If you want to open an online store and do not want to deal with inventory, production, transportation or other back -end system system Then the direct sales business may be a perfect choice.
But how do you achieve a leap? Continue reading to understand how to start direct sales, including skills to help you get success.
What is direct sales?
In essence, Dropshipper (in this case) is a middleman. You find customers, another company produces and transport products, and you share a share from your income.
The manufacturing company may produce products that people want and need, but they don’t want to worry about marketing. They have completed half of their goals: sales. Your business allows them to successfully complete the remaining work. You use your marketing ability and customer service skills to contact new friends, establish loyalty, and become a source of trustworthy.
One of the most famous direct sales companies is WayFair. They do nothing; they just list a series of household products produced by various other companies. All products are listed in one place to make it like a physical store. They buy from the supplier, increase prices, attract customers, and profit from their sales.
You can create a similar thing. Continuously add products and set your own price without worrying about transportation, inventory management, product storage or manufacturing.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of direct sales?
Sales sales are not suitable for each store. The important thing is that you sit down and consider whether you want to achieve your goal. The benefits of direct sales include:
The cost is relatively low.
Do not worry about all costs related to product development, procurement or inventory storage -most traditional stores will incur all costs.
No inventory management.
You do not have to store products, risk losses because of unprocessed inventory, or worry about the sales of the goods.
Improve cash flow.
You receive your product payment while paying to the supplier, not waiting for your investment.
No freight.
Avoid potential complex transportation processes and travel to the post office.
The risk is the smallest.
You can freely with your target audienceTest new projects instead of risk of a lot of funds.
Passive income.
When you handle other aspects of your business, let your supplier manufacture and perform orders.
However, of course, direct sales also have disadvantages:
Fierce competition.
Other stores may sell exactly the same products.
Lack of control. Since you do not create and transport each product in person, you will hand over a large amount of control to the manufacturing company. The company can also change its rates and expenses at any time.
There are no orders. If you sell products from multiple manufacturers, customers may receive orders from different packaging. This may cause brand chaos and even frustration.
There is no batch discount. Since you actually buy a product at a time, you may not receive a supplier discount, and the profit margin may be low.
It is difficult to stand out. Because your product is similar to the products of other stores, it is difficult to be different. In some cases, you may only need to compete in price, which is usually a competition.
Learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of direct sales.
How to start direct sales
Are you ready to learn how to start direct sales? The following guidelines will be prepared for your success. But remember that the specific processes of each store will be different, so please always follow your needs and the audience custom process at any time.
First step: Select the niche market You must choose a niche ——The special area in a larger industry, you focus on your products and business. No enterprise can sell everything to everyone. A good niche market is a product that people are willing to pay online. There should be some demand -direct sales are not a place for the launch of a bunch of unbet products.
The good news is that your niche can be almost anything. You can choose any sports or entertainment activities and sell them to enthusiasts. Or sell products related to food, fashion, home decoration, electronic products, entertainment -this list can continue forever.
Each niche also has Ziki. Hats can be reduced to outdoor adventure caps, ladies hats, sports caps, hats with interesting information, and so on.
The niche market can also be defined through population statistics -you can choose to target wealthy customers, apartment owners, car owners, college students, parents and many others.
Why is the niche market so important? Because it stood out in the competition. Many people try to enter direct sales. If you just sell \”hats\”, it will be difficult for you to find the audience. Too general. But those who look for an interesting hat will find a company specializing in these. They will pay more for them because they want them. Select the niche market so that you can: Get a higher price.
Attract loyal audiences.
It is distinguished from the competition.
Become the first choice for this series of products.
Specifically, you do not have to compete in price, but you can focus on marketing to people suitable for your products.
Step 2: Choose a product and find a supplier
When considering how to start direct sales, one of the most important steps is to select the supplier of cooperation. Some suppliers provide a variety of products, which are almost suitable for any niche market. These examples include AliExpress and Spocket.
However, you can also cooperate with a large number of small suppliers around the world. If you want to sell specific products and start from the product, this may be a better choice.
When selecting the supplier, please consider the following:
They they Shipping to the location. Do they ship in a certain country or send it to multiple countries? Can they provide products for your target audience? Their pricing. Some direct sellers charge monthly or annual fees, while others only charge products and freight. Check out all costs. Comment. What does the existing customer feel?
Their policy. How do they handle the return? Broken products?
Integrated. Do they use their own plug -in or woocommerce dropshipping such as expansion programs to integrate with your WOOCOMMERCE store?
Next, if you do not start from a specific idea, please choose the product you want to sell. You don’t want to sell all products produced by specific suppliers. Choose the benefits that are suitable for youThe foundation market and you think it will produce good profit margins.
Make sure some samples and test the products you want to sell online. This is the key to maintaining high -quality stores and ensuring that the products look like their pictures and describe their work. What you don’t want to do is selling things you can’t support.
Then, think about how to make your store stand out -remember, others can also sell these same products. For example, you may have a store centered on outdoor products. In addition to a disposable item such as sleeping bags and camping furnaces, you can also sell gift sets, including everything required for people’s hiking travel, or children’s beginner suits. These types of personal contact have a long way to go! Step 3: Formulate a marketing plan
Marketing begins to understand your audience and your niche market. Who is your marketing object and why? To attract your audience, you must figure out where they are. Is it better to contact them through online marketing, email, personally or other ways?
You can contact these people in various ways, suitable for your strategy may be the following combinations. :
Paid, online advertising. Show your advertisement in front of them on the website where the potential customers have visited. Set the positioning option from all content from age and income level to location and interest. Email marketing. Send an email containing new announcements, discounts and prompts to your list. In addition, let your products go back to the person who adds them to the shopping cart but not purchased. Content marketing. Write blog articles, guidelines, e -books, etc. to show your professional knowledge and guide people to buy.
Search engine optimization. Attract users who actively look for your products or services on search engines such as Google.
Social media marketing. Establish contact with followers or potential customers through posts, live videos or paid advertisements.
Influential marketing. Use the power of influencing to attract the new audience recommended by the person.
Or, you can also consider more traditional marketing methods, such as TV advertisements, broadcast ads or direct mail.
But no matter what you chooseOnly to start seeing the results. Maintain consistency and close attention, you will win the trust of people who will become your loyal customers (and sales!).
Want more information? Here are some additional resources:
Use Facebook to expand the influence and promote sales Ten methods to attract more returned customers reduce the abandonment and improvement of shopping carts Five tools of customer loyalty
How to add and cross sales through Woocommerce to increase income
Find your online marketing portfolio: the tool you need to succeed
We are complete E -commerce marketing skills library
The fourth step: pay attention to your expenses
Although you don’t have to create packaging, obtain materials, create anything or transport products, your direct sales business Still cost. Many marketing strategies (such as paid advertisements) need to invest in early stage. If your supplier allows, you may need to create a special custom packaging. You need to purchase domain names, custody plans and any necessary extensions for your online store.
Although these investment is relatively small, it is important to understand the content involved before starting direct sales. Take time to make a budget, and then adjust the pricing of the product to adapt to your expenses.
Step 5: Create your website
With suppliers, products and marketing and business plans, you need to consider your website and technology. Although there are a variety of tools for online sales, using WooCommerce to build your direct selling website on WordPress has two obvious advantages:
You have all the web content and assets you created. Other platforms will charge you a monthly fee and can delete your store at any time, so it is more like renting. Woocommerce provides hundreds of extension procedures, allowing you to customize stores, speed up management and business processes, and improve marketing.
WooCommerce and WordPress itself are also completely free. What you need to pay is only a domain name and a custody plan. According to the supplier you choose to cooperate with, you may also need to expand like WooCommerce Dropshipping or Aliexpress Dropshipping -these can help you simultaneously pricing, inventory and transportation.
Learn more in our establishment of direct selling store guidelines about why you should choose Woocommerce and how to start.
Step 6: Provide excellent customer service
If you do not discuss customer service, it is incomplete to how to start direct sales.
Customer services are essential for the stroke of the competition. And because you cannot control the transportation, you must formulate plans and teams in order to let customers understand the situation and be happy when there are any problems -even if the error is your supplier’s mistake, the customer will want you to correct it. But what did you do? Provide product descriptions and photos in advance. Including all information required for people, such as size, size tables and ingredients. If you apply it, display clear photos of the proportion from various angles.
Supported through a variety of channels.
People prefer to contact in various ways. Considering real -time chat, social media, telephone, email, contact form and forum and other media.
Create a common problem page.
Answer the most common questions for customers in a place that is easy to access.
responding to social media . If your client raises questions, comments or complaints on your social platform, please respond quickly and professional.
There is a clear return and refund policy . Know your policy in advance and add it to your checkout page, footer and order to confirm the email. Learn how to write excellent return policies.
Make the document available at any time. Help customers find instructions, tutorials, manuals and prompts. You can add such information to the account page, confirm email or blog post.
Solve the problem when something goes wrong. If there is a problem, such as a delay in parcels or damage to the item, consider taking responsibility, even if this is not your fault. This can help you retain customers for life and protect your reputation.
Start with WooCommerce for delivery WooCommerce provides you to start everything you need, whether you open a new store or sell other types of products. You will prepare for the support of the large -scale expansion library that fully control your content, help you grow up, and the support of e -commerce experts available at any time.
Is it easy to start delivery on behalf of? Although it is not risky, direct sales are one of the most easy online store types that are the easiest to start and run. Because you don’t have to worry about things such as developing products and finding facilities, the expenses are small.
Once you determine the product and supplier, you only need an e -commerce platform that supports direct sales to make your store go online.
What is the best direct sales tool?
The best direct sales tool is a tool that allows you to have your own content and customize all content to meet your specific needs. This is why Woocommerce is a good choice -it is open source, so you can fully control and infinite flexibility at your fingertips.
What is the best product of direct sales?
The best direct sales products are products that meet the needs of target audiences. Which items can solve the problems they encounter?
But you also need to consider the popularity of the entire project and their profitability. For some specific ideas, please read our posts on the best direct sales products.
Can I use woocommerce to ship on behalf of?
Absolutely! There are several ways to be shipped directly by woocommerce:
Use WooCommerce direct sales expansion. This allows you to contact the global high -selling or any number of local suppliers.
Use the extension or plug -in provided by the supplier. Some suppliers have their own independent WordPress plug -in, allowing you to connect your store.
Use REST API to connect to your supplier. With the help of developers, you can use WordPress Rest API to connect any third -party tool you like.
Can I add the delivery to my e -commerce store?
Yes, you can add direct sales to existing stores. If you have sold some products, digital products or membership qualifications you make, you can also sell other products on your behalf. Using Woocommerce Dropshipping extension, you can allocate specific products to suppliers to avoid confusion.
Use Woocommerce Dropshipping to allocate a single product to direct selling suppliers
How do I handle direct sales and return?
First of all, the expectations of setting and refund policies are first set up. Then, it is important to remember that your customers may not know that you are selling. They don’t necessarily careWho transports the product; they just want it to be able to reach quickly and in good condition.
In most cases, we recommend providing return services to dissatisfaction customers.They are an opportunity that allows that person to become customers in the next few years, protect your brand reputation, and may bring recommendations.
If the product is damaged when it arrives, avoid blame the supplier on your client.Remember, they may not know (or do not care) you are selling.Instead, we must bear responsibility and provide exchanges or refund.However, you may want to contact your supplier and ask them to take responsibility for your mistakes.According to your agreement, they will refund the cost of the product for you.
