Dropshipping business in Nigeria is a very profitable business to start in the new year. As you already know, a lot of people are very scared of starting an online business because of the startup costs and the troubles that come with running small businesses in a nation like Nigeria.
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Fortunately for you, starting a dropshipping business is a brilliant first step into entrepreneurship right now. It will be possible to sell products to customers, set your own product price, and market your personal brand. In fact, you don’t even have to pay for inventory until it gets sold to an actual customer.
In this post, we’ll break down all you should know about starting your personal dropshipping business, including what dropshipping business is all about, its advantages and disadvantages e.t.c. See How To Start A Successful Online Dropshipping Business In Nigeria (2021):
What Exactly Is A Dropshipping Business?
Dropshipping is simply a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it is selling in stock. Rather, as soon the store sells a product, it buys the items from a 3rd party, and then ships them directly to the customer. Dropshipping is a kind of money-making venture model which aids a business to operate without maintaining inventory, buying a warehouse to store their products, or even having to ship their products to their customers personally.
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How Can I Start A Dropshipping Business In Nigeria?
1. Find A Niche:
Choosing a niche you completely understand will give you an edge over your rivals. If you go for something you do not know much about, you’ll know nothing about the quality of the products, the process, its price e.t.c. The niche you go for has to be laser-focused, and it should be something you are very interested in. A product range that is not focused will be very hard to market. Also, the truth is that, if there is no passion for whatever niche you select, you could get discouraged easily since it takes too much work to successfully scale a dropshipping business.
2. Find The Right Supplier:
Getting involved with the wrong supplier can damage your business, therefore it is best to not rush into finding one. You have to conduct proper due diligence, but most dropshipping suppliers that suit Nigerian businesses are available overseas, especially in China. Alibaba is currently one of the largest online resources to identify and communicate with potential producers and suppliers. Ensure you ask the right questions and be aware of what their manufacturing capabilities are when your business begins to grow rapidly. You just want to be sure that the supplier is able to scale with you.
3. Select Your Platform:
In this case, your platform will be seen as your online store. When you start a dropshipping business, you can make up your mind to set up your personal e-commerce store or sell on popular platforms like Jumia and Konga that let other merchants sell on their platform. We’ll advise you to go with the latter option since they take care of several issues that comes with running an e-commerce business that you might not have the cash to take care of. As your business starts to grow, you can then decide to launch your personal
e-commerce site.
4. Promote Your Business:
The main reason for starting a dropshipping business is to sell something, and this can only happen if you promote your business consistently. Having an amazing product and website is totally fine, but without customers lining up to patronize you, all that will eventually go to waste. Therefore, you should never ignore the importance of using digital marketing to improve your customer base from time to time. You can make it happen by running targeted adverts on Facebook and Instagram, using SEO to optimize for specific keywords on search engines such as Google e.t.c.
5. Get Your Money In Order:
One popular mistake business owners make when they start a business is spending money recklessly. All money-making businesses have to always be on the lookout for financial loopholes that can crumble the business, so as to prevent such from happening.
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Advantages Of Starting A Dropshipping Business?
- Low Investment: You do not have to break the bank to start this business.
- Simple To Start: Running an e-commerce business is simple to start and run, as you won’t be dealing with physical inventory.
- Low Overhead: You have no business with buying inventory and managing any storage facility. In fact, your dropshipping business can be handled from home on your PC.
- Location Flexibility: Costly rents are not a problem here. All you need is an internet connection, and you’re good to go.
Disadvantages Of Starting A Dropshipping Business?
- Low Margins: Since it is very easy to get started with low overhead costs, several merchants prefer to start their store with very low prices in an attempt to quickly increase revenue.
- Shipping And Returns: Because most drop shippers use more than one supplier, this could mess up your shipping costs, as they will vary from supplier to supplier. In fact, you could easily lose control over shipping quality and speed.
- Lack Of Visibility: As you work with suppliers, you are also risking customer satisfaction. If anything goes wrong from the supplier’s end, you are the one the customer will blame.
That is that.