Everything to Know about Dropshipping in India

The e-commerce industry all across the globe has grown during the pandemic. This has brought many entrepreneurs to think about the dropshipping model for their businesses. However, it is a fairly new concept in India. Let's check the post to know Indian dropshipping:

So, how do you start dropshipping in India?

What are the important factors to consider?

And what tools do you need for this business model?

We have prepared a small guide to help you understand how dropshipping in India works.

Benefits of Dropshipping

First, let’s see what is dropshipping in India.

Dropshipping is a business model that helps you source products from a marketplace and sell them online under your brand name. Ideally, you are creating an e-commerce store for dedicated products sourced from an online marketplace. When a user orders something from your store, you place this order on a marketplace and directly ship the product to the customer.

In this case, you don’t really need to inform the customer that you are a dropshipping business. You can simply market your business under your brand name, where you sell products from different sellers.

The benefits of dropshipping in India are as follows:

• You don’t need to create and maintain an entire inventory for the purpose. You can simply place the order on a marketplace and track the inventory of the supplier.
• The investment involved in the dropshipping model is very low. You can start with just a neat and clean website and modify it as you grow.

How to Start Dropshipping in India

So, how can you start dropshipping in India?

We have heard very little about this business model in the region, but that is an opportunity for us, isn’t it? Get in the market when it is still true and succeed while the trend grows.

Hence, here are some important factors that you need to explore for dropshipping in India. Have a look:

1. Supplier

Finding the supplier is the most essential task for your dropshipping store. This is where most business owners quit because they don’t find reliable suppliers who are able to send products directly to customers. Many times, you may also find fake suppliers who promise to ship products but they never send the order, which ruins your goodwill with the customer.

Some tips for the right supplier:

• You should research properly and check the authentication of the seller. See their products, check online reviews, and check their rating on relevant websites. Also, talk to the team of sellers and agree on a deal that seems more relevant to you as well.
• Check if the company of the seller is registered or not. This will help you ensure the authenticity of the seller.
• Always check the delivery time every supplier is offering. You need to deliver products in the time revealed on your website. Delaying product orders won’t be well received by your customers.
• Talk about the payment model offered by the supplier. This can be a fixed monthly charge or a charge of the bulk order. It is best to use the charge-as-you-order model for feasibility. Don’t agree to a subscription fee if you have a choice, as this will restrict you to some extent.
• Always consider GST models adopted by different sellers to avoid paying too much for a product that is not worth the price.

The best method to find the right seller is on a marketplace. You can easily check reviews, understand their services, and get some level of guarantee for product delivery.

For example, find products on AliExpress, talk to the seller, and order products as your customers place orders on your store.

2. Products

Once you have finalized your sellers, you can easily move to find the products. You need to focus on niche products.

You may be wondering why?

This is because most dropshipping businesses in India source products from a marketplace. If you add different categories of products, why wouldn’t the user directly buy from the marketplace?

Make your store unique, add popular product categories, and focus on marketing.

So, find the niche first before selecting a product.

For example, you want to sell pillows. Once you know that you need to create a dropshipping store for different types of pillows, you can create categories under it and find products on the marketplace like AliExpress.

For categories and products, here are some tips that you can follow:

• Randomly search for the category on the marketplace. Shortlist products and add them to your website.
• Check out competitor websites and understand their categorization. This will help you shortlist some products.
• Lastly, visit Twitter, type a related keyword, and see what is in trend. This will help you include trending products on the website.

3. Website

When you are have created categories and shortlisted suppliers from the marketplaces like AliExpress, you should create your website.

How can you achieve it?

The simplest method is to create a Shopify store. With a minimal subscription, you can make a clean and simple website. You don’t even need to buy the theme or template in the starting.

Another option is to create a website using Wix or WooCommerce.

Things to remember:

• Your website should be functional.
• Your users should be able to find the products they are looking for.
• The loading speed should be optimum.
• The website should be clean, simple, and aesthetically appealing.
• Avoid adding unnecessary, distracting elements.
• Include relevant information about your business.

4. Marketing

Regardless of the product, you are selling on your dropshipping store, marketing is the key to dropshipping success. The major difference that you make in your dropshipping store is through your marketing efforts.

Facebook marketing is important. Most of the audience explores Facebook multiple times a day. So, you should have a presence on Facebook. You can even create a Facebook store and sell products.

Focus on Instagram because it is in trend. Create a business account, link your website, and attract users. Here, the key is to post consistently on the page.

LinkedIn presence is also essential because many professionals prefer LinkedIn in place of other social media. Here, you can market your products through content marketing.

Lastly, post tweets on Twitter. This will help improve the visibility of your website and business.

Apart from all this, you can take note of the following:

• Your SEO strategy should be strong. This is what gets you noticed. You should focus on the website, social media, and content SEO.
• Use Google Adwords to appear in top searches when relevant keywords are used by the customers.

5. Tools

What are some tools that you use for dropshipping in India?

You can use an automation tool to manage your supply chain and orders in the long term. Other than this, you can use an email marketing tool and Google Ads app to streamline your marketing.

For example, DSers is an AliExpress dropshipping tool to help you manage your supply chain. Here’s a quick overview of the features of DSers:

• You can use the AI-powered engine to find the right seller for an order. Based on past purchases and seller history, you can find the right seller.
• You can source products on AliExpress directly from DSers. The tool has in-built functionality for the same.
• It is possible to place all the orders at one time without manual working. These orders are also added to your dashboard for tracking.

There are many more features of DSers that you can check on the website.

6. User Queries

It is imperative to respond to user queries correctly.

Now, here a tool will help you track orders in one place, which will allow you to send updates as well as talk to customers without any hassle.

However, if you don’t have the tool in the starting, you create Excels to track your orders and keep updated with shipments. This will allow you to answer user queries.

Remember that:

• You need to always respond to customers. Even if a mistake has been made at your end, apologize and offer something in return to retain the customer.
• Don’t delay responses. Try to respond as early as possible.
• Never talk rudely with the customer, as they may leave reviews and spoil your rating.

7. Payments

In India, payments are a sensitive topic. Most of the users like paying in cash, so you have to have this option.

However, even when you can’t allow cash on delivery because your shipping time is more, in that case, you need to add relevant reliable payment methods.

For instance, use the Razorpay portal for payment, add Paytm options, and UPI too.

Create a neat and reliable payment page, so that your users don’t abandon the cart.

8. Shipping

We have been talking about AliExpress dropshipping for so long, but how do you ship products from the marketplace? It doesn’t allow shipping to India.

But, fortunately, there’s an option.

You can get a mailbox in China and your orders can be shipped to this mailbox. From here, your orders can reach the destination country. This may take more time, but you can keep some inventory in stock for feasibility.

Conclusion

So these were a few things that you need to know about dropshipping in India. Go through every topic carefully and take note of things that seem relevant to you. When you start sourcing products, keep these factors in mind. This will help you build a passive income in the long term. A few years of hard work in dropshipping business will help you create a consistent income channel.