When a new year comes around, it’s completely normal for people to set new expectations and goals for their businesses. The beginning of the year is a great time to look toward a hopeful future.
Unfortunately, the year started off with the outbreak of a global pandemic that we are still in the midst of. The disruption caused by the pandemic has affected the lives of everyone on the planet, in some capacity. Business owners with eCommerce stores have had to deal with disruptions in their supply chains and learn how to adapt to quickly changing consumer habits.
There are still challenges that dropshippers face every day, and those challenges are going to change once the pandemic ends. Let’s take a look at what dropshippers can do to find business success during and after the pandemic.
Shortening processing time as a dropshipper
How the Pandemic Affected Dropshipping
Research shows that countries all over the world started online shopping more during the pandemic. This means that existing eCommerce stores had the opportunity to make more money and entrepreneurs had the opportunity get in on a booming industry.
With the rise in eCommerce sales comes the rise in dropshipping opportunities, as well. Dropshipping is a form of order fulfillment that takes the storing, packing, and shipping of items off of the hands of the retailer and put the responsibility into a third-party company. Online retailers can use the increase in online shopping to their advantage by utilizing dropshipping services.
Dropshipping services help online retailers by giving them more time to focus on building their brand and developing relationships with their customers. By allowing a third party to handle order fulfillment, eCommerce business owners have less to worry about.
Using Dropshipping to Your Advantage during the Pandemic
Whether you’re already using dropshipping services, or you want to begin using them for your eCommerce business, there are a couple of things that you can start doing now to find success during and after the pandemic.
These strategies will help strengthen your eCommerce business and put it in a healthy position when the pandemic finally ends.
Final Thoughts
- Optimize your offerings
Conduct market research to figure out what your customers want to buy. At the beginning of the pandemic, people were most interested in buying home cleaning products, paper goods, fitness equipment, and home office accessories.
Now that we are about one-year into the pandemic, people are searching for long-term solutions to working from home: yoga mats, loungewear, water bottles, athleisure wear, wearable devices (think Apple Watches and Fit Bits), pet accessories, smart devices, etc.
There has also been a spike in the purchase of cell phone tripods, phone cases, and cell phone holders for the car. This is likely due to the increase in online video content. Millions of people are creating TikToks, Reels, and going “Live” on their social media accounts from their homes and vehicles.
Doing your research into what items are trending and why will help you optimize your product line and give your audience what they want.
- Have a good marketing plan
Your marketing efforts can and should tell your audience how you can help them during the pandemic. This will bring in extra cash because people will see that you are providing a specific value that they currently need. Once you’ve tapped into your audience with your pandemic offerings, you may find that you have many loyal customers that can’t wait to see what you add to your eCommerce stop next.
- Utilize email marketing. It’s an effective and affordable way to connect with your audience, make sales, and develop lasting relationships with your customers. You can also use email marketing to alert your audience about promotions, send out coupons, and deliver special offers.
- Consider changing your target audience, especially if you’re going to be using dropshipping. Since you won’t have to deal with storing inventory or packing and shipping orders, you have the opportunity to easily change up your product line. If you do decide to go this route, be sure to make your marketing efforts match up with your new audience.
Start using dropshipping today
There are tons of companies out there that offer dropshipping services, but they are not all made equal. Obor Desk will make sure your customers get the product they ordered in a timely matter and ensure that it is of perfect quality. Obor Desk can help you grow your small eCommerce business into a globally recognized brand! Register to get started today.
Written By
Jane Hardt
May 2nd, 2021
