The internet is filled with stories which say how Mr. ABC quit his 9 to 5 job and went on to become a millionaire. All this is claimed to have achieved through a small eCommerce store through Shopify. However, for every success story, there would be hundreds of failures which are not covered by the internet. Check you the primary reasons why people fail with Shopify. Give these reasons some thought, plug the gaps and make your eCommerce store a selling machine.
Before you jump into the millionaire bandwagon, we have made a list of most common reasons why hundreds of Shopify stores fail. When we mean to fail, they do not make a cent of profits. The reasons are fundamental and we found that these were common among most of the failed stores that we analyzed.
Treating Drop shipping like a get rich quick scheme
Majority of them open a Shopify store assuming that it will be a solution for all their financial problems. The perception on the internet that Shopify is the easiest way of making quick money is far from the truth. Shopify is like any other business. You will have to dedicate time to grow your E-commerce store.
Opening a store and importing products will not make you money. You will have to spend on monthly subscriptions to keep the business running. You must spend on advertising your store or work on SEO to drive traffic to your store. Traffic is what makes you money. If you do not figure out a way to drive traffic, you will be losing money soon. This is why, I advise you to treat Shopify like any other business.
Put in some work daily and have a long-term plan. Try various techniques to drive traffic to your website. Reinvest the money you make to grow stronger and soon you can make a decent income from this.
Misinterpreting the Math
We all hated math when we were in high school. That doesn’t mean that you can ignore math now – especially, when you are getting into the drop shipping business. The internet claims that you can start a Shopify store with just $100. However, this is not really the truth. There are monthly costs which come with this business and if you fail to figure out the math, you’d be surprised to know that you will be running into loss soon.
Hence, make a list of all that would be required to kick-start a Shopify store. Ensure you have the start-up capital so that you face no issues once you start a store. Here are some things which you may need to spend on:
- Subscription costs: Shopify, Shopify Apps, Paid themes, Invoicing apps etc.
- In order to drive traffic, you may need to allocate a certain amount of funding to paid advertising
- Pay for SEO services and content writing services
- Pay fee to suppliers(monthly or annually)
- Employees for various business activities like support, uploading etc.
Not planning upfront
Many of them who see no success has agreed to not having a plan. They had ‘plan as we go’ approach. This is not ideal for any type of business. In order to run a successful drop shipping business, you will have to plan many things prior.
You will need to plan for both short term and long term. Think about your immediate goals and the strategies you will employ to reach them. Have target for traffic, sales, and revenue. It is okay if you do not achieve the target, at the end of the day if there is a positive change every month, you are on the right track. Ask yourself some questions like the ones below?
- How your target customers find you?
- What product do you want to sell?
- What should be the profit margin?
- What different can you offer to the customer than the existing competitors?
- How will you follow up with the customer who has made the purchase?
The list can go on. My point is, get into the shoes of the customer and address even the simplest of issues. This will help you to come up with a comprehensive plan.
Incomplete product and Competitor Analysis
This is one aspect which many Shopify aspirants miss. Doing a thorough product and competitor research is very important. There is no shortcut for this. You shouldn’t be selling something which thousands of them are already selling. Also, you cannot compete in a niche filled with Shopify experts.
To analyze all these things, you will have to go a detailed research. Your aim must be to find a medium to low competition niche with minimum people selling in that niche. I have explained all the techniques to perform a complete product and competition analysis in this complete drop shipping post.
If you follow the tips in that post, you will surely be in a better position. Do not settle for these strategies, keep looking for more and implement the ones which may help in finding the best product and the niche.
Bad selection of suppliers
The backbone of a drop shipping business is the supplier. If you have not done your research and settled with ‘any other’ supplier you may have to face some issues. Most of your business processes like product packing, product delivery, quality control etc depend on the suppliers. If they slack in any of these aspects, you will have to face the customers.
Bad packaging, wrong delivery, delayed shipping are some of the major issues which the drop shipping industry is facing. While most of these issues can be fixed can choosing a reliable supplier who has been in this business for a long time. The delayed shipping is something which depends on the location of the supplier.
Hence, keep the location of the supplier in mind when you display shipping time in your store. For the best result look for a local supplier as you will be guaranteed with faster shipping.
Conclusion
Shopify-drop shipping is a thriving business model which is grabbing the attention of many. This doesn’t guarantee that everyone who gets into it will achieve success. However, if you do some basic planning and take it seriously like any other business, with hard work, smart work and persistence, I do not see a reason for you to fail. Ensure you do not repeat the mistakes which hundreds of failed shops have done. Keep in mind the above points if you are planning to start a Shopify store and I am sure you will be successful.
