You’re going to fail with your drop shipping business if you don’t do this – find dependable drop shippers. Now, that’s not a threat. It’s a fact. And this is due to how this e-commerce model is configured.
At the core of every successful drop shipping business is an army of reliable suppliers that ship orders on time, in an excellent condition, and always have products in stock – or at least most of the time.
So, if you desire a significant measure of success, then you have to dig in and seek out reputable drop shipping suppliers that you can trust to be there for you.
The fact is, it’s quite a task finding these wholesalers, and rightly so but with these five easy steps, we hope you can quickly sign up with suppliers that work for you.
Know your industry
You need to know where to begin your search, and that starts by figuring out which sector you intend entering. Since different industries have different logistics and supply chain and various places where their distributors and manufacturers get listed; it makes sense then, to know where you fit in as this will point you in the direction to begin your search.
For instance, if you are planning to dropship say female clothes that are targeted at the green community – you are in the Green organic, sustainable niche – it is more likely that you would easily find suppliers listed in publications targeting this specific set of individuals.
Contact manufacturers first
Another great place to start your search is with the producers of the products you want to sell. Contact them ask if they offer drop shipping services for their products.
Hopefully, they will say yes, and you would have landed yourself a great deal because you’re more likely to be getting the products cheaper here than if you’ve gone through a distributor.
However, even if they said no that they don’t drop ship; you can request they point you in the right direction to their distributors – that way you would be saved from the stress of searching for these dealers yourself.
Go the old-fashioned way
Most wholesalers still get listed on trade magazines and industry newsletters. So a search through past issues of these publications can be an invaluable resource. Or you can visit these sites to check out the previous releases there – you’d be surprised with the list of drop shipping businesses you would uncover.
Also, you can consider attending your industry-specific trade shows and conferences; they can be another avenue to meet with potential suppliers.
To help your research for industry-specific events near you, here are search queries you can use on Google:
IndustryName + intitle:exhibition
IndustryName + intitle: trade show
IndustryName + intitle:seminar
IndustryName + intitle:conference
IndustryName + intitle:expo
IndustryName + site:meetup.com
Search through Google
It’s an open secret that most real vendors don’t take their internet marketing efforts seriously. So don’t be surprised when you stumble onto a website that looks like they have time-traveled from the 90s.
This means that you may have to spend a little more time going through the search results – may be starting from the 10th page.
It is vital during this quest that you mix things up – that is; use different search terms, and various variations to be sure you covered all your bases. And for a more refined result you can search using these queries:
Keyword +”top 10 resources.”
Keyword + “recommended sites.”
Keyword + “Useful resources.”
To illustrate how to use this, let’s take one of the likely keywords you would use – “dropship suppliers directory.”
Now, using one of the queries, you will type in something similar to this: Dropship suppliers directory + “useful resources.”
Using this query will pull up several useful resources for your research.
Use curated lists
At this point, you should have a list of potential suppliers to contact. But if you want more options, you can always pay to access the curated lists online.
However, be careful and do a proper research since most of these lists have obsolete and outdated entries.
Wrapping it up
Drop shipping is an exciting and fast-growing e-commerce sub-segment; even well-established online stores are adding drop shipping as part of their online strategy, so this is an exciting time to join the industry and live your entrepreneurial dreams.
