How Drop Shipping Evolved The eCommerce Industry

Drop shipping has had a huge impact on the way people do online business. While it was once prohibited on major selling platforms, it is now widely accepted as a valid and legitimate way of doing business. In fact, Google Trends data show that interest in drop shipping keeps increasing over time — from 57 points last year to a full 100 this month, for instance. With drop shopping making waves, it’s no surprise that it also helped shaped the current eCommerce climate — but how, exactly?Let’s take a closer look at how drop shipping evolved the eCommerce industry in today’s ever changing market.

Paved the Way for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Before drop shipping, aspiring entrepreneurs had to buy their merchandise in bulk in order to offer enough items on their online shops. This meant that a sizable budget had to be set aside prior to starting a business to build your inventory — and possibly a storage space to keep them in. Drop shipping has effectively lowered the financial requirements for building an online store, mainly because you don’t have to buy any item prior to a customer placing an order.

Drop shipping offers a very affordable way for starting an online business – no need to spend a fortune on inventory!The only fees that you need to keep in mind are the website setup and hosting costs, and any membership fees that your chosen drop shipper requires, if any. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about managing inventory at all, since safekeeping of the products is your drop shipper’s responsibility. These reasons alone have made online business viable to any budding online entrepreneur.

From Local to Global Reach

Shipping orders to international waters used to be a challenge, not because of the distance, but because of the costs involved. It goes both ways, too — shops pay more for shipping, while customers usually have to pay for duties and taxes once the package arrives at their local customs department. To add salt to the injury, some items get held up at customs for months, while others are lost without a trace.

Drop shipping has made international shipping much easier.Drop shipping made things much more easier. Businesses can now ship worldwide without any major interference from the customs department. In fact, just recently, Ali Express, a China-based company known for its drop shipping service, made it possible for packages to arrive to a customer’s doorstep in just 1 to 2 weeks, which is quite an impressive feat considering the usual ETA of international packages is around 45 to 60 days.

Made Product Offerings More Flexible

Offer more products with drop shipping!Buying wholesale means you buy in bulk — which carries the risk of spending your money on a few types of items at a time. This, in turn, made small online shops’ offerings a tad limited. With drop shipping, however, you can offer everything that is in your partner drop shipper’s virtual shelves. You no longer have to be restricted to several items only — you can offer several categories and become a one-stop shop for anything and everything that customers may need. In other words, drop shipping helped everyone — even smaller shops — be more competitive.

Gave More Room For Advertising

No matter how packed a store is with different products, or how low the prices are, if no one actually knows about the online store, then it’s as good as dead. Smaller shops know this all too well — which is why some divided their time between running the store and marketing their products. Drop shipping has changed that, too.

Drop shipping gives you more time to focus on marketing your products — as well as nurturing customer relationships.Since your partner drop shippers are responsible for pretty much the whole process after you have forwarded the customer’s orders, it leaves you with more time to focus on advertising your store so that more people can visit and shop. Beyond that, it also gives you enough time to interact with or help customers.

Created a Bustling Community of Entrepreneurs

Drop shipping helped create a community of like-minded individuals.Another amazing thing that came out of drop shipping is the whole community of entrepreneurs sharing their knowledge, tips, and experiences to others who are just starting out on their venture, or are having problems in managing their business. Aside from forums and blogs posted by the drop shipping companies themselves, there are also a handful of drop shipping experts who create articles and publish them on their own websites, where other entrepreneurs are free to discuss it among themselves. Drop shipping has brought together a community of like-minded individuals that help each other become successful on their online venture, proving that healthy competition is alive and kicking in today’s world.

The Bottom Line

With all these positive changes that drop shipping brought to the eCommerce world, it’s no wonder why it is attracting a lot of individuals to try their luck at setting up an online store. With little cost involved, a ton of drop shipping companies offering their service and products with matching delivery to any point of the globe, opportunity to give more focus on marketing, and a community of helpful and friendly people, drop shipping has made eCommerce highly accessible, affordable, and manageable for anyone

If you are still on the look out for a drop shipper, check out our top 10 best drop shipping companies, where you’ll find an extensive review for each, so you can have a pretty good idea of what you can get before you even pay a single penny.