Image Credit: Wallpaper Flare
The appeal of running a home business is currently at an all-time high as people struggle to cope with being largely confined to their homes. Many have lost their jobs and need to find some fresh ways to make money. Others are simply bored, wishing to challenge themselves (and perhaps make some profit in the process).
What we’ve learned from the sudden need to move to remote working is that most businesses can operate remotely without losing much productivity (if any), yet one particular business type remains the most appealing to those stuck at home — that being ecommerce. Online stores can be run from anywhere, and can be handled in many different ways that suit different people.
If you’re interested in moving into the ecommerce world, this is certainly a good time to give it a try. After all, the industry is booming: as far as traditional retail goes, only grocery stores have remained open throughout the world, so anyone looking to buy something aside from basic supplies needs to look online.
In this post, then, we’re going to succinctly detail how you can run an ecommerce store from your home using the dropshipping model. Let’s get started:
Dropshipping: selling without stocking
I mention the dropshipping model because it’s a key part of running an ecommerce store from home (at least one set up during this lockdown period). It isn’t going to be practical to rent and organize warehouse space, meet with suppliers, source products in bulk, and work with shipment services — and dropshipping lets you skip all of that.
It’s simple enough: dropshipping suppliers (like AliExpress) offer products for set prices and allow online stores to do the general selling for them. You choose items from a dropshipping inventory, list them in your store with profit margins added, then pass orders to the dropshipper for sourcing and fulfilment. You don’t need to stock anything or send anything (there’s no inventory management). It’s the perfect introduction to ecommerce: cheap, easy, and low-risk.
Finding a valuable niche
Before you build and launch your store, you need to know how you’re going to set your store apart. Dropshipping means that you can’t offer unique products or offer exceptional prices (you’re limited by what the suppliers charge you), so you have to find some other way to stand out, and the first thing that demands is that you find a valuable niche to focus on.
For instance, one niche you could focus on that’s appropriate right now is comfort products for offices (or home offices). Dropshipper inventories feature plenty of items like cushions, mouse pads, hats, and chair supports: your job would be to curate them carefully and assemble a range of products that go together well and would appeal to remote workers.
Choosing a store platform
Once you’ve decided what you’re going to sell, you need to pick a store platform that will function with the dropshipping service you’ve picked. Cloudways has a good guide to the available options (including, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Shopify), so that’s a great place to review the features and think about what kind of experience you’re looking for.
Do you want to keep costs down to run with the low-risk nature of dropshipping, or spend extra for top-notch customer support and additional features that might allow you to expand your business more easily? I’d take the first approach, but it’s entirely up to you. Any of the systems in the Cloudways guide will go a fine job.
The importance of good promotion
Lastly, it would be amiss of me to fail to mention how important promotion is for online stores. They can’t stand out through location in the way that brick-and-mortar stores can: you can launch an ecommerce store with a lot to offer but end up getting no visitors because no one knows it exists. You need to tell people it’s there, and make them want to check it out.
Offline marketing isn’t a great idea for a dropshipping store, and SEO takes a long time to kick in, so I suggest running with paid advertising: particularly PPC. Facebook Ads is a really strong choice because it allows a good amount of creative freedom in its ads (you can include a decent amount of copy, images, and even videos) and has exceptional targeting options. Here are some handy examples to inspire you.
Running an ecommerce store from home can be fun, profitable, and very rewarding, and using the dropshipping model ensures that you can operate with maximal convenience and minimal risk. Why not give it a try?