Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. What is Dropshipping
3. Step-by-Step Guide for Starting the Dropshipping in the Philippines
-> Research the Right Niche and Product
-> Pick the Right Supplier
-> Set Your Store and Develop the Strategy
-> Select an E-commerce Platform
-> Get the Complete Visibility
-> Be Prepared for the Returns
4. Thrive with Dropshipping in Philippines
The Philippines is a digital-savvy country. The e-commerce industry is picking up pace, and the number of active users has risen to 80-90 million. The good news is it won’t stop just here. It is expected to increase by 12-13% by FY 2025-2026.
It is a well-connected concept that if the number of active users rises, the number of active sellers also grows. This is the reason for the industry’s constant competitive edge. But are all sellers the same? Do all of them have their brands, warehouses, and inventory?
Actually, no! The emerging e-commerce trends are giving rise to new business models like Dropshipping. Let’s discuss this in detail.
What is Dropshipping and How Does It Work?
People in the Philippines are more than just tech-savvy; they also contribute to the favorable growth conditions for e-commerce start-ups. The first concern that comes to our mind when we listen to the word start-up is the cost. Does starting your own business require a lot of money? The answer is no! Business models like Dropshipping are turbocharging the e-commerce game.
We will make this concept as easy as possible for you to understand. Let’s say you want to start selling online and earn profits. Still, you don’t want to get into the never-ending big hustle of maintaining a warehouse, keeping an inventory, managing the stocks, managing the shipping for your customers, and managing the logistics. The question is, can you still do the business?
Well, yes, why not? Smart sellers are also into Dropshipping. So, you bring the orders and give them to your supplier, and the supplier will process them further and send them to your customer using their own logistics patterns.
So, you are not storing anything or getting into trouble managing logistics. You just have to look after the orders. Hence, market well and get into the selling game!
Step-by-Step Guide for Starting the Dropshipping in the Philippines
- Research the Right Niche and Product
- Pick the Right Supplier
- Set Your Store and Develop the Strategy
- Select an E-commerce Platform
- Get the Complete Visibility
- Be Prepared for the Returns
The cost-effective business patterns encourage people to engage as sellers in the e-commerce landscape, unleashing a new set of questions and challenges. So. Let’s discover how to enter the e-commerce world as drop shippers!
What does it take to make any business successful? The proper steps! And there’s no shortcut or a fixed blueprint to it! What the next step in your business is only answerable after you figure out and analyze the changing scenarios of the e-commerce industry. Here, we will discover the current stage of Dropshipping in the Philippines and what props you would need for your performance to shine.
Step 1: Research the Right Niche and Product
First thing first, what are you going to sell? In the Philippines, you can sell anything online, from an electronic gadget to local artisan goods. Everything is sellable. But not by everyone. When we sell a product, the concern should be how much the profit margin is. Do you have the right supplier for that product? Do you know and have you figured out the right strategies to market your product? And is your product falling into the top-selling e-commerce categories in the Philippines?
Why do we emphasize the choice when you have to sell it and not use it personally? The reason is you have to know your product well. Bringing orders means luring your customers and turning them into consumers of your product. You must build the strategies and compete with similar product choices to make people buy. Hence, the industry that interests you and is easy for you to pitch to others should be the one you should pick to sell.
Step 2: Pick the Right Supplier
Just like how customers have a pool of choices to buy identical products from a few marketplaces or websites of different brands. You will also face choices for the suppliers. The right choice to pick a supplier is essential to have the right margins for your profit. Along with this, the price should also compete with the market trends. To attract the customers into effective deals.
The supplier will take care of the whole logistics crunch during drop shipping. So, the customers you are bringing should be satisfied with the logistics, which depend on the supplier. So, as you bridge these two ends, you must ensure that you are choosing the right supplier with the proper logistics.
Step 3: Set Your Store and Develop the Strategy
The next step is to set up your store and pick a unique and creative domain name. You must create a base for your selling game, from deciding on the product listings to attractive photos and payment gateways. All has to be sorted.
Then, you should process it by mapping out the correct strategies that fit your target market and the type of product that you are selling. For instance, if you sell a beauty product, you should target beauty influencers. If you sell an electronic gadget, you should target the stable-income consumer base that likes advanced technology.
Step 4: Decide on an E-commerce Sales Channel
Selecting a platform will be challenging. You have to analyze many things. Let’s start with the basic features, like how user-friendly the e-commerce platform is and whether it has a global reach. You must examine which platform has the best local reach to target the local audience. For instance, if you want to sell only in the Philippines, you should target marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada, Zalora, and TikTok Shop.
The next concern is the amount of automation and integration capabilities. Every marketplace has its working model, like Lazada, which promises its customers that their products can be delivered in 24 hours. Hence, these criteria should be in sync with the supplier you chose to work with. You should use a solution to manage your orders from different platforms and keep up with the virtual inventory. So, is the platform you chose to sell capable of working with you?
Step 5: Get the Complete Visibility
If you don’t control the inventory or warehouse, it doesn’t mean you cannot manage your business. With suitable technological investments, you should ensure complete visibility of your business from the warehouse until the product is delivered to the customer.
As a business owner, you should know the status of your products since you are the bridge connecting the product and the customer. The supplier you will be working with is just that. Their concern will be limited to supplying and assigning the inventory to the correct logistics. Customer satisfaction ultimately becomes your responsibility.
Step 6: Be Prepared for the Returns
Every e-commerce selling game is prone to returns. The returns will be there regardless of the product niche you choose to sell. But how will you manage the returns when you are in the dropshipping business? You technically use the third-party warehouse and don’t have full control over the physical inventory.
The correct thing will be to set your blueprint in advance so that you will manage the returns. For instance, your supplier or a third party warehouse will look after it for you. As soon as you have a strategy, technology will be there for you to bridge the gap. You will have the complete visibility of your returned inventory and the status of the returns and all you need to know at your fingertips with just a few clicks. Keep in check your virtual inventory like a pro!
Thrive with Dropshipping in the Philippines!
The Philippines is one of the opportunities that a young entrepreneur would seek to start their own business. The dynamic of the dropshipping business allows you to start at your own pace. You can keep it small-scale or boost your marketing game and go off with the large scale.
Run a business with a warehouse and all of the functions. You might need help changing your product efficiently, but with opportunities like dropshipping, you can explore the business aspects of different industries.
So, what are you waiting for? You have a guide. You have the opportunity. So, let’s dive into the new era of e-commerce. Step into the moment and unlock e-commerce success. Happy Selling!
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