The dropshipping business strategy is taking the world by storm, with an incredible CAGR of 32% predicted for 2021 to 2026. At present, analysts suggest the dropshipping market will reach a value of around $107.86 billion by 2026, as demand for simple sales opportunities emerge.
A dropshipping store lowers the barrier to entry for eCommerce services for countless entrepreneurs. If you’ve ever wanted to launch an online store, but worried about things like stock storage or fulfilment, dropshipping is the perfect opportunity. The question is, how do you design an online store perfectly suited for dropshipping?
The following tips will help ensure your success.
Dropshipping Website Tips You Should Know
Choose the Right Site Builder
First, you need an ecommerce store builder capable of adapting to your business needs. While there are countless options out there, WooCommerce often stands heads and shoulders above the competition for dropshipping functionality.
As a flexible and versatile solution for WordPress CMS, WooCommerce makes it quick and easy to start selling products however you choose. Like the majority of the WordPress ecosystem, WooCommerce is designed to integrate perfectly with a host of tools for sourcing and managing your dropshipping suppliers.
WooCommerce is the most popular ecommerce plugin for WordPress (the CMS which runs around a third of the sites online). It also offers access to a host of themes to make your site more professional and charges no transaction fees.
Build For Great User Experience
As mentioned above, WooCommerce ensures you can leverage valuable add-ons to improve the functionality of your store. You can even use tools like Elementor to enhance the appearance of your store and make designing the perfect website as simple as possible. Elementor is a solution specifically created for WordPress and WooCommerce.
Before you consider adding any other functionality to your store, your first focus should be on developing a valuable experience for your target audience. Elementor Pro’s recent update (Elementor 3.5) includes new solutions for enhanced UX, like scroll snap (to pull your customer’s attention to the right location), and a progress tracker.
With WooCommerce and Elementor, start building a dropshipping store which is:
- Easy to navigate and explore
- Branded to suit your company’s image
- Enhanced by a simple and effective shopping cart experience
Add Plugins for Dropshipping
There are various ways to add dropshipping products to your store once you’ve built your WooCommerce website. While you might decide to upload product information yourself, an easier option is generally to use plugins and integrations.
Plugins for WooCommerce dropshipping like AliDropship or WooDropship will make it easier to sync information quickly and easily from your store to your dropshipping supplier and vice versa. This should mean you don’t have to worry as much about tracking how much stock you have available, or when certain items are going to be shipped.
Great plugins like WooDropship can even help you with importing product images and editing them so you can remove the AliExpress watermark and make your store look more professional.
Optimize the Shopping Cart
Whether you’re building a store specifically for dropshipping purposes, or you’re designing a multi-faceted ecommerce website, a great shopping cart experience is crucial. When working on your WooCommerce store, think about how you can make your customer’s lives easier. For instance, you should ensure your clients can easily change their order or make updates with a couple of clicks.
You can even look into adding a “guest checkout” option for your WooCommerce website, to help improve your chances of converting customers. According to ASOS, a leading fashion retailer online, having a guest checkout on their website reduced abandonment rates by half, simply by ensuring customers didn’t have to create an account to buy something.
Remember, there are likely to be other companies out there offering similar products to you if you ‘re running a dropshipping business. If your customer experience isn’t great, your clients will find an alternative.
Don’t Forget Security
Peace of mind is something every online consumer wants before they’re willing to hit the “buy” button on your website. You can begin to improve the security of your store from day one, by ensuring your partnering with the right dropshipping suppliers for a consistently high customer experience. There are also additional steps you can take to enhance the protection of your website, like implementing SSL certification.
Many host providers for WooCommerce and WordPress stores today already offer SSL certification as a free extra included with the hosting service. If this isn’t an option with your hosting provider, it’s usually quite easy to get SSL added to your site. The more secure your website is, and the more consistent you are with delivering a reliable experience through your drop shipper’s fulfilment practices, the more loyalty you’ll earn from your audience.
Design the Ultimate Dropshipping Website
Dropshipping is an excellent solution for business leaders who want to offer a wide range of products to their customers without having to store and ship products themselves. With the right dropshipping website, created with WooCommerce, you’ll be ready to grab your audience’s attention, encourage conversions, and drive long-term loyalty.
Follow the tips above when designing your new dropshipping website, and you should have no trouble competing in today’s ecommerce market.
