Dropshipping: Things You Need to Know About Dropshipping in 2018

Dropshipping tends to be more and more popular these years. Then I would like to put dropshipping into the following five aspects.

What’s Dropshipping?

Disadvantages of Dropshipping

Advantages of Dropshipping

Perspectives to Improve Dropshipping

Dropshipping Product Ideas in 2018

Track All Your Dropshipping Parcels Just in One Place

What’s Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is when a vendor fulfills orders from a third party and has them shipped directly to the customer.

Disadvantages of Dropshipping

Sure, since you don’t have to manage or store your own inventory, the overhead is low — but so are the returns.

Because of the own distinctive features of dropshipping, there are two main disadvantages:low-profit margins and high competitiveness.

Since it fulfills orders from a third party, the disadvantage of dropshipping is also quite obvious: very low-profit margins. Most of the profits go to the suppliers and dropshipping can only get very little. Even worse, dropshipping sellers can hardly raise prices since customers will easily go to other suppliers for lower prices.

Due to the low overhead, dropshipping is highly competitive. So, it’s quite difficult to stand out among so many dropshipping sellers, especially for those who start from the scratch.

However, there are still advantages we can fully make use of. Let’s explore it.

Advantages of Dropshipping

Market research

Dropshipping can be used to reduce the risk in testing out new product types and thus used for market research.

Instead of increasing your inventory costs by having an unpredictable product stored in your warehouse, dropshipping could be a good choice for you to test out a new product with a trial period.

You can get two important information from the dropshipping testing:

Have a better estimate of how much it sells for; Identify a more accurate number of what quantity to buy for your initial stock.

Protection from overselling

Market fluctuations are not predictable all the time and overselling is one of them. Instead of overstocking to satisfy the unlikely situation, dropshipping products elsewhere could be a nice option, saving costs and having those sales at the same time. This is especially useful for seasonal overflow.

Flexibility to choose

Dropshipping has its natural advantage: Flexibility to choose. Without any pressure of inventory management, a wide range of choices can be got from various dropshipping suppliers.

  How can we better make use of the dropshipping advantages?     Below are some dropshipping ideas for your reference.

Perspectives to Improve Dropshipping 

1 Hard to find elsewhere on the internet

Once a product begins to go viral in one place, many sellers begin to sell the same products. And the advantages of selling this product becomes less competitive. So a better solution is to find out the products that are hard to be found by other sellers. This is not easy, but you will get a relatively long advantage over other competitors once you find it.

2 Test out the products yourself

Before selling, you have to have a good and thorough understanding of the products. For one reason, you can offer detailed solutions when facing customers’ inquiries about the products; for another reason, it is more convincing for your customers if you are the product user yourself.

3 Find the distinctive features of your products and identify your targeted buyers

The other reason customers buy products from you rather than from others is your product have distinctive features other products don’t have. The distinctive features can easily help you differentiate from other competitors. Then, the next step is to identify the targeted buyers or your niche.

4 Interesting enough to attract eyeballs

Now, people like to show their characteristics and specialty by what they use that are different from others. So, they are more and more valuing the novelties and specialty of a product. It is important to find an interesting object that can attract customers’ attention as soon as they see it.

5 Write an advertorial about your product

If you have finished all the four steps above, then you can move to the advertorial part. It requires you to present your products in a clear and detailed way. From your advertorial, customers will get what they need to know: like the basic introduction of the products; distinctive features of your products; and suitable occasions for the use of the products. The more detailed your articles are, the more likely your customers are convinced to buy your products.

Dropshipping Product Ideas in 2018

Want to differentiate from other competitors? Be different first. What kind of products can be considered unique among all the sellers? If you’re interested in dropshipping but don’t know where to start, here’s a list of product ideas for inspiration. Below are some product ideas for reference:

 Novelty t-shirts

 Novelty t-shirts are trendy these years without no reason. Young people love the t-shirts with their favorite mottoes on. Novelty t-shirts will never be out of data as long as you have new ideas and thoughts to be presented.

 Funny coffee mugs

Funny coffee mugs are also favored by many office workers. One good example is Puzzle Mug. The color and design of this mugs will definitely attract a lot of attention.

 Motivational bookmarks

Like novelty t-shirts, bookmarks can also include many design elements. Bookmarks with cute and interesting designs can also lead to volumes of sales.

 Inexpensive watches or jewelry

Novel but inexpensive accessories are always favored by fashion lovers. Below are products that might bring you some inspiration about accessories:

     Skeleton watch, like World Map Watch

      

      

      Animal Ring

      

      Choker Necklace

      Arrow Bracelet

Track All Your Dropshipping Parcels Just in One Place

In most cases, dropshipping products are from different suppliers, which may cause some trouble in package tracking. If a customer buys from different suppliers at the same time, it’s not recommended to let your customer track all the parcels from different websites. But, don’t worry. Third-party tracking platforms, like TrackingMore, can easily help you fix that. With 530+ couriers from all over the world, almost all the tracking info can be acquired on TrackingMore. Plus, if you want your customers to stay on your own page, TrackingMore also offers you “Track Button” solution. This feature allows you to design the “Track Button” according to your own preference.   

How “3 F” Strategy Works in Sales And How To Use It Better?

‘Feel, Felt, Found’ technique could be a simple yet workable solution in sales, especially meeting the objection issue in sales.

What is‘Feel, Felt, Found’?

The standard formulation of the objection handling skill goes like this:

1. Tell your customers“I understand how you FEEL.” This statement avoids being argumentative and takes prospects’ objections seriously. It tells them you were listening and shows that you do indeed have their best interests at heart. This is intended to tell the customer that you have heard them and can empathize. This step really matters. This will let your customers consider you are with him. Then they are more willing to hear what you are going to say next.

For example, the customer thinks the price is higher than he expected. Here are two versions of replies. The first reply is like this “actually it’s not expensive...” and you then give your reasons. What do your customers feel? They feel you are denying their feelings. You are not with them. And they even feel offended. So, the better answer could be “You are right. And I thought it was expensive before. But later I found it is worth the money. ”

Note: You can deny one’s common sense, experience or anything, but never try to deny one’s feelings. No matter what sufficient reasons you can provide, it can only lead to one result: feeling offended. Thus, the key to using ‘Feel, felt, found’ is to admit the feelings your customers have are reasonable.

2. Tell them about someone else who FELT the same way initially. As with any example of ‘Feel, Felt, Found’, the ‘felt’ implies that although they felt that way in the past, they feel differently now. You’re telling the customer that they are not alone and that things can change. For example, you can tell your customers many of our clients FELT that way before they invested in our services. “For instance, Mr. White is in your line of work [church, age group, or other categories].” This shows prospects that their concerns are valid and the fact that you name other customers they can relate to who had the same concern builds trust in you. “He worried about that but…”

3. Then tell them how that person FOUND that when they did what you wanted/bought the product, they got what they wanted. What he FOUND was that… [your answer] there were lots of people with [concern]. However, his family enjoyed the club facilities, the contacts were valuable to his business, etc.

The similar experience from others tells him that what is being said is relevant to him. Telling other people feeling the same also reassures him that he’s not the only one, which is more likely to make him relaxed and open, rather than defensive.

 The Importance of ‘FOUND’

In order to better make use of ‘Feel, Felt, Found’ approach, you have to accurately find out what it is that the person is feeling or believing and find out something else they want or believe that is more empowering or useful for what was‘found’. The more convincing ‘Found’ actually lets your customers focus on more useful expectation rather than the objection they had before. The ‘Feel, Felt, Found’ technique only works unless the belief or desire in the ‘found’ section has to be important to the person. If they don’t value it, if it doesn’t carry some kind of emotional charge, the 3 F will have no power.

Conclusion

The general form of ‘Feel, Felt, Found’ is “Yes, you feel X, and some other person/people felt that way, and (or ‘but’) when they did Y they found Z”. This is only powerful, and it’s only going to speak to the person, if the Z is something they want, or care about, or believe in.

————————

If you’re already on Shopify, check out our free Shopify app to track your parcels across 530+ and impressed by the amount of time saved to grow your business.

Customer service: 9 ways to provide excellent customer service

                             

 

Customer service plays a key role in business success. So, it’s time to consider how to improve the customer service seriously. Good customer service is different for every person or company. No matter how you define it, these nine tried-and-true customer service principles can help you deliver the best customer service experience every time. 

 

Customer Service

1. KNOW YOUR PRODUCT.

2. EVERY SECOND COUNT.

3. SUPPORT CUSTOMERS AS A TEAM.

4. LISTEN TO CUSTOMERS.

5. SAVE YOUR TIME ON TRACKING PROCESS

6. OFFER FRIENDLY, PERSONABLE SERVICE.

7. BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW.

8. PRACTICE EMPATHY.

9. IMPROVE AS YOU GO.

 

1. KNOW YOUR PRODUCT

Only with good product knowledge, can your customer service team serve your customers well. So, make sure all your customer support members get a good command of the knowledge of all your products. It is better to have an integrated training system to ensure all your working members know your products well to serve your customers efficiently. It’s also important to prepare them for every new release, too.

 

2. EVERY SECOND COUNT.

Never let your customers wait. The more quickly you respond to their problems, the more satisfied they are with your services. And once you can solve their problems efficiently, they are more likely to continue to use the products from your brand. That’s because they consider you as a reliable brand.

 

Also, provide your customer team with the tools they need to serve customers as efficiently as possible. With the help of useful and convenient tools, you can enormously reduce the time other customers must wait. It is also very important to let your working staff know that never to sacrifice the customer satisfaction for the speed of problem-solving. Thus, the good way is to resolve every problem completely.

 

3. SUPPORT CUSTOMERS AS A TEAM.

Customer service is a team job, and it is not just all your customer service team’s responsibility. The truth is that not every problem can be solved just by your customer service team. Ensure all your working staff work as a team. And join all your employees in the help desk software so that they can all offer their help during busy times. Highly technical cases sometimes can only be solved by experts, but it also matters that everyone needs to be ready and able to help out. If everyone is ready to help, then you will not worry when things get busy and your customers will also be impressed by your efficiency.

 

4. LISTEN TO CUSTOMERS.

Listen to your customers. It sounds like a cliche, but it really counts. Be patient to understand issues and how they influence the customer’s business. When customers feel that you value their needs, they are more willing to have an ongoing relationship with your brand. Get your customer service team ask more questions when communicating with customers. The interaction with customers about their questions about your product could be a great treasure. Product innovation could possibly be got from this. All these feedback can be collected and analyzed for the future product design ideas.

 

5. SAVE YOUR TIME ON TRACKING PROCESS

Online retailers often have to reply to the inquiries about the tracking info for their customers. It is a must-do but a very time-consuming part of their business. To resolve this problem, many third-party tracking platforms appear. One of the best tracking platforms is TrackingMore. Among all the features offered by it, shipment notification is one favored by numerous online retailers. With the help of the shipment notification function, customers can keep informed of the status of their parcels automatically. Thus, a large amount of time can be saved to grow business.

 

6. OFFER FRIENDLY, PERSONABLE SERVICE.

AI technology is more and more advanced, but people still want to have interpersonal communications. That’s because robots don’t have emotions. So, let your customers feel your care and friendliness. What finally matters is how you make people feel. Encourage your customer service staff to convey their emotions in their interaction with customers, whether through emails or phone calls. Simple sincere greetings would make a difference.

 

7. BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW.

Honesty is the best policy. It might be a little embarrassed to tell what you don’t know, but the worst thing is your customers find that you should lie to them. And this will definitely ruin the trust and confidence your customers place in you. Actually, customers will consider you are reliable when you frankly tell the truth. What you need to do is to find the right person to solve the problem and keep your customers informed at all times. This will earn your customers’ respect and favor.

 

8. PRACTICE EMPATHY.

The key to delivering effective customer service also lies in your empathy towards your customers. Not just to get the appreciation from your customers, your empathy will differentiate you from your competitors. Always put yourself in the customers' shoes, especially in hard situations. 

 

9. IMPROVE AS YOU GO.

If you see the same issues happening, again and again, it’s time to improve your product or service. Or there is something wrong with your manuals. Go deep into what’s unclear and update your FAQs. Being clear about all your message can save you a lot of time from answering repetitive issues.

 

 

Last-mile Delivery: 11 Ways to Improve the Success in Last-mile Delivery

Last mile delivery is a very important issue that logistics companies are facing. Here are some possible ways to overcome these challenges include the following:

1.Faster fulfillment
2. Let Customers Choose Delivery Windows
3. Continuously Optimize Transport Schedule with New Orders
4. Better route optimization
5. Continuously Communicate
6. Track Orders
7. Automated Notifications on Delivery Day
8. Use Proof of Delivery
9. Be prepared with an intuitive response plan
10. Delivery lockers
11. Other solutions

1.Faster fulfillment

Increase in on-demand or same-day delivery from customers now requires faster logistics and fulfillment.

This is especially true for pharmaceuticals and food delivery. Customers want a window of delivery within a few hours. By the time the order comes in, it has to be processed and ready to go, to meet that very narrow window.

2. Let Customers Choose Delivery Windows

To increase the success of delivery, it’s better to let customers select their delivery windows. Offering a range of time windows on your website at the point of purchase allows the customer to make sure somebody will be home before placing the order. The narrow time slots could better meet the needs of customers. Getting orders delivered exactly when and where they choose is a good choice.

3. Continuously Optimize Transport Schedule with New Orders

Customers place orders throughout an entire day, so you need an omnichannel fulfillment system that continually re-optimizes the transport schedules as new orders are added. Systems must take into account delivery areas, available resources and existing deliveries already confirmed, then analyze and evaluate possible delivery times for new orders within the requested timeframe.

By planning customer collection and home delivery service in the same system, users can maximize operational efficiency and offer a consistent, reliable service for their customers.

4. Better route optimization

Better route optimization technologies can also help reduce woes over last mile capacity while cutting last mile costs.

5. Continuously Communicate

Keep customers up to date and let them modify their time window at every step. This helps reduce the volume of inbound customer service calls and reassure customers in your last-mile delivery service.

So, you can use TrackingMore to get your customers updated about their parcels. By setting up the shipment notification function, your customers will receive real-time tracking info via emails or SMS. The content of shipment notification can be edited according to your own preference.

6 Track Orders

It is important to be able to track the order from placement to delivery, ensuring all required components are progressing in a timely manner to meet the customer promise. Proactive messaging enables automated communication to keep the customer informed throughout this process.

7 Automated Notifications on Delivery Day

On the day of delivery, keep your customers well informed of your driver’s exact location in real-time, which will reassure your customers for one respect.

Another benefit of doing that is the chances of successful delivery can be achieved if the customers are well informed. For example, automated notifications feature means customers can receive an update saying, “We’re 30 minutes away – are we still okay with this delivery time?” If the customer is stuck in traffic, they can choose a later time slot.

8. Use Proof of Delivery

Electronic proof of delivery (EPOD) is a key requirement in completing the entire end-to-end order fulfillment process. This ensures confirmation of successful deliveries and required information like photographs, notes, and signatures to manage delivery issues in a timely manner.

9. Be prepared with an intuitive response plan

What will happen in the last-mile delivery can never be predicted, so it’s crucial to prepare for the potential outcomes in advance. Risk management processes is a good choice since it offers information and communication platform needed to assess and manage situations as they occur.

Complete data and information collection enable organizations to make deliveries more efficient.

Another feasible choice is to adopt delivery lockers. Delivery lockers could keep products for consumers seeking to pick up products at set locations, like Amazon’s storefront pickup locations.

10. Delivery lockers

Delivery lockers could hold products for consumers seeking to pick up products at set locations, like Amazon’s storefront pickup locations.

11. Other solutions

Drone and robots can aid in delivery too.
Or
Retailers may also offer better incentives to truckers looking for career opportunities and positions with fewer regulations and rules.

Customer service: 9 ways to provide excellent customer service

Customer service plays a key role in business success. So, it’s time to consider how to improve the customer service seriously. Good customer service is different for every person or company. No matter how you define it, these nine tried-and-true customer service principles can help you deliver the best customer service experience every time. 

1. KNOW YOUR PRODUCT.

2. EVERY SECOND COUNT.

3. SUPPORT CUSTOMERS AS A TEAM.

4. LISTEN TO CUSTOMERS.

5. SAVE YOUR TIME ON TRACKING PROCESS

6. OFFER FRIENDLY, PERSONABLE SERVICE.

7. BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW.

8. PRACTICE EMPATHY.

9. IMPROVE AS YOU GO.

1. KNOW YOUR PRODUCT

Only with good product knowledge, can your customer service team serve your customers well. So, make sure all your customer support members get a good command of the knowledge of all your products. It is better to have an integrated training system to ensure all your working members know your products well to serve your customers efficiently. It’s also important to prepare them for every new release, too.

 

2. EVERY SECOND COUNS.

Never let your customers wait. The more quickly you respond to their problems, the more satisfied they are with your services. And once you can solve their problems efficiently, they are more likely to continue to use the products from your brand. That’s because they consider you as a reliable brand.

Also, provide your customer team with the tools they need to serve customers as efficiently as possible. With the help of useful and convenient tools, you can enormously reduce the time other customers must wait. It is also very important to let your working staff know that never to sacrifice the customer satisfaction for the speed of problem-solving. Thus, the good way is to resolve every problem completely.

3. SUPPORT CUSTOMERS AS A TEAM.

Customer service is a team job, and it is not just all your customer service team’s responsibility. The truth is that not every problem can be solved just by your customer service team. Ensure all your working staff work as a team. And join all your employees in the help desk software so that they can all offer their help during busy times. Highly technical cases sometimes can only be solved by experts, but it also matters that everyone needs to be ready and able to help out. If everyone is ready to help, then you will not worry when things get busy and your customers will also be impressed by your efficiency.

 

4. LISTEN TO CUSTOMERS.

Listen to your customers. It sounds like a cliche, but it really counts. Be patient to understand issues and how they influence the customer’s business. When customers feel that you value their needs, they are more willing to have an ongoing relationship with your brand. Get your customer service team ask more questions when communicating with customers. The interaction with customers about their questions about your product could be a great treasure. Product innovation could possibly be got from this. All these feedback can be collected and analyzed for the future product design ideas.

5. SAVE YOUR TIME ON TRACKING PROCESS

Online retailers often have to reply to the inquiries about the tracking info for their customers. It is a must-do but a very time-consuming part of their business. To resolve this problem, many third-party tracking platforms appear. One of the best tracking platforms is TrackingMore. Among all the features offered by it, shipment notification is one favored by numerous online retailers. With the help of the shipment notification function, customers can keep informed of the status of their parcels automatically. Thus, a large amount of time can be saved to grow business.

6. OFFER FRIENDLY, PERSONABLE SERVICE.

AI technology is more and more advanced, but people still want to have interpersonal communications. That’s because robots don’t have emotions. So, let your customers feel your care and friendliness. What finally matters is how you make people feel. Encourage your customer service staff to convey their emotions in their interaction with customers, whether through emails or phone calls. Simple sincere greetings would make a difference.

7. BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW.

Honesty is the best policy. It might be a little embarrassed to tell what you don’t know, but the worst thing is your customers find that you should lie to them. And this will definitely ruin the trust and confidence your customers place in you. Actually, customers will consider you are reliable when you frankly tell the truth. What you need to do is to find the right person to solve the problem and keep your customers informed at all times. This will earn your customers’ respect and favor.

8. PRACTICE EMPATHY.

The key to delivering effective customer service also lies in your empathy towards your customers. Not just to get the appreciation from your customers, your empathy will differentiate you from your competitors. Always put yourself in the customers' shoes, especially in hard situations. 

9. IMPROVE AS YOU GO.

If you see the same issues happening, again and again, it’s time to improve your product or service. Or there is something wrong with your manuals. Go deep into what’s unclear and update your FAQs. Being clear about all your message can save you a lot of time from answering repetitive issues.

Things You Need to Know About Aliexpress Standard Shipping

When referring to AliExpress Standard Shipping, we have to mention Alibaba Group. Then...

What’s the Connection between AliExpress Standard Shipping and Alibaba Group

AliExpress Standard Shipping is a courier company that belongs to Alibaba Group. You can get this shipping method when you order something from AliExpress or any other websites from Alibaba Group. AliExpress Standard Shipping is not a delivery service actually, and it is an agent that focuses on issues with logistics and package control.

AliExpress Standard Shipping option is mostly free and provides tracking as well. However, most people, especially new buyers are often confused and worried about the shipping and deliveries offered by AliExpress Standard Shipping. So...

What is AliExpress Standard Shipping?

It is a delivery option available to all customers. It’s similar to “Fulfillment by Amazon” which means that AliExpress takes control of the product delivery itself.

Who delivers AliExpress Standard Shipping?

AliExpress’ shipping partners include Singapore post (Most used), Correos, Post-Finland, SPSR, DHL, and Direct Link.

AliExpress Standard Shipping is one of the most popular shipping methods available on the website for it’s entirely free most of the time, and sometimes it costs somewhere around $2-$3 for delivery.

But it is a safe shipping option if you might have some disputes about the transaction. It is because that the retailer can quickly intervene, check the status, and find out the solution.

What’s the difference between Seller’s Shipping and AliExpress Standard Shipping?

The main difference between the two shipping methods is mostly the cost and timings; however, that differs for different countries. So, it’s better to choose a delivery method based on the delivery price and timing to your own destination place.

As mentioned above, it’s much safer to go with AliExpress Standard Shipping in case any transaction disputes occur. This is especially for some places don’t support any other reliable delivery methods.

AliExpress Standard Shipping Tracking

Head over to “My Orders” in your account.

Click “View Detail” on your order.

The exact tracking details will be shown under “Logistics Information”.

If you are not satisfied with AliExpress’ shipping details, then there are other third-party tracking services available that will help you with your tracking info.

How to track my AliExpress order?

TrackingMore is one of the most popular parcel tracking platforms that shows accurate tracking info for a multitude of carriers all over the world. 

AliExpress Standard Shipping Tracking by TrackingMore

Just head over to TrackingMore, enter your tracking number, and the current logistical status of your parcel will be displayed immediately.

You can also choose CAINIAO - another website which is also great for tracking your AliExpress shipments; CAINIAO is the official logistical partner of AliExpress. 

Still, some buyers are not convinced about the free AliExpress shipping. Then...

Is AliExpress shipping really free?

AliExpress shipping is mostly free, but sometimes it does cost a minor amount. Somewhere around $1-$2 for the shipping. So, in a sense, it’s free but for certain countries, it might charge you a buck or two.

In Conclusion

It is not necessary to pay extra if all the delivery solutions are providing the similar services. Paying extra is a better choice unless you have urgent parcels to be delivered.

 

Why is 4PX Favored by Alibaba?

4PX is recognized as a preferred partner of Alibaba. Here are several features that make 4PX favored by Alibaba.

1. Extended Customer Service Hours

Among all the Alibaba-appointed forwarders, 4PX has the longest customer service hours – their working hours last from 8.30am to 9 pm daily. So it’s very convenient for you to track your parcels without choosing the specific time period.

2. SMS Notifications

4PX will inform you via text message when each parcel arrives at their warehouse as long as you’ve paid for your order. Thus, you won’t have to log into your Alibaba account each time you want to check your parcel status. Moreover, you can also receive a text on the day your package is ready for home delivery. Very considerate！

3. Speedpost Delivery

You can trust the reliability of 4PX delivery at most times since it works with the national posts of the countries and regions it delivers to.

4. Fees

4PX offers a competitive domestic and overseas fulfillment pricing system and discounted last mile shipping. Here are 4PX E-order Shenzhen Warehouse Service Rates for your reference:

Notes:

Currency：USD, for reference only, actual charge will be in RMB.

The total rate of E-order China consists of the following parts：Storage fee + Check in warehouse fee + Order handling Fees + Delivery fee to worldwide

Good For

People who are usually not home in the daytime: 4PX works with the national posts from many countries for local deliveries, so you can opt to pick up your parcel at a pick-up point.

Busy/forgetful people: text updates will be sent to you from 4PX as soon as your parcels have arrived at their warehouse.

Other Tracking Solutions

Besides SMS notifications, here two usual ways to track your parcels delivered by 4PX:

1 Go to 4PX Tracking, or

2 Go to the 4PX official website