Dropshipping. You see it a lot these days. It's easy, fast and you can start from home. You buy products cheaply, you sell them for 6 to 7 times your purchase price, and cash out. This often happens via Chinese platforms such as AliExpress, where many products can be bought for a pittance. Once a customer places an order with you, you forward it to AliExpress, who then send the order back to your customer. Easy, right?
Simple money, but does it really work that way?
It's not as easy as it sounds. The internet is changing, consumers are changing and the demands of these consumers are getting higher and higher. Your customers want a high-quality product, delivered quickly. If that doesn't happen, you can quickly receive negative reviews, run an overcrowded customer service and in the worst case get questions from the general public, such as with the series #BOOS by Tim Hoffman.
Guarantees? You don't have that.
'How quickly can I deliver a product to my customer?' is a question that dropshippers will often ask themselves when they send their products to customers via the billion-dollar company AliExpress. ' Ordered today, delivered tomorrow' is certainly not in it. Even with the 'Standard Shipping' method that AliExpress offers, the product will be on its way for at least a week.
The products are often not tested for safety and do not have European standards. It is also possible that your customer will receive the product in AliExpress packaging. Apart from the fact that the products are cheap and you could sell them with high margins, it also entails many uncertainties and difficulties.
Is there an alternative?
Dropshipping is also possible via Dutch suppliers. It works the same: you do not link your webshop to AliExpress, but to a Dutch wholesaler. The orders you receive are automatically forwarded to the wholesaler, who then send the order back to your customer. The products are always tested before they are on your customer's doormat.
The advantages? The order is usually with your customer within one working day. He or she receives a track & trace code from courier services that your customer is familiar with ( PostNL , DHL , UPS ). This way you and your customer always know where the order is at that moment. In addition, the Dutch wholesaler simply has a customer service, where you can always go for any questions you have.
Are you curious about how this works and do you want to know more about it? Please let us know via support@gogetters.nl or send a message via the 'Support' button, at the bottom right of the page.