
Dropshipping and Blind Shipping
As the popularity of online shopping rises, more individuals and businesses are transitioning to ecommerce as a way to generate revenue and cut costs. The concept of drop shipping is that the products sold are dropped off directly to the end customer.
Products coming off the production line would normally be sold to a large retailer who then stores and displays the products until it needed to reorder new stock as inventory levels decreased and customer demand remained constant. With dropshipping everything is more direct and on demand. Physical storefront displays has transformed entirely digital with store fronts being replaced with computer/smartphone screens – offering a more convenient and safer shopping experience.
The low cost of capital has allowed all types of opportunities for cost cutting large retailers to small business individuals to fully manage their operations from the convenience of their laptop or smartphone.
Traditional Method VS Dropship Method
The advantage of dropshipping is that the manufacturer stores, ships and processes all your products and orders you receive. This reduces your overhead costs and enables you to focus on marketing the product whereas the manufacturer concentrates on production alone making it beneficial for both.
Blind Shipping is a type of dropshipping where the identities of the manufacturer, customer or both are kept confidential. Why would this be important? It helps maintain privacy of all parties and as a bonus prevents manufacturers selling directly to your customers and customers knowing exactly where the products are sourced.
There is a definite appeal in dropshipping however finding the right partners to work with can be the result of sheer luck or lots of trial and error because not all manufacturers, distributors or wholesalers are not reputable, actively looking to be discovered or are located in a less than convenient location/ time zone.