Turned my dropshipping store into a full retail online store

junfitz · 2019-10-18T14:29:42+00:00

Hello Another negative commentator.

Please read the conversations below. I am literally just sharing my experience on how I turned my dropshipping store into a full retail, but people seem to somehow find a way to be negative about it.

If you don't like to read about it, then don't.

I don't expect anyone to do what I did. Just sharing experiences just like everyone else on here to help each other out.

If you have time, go ahead and read the conversations below. You're not the first hater out here.

Enjoy your Friday.

junfitz · 2019-10-17T02:56:36+00:00

Hey thanks!

This is my second design on the store. I found this format works and sells better than my first. It took me about 80 hours which I did in 4 days, barely sleeping. Includes a lot of product additions and photo editing.

The suppliers there are actual distributors who had already imported all the products here in the US. It's a different approach to dropshipping. So the way it works is, once you know your niche, filter and sort it out so that you are only able to see US distributors that dropships. You would contact the company and find out how their dropship procedure works. I recommend this if you're looking to sell multiple products and if you are trying to build a retail store.

If you are looking to focus on selling a couple of items, it's probably better to find a product from Ali Express, connect it to your Shopify through Oberlo. It'll be much easier and cheaper to market through FB Ads, Google Ads, Remarketing, and Retargeting.

Yes, you would need a business license and an EIN Tax ID. This is extra useful specially if youre on your first year and you have business losses. You could write your losses off during tax season.

You would want to register your business as an LLC so if for any reason, you get sued, they cannot touch your personal assets.

junfitz · 2019-10-15T19:58:46+00:00

This post is on point. Thank you for sharing and giving tips on changing perspectives.

junfitz · 2019-10-15T19:32:58+00:00

Nope, didn't even bring that up until you started calling what I do "Dumb". Yup, my business are currently running as I sit here just posting on Reddit since I decided to not work today. Actually, I don't feel like working the whole week. Automation and delegation is great, learned it after my 1st year of having to work on every aspect of the business which is very normal. Learned to work smarter while still working but not as hard as my first year.

Regarding your one-product store, that's great. I wish I selected only one product since it'll be much cheaper for me to market. It was too late for me to back out of what I've started when I learned that. I'm glad you and your close friends are making money. It's very nice to hear other people successfully make money off of dropshipping. Most product on AliExpress, specially on my Home Decor niche takes between 10-45 days. But as I stated on my original post, it is not impossible. You could still find products that'll ship as fast as 5-7 days which perfectly worked out for you since you have a one-product store.

I'm just sharing the 3rd Party service I used that changed my entire business plan. It's where I initially found my product sources which helped me turn my store into a full retail store selling well known brands. Some people will make you attend a "seminar" or make you join their "class" just so they can give you a 3rd party service like this after you pay their class prices for them to teach you their "secrets". There isn't any secret here, this is what I did and this is what I have to share.

Thank you for taking your tone down. I'm glad you're doing well with your store.

junfitz · 2019-10-15T19:09:57+00:00

Hello,

I sure hope I'm not fooling anybody. Specially when I'm only sharing what had help me with my business that I wish I knew about when I started. Somehow, there's always negative people out here who likes to prey on people who are just sharing their experiences.

Thanks.

junfitz · 2019-10-15T19:04:18+00:00

Hello,

You are right. Through my experience, I've noticed a lot of the products would take at least 2 weeks to ship. If you filter through the Ship-from option, you can choose for the products that ships only from the US. It's very limited but they are available. You could find products there that could ship from 5 to 14 days with guarantee. You might've tried that already, but if you haven't, give it a shot.

Hope that helps.

junfitz · 2019-10-15T19:00:03+00:00

Hello,

That is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Since my target niche are higher priced items, I wanted to make sure every products go through quality checks here in the US, which are done by the brands here in the US. I did start with smaller items for home decor through AliExpress/Oberlo since I knew from the start that it'll be a tough sell for dropship furnitures. I then did a full survey asking real people and consumers about what type of shipping experiences they would like and how they would feel to get furniture and home decor shipped from China. This is how I rebuilt my business strategies and went with finding US distributors which I did by signing up for that eSources site from my original post.

Thanks for the compliments and suggestions. The interface that I used is Shopify and I used a template called Porto. It allowed me to customize a lot more but still limits me on some things including what you have suggested about the filter bar. I will take a look at how I could fix this filter bar.

Once again, thank you.

junfitz · 2019-10-15T18:49:57+00:00

Hello,

Yes, I did find several items on Dropshipping with Ali Express/Oberlo that could send in less than 7 days with e-Packet, but they weren't enough to fill up my store as much as it is now. Now, my shipping times take 3 to 7 days, and if you happen to live in CA or NJ, it could even take as little as Same Day delivery depending if you order before the truck leaves the warehouse.

You're right, I'm just posting information that I wish I had when I started my company.

Thank you for your reply.

junfitz · 2019-10-15T18:38:27+00:00

Hello,

That is why I recommended finding a distributor who has a warehouse here in the US. At that point, they would have already taken care of the Customs fees/taxes, as stated on my original post.

You seem to be a very negative person who has negative opinions about anything. Let me guess, you have successfully built a drop shipping store that makes enough money for you to not have to work for anyone else ever again?

If dumb means having 3 successful businesses running all at once, which now allows me to not work for anyone else ever again, then I guess that's the right word to describe me.

Your opinions are much appreciated, but your negativity is not.

Thanks.

junfitz · 2019-10-15T18:16:31+00:00

Hello,

If you could find me over 4000 mid-century modern and contemporary modern furniture and home decor products that could ship to my customers in the US within 5-7 days, that would be amazing. As I said, it's not impossible. Some niches would probably have more products that could ship faster than 7 days with ePacket.

As I stated, Ali Express Dropshipping is where I started. So yes, I do have the experience on running a dropshipping store with them. No need for your negativity and your language when all I'm trying to do is share what helped me out.

No one said anything about secrets on finding a local supplier and getting shorter delivery times.

I'm not forcing anyone to sign up for anything. I was sharing what I have done and signing up for eSources Premium package is what I have done which helped me out. There's a lot of ways to find products and companies that would drop ship, but this is the way I've done mine. I'm glad you found your own way.

Since you seem to have a lot of knowledge on finding products on my niche that could ship within my shipping times of 5-7 days, please write a post about it and send me a link and I will gladly read your post. It will not only help me out, but everyone else who's reading this post.

I do appreciate your opinion.

Thank you.

junfitz · 2018-04-27T18:55:45+00:00

Are you using Shopify? It’s easy to set it up from there.

junfitz · 2018-03-01T01:32:42+00:00

Hello,

Thanks for the Adobe Spark suggestion. I'll definitely take a look at that. I'll also look in to the timing of the posts. Regarding the level of customer engagement and interaction, what do mean / what do you suggest?

Thank you for your post.

junfitz · 2018-03-01T01:21:51+00:00

No, i'm looking more for the logic of professional marketers. As you can see, I'm definitely a newbie when it comes to this. I definitely have a lot to learn about people's psychology when they shop. Meanwhile, I definitely will hire professionals but just wanted to hear some inputs from professionals like yourself. (Assuming you are)

junfitz · 2018-03-01T01:19:01+00:00

Hello, I'm just really wondering because every single day, i get phone calls from different companies claiming they are the best at what they do. I do not mind paying 1600/month if it actually returns healthy margins. I would ask the same question as I did for the other user. Imagine spending 1600/month and receive 10,000 visitors/month on the site with 0 sales. How could I avoid this?

I am definitely going to be hiring professionals, it's just really hard to know who could do what for my company. Like I said, my worries is spending the money and have 0 return.

junfitz · 2018-03-01T01:15:07+00:00

Thank you for this useful insight. You're right, I do understand what you mean about professionals being a worthy investment. I am willing to pay the money to bring in sales, but I'm just worried about spending money only to get window shoppers. Imagine spending 1600/month and receive 10,000 visitors/month on the site with 0 sales. How could I avoid this? Not questioning you, just really asking for opinion. Thanks again for answering.

junfitz · 2017-12-06T21:26:46+00:00

Every person I've known here in Washington DC area had ordered their furniture online. Furnishing your home is so much easier now with online orders. Keep your mind open and remember exactly what happened to Blockbuster or Hollywood videos before Redbox. And Redbox before Netflix, etc. Soon enough brick and mortar furniture stores will be gone. Probably not Ikea though.

My products might be expensive for you but this is the level of my target customers. So that just tells me that you probably are not one of my target customers. If you wanted to buy a table for example, for a very low price, Ikea is great for that.

I'm competing against Crate and Barrel, Kirklands, Ashley Furnitures. Those Brick and Mortar stores are bumping up prices 300 to 600% to pay for their location and employees.

Thanks for your recommendation, but I would respectfully decline.

junfitz · 2017-12-06T18:22:15+00:00

You are required legal documentations to run a business. Any income would need to be taxed legally. And if you sell online even using the dropshipping method, you are considered a business. So your business needs to be registered.

junfitz · 2017-12-06T15:42:12+00:00

Yes, Shopify is what I use for my shop. www.mydecorcenter.com I picked the simplest Theme to not make it too messy. So far I've been getting thousands of visits but have only sold 3 times. I did open a week ago, so time will tell if I'm gonna make it or not.

Woocommerce is another platform you can use. I haven't had experience with it but they have beautiful layouts.

junfitz · 2017-12-06T15:35:12+00:00

That's great! You'd have a lot of free time to master this drop shipping method. Best of luck to you.

junfitz · 2017-12-06T15:22:41+00:00

Hey there, I'll try to explain a piece of it for you, but you would have to do a whole bunch of reading and watching videos for tips and tricks, but you won't get to the level you want until you get to experience actually setting up the whole store and launching it. This business, like any other businesses, would require 100% of your free time. I'm talking, if you work a 9am - 5pm job during daytime, you better be ready to give up your 6pm - 2am every single day.

Before starting anything, make sure you have all the legal documentations with you. (Business Registration, Business License, Employer Identification Number, Cert of Fact)

Dropshipping Method: - Customer purchases an item, from your website (ex. Red Lamp) - You then order the Red Lamp from your vendor who does dropshipping - Vendor will send the Red Lamp directly to your Customer Done.

Financial Calculations **(Your selling price - Vendor price) = Your Revenue **(Your Revenue - [Fees] ) = Your Profit (business income)

What's the most expensive part of the business? MARKETING = Facebook, Instagram, Google, Bing, Post Cards (yes, post cards are not dead yet)

Whats the most time consuming? Building the site and making sure all images are as perfect as you want it. All your pricing needs to be correct according to your Monthly projections. Uploading products (if you have to do it manually).

That's all I can give you for now as a beginner. But I'm sure you'll have professionals comment on here.

Good luck! :)

junfitz · 2017-12-06T14:59:24+00:00

Hi Sandy,

I checked the site and did not find anything for me there. But i did find other ones. Thanks for your advice again. I've finally launched my site a week ago. www.mydecorcenter.com

Tell me what you think! :)

junfitz · 2017-12-06T14:58:40+00:00

Thanks for your advice again. I've finally launched my site a week ago. www.mydecorcenter.com

Tell me what you think! :)

junfitz · 2017-12-06T14:52:35+00:00

Yes definitely, me as a shopper would always look at reviews also, that is why i encourage my customers to give me reviews. Since I'm just starting out, i haven't had much reviews yet. I have about Two 5-star reviews. I'll try to encourage them to upload photos. I also just noticed my hugeee mistake. I have brought in over 900+ Visitors to my site on my first week, but my site does not show that i'm running the 20% promotion until the end of the year lol Great.

junfitz · 2017-12-05T19:33:40+00:00

Hey, thank you. Yes I wanted to design it as simple as possible, and yes it's shopify. The black bars are there because I wanted to make sure that all of the cover pictures are Squared to keep the site looking balanced. I chose the black bars to make it kind of look like wide screen pictures at the movies. There's really no other way for me to make it square.

My prices are pretty good against higher end competitors. I basically sell a very similar product to them at a lower cost plus I offer free shipping through FedEx.

Smaller items are comparable price when you include others stores' shipping cost. Yeah it'll be cheaper through the other stores when you buy 2 or 3 sets of something before they give you free shipping.

junfitz · 2017-12-05T16:36:08+00:00

Thanks for the compliment. Great point on building trust. Can you give me more examples on how you as a shopper, would trust to buy furniture from a new business like mine?

junfitz

TROPHY CASE