What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a business model of retailing through which a store owner does not have to manage the inventory of products. However, when a customer orders a product he or she wants, the supplier delivers the product to the customer directly. This is because the seller is responsible for the marketing and selling the products and the supplier takes full responsibility of stock management, packaging and delivery. In this article, we will discuss how to dropshipping in pakistan step by step guide, the best platforms and the challenges you might face.
Key Advantages of Dropshipping in Pakistan:
Low startup cost: They do not have to buy products in bulk to make a profit.
No need for a physical store: One can operate the business from home.
Access to greater market: You have options of export markets.
What are the reason behind the Rise of Dropshipping in Pakistan?
Unfortunately, despite the developing number of Pakistan Internet citizens and e-business in the last few years. More and more people in Pakistan have access to smart phones and the payment gateways have also become better for e-commerce sector. Thus, using dropshipping as a business model enables entrants to leverage this market without necessarily incurring upfront costs as it is the case with traditional forms of business.
Benefits of Dropshipping in Pakistan:
Low Financial Risk: You need not put your hard earned money into products that may not find their market.
Flexible Work Hours: It means that the dropshipping effectively offer an opportunity to work from any location, and therefore, enable efficient control over time.
Global Reach: The major benefit that Pakistan can derive from the practice of dropshipping is the ability to link suppliers and buyers from across the world.
Find Reliable Suppliers:
After you have settled for a given niche the next thing that you need to do is look for suppliers who will be your source of supply. It is therefore important to choose the right suppliers who will partly determine the success of your dropshipping business. You need to make and be sure that your suppliers provide you with quality products and be in a position to supply them on time.
Popular Platforms to Find Suppliers:
AliExpress: The most reputed platforms for suppliers who work with dropshipping stores across the globe.
Oberlo: It is an application that all ows dropshippers to find suppliers using Shopify platform.
Spocket: Majority of its suppliers are from the USA and EU which results in relatively fast delivery.
Local Suppliers:
Daraz: A local osCommerce marketplace for Pakistani users to connect with other sellers for dropshipping inside the country.
TradeKey: A B2B portal for supplier and retailers of Pakistan.
3. Set up online store:
After you’ve identified your niche and your suppliers, it’s now time to build your store online. This section is where you will post the products and process the orders that you are going to receive. It is easy to open a store using various e-commerce platforms which are available in the market.
Best Platforms for Dropshipping in Pakistan:
Shopify: Convenient with a large number of integration with dropshipping services such as Oberlo.
WooCommerce: This post will describe a WordPress plugin that lets you develop a dropshipping store.
Daraz: It is one of the local options for launching the business of dropshipping in Pakistan.
Wix: A typical site creation tool which contains the ability to add an online shop.
Steps to Set Up Your Store:
Choose a Platform: Choose a specific ecommerce solution such as Shopify or WooCommerce.
Domain and Hosting: If you are not going to use Shopify as your hosted solution you will have to buy your domain and hosting.
Design Your Store: Choose a theme that matches your store and brand or create one that fits your company’s image.
Add Products: Move goods from your suppliers to your store.
Set Pricing: Find out the right price strategy that allows company’s products to be affordable after considering the price of shipping and manufacturing.
4. Market Your Store:
After this, comes the next step, that is traffic generation for your store. Marketing is a very critical element to the success of any drop shipping business.
Marketing Strategies for Pakistani Dropshippers:
Social Media Marketing: Some of the social sites that existed and are commonly used in Pakistan include Facebook, and Instagram among others. Use them to target your public.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Further, you have to learn how to make your product more searchable, that is, appear at the higher level in the search engine such as Google.
Paid Advertising: Advertising should be applied through Google Ads or Facebook Ads to drive people to your products.
Influencer Marketing: I have found it appropriate to reach out to influencers in our areas of operation in order to market the products to a large number of consumers.
5. Handle Payments and Shipping:
Before launching dropshipping in Pakistan, one must therefore make sure that payment is possible and that there is a plan for shipping.
Payment Gateways in Pakistan:
- JazzCash
- EasyPaisa
- PayPal (for international customers)
- Stripe (for international markets)
Shipping Options:
International Suppliers: With AliExpress or Spocket suppliers, you normally do not send the product themselves as they usually have the responsibility of shipping the products.
Local Suppliers: If sourcing locally, it is possible to use the services of TCS or Leopard, which are local courier services.
Managing Orders and Customers Services:
Effective order fulfilment and great services are crucial elements in the proper functioning of a dropshipping business model.
Order Management Tips:
Automate the Process: Combined with the use of application such as Oberlo, the process of order fulfillment can be automated.
Real-Time Tracking: Make your customers have access to online tracking of their orders.
Customer Service: Answer customer questions on time and attend to complaints in a professional manner.
Pakistani and associated challenges in of drop shipping:
Although, there are several benefits of dropshipping, you may experience some of the following issues in Pakistan.
Limited Payment Gateways: Most of the global payment methods such as PayPal are not accessible to the Pakistani sellers. Nonetheless, solutions available at the local level such as JazzCash and EasyPaisa may benefit from the service.
Shipping Delays: You might have noticed that the lead times for orders from international suppliers could take longer, and if the supplier is from China, it will be longer than most. Delays arising from the language barriers can be minimized by sourcing materials from local suppliers or form the USA and EU.
Competition: The market for dropshipping business is rather saturated. If you want to become unique, you must either provide commodity or services that are not available in the market or provide better customer services than your competitors.
Conclusion:
In our experience, dropshipping in Pakistan is quite feasible and easy to achieve for anyone who would like to start an online business store. As the e-commerce market expands in the country, the entrepreneurs adopt the chance of trading locally as well as internationally. As you select your niche and work with your providers, as well as properly market your products, you can easily achieve success in your endeavor.
