Dropshipping definition
Dropshipping” (also written“drop shipping“) corresponds to an online sale in which the product is directly sent to the customer by the distributor. In order to better understand how a dropshipping transaction takes place, here is the process phase by phase:
- The customer visits your e-commerce website and buys a product
- The distributor’s site immediately receives the purchase order for this product, its payment and the customer’s delivery address
- The supplier ships the product to the customer and confirms the shipment to you
- Your website keeps part of the product’s selling price
Selling in dropshipping has big advantages:
- You no longer have to order inventory before selling your products
- You no longer have to manage the packaging and delivery of products
- You buy at wholesale price and sell at a high margin
- You can sell thousands of products by buying them at low prices on distributor platforms (e.g. AliExpress).
The “magic” part of dropshipping is the fact that you can immediately collect your margin on a product that is sent directly by the wholesaler to your customer. This is a way of selling on the Internet that is widely used on platforms such as CDiscount, Amazon , Ebay or even the FNAC website : when you consult their products, you see the name of the real seller in small letters.
The tools for creating a website are becoming more and more democratic, some of them are even free, it is even possible to create adropshipping website on your own without any technical skills, but we advise you against it:
Selling in dropshipping requires to take into account the legislation on international sales. It also takes experience to set up dropshipping sales modules, payment solutions with commission transfer and other technical elements that are mostly known by professionals.
If you are tempted by the creation of adropshipping site , please contact us:
What products should I sell with dropshipping?
The quantity of products that can be sold by dropshipping is almost unlimited, so we recommend that you start by exploring the sites of the main suppliers of products that accept dropshipping:
- AliExpress (Chinese supplier AliBaba)
- BigBuy (European supplier)
- Printful (print on demand)
- GlowRoad (Amazon in India)
- PlusBuyer (electronics, computer, video, audio)
You can for example propose the online sale of personalized t-shirts, (or sweatshirts, mugs, baby clothes, etc.), simply from drawings that you will have designed yourself.
You can also create a store specialized in the sale of bamboo material for the kitchen, or beauty products for teenagers, or gardening material, launch a site of personalized ties or why not costume jewelry… This will allow you to find the niche dropshipping market that best fits your business strategy.
Almost everything is possible and at very low prices, normally reserved for wholesalers.
Each of these providers has its own operating mode, but for all of them, the principle remains the same: the provider offers you a technical module that will automatically display its products on your website, as if it were your own catalog.
The choice is extremely wide, so we recommend that you start by consulting the catalogs of the suppliers you are interested in and making your choice from the product lines.
Altosor Communication can of course provide you with the assistance of one of its specialists to help you define your future product catalog according to your business strategy.
Please contact us if you wish to be advised on the choice of your suppliers.
Which tools to create a dropshipping website?
If you want to sell dropshipping and become what is called a “dropshipper”, you need to create or adapt your e-commerce website to dropshipping. Indeed, in a traditional online store, the seller is always the company presented on the website and the products must be destocked, packed and transported to the customer. Financial transactions simply go from buyer to seller.
In a dropshipping e-commerce site, your website always seems to sell directly to customers, but it also includes one or more direct intermediaries who are the suppliers. This changes a lot of things from an IT and banking point of view.
Altosor Communication has specialists in website creation who can offer you several solutions:
Shopify dropshipping website
Among our various e-commerce website creation servicesAltosor Communication recommends the Shopify solution, which is particularly well suited to dropshipping. If you already have a website, storefront or e-commerce, we can take care of transforming it into a Shopify site with recovery of all existing.
Once the basics of your store are created under Shopify, our website creation specialist will adapt the order processing to your dropshipping suppliers.
Your administration interface will be configured so that any new purchase on your e-commerce site triggers several actions:
- Send a notification to the store administrator
- Automatic sending of the order to the dropshipper
- Transfer of the sale amount to your bank account
- Notification to the buyer of the product (for follow-up)
The Shopifydropshipping solution has an App Store from which Altosor Communication helps you select your suppliers and the products that will be automatically added to your catalog on your e-commerce site.
For the customer who comes to your site, your catalog will be that of a classic store with products presented in French (or another language of your choice). The product price displayed on your site will be the one you choose in the Shopify backoffice after applying your margin.
The customer will choose from your range of products, add them to his basket and make the payment online. Once the payment is validated, the supplier will automatically receive the purchase price (cost of the product) and you will keep the amount of your margin (your profit).
Shopify is by far the most commonly used solution for businesses wishing to sell dropshipping. Altosor Communication has a perfect command of its use and can take care of the entire process of designing and deploying your future dropshipping store.
For more information on this topic, please visit our page on creation of an e-commerce website with Shopify.
WordPress dropshipping website
WordPress is the most widely used CMS software in the world for web design. Its WooCommerce module allows you to transform it into an e-commerce site with all the features to sell online.
Altosor Communication can provide you with a dropshipping specialist who can add the necessary extensions to your WordPress site to convert it to dropshipping and allow you to sell online without having to manage stock.
These extensions will allow you to create automated computerized gateways between the suppliers of the products in your catalog and the online purchases made by your customers, especially to manage shipping and financial transfers. As trade rules and legislation vary from country to country, we recommend that you call on the skills of a specialist to ensure that your store complies with the law.
If you would like to set up a WordPress dropshipping solution, please visit our page dedicated to creating an e-commerce website with WordPress.
Request a quote for a dropshipping solution
Prestashop dropshipping website
The Prestashop solution allows you to create large online stores that can contain several hundred products. Dropshipping allows you to select a wide variety of products on international markets.
That’s why Altosor Communication can also offer you its dropshipping solution Prestashop, if your ambition is to manage a large capacity catalog, which can be offered in several languages for example.
This market is growing rapidly in the world and that’s why PrestaShop offers a module dedicated to dropshipping. Like all the other modules of this software, it requires some technical background in computer science to master all its uses.
That’s why Altosor Communication, which has specialists in the PrestaShop application, recommends that you use its services if you want to upgrade your site to dropshipping.
Please consult the page on our website which details how to create an e-commerce website with PrestaShop.
Is it legal to do dropshipping?
Yes, as long as the dropshipper respects the legal rules described in the Consumer Code on distance selling.
As in any business, there are abuses and if a seller starts to sell very expensive products of poor quality, he will quickly go outside the law.
Here are some obligations that any dropshipping seller must respect in France:
- The dropshipper must join a consumer ombudsman and post his contact details on a dedicated page.
- The general terms and conditions of sale of the site (GTC) must propose the exercise of the right of withdrawal of the customer
- The dropshipper remains responsible for the proper execution of the sale in case of default of the supplier or the deliverer
- The dropshipper’s site must indicate the information relating to the law for confidence in the digital economy (LREN)
There are other rules, related to any e-commerce site, but rest assured: at Altosor Communication, we know them perfectly and the specialist who will be dedicated to the creation of your e-commerce dropshipping site will know how to make your company comply with this particular legislation.
In the end, dropshipping is becoming increasingly popular around the world and its expansion does not seem to stop with all the advantages it offers to sellers. The major brands present on the Internet have understood this and have all added this mode of sale to their e-commerce stores.
