Setting up a dropshipping store online can be a tricky task and, if done correctly, should lead to a profitable and reliable business. However, it is important to know how to maximise your sales to make the most out of your chosen market/niche. The following tips will allow you to really make the most out of your business and fulfil its potential.
- Adding value to your products
It’s important to have a plan when it comes to how exactly you’re going to add value to your products and make them stand out above the rest. It’s no doubt there will be tonnes of other retailers out there selling exactly the same products as you so you’ll need to do something to give you the edge over those retailers. You can add value with information. Giving customers solutions to any of their pre-sale problems will allow you to justify your higher prices over other retailers (as you can’t compete on price), as well as giving customers a reason to choose to buy from you rather than anywhere else. If you cannot add value through information then you’ll be left to compete with price which is a very tricky task as big retailers like Amazon and eBay already offer the best prices. If you’re struggling to give information then it may be an idea to reconsider your niche to find a more workable one.
2. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Marketing
SEO is a way of maximising internet traffic to your website. It’s all well and good creating a perfect website and spending weeks on it, however if nobody knows it exists then there isn’t really any point. SEO is just as crucial as creating the site itself, especially during your first year of starting up. Maximising SEO can be a difficult task especially when working alone. Below are some useful links for SEO and marketing that you should use for your website.
Search Engine Optimisation
SEOmoz – Is perhaps the most popular SEO communities which has a full guide to maximising your website traffic
SeachEngineLand – SEO blog that posts very frequently, 10+ times per day
SEOBook – Popular SEO blog with a private community for paid professionals
Marketing
Hubspot Blog – offers advice on just about everything related to marketing with social media and email tips too
Seth Godin’s Blog – great advice on SEO and building a decent audience
SparringMind – an interesting one that uses psychology to explore how to influence customers
See Also: The 10 Best Marketing Tools for All Agencies, Succeed as a sales manager with this Sales Management Tool
3. Specialising in a Particular Niche
Stores that specialise in a particular area are generally far more successful than ones that do not. Rather than just selling cars parts, sell cars parts to off-road enthusiasts that love driving in thick mud and rough terrain. Find a particular area that attracts a specialist audience will hugely benefit your sales. This may sound counter intuitive – surely if you’re limiting yourself to a very specific field then you’re cutting off a huge amount of potential customers? Wrong. Specialising in a certain area will make you stand out among other retailers and open opportunities to communicate more effectively with potential customers.
At first you may not know exactly which area of a niche to specialise in and that’s fine. With time you’ll gain experience in your field and learn which areas are more profitable and have room to add the most value. Once you’ve made a number of sales you’ll be able to specialise in the most profitable fields to maximise your business.
4. Focusing on the long-term rather than short-term
Building a successful dropshipping business will certainly take a lot of your time and effort and you won’t be making thousands overnight. It is important to look at your plan from a long-term perspective and make an accurate prediction of how much you will be making. On average, it’ll take around a year to have a dropshipping business that generates full-time income fully set up. It’s perfectly normal if you make absolutely no sales immediately after launching and you should not give up at the first hurdle you encounter.
5. Top Quality Service
Treating your customers well and with respect is absolutely key to maximising your sales and ensuring customers will come back to use your store in the future. A mistreatment of one client could result in them writing terrible reviews and steering any future customers away so be sure to be nice, helpful and polite to prevent this from happening. You may well lose some of your profits on orders for the sake of pleasing a customer – this is completely normal and keeping one customer happy at the expense of a fraction of your profit is certainly worth it in the long run.
You may also use this: Online Review Management Software
6. Actually Starting Your Business
The most important step to your dropshipping success is actually going out and starting up your business. So many people are fearful of god knows what when thinking about starting a business. Just go for it. The worst that can happen is it doesn’t work out, and even still you’ll have learnt some valuable lessons in the process. Many successful entrepreneurs have had their doubts about business however moving onwards with a positive attitude and a long-term perspective is the key to success in all areas of life. Don’t let your fears control you.
And there you have it! 6 tips on how to get sales for your online dropshipping store. Check out the other articles in this dropshipping series for more information on how to choose a profitable niche, setting up your website, finding suppliers and more!
See More:
- If you are looking to purchase a POS system for your business, this guide is helpful: What is POS? The Definitive Definition
