the design, number of items you want, etc.

 

 

Step 5 Once you have filled in the details, place your order and keep track of the shipment in the “Manage Your Orders” section.

 

At Printrove, the sample order placing process is exactly the same as the order placement process for your customer. The only difference is the pricing.

When you place an order without activating your account, you have to pay the regular price. Whereas, when you activate your Merchant account with ₹5000 and then place the order, you get access to the wholesale price which is obviously lower.

However, when you’re joining Printrove or any drop shipper company as a Seller, we’d recommend you to test their processes and the products before committing to anything further. Hence, you must first order a sample and look for all the points we’ve mentioned above. Once you feel satisfied about the experience, you can activate your Merchant account and start placing orders immediately for your customers.

Before anything else, your relationship with your drop shipper matters as they will form the major machine for your business.

You are now all set to begin with drop shipping and checking for sample products for your e-commerce store.

Until a decade back, e-commerce was only the unrealistic imagination of businesspersons but it has now become a reality. Along with its surprising growth, it has brought into existence some fascinating business models.

A brand that outsources its products and has them delivered under their brand name- that is drop shipping! Interesting, isn’t it?

For most of the people who enter the e-commerce industry as drop shippers, it starts as a side game. And, eventually, if they’re focusing well and doing all the right things, it becomes their major work, moving everything else to the side. Sounds like the perfect entrepreneurial life… but, hey, it isn’t that easy. This demands dedication and some smartness.

Here’s a quick view of the 9 drop shipping tips we have for you, explained later –

Tip #1. Find Your Niche

Tip #2. Handle Your Logistics

Tip #3. Get A Sample Of The Product

Tip #4. Establish Good Retailer-Supplier Relationship

Tip #5. Optimize Your Website

Tip #6. Marketing Is Imperative

Tip #7. Ask Suppliers For Reviews

Tip #8. Plan For Returns And Other Issues

Tip #9. Monitor Your Competition

 

71% of consumers who’ve had a good social media experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others. According to The 2018 Omnichannel Buying Report, consumers spend 69% of their discretionary income to shop in-store. At the same time, Gen Z consumers spend 8% more of their discretionary income each month online than the global average. Despite the competition being so tough, e-commerce is posing as a threat to in-stores because of its rocketing growth.

Hundred mouths will speak hundred different things. And, we being the facilitators of more than 300+ drop shipping brands in India, have learnt about it through experience. Summarizing our learning into nine drop shipping tips, we are trying to throw some light on the parts of the drop shipping path that remains invisible for most people.

Here are the top drop shipping tips for e commerce entrepreneurs you must know –

Dropshipping Tip #1. Find Your Niche

This is the first decision you need to make as a drop shipper so make sure it’s a good one because it will either make or break your business. You need to believe in the product you are selling because if you don’t, it will show.

Find something that you are passionate about or that your customers would be passionate about, for example- Printrove drop ships regular products like t-shirts, phone cases, notebooks, mugs, coasters etc and the seller gets to choose his design. Here, design becomes personal to the seller and to his audience, and hence, he sells more.

Dropshipping Tip #2. Choose Your Product Wisely

It will be exciting and more profitable to sell everything that comes your way but you need to be very inquisitive about the price of these products and if the supplier can make them available to you anytime you want.

If you are just starting out, it would be recommended you choose a product that isn’t fragile and doesn’t require much technical assistance.

Dropshipping Tip #3. Get A Sample Of The Product

By ordering a sample you are not only checking the quality for yourself but also understanding the product’s dimensions, and the look-and-feel better. When you have sample products, you have more power over how to photograph it and how to make it look more appealing to your customers.

Your product descriptions will be accurate as you will have a first hand reference point. It will also help while writing or recording product reviews. You can make all the necessary changes or adjustments.

Dropshipping Tip #4. Establish Good Retailer-Supplier Relationship

This is a very self explanatory tip but we place special emphasis on it because in a drop shipping business, coordination is everything.

List down all the aspects of the business that you and your supplier need to consider and together land on an agreed sales strategy.

Cognizance of what is happening in your business is crucial and thus, communication with all divisions of your business is a must. Maintain absolute transparency with your supplier so there is mutual respect and trust.

Dropshipping Tip #5. Optimize Your Website

The first interaction you have with your customer is through your website. It is essential that you develop a user-friendly and automated website so both of you are benefited at the same time.

Refer to competitor websites and analyse how they are doubling sales with their ease of website navigation. Only once your website is uploaded with all the relevant information should you market it.

It would be a marketing failure if you lead customers to your website and it isn’t efficient enough.

Dropshipping Tip #6. Marketing Is Imperative

Buying, selling and delivering is just one part of your job but if you want to develop a strong brand presence, you need to be available to your customers all the time.

Your social media is your direct connect to the audience, so be sure to answer their doubts or just have a conversation.

When you personally acknowledge people, conversion rates are higher because your brand becomes more authentic and professional.

Dropshipping Tip #7. Ask Customers For Reviews

You can have the maximum number of ads all across the city but what truly gets a customer to believe you is real testimonials. If you don’t have enough product reviews then people will assume that you aren’t doing as great.

The conversions will be low if there is no one to testify that they have used your brand’s product and it has worked out well for them.

The easiest way to get testimonials to ask your customer for a feedback once the product has been delivered.

Dropshipping Tip #8. Plan For Returns And Other Issues

Just like any other business, drop shipping also has its set of potential risks like lost or stolen shipment.

Returns can be complicated because you don’t exercise direct control over what the product is and how it will reach your customer.

Nevertheless, planning for these hypothetical scenarios is a great way to control damage if it happens. Develop a policy framework with your drop shipper at the start so both of you are clear of the consequences and work harder at reducing risks.

Dropshipping Tip #9. Monitor Your Competition

Don’t look at your competition as a negative, instead look at what they are doing right. When you practice a balanced observation, it helps you learn and grow.

Observe how they handle their social media profiles, what campaigns they are running and what is their target audience’s response.

You will get a sense of what kind of products work in the niche and how should they be marketed.

 

Do you think you’re ready to take on this thrilling journey of drop shipping? No? Do you think you’ll ever be ready for it? Start your Dropshipping business right away!

Well, there’s no perfect time. You will learn and improve along the way. Take these drop shipping tips along for guidance, and make up your mind. Other than print-on-demand drop shipping, there will be no other easier way to reach millions of people and serve them with awesome products that you can design on your own. What do you think?

The many facets of the e-commerce industry give birth to new business models: Drop shipping, Print on demand, Warehousing and Fulfillment.

 

The growth of e-commerce industry

Understanding Drop-shipping

Understanding Print on Demand

Understanding Warehousing and Fulfilling

Which is the Better Option: Drop shipping and Print on Demand or Warehousing and Fulfillment

How it works for our merchants

 

The Growth of E-commerce Industry

India saw a catapulting growth in the e-commerce sector in the last decade and the reasons behind this are many. The value of e-commerce industry is expected to touch the 200 billion dollars mark by 2026.

An upward growth is predicted for Indian e-commerce industry which will surpass the US by becoming the 2nd largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034.

The sector has already established its success by allowing industry tycoons to build vast empires and experiment with consolidation. E-commerce is now seen as a long term business plan rather than an emerging market because the world has moved to digital.

Your products/services are easily accessible, available and convenient to purchase because the customer is ordering while sitting at home. You are providing the customers with maximum delight by bringing everything at their fingertips.

If you are someone who is looking to set foot in the e-commerce industry, it can be very intimidating considering the level of competition and the unfamiliarity of the digital space. But, there is not much to worry because along with difficulty of creating brand awareness, e-commerce gives you a million options on how to go about your business.

Let’s read about them.

Understanding Drop shipping

Why Drop shipping?model that works without an inventory. There are 3 parties involved: Seller, Buyer and Drop shipping Company. The seller owns an online store from where customers place an order. Once the order is placed, the seller buys this product from the drop shipping company which makes the product and delivers it to the end customer. The package can or cannot be in the name of the original seller.

 

Seller gets an order for a product

↓

Seller buys product from the dropshipping company

↓

Drop shipping company delivers the product

↓

Customer gets the product with original seller name (optional)

Why Dropshipping?

Most businesses have to use up huge amounts of their funds for the initial investment of space and inventory, but with dropshipping you are saving on that cost. It is cost-effective and easier to manage for new companies.

You will be able to afford a wider range of products and services since they will be outsourced from a company that already makes them. The risk level in dropshipping is minimal in comparison to other business models.

The Drawbacks

You have less control over the operation of the business since you are dependent on the third party to make products for you. There is definitely a profit but you need to decide the margins very intelligently so that you don’t shoo your customers always.

Another problem is that if the demand increases and your drop shipping supplier isn’t able to supply the products to your customers on time, it questions the efficiency of your business.

You can read extensively about the pros and cons of Drop shipping here.

Understanding Print on Demand

The term is quite self explanatory. Print on Demand is when the designs are printed only when orders come in.

Just like drop shipping, there is no need to keep a stock in place because even the products are bought based on the demand quantity.

Customer places an order

         ↓

Printing is done

         ↓

Shipped to customer

Why Print on Demand?

1. Less Technical Requirements: If you have outsourced printing then your Print on demand partner will look after maintaining the correct technology and printing system because of their expertise in the field. So, you don’t have to worry about the technical aspects of it.
2. It is similar to drop shipping so it would also be a good option to consider when you are beginning with your business model dimensions. There will be no excess inventory lying in your storage space. Even though the profit margin is less, you can ensure that you don’t bring upon yourself a huge loss.
3. Experimental Freedom: Since you haven’t already printed designs on your products, you have more liberty to experiment with the design and its placement on the product. There is a lot of space to try out new things since you won’t be investing as much. You can ascertain if it’s doing well based on the demand it garners. If not, you can move to try the next design.
4. Customization: When your customers are able to get exactly what they want, they like you. The option of customization of design as well as product is available for you as a seller, so you don’t have to depend on any ready made designs. You are able to personalize the product so the buyer is happy.
5. Saving Space and Environment Friendly: When you aren’t keeping a bull stock, you won’t be needing a storage space. If you are printing notebooks, then it becomes an environment friendly option as you won’t be printing more than required.

The Drawbacks

1. Your are paralyzed without your printing partner: If you are running a business that is reliant on an external source, it can be a little risky. Your business operations and smooth shipping will be stalled if your partner does not give you the right products on time and in good quality. However, if you’re handling the printing in-house, it’ll be fine.
2. Less control over demand fulfillment: If you are dependent on a third party to fulfill the printing demand, you will be helpless when there is more demand and not enough inventory of raw products to speed up the process.
3. Time Consuming: The one thing customers absolutely love is when they order and receive it immediately. Time is a very important aspect of business and delays are looked down upon terribly. Since you are printing on demand it will take a while before you can deliver your product. This can hamper your brand image.
4. Return Policy: You will be investing a lot in the shipment, both in terms of money and time. When there are returns on your product, your return policy framework should be thorough where you should add the situations where you will accept and won’t accept returns. This way you can ensure that you don’t attract a huge loss.

Understanding Warehousing and Fulfillment

Your inventory is stored at your warehouse or your partner’s warehouse from where all the orders you receive will get fulfilled. This means that this business model is third party logistics but it can be done individually too.

Seller receives order

↓

Partner packages inventory from warehouse

↓

Order is shipped to end customer

Why Warehousing?

1. Saves time: With a responsible warehousing partner, your packaging and shipment is looked after by them, so you are not lagging behind on schedule. You will get more time to concentrate on your marketing and business plans.
2. It is cheaper: If you have a warehousing partner then you won’t be needing a place and employees to run your business. You can handle all your operations from home and the warehouse takes care of the rest. Your business grows and hence you earn a good profit.
3. Saves space: You don’t have to build a physical office space to have regular business operations in place. Storing in a warehouse helps you track your stock and keep the business going.
4. Ease of shipment: The packaging and delivery are done at the same place so there are less chances of in-coordination. The more orders you ship, the more reasonable shipping rates you get. This way you save a lot of money.

The Drawback

1. Customer experience: Regardless of where your products are delivered from, the essential marketing and customer experience efforts rely on you. So you will need to invest a lot of time in that on your own.
2. Less control: At the end of the day, you are highly dependent on the third party logistics to float your business. You have less control over the packaging and delivery operations. There will be no inventory accessible to you on-hand.
3. Underutilized Inventory: If a product does not perform well, you are left with a huge stock inventory that won’t be used and it will be a loss for the business. Until your finished products are sold, they are still a huge investment.
4. Difficult without a partner: If the responsibility to fulfill the orders completely rests on your shoulders, then it can be a herculean task. Warehousing is better only when you partner with someone to distribute the work.

Which is the Better Option: Drop shipping and Print on Demand or Warehousing and Fulfillment

If you are a new store, then we recommend:

Drop shipping

Since you are just starting out, it will be an ideal choice to choose a model that will not eat up much of your capital investment. You will have more freedom to experiment and manage your expenses. You can fix your own profit margins if you market your brand well.

Print on Demand

It is similar to drop shipping so it would also be a good option to consider when you are beginning with your business model dimensions. There will be no excess inventory lying in your storage space. Even though the profit margin is less, you can ensure that you don’t bring upon yourself a huge loss.

 

If you are an established company, we recommend:

 

Warehousing and Fulfillment

You already have a lot of orders coming your way and warehousing would be a great option to deliver products on time. It helps you divide the delivery operation and regular business operation into different segments so there is equal attention on both. You just have to be careful about your reliance on a third party logistics partner.

How it Works for Our Merchants

Printrove is a combination of Drop shipping and Print on Demand model. We have a variety of products that are printed upon when there is an order placed on our seller’s store. Once the printing is done, we package the product and deliver it to the end customer under the brand name of the seller.

 

Seller gets an order

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Seller informs Printrove

(Printrove offers integration with Shopify and Woocommerce store to make the order placing process quick and easy)

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Design is printed on the product at Printrove

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Your Brand Packaging is also done

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Printrove’s Delivery partners deliver to the end customer

To find out more, you can visit our website. To start a dropshipping business, read this.

Let us know if this post has helped clarify the concepts of drop shipping, print on demand, warehousing and fulfillment for you in the comments section below. Also, if you need any help making a decision, we are here.

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