As a beginner, have you been longing to start a dropshipping business without a website? If yes, then relax, as this resource will educate you on the 3 ways to begin dropshipping without a website!
Well, without mincing words, you can start dropshipping without a website simply by advertising and selling your items on social platforms like Facebook Instagram and Pinterest.
However, before diving into dropshipping without a website, first and foremost, lets evaluate the ideology of dropshipping and know the reason most people begin dropshipping with a website.
Come to think of it, what’s “Dropshipping”?
Dropshipping is simply a business model where you sell products online without keeping them in stock. Once you get an order, you send it to your dropshipping supplier, who would in return, ship the item directly to your customer.
Don’t get confused. The big difference between retail stores and dropshipping is that with dropshipping, you don’t need your own warehouse filled with stock.
Now, as may have asked “What then do I need to start dropshipping?”
You will need a platform or an online store that enables your customers to place orders.
Secondly, you will need a dropshipping supplier —which is the person or business that holds the stock of the product(s) you are selling and ships them out for you whenever or wherever you get new orders.
Also note that your dropshipping supplier is more so, the owner of the stocked items.
Whenever you get new orders, you will pay for those items from your dropshipping supplier one-by-one.
And lastly, the third thing that you need is paying customers.
Back to the Bigger Question, “How Can I Start Dropshipping Without A Website?”
How To Start Dropshipping Without A Website
Just as previously discussed, one of the things you need for dropshipping is a platform or an online store that enables your customers place their orders.
Well, the traditional method of acquiring an online shop is to build your own website through an ecommerce platform like woocommerce etc, which is precisely what the vast majority of dropshippers do.
But, what if, for few reasons, you’re not able to afford dropshipping using your own website?
Still take a breathe, in such situation, you will lose some of the benefits that a website has to offer, which would be outlined later in this resource.
The following are the 3 different ways you could dropship without owning a website:
Selling Your Items on Facebook
Look what we have here, Instead of selling items on your own website, you could actually sell them on Facebook.
Going further, there are 3 ways one could sell products on Facebook:
- You can create a post on your business page
- If accepted, you could post your product in Facebook groups surrounding your niche
- Use of Facebook Shops
One of the big merits of making posts on Facebook is that you can boost them by use of Facebook Ads.
As you may be wondering, Facebook Shops is a feature on Facebook that all businesses can make use of in showing their catalogs to everyone visiting their Facebook profile.
Additionally, people can locate your Facebook Shop on your business’ Facebook Page, Instagram profile, or through stories and ads.
As a new feature, Facebook also supports an integrated checkout system, but only if your business is based in the US.
However, to begin with and get the most out of Facebook Shops, you will need to set up a Commerce Manager account.
Selling your Items on Instagram
In case you haven’t heard, Facebook owns and runs Instagram, and therefore, Instagram has a Shops feature as well!
Well, It also looks more like Facebook Shops, where visitors could surf through your collections and order your items all within the app.
Arguably, Instagram Shops is said to be even more popular than Facebook Shops right now because Instagram has made a special tab for it in their navigation bar at the bottom of the screen:
Selling Your Products On Pinterest
Unfortunately, when it comes to advertising products online, most people instantly think about Instagram and Facebook.
You shouldn’t underestimate the power of Pinterest. Yes, now you know!
Why? Because It’s a great way to expose your products organically, and with the right strategy, you will be able to get thousands of free impressions per day.
As a norm, you should provide a link to your website for every post made on Pinterest.
However, don’t you ever worry if you’re dropshipping without a website; you will still be able to get sales through Pinterest.
How? Well, instead of including a link, you can make it clear in the description that the product you’re posting about is for sale and that anyone who is interested could contact you through Pinterest to arrange a purchase.
It’s more work than making sales through a website, but it’s definitely possible.
Importance Of Having A Website For A Dropshipping Store?
Inasmuch as dropshipping without a website is possible, if you don’t have a choice, having a website does come with some big benefits.
Firstly, a website makes your business appear much more trustworthy.
Owning a website indicates that you have put effort into your business. More so, you will be able to create the standard pages for a website, such as an “About Us” page, where visitors will be able to read more about your brand.
Again, dropshipping with a website will provide you with many more features.
When dropshipping with DROPAZZ, for instance, you will have access to softwares or extensions that will manage your order, track your inventory, automatically send out tracking numbers, do email marketing etc.
In addition, a website makes it simpler for your customers to shop since they will be able to go through a checkout process and funnel that they are already used to.
Also note that when dropshipping without a website, it’s likely that you won’t be able to offer your customers a traditional checkout process through a payment gateway —unless you reside in the US.
In such condition, the best option through which customers can pay you for your products is simply the use of PayPal.me.
PayPal.me is just a provision by PayPal that makes it faster and easier to get paid through PayPal.
Just by forwarding to customers your own PayPal.me link, they will be able to click on it, enter any amount they want to pay, and the money will be in your PayPal account in seconds. Sounds more like a relief!
How To Process Dropshipping Orders Without A Website
Another feature that you will likely miss when dropshipping without a website is an order processing system.
When a customer goes through the purchase funnel on a website, an order processing system will automatically save their:
- Name
- Ordered product
- Quantity
- Shipping address
- Billing address
- Phone number
If you’ve thought of dropshipping without a website, you will have to copy this data from your chat with the customer and save it manually.
Well, in that regard, we recommend processing your orders one-by-one in Excel or Google Spreadsheets.
Summary
Now, you would agree with us that definitely, one can venture into dropshipping even without a website.
However, having your own website comes with big benefits that these social platforms like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram can’t conquer yet.
Well, I do hope that this resource has helped you to discover ideas on how you venture into dropshipping without a website.