6 Hard truths about dropshipping in South Africa
1. Insufficent Supply of goods
Because we live in South Afica and businesses are only warming up now to the idea of dropshipping we don’t have a lot going for us when it comes to a wide variety of products to sell.
Sure, we have Dropstore that opened up their doors to make it possible for any person to easily find products to sell. The downside of using Dropstore is that when you do find a particular product you want to sell the quantity are most likely going to be low and that makes it difficult to build a brand or scale.
This however is not a fault of Dropstore, they are just a marketplace for suppliers. The fault lies with the supply.
And I wish suppliers can realize the true potential of this business and how it can skyrocket their business in to the next realm.
So, if you are a supplier of any products and reading this article. Please sign up with Dropstore and add your products with enough quantities so dropshippers like us can sell your products effectively.
2. Shipping times
Yes, shipping can make or break your online store before it even made its first sale. You as a dropshipper must understand clients don’t want to wait forever when it comes to ordering goods online.
Most of the shipping done by suppliers are most likely going to give you a lead time of 1 – 3 days and shipping can take another 5 -7 days!
This can lead to 10 days before a product can reach your client. This is difficult to be competitive especially when it comes to competing with large companies like Takealot with a short shipping time of only 2 – 5 days.
But, there is a workaround. We live in South Africa and most people will understand shipping conditions are not ideal. The main thing here is to make your clients aware about shipping times on your product pages.
This will help with the amount of unhappy clients accustomed to shorter delivery times.
3. No control over supply/shipping
In any normal e-commerce circumstances where you are the seller and take care of shipping the goods, you set the shipping times, product quality and return policies.
In the dropshipping business world you are at the mere mercy of the supplier and that can be quite frustrating at best.
My advice here is when you start dropshipping in South Africa is to call your supplier and ask them the following (This is also what I do) –
- What is the quantities
- Shipping times
- Product quality
- Return policy
- Money back
This will help you formulate a return policy on your store. Once again, helping to minimize the frustration of clients.
4. Bad client service
It is all too easy to suck at client service especially when running a dropshipping business. I mean, why care about the product or the annoying customer. It is not your products! This mentality is exactly where dropshipping gets its bad rep from.
Dropshippers just don’t give a damn when it comes to clients and resolving problems. This is the wrong way at looking the business model, if you take care of your clients first, your store will automatically do better.
Are you in it for a quick buck? No, you are in it to make money for the long term. So, come on man, do your part and make client service a priority.
5. Building a brand
Yes, the key to successful online stores are the ones that can establish a brand people love, follow and trust. With dropshipping in South Africa and anywhere in the world it is difficult to build a brand around someone else’s products.
It also can be perplexing especially when a client order goods from store A and receives packaging with store B labeling and logos.
Confusing for most.
In the end, you should focus on building trust with your clients because if clients trust you, they remember the buying experience and great service and not so much the labeling on the packaging.
6. Easy come, easy go
This is especially true for dropshipping and what I mean this is, when you put minimum finances and time in to something only to make some quick sales your store will most fail terribly.
Trust me on this, been there, done that, got the stores to prove it.
If you are going to start a dropshipping business in South Africa, please put your heart and soul in to it. Treat it like a real business and the favour will return.
Ok, so how do you start a dropshipping in South Africa?
