How to start dropshipping for free | Guide for beginners

The swift shift from a 9-5 job to be your boss has opened arms for many individuals to start their own business with the least money, time and effort involved. If you’re also looking for one such business model, starting a dropshipping business is one of the smart moves you can take today.  As one of the most rapidly growing businesses, dropshipping has empowered tens of thousands of people to quit their job and make money by doing almost nothing. So, if you are interested in how to start dropshipping for free, read on to find out more.

What is a dropshipping business?

As the name says, dropshipping is the simplest type of e-commerce business where your work only revolves around product packaging, storage, and shipping. 

You can do this either with the help of a website or a third party, as all you need to do is pick, pack and ship the product to the customer. By doing this, you earn a good share of commission on every product from the store owner or the third-party seller who brings you the order.

Starting a dropshipping business isn’t as complicated as other businesses but requires a small share of homework before you jump to the bandwagon.

What sets dropshipping business apart? 

The most impressive advantage of starting a drop shipping business is its low-risk and better-return business module. It lets you start making money without worrying about warehouse, inventory, production cost, or any other fuss.

Here is a quick breakdown of some more benefits of a dropshipping business and how it can benefit you.

1. Low-investment

If you’re someone on a tight budget but want to make a startup, investing in a drop shipping business is the best promising option for you.

In a drop shipping business, you don’t have to worry about any upfront inventory costs or other additional expenses that might be a significant burden on your pocket.

2. Low inventory costs:

Since you don’t own the product that has to be shipped, dropshipping business doesn’t ask for any inventory costs or raw material purchasing. So you can sit back and relax while the shipped items reach the customer.

3. Low fulfillment 

If you’re someone who wants to earn a flexible side income, doing dropshipping part-time can help you manage your other commitments with a limited workload.

4. No-fuss of sales 

Whether you agree or not, bringing sales is one of the most challenging parts of any job, but dropshipping relieves you from that. When doing drop shipping, your only work is to pack the products and ship without fussing about sales.

How to start a dropshipping business?

Now that you’re familiar with the most prominent incentives of dropshipping, it’s high time to learn how to begin a dropshipping business from scratch.

Although the business is easy and straightforward to run, the high competition may take some time to find your feet here. 

Here’s a step-by-step process to begin with a dropshipping business the easy way.

1. Make a plan 

If you’ve made up your mind to start a dropshipping business but don’t know where to start, getting your paperwork done is the best thing to do at this time.

From filling out the forms to completing the requirements, there are a lot of things to consider in order to make your business official in the government’s paper.

For this reason, you can also hire a lawyer to take care of the legal matters so you can focus on more important things and start looking for other ideas to make your business a heck of fun. However, you can also invest this time in searching for the best dropshipping niches and see what will suit best with your dropshipping business.

2. Pick a niche 

The niche you choose for your dropshipping business can make or break your success rate in the business. With so many niches around, it’s essential to choose one that won’t give you a hard time in packaging and selling the products.

Such as, the fashion industry is one of the best dropshipping niches to start with as people will never get enough of shopping, so you have a pool of ideas to work on. When looking for a dropshipping niche, consider the markup, profit margin, shipping costs, and other things that may impact your dropshipping business.

3. Research competitors 

It goes without saying that the niche you’re working on is already occupied by tens of thousands of other drop shippers, making profits of the same niche.

A good rule of thumb is to choose a micro-niche that interests and has less saturation than other macro niches with a lot of competition. Once you’re able to target your audience, the chances are that you will be able to understand the niche better and make money out of it easily.

4. Find a supplier 

Finding the right supplier for your dropshipping business can be an absolute challenge if you’re clear about your requirements. You need an efficient supplier with established authority in the marketplace. As a best practice, look for website owners who are already getting a heavy traffic volume and need to outsource some of the orders to a drop shipper.

If you’re looking for a third-party supplier that doesn’t become a pain in the neck for you, Pret A Cover gets your back here.

As a preowned name in fashion dropshipping, Pret A Cover is home to tens of thousands of drop shippers with a unique style and passion for selling unique products with no inventory.

The supplier you choose should ease your dropshipping business by giving you the flexibility to work at your own pace and get the job done in the first place.

5. Build your site 

Although it’s an optional step for your dropshipping business, building a website will show you credibility in the eyes of store owners to trust you with their orders. For this purpose, you can hire any professional website designer to create a website layout for you and include all the pages to showcase your dropshipping skills.

Once the website is built, test its mobile friendliness, functionality, theme, SEO optimization, and other things to make sure you’re on the right track.

6. Market yourself 

No matter how good you’re a drop shipper, you will never be able to earn bucks unless you market yourself in front of their right prospects. Once you’ve set up your dropshipping business, it’s time to promote it through different mediums.

From leveraging social media to using paid ads and other marketing platforms, you need to spend 20 minutes daily in order to market yourself and outshine your competitors. The more you market yourself, the more authority you will build to let more money flow in.

Conclusion

Starting drop shipping has never been this easy before, especially with a handful of drop shipping sites to promise you a hefty commission on your shipped items.
With no overheads, hassles, or additional costs, Pret A Cover should be your one-stop solution to be a part of the modest fashion and ship products that you love.