The opportunities that the internet’s revolution of commerce brought to the average person are mind boggling. Just slightly over a decade ago, it used to be that one had to rent out or buy a brick and mortar store along a decently trafficked street to have any chance of succeeding as a retailer.

Today, you can have a store up and running in minutes by just firing up a website. You are also not limited to just the customers in your town or city. Your target audience is only limited by the number of destinations you can ship to.

Interestingly, the revolution of commerce is far from over. You can get in on the action while the competition is still low.

One of the most convenient ways to start making money by selling products on the net is by starting a drop shipping business.

What Is Drop Shipping?

Drop shipping is the business of selling products to consumers from an online platform by initiating the shipping of the product from the merchant to the consumer without having to handle the inventory yourself.

The merchant will be responsible for packaging and shipping the product to the buyer. You shall make an arrangement with the seller to fulfill all the sales you make. This means that you shall be responsible for the listing of the products on various websites, pricing, and marketing.

Why Drop Shipping Is Convenient

Drop shipping remains one of the most accessible and convenient ways to get into the merchandising business. Here are some of the reasons why it is so convenient:

1. You don’t handle inventory: since the merchant ships the product directly to the buyer, you won’t have to handle any inventory. This eliminates a lot of the costs that would make it hard for you to get started.
2. You can test several products: the fact that you don’t have to manufacture or buy any inventory, gives you the opportunity to promote and test several products to see which ones perform best. You can then direct your energies to only the high-performing products.
3. Small capital investment: inadequate capital is one of the things that keep people away from starting new businesses. The nature of drop shipping eliminates this problem.
4. Operate from anywhere: you can run your business from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. You could be based in Florida and be able to sell a product whose merchant is based in Canada to a buyer based in Texas.

The Challenge

As you have probably already realized, your main role as someone doing drop shipping will be to find customers.

You should be able to sell. Sales involves a lot of things including defining your target audience, writing the appropriate sales copy for that audience, and reaching out to them through ads or by just listing your product on a big site such as Amazon or eBay.

If you are good at sales, you can pretty much print money. Learning how to sell will give you the freedom to sell any product you want. You will also have more options and so be able to negotiate better terms with the merchants you are in business with.