When it comes to scaling a dropshipping business, it’s often difficult to know when and how. Surprisingly, this makes it a difficult time for dropshippers.
Are you finding yourself working around the clock more and more? or maybe finding you are struggling to balance your advertising time with dealing with orders, or perhaps you’ve got a great idea for a white label product. It could also be you’re seeing the competition streak ahead.
Whatever the reasons, when and more importantly how to scale a dropshipping business is an important consideration for those looking to make 6 figures or more dropshipping.
In this article, we will explore some of the ways you can scale your business and succeed in a competitive dropshipping marketplace.
When and how do you scale dropshipping business? Carefully Consider cash flow. Express shipping is crucial to scaling. Build a team with VA’s. Adequately test new products by advertising and check suppliers have sufficient stock.
So with the short answer covered, let’s delve a little more deeply into this important topic for dropshippers, Shopify, and eCommerce retailers and start by looking at some important things to consider.
Let’s begin by looking at one of the most important elements of dropshipping, or indeed scaling any Shopify or ECommerce business, which is when to scale.
How to scale dropshipping business
As with any other form of business, there are many important things to consider when asking the question of how to scale a dropshipping business.
Take a look at our 5-point checklist list below to get started.
- Planning
- Funding
- Correct systems
- Technology
- Partners
1. Planning
Making sure you plan thoroughly is crucial to the success of your dropshipping business. By planning, this means every area of your business should be water-tight.
Make sure your supplier has enough stock
This is probably one of the first areas you need to plan in first before starting a scaling process.
Finding out too late in the day that your supplier can’t grow with you is the hard way and not recommended!
Make sure you contact your supplier and find out order limits and whether they have the capacity to supply when demand grows.
Test advertising and products fully
It’s no good simply putting a finger in the air and guessing which products might do well.
A fully planned ad campaign will enable you to test the demand before you commit to any new products.
Test the products yourself if possible so you have an idea as to any issues your customers may come up against and make sure you choose quality products from a reputable supplier.
2. Funding
Considering how you are going to fund your upscaling venture is paramount to the success of your business, especially if you are looking to make 6 figures!
Make sure you have a written finance plan of how you will fund the growth.
Cash flow and fund release
If you use PayPal make sure you let them know you are intending to grow or otherwise any large-scale transaction that isn’t usual for your account could be flagged up and crucial cash flow will be frozen.
This is one way to help you more fully consider all Important cash flow and fund release.
3. Correct systems
Having the correct symptoms in place could be the difference as to whether your dropshipping business wins or fails.
Use virtual assistant
We are asked many times how to scale a dropshipping business and one of the best ways to free up your time to concentrate on the development and executive side of your business is to outsource the fundamental tasks of customer service and order fulfillment.
Building a team of VA’s around you to take care of the laborious and find consuming day-to-day order taking can be farmed out to others and enable you to make those all-important business decisions.
This is important to realize as some of the most successful dropshippers could be taking up to 400 orders a day, just with a team less than 5.
Express shipping
Slow shipping times is now a subject close to everyone’s heart when buying online.
Companies such as Amazon have raised the bar in terms of almost immediate deliveries and means that those wanting to know how to scale a dropshipping business should offer the quickest shipping possible.
Some of the best dropshipping partners can offer a 7-day turnaround from order to delivery from right across the globe. So it makes those who are sourcing products from China are able to compete with the super fast delivery times from the online retail giants.
4. Technology
It can be overwhelming when researching the best software to scale your dropshipping business.
Every type of software comes with promises and claims of how it can help you scale your dropshipping business with a never-ending list of features.
To make sure you have covered all bases, here are our top tips on how to scale your dropshipping business and the features to look for.
- Product search and import
- Listing management tools
- Automated order and fulfillment
- Inventory info
- Pricing automation
- Shipment tracking
- Reporting
5. Partners
Finding partners that can grow with you as we mentioned earlier, is crucial to the success of your dropshipping venture.
Finding a quality partner who is reputable and puts the customer first is important to build a reputation and limit returns and unhappy customers.
This alone can kill dropshipping businesses if not addressed.
Work with experienced shipping agents and partners who will ensure your customers get a quality product and the best service.
And to finish on…
We hope this article has given you the lowdown on scaling your dropshipping business, what to look for in the best dropshipping partners, and also when it might be an idea to begin the scaling process.
Here at HyperSKU, we take care of all the back-end processes so you can fully concentrate on building a successful business. Sign up for free to find out more.