Dropshipping is quickly gaining popularity in the ecommerce world and many Shopify and Etsy sellers are beginning to adopt this method. The promise of low risk sales, more flexibility, easy scalability and more can all sound too good to be true, but is it?
What is dropshipping?
In traditional commerce, sellers are responsible for every step in the order fulfillment process. This means sellers often need to maintain a warehouse where they store their inventory, handle supply chain operations, and manage shipping. This puts the seller at risk because they’ll lose money if they aren’t able to sell the product.
Dropshipping is a supply-chain-management technique where the seller does not produce or store product, instead they list other manufacturer’s or wholesaler’s products in their store and send the order and shipment details to the manufacturer or wholesaler after the product has been purchased by a customer.
This method mitigates much of the risk for sellers and helps suppliers get more sales, so all parties benefit.
Dropshipping requires three parties:
The seller
The individual listing the products in their store.
The supplier
This could be a manufacturer, wholesaler, or another online retailer.
The customer
The individual who purchases the product from the seller.
The four basic steps of dropshipping are:
Seller lists a supplier’s product in their store
Customer places an order for the product
Seller sends the order information to supplier
Supplier prepares the customer’s order
Supplier ships the order directly to customer
Dropshippers choose products they love, list them on their store, market those products to their audience, and handle customer relations. This simplified form of ecommerce comes with some incredible benefits, especially for entrepreneurs with low capital who want to spend less time worrying about operations.
Advantages
Low start-up costs:
One of the most significant advantages of dropshipping is the low start-up costs. As a seller, you don’t have to purchase inventory upfront, which means you do not need to have a physical store or warehouse to store your products.
Reduced risk:
Dropshipping reduces the risk of unsold inventory because sellers only pay for inventory after it has sold. In traditional retail models, sellers often buy a large amount of inventory, and if those products do not sell, they incur significant losses.
Flexibility and scalability:
Dropship sellers can offer a wide range of products without having to keep them in stock. This means that sellers can quickly and easily add new, unique products to their online stores to expand their product lines and increase sales.
Location independence:
Dropshipping allows sellers to operate their businesses from anywhere in the world. Sellers don’t need a physical store or warehouse, they just need access to the internet!
Challenges
Dropshipping does present a few challenges that, although easy to overcome, entrepreneurs should consider before adopting this model.
Low profit margins:
Dropship sellers can’t take advantage of bulk pricing or economies of scale so they have to pay a higher price per unit for each product they sell. Additionally, because the competition is high in the dropshipping industry, sellers may have to lower their prices to remain competitive, reducing their profit margins.
Dropship sellers can overcome this challenge by selling unique products that have limited competition in the marketplace. Customers have been proven to pay more for products that are unique.
No control over product quality:
Dropship sellers aren’t involved in the creation of the product, so they don’t have control over the quality of the product . The manufacturer or supplier may ship faulty or low-quality products, which can lead to negative customer feedback and loss of business.
Sellers can mitigate this risk by taking time to research a manufacturer’s failure rate and checking their reviews before forming a partnership. Past performance is a great indicator of future success.
Shipping delays:
Dropship sellers are dependent on a supplier to fulfill orders, which means the seller has little control over the shipping process. Shipping delays are a common issue in dropshipping, as the supplier may take longer than expected to ship the product to the customer.
To balance this, many sellers search reviews to find reliable manufacturers or change their store’s shipping policy to account for the possibility of long shipping times.
Lack of brand control:
Because the dropship sellers aren’t involved in the shipping process, they have limited control over the customer experience and branding of their store. This can reduce the number of repeat customers.
Sellers can overcome this by increasing the number of customer touch points they have. For example, the seller could email their customers after their order has been delivered asking about the quality and thanking them for making the purchase. Going the extra mile helps customers remember a company, even when the shipping package isn’t branded.
How you can get started:
Dropshipping is a great business model for entrepreneurs who are looking to start an online store without having to worry about manufacturing, shipping and inventory. By partnering with a reliable supplier, these entrepreneurs can focus on building their brand, attracting customers and developing relationships with suppliers.
Although dropshipping presents it’s own set of challenges, sellers can easily overcome them and find success through this ecommerce method.
In the digital age, shopping isn’t the only online activity. In fact, since the launch of Facebook in 2004, social media activity has risen every year. Currently it is estimated that over half of the global population log on to a social media platform daily.
Within the scope of ecommerce, social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even TikTok can be used to help promote products, raise brand awareness and engage with the consumer on a more interpersonal level.
Using these platforms can help smaller online stores market to a larger audience and locate members of their niche from around the globe. While social media platforms offer paid advertising opportunities, certain algorithms will show unpaid (organic) content to millions of users for no ad spend.
It’s important to know how these platform’s algorithms work for creating social media strategies. Below we’ve outlined benefits and tips for several major social media platforms.
Facebook
If you’re looking to launch a paid-ads campaign, i.e., you pay for your content to be promoted, Facebook is your place. Here’s why:
Facebook ads reach 33.3% of the global population over age 13
The average price per ad decreased 18% in Q3 2022
37% of Facebook users will make a purchase on the platform in 2023
19% of U.S. consumers start their online shopping search on Facebook
The average Facebook page in the retail industry sees 974,000 impressions per month
Additionally, Facebook allows you to reach a diverse audience. Reach specific generations, religions, races and nationalities with simple targeting. That’s because Facebook has a huge, diverse range of users.
70% of US adults use Facebook
56.6% of Facebook’s ad audience are men
49% of Americans say that they visit the social media platform several times a day
Facebook usage is an even split between Democrats and Republicans
Facebook is the favorite social platform of the 35-44 demographic
7% of Gen Z users plan to quit Facebook in 2023
Instagram
Being owned by Meta (Facebook’s dd company), Instagram shares a lot of similarities to Facebook. In fact, if you’re using one platform, you should consider using both as the platforms allow for cross posting of posts, stories and reels. Both platforms also allow advertising through Meta Business Suite.
However, they have a fair amount of differences. Instagram is considered to be more visual, with a greater emphasis on photos’ graphics and reels. While running paid ads is still an option, this algorithm caters more to organic content than Facebook.
Instagram also has a different expected user base than Facebook, and tends to appeal to a younger audience. With that, one can expect the use of social media trends to play a significant role in content performance. Below is some more information about Instagram’s users:
47% of American adults use Instagram.
52.2% of Instagram’s audience identifies as male
Instagram is Gen Z’s second favorite social platform
61% of 12-to-17-year-olds use Instagram weekly
Instagram accounted for 17% of the time U.S. adults spent on social media in 2022
Twitter
Twitter is a microblogging site that boasts more than 300 million users; however, it functions differently than any other major platform. Twitter highlights trends and shows users tweets based on what the accounts they follow are engaging with.
There are several strategies to improve post performance on Twitter. Some accounts maintain their brand voice while focusing on engaging content, while others, such as Wendy’s, use a completely different approach, using humor to build relatability. Below are some different ways to market using tweets:
Have an engaging profile, unique bio and eye-catching header image
Show personality when engaging with your audience
Run a Twitter poll
Retweet relevant content, and add a personal touch
Develop and use creative hashtags
Content isn’t the only way Twitter stands out as a platform. Twitter also has a different user base than other platforms. A breakdown of Twitter’s user demographics is below:
Most Twitter users are between the ages of 25 and 34
56.4% of Twitter users identify as male
1/4 of all American men use Twitter
The number of teens who use Twitter has decreased
TikTok
TikTok has taken off in recent years due to its algorithm, which allows any video to be promoted and “go viral.” It’s because of this that, while paid TikTok ads are a great option, a business can find organic success with no ad spend.
Additionally, TikTok is a powerful app for social media marketing. Here’s why your brand could benefit from creating TikTok content:
TikTok is the top app for consumer spending
67% of users say TikTok inspires them to shop
TikTok ads reach 17.9% of all internet users aged 18+
TikTok boasts the highest engagement rate of any platform, with an average user session of 10.85 minutes
Lastly, as the user base for TikTok continues to grow, so does the demographics of its users. With more than 3 billion downloads, here is the rundown on TikTok Users:
TikTok has over one billion active users
TikTok is now more popular than Instagram among Gen Z users in the US
In the U.S., 61% of TikTok users are women
As you can see, social media is a powerful tool for marketing brands of all sizes and industries. Social media could be just the resource you’re looking for to grow your business’s audience and get more sales than ever before.
If you want to learn more about using social media for print on demand or ecommerce, check out learn.goquadra.com for hours of video training.
You’ve likely seen social media influencers create posts and videos about products they love, but did you know that they get paid every time you purchase a product they recommend? This is called affiliate marketing and it’s one of the most profitable marketing methods today.
Many people falsely believe that they need a large social media following or vast marketing experience to become an affiliate, but anyone can make money as an affiliate if they use the right strategies. Here’s how:
Affiliate marketing happens when an affiliate, i.e., you, an influencer, or even another company, shares a product or service with others through a unique link to a company’s website. A percentage of any sale made through the link is given to the affiliate.
For example, if you love a specific t-shirt and want everyone to know how much better it is than other t-shirts, you could become an affiliate for that brand. You would sign up for the brand’s affiliate program, get your own unique link to the product, and share the link with your friends, family, social media followers, etc. Sometimes affiliate programs even offer discounts for individuals purchasing through an affiliate link. You’ll get paid every time someone makes a purchase using your link, and you’ll get the satisfaction of sharing one of your favorite products.
Affiliate marketing requires three parties:
The company to provide the product or service
The affiliate to promote the product or service
The consumers to purchase the product or service
Occasionally there is a fourth party: An affiliate marketplace. Affiliate marketplaces are like the eBay or Amazon of affiliate marketing. Companies list their offers in affiliate marketplaces and affiliates use the marketplaces to compare and choose offers that align with their interests and goals.
Why become an affiliate?
There are many reasons for affiliate marketing’s recent rise in popularity. Here are a few:
Easy to start
Becoming an affiliate is as easy as finding an offer to promote and deciding how to share it with your audience. Affiliate marketplaces are a great place to start. They make the process of finding offers even easier by listing thousands of offers in one place. This way, you can quickly find companies that share your same values.
Low-risk
Companies frequently provide a script and the other assets you’ll need to market their product. You don’t have to deal with creating marketing material, working with customers, or manufacturing or shipping products. You simply share the company’s content with your audience, and start collecting your commission.
Little to no experience necessary
Anyone can be an affiliate! You aren’t required to have a large following or specific training to join most affiliate programs. You can learn as you go with the brands there to support you!
Wide variety of options
With nearly 80% of companies doing some type of affiliate marketing, there’s an affiliate offer for every affiliate marketer and for every type of product: Digital, physical, service, etc. You’ll never have to worry about being able to find companies you love
Lucrative
Companies typically offer 25-75% commission for every product sold. Because products are sold in a wide range of prices, affiliates can earn anywhere from $1 to over $1000 for each sale. In addition, affiliate marketing requires little to no capital from the affiliate so it has unbeatable profit margins.
Passive income
When you share your unique affiliate link in your YouTube videos, blog posts, emails, social media posts, etc., you are giving people a way to buy products from your link at any time. That means you can be making money while you do the dishes, walk your dog, work at another job, or anything else! As you grow your platform, you will be able to promote products and receive large volumes of sales without much work after the initial ad.
Flexibility
Affiliate marketing can be done anywhere and anytime, so it compliments any schedule.
These are only a few of the incredible benefits you can gain from starting affiliate marketing. It could change your life! Are you ready to get started?
Getting started with affiliate marketing
Find your niche.
Do you love travel, reading, gardening, or painting? Maybe you’re really interested in cleaning and organization, or fixing up old cars. Just how there are companies who sell every type of product, there are countless people in the world who share your same interests and would love to read and watch content from you. If you already have an audience, great! If you don’t, no problem! Create a social media account, blog, email list, etc., and start creating all types of content. Your audience will come naturally.
Pick affiliate offers
Decide where you are going to find products and services to advertise to your audience. There are two main options for this: First, go straight to a company you admire and join their affiliate program directly, or second, join an affiliate marketplace and choose from their selection of companies and offers.
Start promoting
Most affiliate programs already have marketing materials ready for you to send to your audience or post on your platform. Once your affiliate link is created, you can start promoting those materials however you want!
From there, it’s all a matter of tracking your campaigns, growing your audience, and collecting that commission.
Quadra affiliates promote Quadra’s free masterclass. During the free masterclass we teach the strategies our founders used to create a 7-figure ecommerce business and showcase Quadra Pro, a platform where ecommerce sellers can get valuable and ongoing ecommerce and print on demand trainings, low pricing on unique, customizable products, and a library of high-converting product designs.
To make the process easier for you, we’ve already created the masterclass and all the marketing materials you’ll need to share it with your audience. All you have to do is send them your unique affiliate link.
The auto-webinar has a 41% show-up rate and a 15% conversion rate on cold traffic. This means that 15% of people who have never heard of Quadra watch the webinar and purchase the product. This is a much higher conversion rate than most products in our space which means you have a high chance of making commissions, even if you don’t have a large audience yet.
You’ll earn 50% of sales generated through your affiliate link throughout our entire funnel. That’s up to $662 in commissions for each person who purchases from your link!
If you’re in the ecommerce space, you’ve probably heard of print on demand, or POD, but you might not be sure what it is or how it could benefit you. Keep reading to learn how print on demand could help you establish or scale your ecommerce business.
Print on demand is a form of ecommerce selling where sellers connect with manufacturers who create white-label and easily-customizable products such as mugs, wall signs, and t-shirts. These sellers then upload their own custom designs on the products to sell in their stores. With print on demand, manufacturers only produce and ship products after they have been purchased.
Print on demand products are fully customizable and unique so they stand out in the crowded ecommerce marketplace. That’s why print on demand could be the perfect next step for your business!
Why Customers Prefer Print on Demand
Your customers will love your print on demand product offerings! Not only will they benefit from the robust creative abilities and quality of the products, but they’ll also be able to request customizations personalized to their tastes. In fact, 1 in 5 customers are willing to pay up to 20% more for personalized products so this could significantly increase your profits.
As a print on demand seller, you won’t have to worry about inventory or shipping products yourself! The traditional way to sell online is to find a product, order that product in bulk, and then start selling. This form of selling puts a lot of risk on your end. You could sell out within the first week or you could be left with hundreds of products still in your inventory at the end of six months. This reality makes selling online a large risk to small business owners and large CEOs alike.
Print on demand manufacturers take responsibility for maintaining stock of all their products so you have one less thing on your mind as you grow your business. They will also ship the product directly to your customer for you! This process is called dropshipping.
Dropshipping creates a low point of entry for businesses, making it a great option if you are looking to start a business but you have limited capital. It also removes you from a number of the messier operation components of running a business so that you can focus on what you love such as creating designs, advertising, and/or expanding your brand.
Quadra Simplifies the Process
The benefits of print on demand are clear, but you might be asking yourself: Where do I find manufacturers? How do I make sure the manufacturers receive and print the right design? How do I know which products to launch? How do I know the manufacturer is reliable?
Quadra simplifies the process. Quadra builds the manufacturer relationships for you. All you have to do is select products from our extensive catalog of unique products, upload your own design onto the product of your choice, and launch it in your Shopify store. You only pay for products to be manufactured after a customer has purchased them.
We send the product with its design to the manufacturer. The manufacturer prints the design on the product and ships the product directly to your customer. That’s all there is to it!
By using Quadra you get all of the benefits of print on demand such as spending more of your valuable time creating designs, marketing your products, and building your brand, without going through the hassles of starting a business.
Subscribe to Quadra Pro and you’ll receive early access to unique products and manufacturer-volume pricing so you can save up to 50% compared to our free plan. Plus you’ll get access to training videos from Quadra’s Print on demand experts.
John Jonas, the founder of Onlinejobs.ph, met with Quadra founders, John and Brian, for a podcast interview to talk about how outsourcing can ease the burden of running any business.
In 2006 Jonas hired his first Filipino worker and it was then that he started to grasp the power of outsourcing work. Jonas says outsourcing took him from business owner to CEO.
“You don’t become a CEO until you start paying someone full time.”
-John Jonas
It started with one full-time Filipino employee but from there Jonas built up a small team of all Filipino employees. After working with them for a few years, the vision for his future changed. Jonas set out to build a website to more easily connect small business owners to Filipino workers. Today Jonas, working hand in hand with his Filipino team, has succeeded in creating the largest Filipino outsourcing website in the world.
What Can Outsourcing Do for You?
There are only two things people talk about in terms of spending:
Money and Time
For Jonas his time meant more to him than the money he was making working his 9 to 5 job. Jonas decided to quit his programming job to start his first business. His goal was to decrease the time he was spending at work and increase the time he spent with his family. As you can imagine, it didn’t work. “I quit working my full-time job to live the dream of working 24/7.” After months of working around the clock, Jonas realized something had to change. Outsourcing was his solution.
Today Jonas works an average of 17 hours a week–effectively realizing his goal of spending as little time at work as possible.
For Jonas, the first step to achieving his goal was hiring a full-time employee. In the beginning, it took even more time to train the employee to do the job he wanted to be done. However, after his employee was fully trained, Jonas found he’d saved himself hours of work in the long term. His process continued with one Filipino employee after another until Jonas achieved the lifestyle goals he’d set up for himself.
How Not To Approach Outsourcing
1. Outsourcing Tasks You Cannot Do Yourself
Jonas says one of the worst pieces of advice he’s ever received is to “stick with what you’re good at and outsource the rest.” The reason behind this is that you can’t manage something you don’t understand.
Jonas’ alternative advice is to only outsource what you feel confident teaching to someone else. He often gets pushback on this idea. It’s what you’re good at, so shouldn’t you keep doing it? Jonas’ response is, “it’s cool to get things done your way, but it’s better to get things done.” His point is if you are going to scale your business you simply cannot do everything yourself. To shift from small business owner, Jonas says, you need to start delegating tasks. This will allow you to shift from the doer to the overseer.
2. Approaching the Hiring Process With Your Own Worries
When business owners are first starting to Outsource work, there are some natural concerns and fears that accompany the decision. To name a few:
How do I know if I can trust my employee? They could steal my ideas.
What if they don’t follow my instructions?
What happens if this employee turns into a waste of time?
Jonas had all of these concerns himself. He even found that all of his concerns were realized through his experiences with workers from other countries. When Jonas heard about Outsourcing from the Philippeans, he was on his last straw.
Jonas approached the Philippines with little hope of success but what he found was a culture of people who wanted to work and work for him. People who didn’t want to start their own businesses, who wanted to learn and grow. People who valued stability and would do anything to maintain a long-term position.
During his years of experience working with Filipino workers, Jonas has changed his approach to hiring overseas workers from the Philippines. It is no longer about his concerns and fears but about theirs. “…they have the same feeling as you do, but their feeling is stronger than yours.” Here are the same questions from above listed from the other perspective:
How do I know if I can trust my boss? He/she might not pay me.
How will my boss react if I make a mistake?
What will happen to me if this job doesn’t pan out?
3. Looking for a Skill To Be Filled
Jonas’ final advice to all business owners looking to hire a Filipino worker is to remember that you are not hiring a skill, you are hiring a human. Your focus shouldn’t be, how can I trust them, it should be, “…how do I gain this person’s trust?”
From Jonas’ experience, Filipino workers want to have long-term positions and they will do things to ensure they keep their job. However, if you aren’t treating them well, they will leave. Jonas says this is critical. You can’t yell at them when they make a mistake, you can’t expect them to do it right the first time they have ever completed a given task.
“If you go into it with the attitude of how do I gain this person’s trust in me, you’ll find just an amazing experience in talent and loyalty and honesty…”
