The success of this business model, just as traditional onsite retail models, isn’t always guaranteed. Businesses looking to jump on the dropshipping bandwagon have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to create a store that can deliver great shipping experiences to their customers.

According to a 2018/19 report by NRF, retailers’ investments in technology, fulfillment, and store experience paid off well and left consumers wanting more. This article covers ten free shipping strategies that can help retailers maximize their growth potential regardless of what your dropshipping products are.  

1. Borrowing a Leaf From Competitors’ Free Shipping Strategies

The presence of stiff competition in dropshipping operations indicates that the selected niche is profitable and sustainable.

Observing what competitor brands are doing on their online stores, blog articles, or social media posts can be a good starting point. For example, businesses can pay close attention to the wording of rival campaigns to see what works for them. 

Keeping abreast of competitors’ strategies can help a business to create free shipping campaigns that drive high conversion rates by capitalizing on any gaps other sellers leave when they’re optimizing their stores for free shipping. 

2. Ordering Own Product Samples

By ordering samples of products that they sell, dropshipping firms can get a first-hand feel or taste of what customers experience. 

This strategy allows businesses to assess the packaging and delivery time used by product suppliers and make relevant changes aimed at improving customer experiences.

Since dropshipping involves implementing free shipping, businesses should evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the service to the buyers. 

3. Choosing a Suitable E-Commerce Platform for Dropshipping

E-commerce platforms play a big role in ensuring the smooth running of a dropshipping business. Although there are many platforms to choose from, some can make it difficult for customers to enjoy the benefit of free shipping service.

Shopify shipping, AliExpress shipping, and Wix shipping services automate freight and tax calculations to make the checkout process a lot faster.

Automation helps to increase transparency in business and gain customers’ trust. Businesses looking to take full advantage of free shipping should set up their store on an e-commerce platform that powers them to grow with their free shipping demands. 

4. Analyzing the Average Shipping Time for Fulfilled Orders

It’s incredibly difficult for dropshipping stores to set expectations about shipping time when they’re clueless about their average product fulfillment time. 

Suppliers don’t often give reliable information on the ship time estimate for a product. But businesses can calculate the typical order processing time and the duration it takes to deliver a product.

A thorough first-hand evaluation of the dropshipping shipping times allows companies to choose appropriate dropshipping delivery methods for efficient free shipping service. 

5. Letting Customers Know the Average Shipping Time 

One of the important factors that U.S. consumers care about is convenience. Businesses can improve shopping experiences by providing tracking information to their customers. They should be clear about the estimated delivery times.

With transparency, it’s possible to disarm refund requests and complaints submitted by unsatisfied customers.  

6. Creating Appealing Free Shipping Campaigns

A time-bound campaign can be more appealing to impulse buyers than one without a time signature. It’ll help to minimize the abandonment of online shopping carts and convince a customer that free shipping may seem like a great idea. 

A dropshipping business can institute a free shipping campaign that has an expiration date to motivate buyers to make purchases. They should inform the target audience about how long the offer will last. 

They can even attach the campaign to a pop-up that appears on the screen when a customer visits their store or checks out.

7. Employing a Unique Yet Effective Free Shipping Model

Free shipping allows dropshipping companies to attract lots of customers since they stand out from other businesses when employed as either a temporary or permanent marketing strategy. 

It can be a major selling point for online stores when implemented properly.

Shipping costs should always be absorbed when setting prices to generate profit. The dropshipping model should take into account the effectiveness of the dropshipping delivery methods in place.

Customers may enjoy the service on all products or selected products only.

8. Informing All Visitors About the Availability of Free Shipping Service

The visibility of free shipping campaigns can be improved by posting the campaigns on product pages and mailing lists. Businesses should ensure the information can be accessed by both new and existing visitors to increase conversion. 

By including head banners on online stores, they can help lead customers to the pages containing free shipping information. 

The end game here is to strengthen a business’ brand while building a loyal customer base. 

9. Prioritizing Free Shipping for First Time Buyers and Loyal Customers

A retail study found that nine in 10 consumers consider free shipping as an incentive for online shopping. Free shipping is an effective marketing tactic for winning over new customers and increasing sales.  

Online retailers can use free shipping to reward loyal customers and generate referrals. They can run free shipping campaigns targeted to first-time buyers or loyal customers to help grow their business. 

10. Targeting Markets With the Best Shipping Options

Free shipping strategies can only be fruitful when aimed at markets with ideal shipping options. 

One way to reach the target audience is by posting ads on platforms such as AdWords and Facebook, which give advertisers insights on where their ads get displayed. 

Businesses can bank on their knowledge of shipping costs and times to create effective free shipping marketing campaigns. Markets with lower shipping prices and faster delivery times should be targeted by the campaigns to improve the product fulfillment satisfaction. 

Free Shipping Tips for a Successful Dropshipping Business

As many businesses ride on the free shipping wave, they should optimize their delivery methods and shipping times/costs to meet customer expectations. Having out a clear-cut strategy on how free shipping service will be used to grow the business is essential. Businesses should always prioritize customer experiences when developing free shipping strategies for their dropshipping operations. When used properly, the above-discussed tactics can help dropshipping stores to set themselves apart from the competition and see sales and profits.

The post Top 10 Free Shipping Tips to Boost Your Dropshipping Business first appeared on Modalyst.

What is the Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. It is the most important celebration in China — and one of the most well known across the world. It is celebrated worldwide in regions and countries with significant Overseas Chinese populations, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Mauritius, as well as in North America and Europe.

While the festival is celebrated over a two week period, only the first seven days are considered a public holiday. 

Nevertheless, offices and factories in China close for about three weeks, allowing Chinese workers time to travel back home to spend the holiday with their families. This event creates an enormous migration within the country and from abroad. For context, in 2019, over 90 million workers, the majority in urban areas along China’s coast, traveled by road, train, and plane back to their rural hometowns during CNY.

Chinese New Year 2021: What is the timeline?

Chinese New Year begins on Friday, February 12, 2021. 

Suppliers in China will begin slowing down or halting production a week or so before. We recommend you ask your suppliers when their offices and factories will be closed during this holiday.

Outlined below is an approximate schedule for Chinese New Year holiday.

• Beginning of January: Businesses begin to slow down production
• January 21st: All employees will have left their offices and factories
• January 22nd: Chinese New Year begins
• January 27th: Chinese New Year ends (public holidays)
• End of January: Some employees start to trickle back to their place of work
• End of February: Most employees have returned to their place of work
• Businesses resume their normal operations and production around then too.

Chinese New Year 2023: How will CNY affect my eCommerce business?

As highlighted earlier, Chinese New Year is the most important event in China every year. This means that most businesses, including the suppliers on AliExpress you may work with, observe the holiday and shut down for a period of time. While CNY officially kicks off January 22nd , many factories and offices shut down in the days leading up to the official start date, allowing time for workers to travel home back to their families. As workers leave, the general operations of businesses come to a halt as well. .

Since China is an economic giant in the global exporting industry, the effects of Chinese New Year ripples to all corners of the world. The ripples affect many different industries, including eCommerce dropshipping.  

For example, if you are actively sourcing and selling products from AliExpress, Chinese New Year will affect your business. Below is a list of some disruptions to expect during CNY.

How Chinese New Year may affect your supply chain 

All major businesses in China completely shut down for at least seven days. This includes factories and manufacturing facilities. No orders ship out of China during CNY. Some factories may even shut down for up to three weeks. Why so long? There is sometimes a delay in getting workers back to their offices. China’s transportation system is usually overburdened in the days following the end of the holiday as all workers choose to go back at once.

The information flow is cut during the Chinese New Year event. No one, including your best suppliers, will be available for correspondence. 

You might experience production slowdowns one or two weeks before the start of the holiday. Workers sometimes leave their job sites early to go back home and spend time with their families. 

Before CNY, you may experience an increase in product quality issues, as factories rush to finish as many orders as possible before their workers leave for the holiday.

Likewise, after CNY, you may also experience an increase in product quality issues. This happens because the factories are short staffed for a period of time. 

How to Plan for Chinese New Year

At Modalyst, most of our independent suppliers are from the US and Europe and will not be affected. Now is your chance to try more of our curated suppliers or join our Private Label Program and new Print-on-Demand Program.

If you are sourcing products from AliExpress, you should expect delays while warehouses and logistics in China and Hong Kong are reduced during the holiday from January 21, 2023 through January 26th, 2023. Many warehouses also are stocking up on bestsellers now, and start to wind down a week earlier to extend their holiday.

What steps can you take to maintain your business during CNY?

Contact your suppliers to understand their plans

• When are they winding down?
• When are they starting up again?
• Can they still ship during this time period?

Consider selling USA or EU brands during this time

This is a great time to branch out and sell indie brands. You can also join our very popular Private Label Program and our new Print-on-Demand Program to sell products with custom designs and your branding.

According to Chinese tradition, this is a year to focus on relationships. We hope that this is a time to build a deeper relationship with our customers and for you to build a thriving business with your customers.

Reduce ads 

Once you have a better idea of your suppliers’ plans, you can reduce ads for items which will ship slowly during this time. It is good to check on this now, as some suppliers start to slow down in the weeks leading up to CNY. For example, reduce marketing for Valentine’s Day or Mardi Gras items, as those items may not arrive in time.

Consider buying stock of bestsellers

Do you have a hot selling item? Consider buying stock of this item now so you have it on-hand. You can then guarantee that orders are delivered during this time period.

Inform customers that orders are experiencing delays

Consider posting on your website that orders will experience delays. Customers will often understand, especially since Covid has also reduced the number of flights, slowing ecommerce delivery times globally.

You can also remind customers that orders are experiencing delays in an email after they place their order. This will ensure that they are reminded of delays if they did not see it on your site.

In case you want to plan ahead for future Chinese holidays, please see the below.

Chinese New Year may be the biggest holiday but there are actually several other Chinese holidays that could have an effect on your business. 

Qing Ming Jie (Tomb Sweeping Day): Sunday, April 4th

International Labor Day: Saturday, May 1st

Dragon Boat Festival: June 14th – 16th

Mid-Autumn Festival/Moon Festival: Tuesday, September 21st

Golden Week Holiday: Friday, October 1st – Thursday, October 7th

The post How to prepare your eCommerce Business for Chinese New Year first appeared on Modalyst.

In today’s age of growing eCommerce, free shipping has become a competitive necessity for online retailers.

While there are certainly several costs associated with offering free shipping, these may be outweighed by the numerous benefits.

When big companies like Amazon first offered their free shipping model a few years ago, it was difficult for every online merchant, especially smaller ones, to follow suit.

However, with growing sales and customer expectations, free shipping has become more common and more beneficial for businesses than ever before.

1. Free shipping can increase your sales revenue

There is no doubt that offering something for free will be appealing amongst your shoppers.

However, having a free shipping option has also been proven to not only increase revenue and sales conversions but also increase customer acquisition.

As Inc.com states, 96% of online consumers are more likely to shop on a site if it promises free shipping.

2. Free shipping can boost average order value

Offering free shipping has also been shown to encourage consumers to buy more online.

Shoppers are incentivized to add more to their carts! In fact, statistics show that 28% of online shoppers will abandon their carts completely if faced with unexpected shipping costs.

Source : Kissmetrics

3. Customers love it!

Offering free shipping is directly associated with customer retention.

It not only will help your business acquire new customers but also will incentivize customers to continue buying from your store.

It also serves as a great marketing tool to advertise and promote your business to potential customers.

According to a poll conducted by the National Retail Federation, 66% of online shoppers declared that having free shipping is a very important deciding factor for them when choosing to make an online purchase.

Source : rjmetrics

4. Free shipping helps rationalize shopping online

As consumers, free shipping helps rationalize buying something online versus driving to the store.

If the cost of shipping an item ends up being too expensive, we can simply abandon our carts and drive down the street.

Free Shipping with Modalyst Products

We just launched a new feature for Modalyst Suppliers who would like to join this movement of free shippers.

In addition to all the benefits listed above, offering free shipping on our platform will be a great opportunity for brands to gain traction and even more exposure.

Retailers are now able to filter for “free shipping” products.

Interested in offering Free Shipping on Modalyst?

Contact team@modalyst.co

The post Free Shipping on Your Online Store: 4 Benefits Explained first appeared on Modalyst.

So you have a platform, you have your suppliers and you have your dropshipping business ready to go. So why aren’t you getting any sales? One of the most important steps of starting an online store is how you promote it! There are several key steps you can take to promote your store website, through Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Optimization, Content Marketing, E-mail Marketing, Paid Advertising and Offline Marketing. In this part of the guide, I’ll walk you through each of these steps and the best practices so you can start dropshipping to your target market right away.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is a very important way to make sure your brand is found by the right target customers. Check out this guide here about key SEO terms to help you get started right away.

1. Make sure the content on your landing page is accurate and properly represents your brand and target customers. This means using the right keywords so people within your niche can find your store with ease, while not spamming with irrelevant keywords or repeating your keyword needlessly
2. Try to get more backlinks. Historically, receiving backlinks has been the best and most reliable way to rank high on Search Engine results pages. Some good practices include requesting links from dropshipping brands that sell well on your shop, in exchange for a feature in a newsletter or a free premium feature. You could also build relationships with content writers in your industry and have them link to you in their writing
3. Make sure your onsite code is optimized as well. This includes:
   • Adding alt tags to your images
   • Include your Keyword or Keyword Phrase in your title and body of your landing page
   • Validate your HTML and CSS
   • Make sure you have no duplicate title pages or duplicate content
   • Make sure you have no broken links or images on your website
4. You should also encourage your users to write reviews about your products. This sends strong signals to Search Engines since your site is trustable and gets high levels of user engagement
5. Include a blog with useful content, so people shopping in your store within your niche find it easier to look for your website as well as get great content.

Social Media Optimization

Social Media is a great way to engage with your customers and dropshipping suppliers on a personal level. Its also a great way to promote your brand for free!

1. Create Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts you believe will be important for your website
2. Post content regularly, whether it is informative content, featuring dropshipping brands or reaching out to influencers in your market. Consistency is key.
3. Post creative ways to engage with your audience. Run giveaways, have interactive question answer sessions or ask your customers to give you their advice on certain issues relating to dropshipping or e-commerce
4. Create shareable content. This means content that is meaningful to a wide variety of individuals that is highly engaging. Posts are more engaging if they include video content or imagery so keep that in mind when posting
5. Reach out to dropshipping and e-commerce influencers on Social media. Many people are very receptive and it’s a great way to show your seriousness and legitimacy as a store.

Content Marketing

When you run a dropshipping store, it will be filled with content. This is because you would have product description pages as well as potentially a blog which would really take your website to the next level. Therefore, this content should also be optimized

1. If you aren’t comfortable writing your own content, you can hire freelance writers who would fill up your blog/product pages with great content for a small fee.
2. Create an FAQ page. Consider answering the questions on this page creatively, maybe through video tutorials or interactive mapping

Longer content tends to be better content for SEO purposes. Try to create long, valuable content rather than pushing out daily blog posts with little content or purpose

E-mail Marketing and Outreach

E-mail marketing is a great way to find leads and target users that are interacting with your website in very specific ways.

1. You can target shoppers on your website with E-mail campaigns. You can send weekly newsletters, targeted newsletters to members who signed up but haven’t made a purchase, members that have made a purchase before but haven’t signed up since or specific messages to your high spenders. You should be creative with this, and find targeting strategies that work for you
2. Create a newsletter promoting the latest brands you’ve started dropshipping and content you post on your website or blog. This will encourage brands to create links to you as well as increase the number of people that view your content.
3. You can also use e-mails to reach out to influencers in your market. You can offer them advertising on your newsletter in exchange for a link or a social media mention, or simply write to them for advice on ways they optimize their stores best
4. A slight warning to not send too many e-mails. Like everything else, this is a practice that needs to be optimized. Find the right number for your store and expect to see great results!

Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a powerful tool, however a lot of thought and consideration should go into how you go about implementing it, making sure you get a good return on your investment (ROI)

1. Advertising platforms are important. If you are looking to advertise on Google, make sure you target for keywords that would both generate traffic and attract the right type of customer. This would involve using keywords specific to the brand image you are trying to create, as well as keywords that are not too competitive so you don’t have to overspend to get reachable.
2. Facebook ads are great for specific demographic targeting. If your target market is men in the U.S. within the age group of 21-40 that are interested in sports Facebook would be a great choice for advertising
3. Other platforms also offer great marketing opportunities. Twitter and Instagram each have their own advantages, and it is worth researching which platform would be the most valuable for you to market on

Offline Marketing

Not all marketing has to be online, check out this great article by Braveen Kumar about marketing your store offline through guerilla marketing

We hope you enjoyed reading this post. This marks the conclusion of our four part dropshipping guide.

Good luck, and remember, the biggest investment when running a dropshipping business is time and testing. Be patient and keep trying new things until you find what works for you, and we wish you the very best! We hope Modalyst can be a great tool for you in your journey.

The post Modalyst’s Guide to Dropshipping: Promoting your Business first appeared on Modalyst.

For a dropshipping retailer, the benefits (Modalyst’s 3Fs) are quite abundant, and hopefully quite apparent! However, to help you become a retailer that is fully informed about all things dropshipping, we want you to keep a few things in mind. Learn more at Modalyst.

The most important thing to remember is that the brands you are working with will handle most of the distribution logistics. When a customer places an order with you, the retailer, you can either have the information automatically sent to the brand or you can communicate the order details manually. However, regardless of how you do this, the moment the brand gets the order, it is the brand that becomes responsible for fulfilling the order. So, while you don’t have to worry about packaging goods, or coordinating with FedEx and other shipping providers anymore, the brand now does! Remember to work together with the brand to make sure all the details of each process – the order placement with the retailer, order communication to the brand, order fulfillment to the end consumer, and customer service management for end consumers – are clearly spelled out in your dropshipping contract to eliminate any confusion or potential for error.

Customer service management, for instance, is something brands and retailers sometimes overlook. Often times, retailers, given their involvement with the end consumer from a marketing and sales standpoint, will take the responsibility for customer service inquiries, such as returns, exchanges, or order adjustments. However, be sure to clearly delineate responsibilities with your brands. Openly distinguishing the responsibilities of both parties – brands and retailers – will also help you scale your business as you begin to work with multiple brands. The complexities of managing numerous relationships across various shipping zones and regulatory environments in the world will then be reduced too.

Next, as a retailer, it will be hugely beneficial to your business and profitability if you work with brands that are professional and committed to their own businesses too. In other words, be cautious of brands that are hobbyists and may not stick around to (or be able to) fulfill orders from customers. Often, this comes with experience and exposure to the industry, but curated marketplaces, such as Modalyst, which allow you to see designer showrooms online, can be a great way to filter out hobbyist brands and work with those that are likely to meet your requirements.

And that brings us to the last topic we’d like you to be aware of: the pros and cons of other marketplaces. Remember – some marketplaces, like Ebay, do not offer dropshipping as a feature of the platform, though there are ways to get around it. However, Amazon does have dropshipping capabilities and access to a very large user base and audience. The sales data and analytics Amazon provides are also quite useful. But, if you are using Amazon as a means to source brands or even host your store, just remember that there are listing fees for each item and often no longer term connection with end consumers.

Modalyst, on the other hand, was designed specifically for retailers and brands to “meet and greet.” With a fully automated solution for dropshipping, the logistics burden doesn’t fall too heavily on either the brands or retailers’ shoulders. Stay tuned to find out what special features may make the Modalyst platform the right solution for your store!

The post 3 Steps to Becoming Fully-Informed Dropshipping Retailer first appeared on Modalyst.