6 Easy Steps to Drop Ship With WordPress – WooCommerce
Drop shipping is a simple and efficient eCommerce strategy in which the seller keeps no inventory and instead relies on wholesalers or manufacturers to ship directly to customers. Its benefits are significant: with low starting cost, scalability, and the ability to increase your cash flow without stocking product, it’s no wonder a growing number of eCommerce stores are shifting towards this fulfillment model.
Best of all, dropshipping with WordPress (WooCommerce) is simple. In a few easy steps, you can start a WordPress drop shipping store with the potential to thrive.
1. Find a Niche for Your Store
We’ve discussed the importance of finding a niche for your eCommerce store in the past: it allows you to have the broadest outreach possible among a small group to enhance your business’s visibility. It’s important to be careful in your selection: your niche should have a distinct, identifiable target market. Your niche should also be trending. For instance, you might consider selling fan merchandise for a popular Netflix series. While this step will likely require a bit of research, the advantage of drop shipping lies in the fact that even if your niche doesn’t work out, you can change it without having to worry about losing money or getting rid of excess stock.
2. Select a Domain Name & Host Provider
The next step is a simple but important one. You’ll need to select a domain name that’s synonymous with your brand. It should be short, catchy, original, and creative. Because SEO is essential for an online store, your name should be relevant to your brand yet still holistic. Coming up with the perfect name requires a bit of brainstorming, so it might help to jot down some ideas and come back to them later.
Once you have your domain name, you can set up an account through a hosting service provider. This will encompass a small fee, and will represent your website’s “home” on the Internet. Some WordPress hosting providers to consider include Bluehost, SiteGround, and DreamHost. You can compare hosting providers based on key criteria such as speed, uptime, and customer support to form your decision.
3. Install WordPress & Set Up WooCommerce
WordPress is hailed as the most user-friendly and powerful website content management system (CMS) which powers upwards of 27% of the internet. Big-name brands as notable as Bloomberg, BBC America, and The Walt Disney Company are using WordPress, so it makes sense that emerging eCommerce store owners make it their top choice, too. Installing WordPress can take as little as five minutes, and you can either download it manually or speed the process using 1-click installation from your web hosting provider. Once it’s downloaded, you’ll need to set up an account and install WooCommerce, the plugin that turns your WordPress site into an eCommerce store.
4. Choose Your WooCommerce Theme
For creative individuals, this is where the fun starts. It’s now time to choose WooCommerce theme to bring your store to life. It should represent your brand and align with your store’s overall messaging, but most importantly, it must be compatible with all browsers and mobile devices. While this step leaves a significant amount of room for personal preference, you should also look for product pages that are visually engaging, an interactive shopping cart icon, a customizable cart and checkout, and premade page templates to help save time.
5. Add Products to Your Store
Since you’re not retaining any physical inventory, you’ll have to search for and import products from other suppliers. Be sure to browse through seller ratings to find a suitable fit for your store. AliExpress is a popular online marketplace for drop shipping. It offers close to wholesale pricing – without the requirement of making bulk purchases.
While manually adding products on WooCommerce can be time-consuming, you can choose to automate this step with an extension likeWooDropship or Ezusy. These tools allow you to seamlessly import products from AliExpress with the option of editing product titles, descriptions, and images. They’ll also notify you or automatically adjust your store when AliExpress prices change or go out of stock.
6. Market Your Drop Shipping Store
While organic searches will contribute to some of your store’s traffic, you’ll also need to promote through channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google AdWords. Develop a marketing strategy and fine-tune your approach based on what works best for your target audience.
Now, you’re ready to begin fulfilling your orders! Don’t forget that exceptional customer service is also a key feature your shoppers will look for. Make sure customers can contact you quickly and easily with inquiries or concerns, and develop a return/refund policy in advance.
