What is the best solution to create an e-commerce store or an e-commerce site? Is it Shopify ? Woocommerce with WordPress or Prestashop? Some even talk about Magento, but we will focus on the first three which will allow you to create a dropshipping site in no time.

Dropshipping, what is it?

The dropshipping business model is simple. Indeed, it is a plan that involves three types of actors. These are the distributor, the supplier and the customer. Each actor has a specific role to play for the effectiveness of the system. The distributor is an individual who decides to market a specific product online . To do this, he opens an online store that puts him in touch with potential customers. Before the opening of the shop, he must contact the supplier to inform him and discuss the terms. If they agree on the principles, then the formalities for the launch of his shop can begin. What is it concretely? The distributor undertakes to market the supplier’s product.

This means that he will advertise the product in question through a site that he will put online for this purpose. He will therefore be able to convince consumers who will become his clients. The latter will launch orders via its site to obtain the said product. The distributor must in turn be able to deliver the product within the required time without holding a stock of the product. To do this, as soon as he receives an order, he communicates this to the supplier who prepares the package to be sent directly to the customer’s address. The supplier should not mention his address because the customer should not contact him directly.

How can you make a living from dropshipping?

How does the distributor benefit from this device? In fact, with its supplier, a purchase price is retained for the product in question. In turn, the distributor communicates a selling price which includes the purchase price (from the supplier) as well as its profit margin. The customer actually pays both amounts to the distributor. It’s an excellent business model that saves the distributor the hassle and stress of managing inventory. Dropshipping is currently in vogue and makes many happy who make considerable income. We then remember that dropshipping is a form of e-commerce that does not require stock.

However, if you enter dropshipping e-commerce with an intention that you can easily earn money , this would be your first mistake. Like all professional lines of business, dropshipping is an activity offered to those with certain skills. You must learn and know how to put this knowledge into practice. It’s not about choosing a product, opening a small shop, advertising and launching your business. Perceived in this way, you will never be able to know prosperity because the sector is not virgin. This means that you have to fight for a place there.

This will also result in choosing the right product to offer and clearly defining the target. You must master the essential criteria of an optimized store as well as the right marketing strategies. You must know that you embrace a delicate business and that it will be necessary to work abundantly and especially to persevere in order to seize this opportunity offered to become rich.

E-commerce store: Other tips for success

You must have confidence in yourself and in your business, otherwise you will hesitate to make the best decisions at the right times. Therefore, you will not have good results and you would have lost everything. You need to focus on a single product and not disperse your energy over several products at the same time and not be able to truly optimize your business. I admit that it is really tempting but you have to know how to resist. Do not embrace several fields of activity at the same time.

In other words, you launch an e-commerce store and lo and behold, you hear about trading, cryptocurrency and others and you also start. It’s the best way to get lost. You have to make a choice and really refine your strategy to maximize your income . That’s what it’s about. You also have to let go of your emotions. In business, all decisions are made on the basis of facts. Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by emotion. I say this because it is not uncommon to see certain people who are particularly attached to their shop and their product even though they are aware that it does not work.  

They are ready to inject enough financial means into a project that does not work and which will not work. It won’t help and that’s not perseverance anyway. The probability of success must be integrated into the notion of perseverance. If it does not exist or is too thin, do not insist in vain. You have to manage your time well and not be too perfectionist. In addition, you will need to train yourself to acquire specific strategies for managing your business.

Getting trained, a beneficial act for your online business

Training is essential nowadays to succeed because it is the only way to benefit effectively from the experience of others. You can make use of books, websites but also follow paid training. Don’t waste your time looking for ways to launch your shop at zero francs. You will get no concrete answer.

You necessarily need a few hundred euros at least to effectively carry out your project. To do this, you have to save money to invest. When you get results, you still have to keep your cool and not consider yourself the center of the world. Keep your humility and above all, do not be satisfied with your prowess. Otherwise, you can consider that you are approaching decline (descent into hell).  

E-commerce store: What is shopify in dropshipping?

Shopify is a company that has developed an online service that makes it easy to create a store for e-commerce. Shopify allows you, even if you have no computer knowledge, to create your website very easily. Once the site is created, you will find yourself directly on the Shopify interface where you can follow the evolution of your activities (number of visits, number of prospects, evolution of orders). You also have the option of contacting suppliers in your sector of activity.

In order to properly present the interface as well as the visibility perceived by the “visitor” Internet user, you must work to considerably improve the current images put forward. The different headings like the catalog for example offer the possibility of being deeply and completely configured. You don’t need to be particularly computer literate to do all of this. The interface is easily modifiable without necessarily deploying an intellectual or financial effort. In other words, you can change the settings to your liking very simply on shopify in order to open your e-commerce store. Thus, all those who launch their e-commerce site from Shopify are able to take advantage of the many other advantages offered by this platform.

E-commerce store: What is woocommerce or prestashop

Prestashop is a content management system that is dedicated to e-commerce. It is used to create an online store and to administer it. It offers many features described entirely in French since it is a purely “made in France” product. As for woocommerce, it is a wordpress plugin that allows you to easily and quickly create an online sales store. This plugin is totally free and however requires hosting. Its dashboard is in well-translated French, allowing you to work independently. An extension is of course possible with WordPress where you can find specific plugins for more customization.

E-commerce store: Why choose Shopify?

Shopify is undoubtedly the most used tool for setting up dropshipping sites. It was notably popularized thanks to the many trainers who use it and it’s not for nothing!

• Shopify is very easy to use , even an internet neophyte is able to set up an internet store very quickly and this, in less than a day. It’s even possible to save even more time with themes like the Speedfly theme .
• It is possible to add other applications such as pop-ups, counters, etc. In seconds, your site can turn into a real marketing war machine.
• It is perfectly responsive and is kept up to date by a large team, very pleasant to use and its community is very responsive.

The downside of Shopify is its pricing. Despite the trial days, you will have to pay a minimum of $29 per month plus all additional applications. The bill can rise very quickly to $60 per month or more. Thus, you have to plan a budget much higher than this subscription and succeed in making your first sales very quickly to make it profitable.💎

E-commerce store: Why choose Woocommerce with WordPress

This is definitely my favorite solution to launch a dropshipping store :

• The reason is simple, the cost is close to 0 if not having to pay for hosting and a domain name. Thus, you can set up your shop quietly!
• There is a huge community and many free and very effective plugins.
• You can create a real site different from your competitors who use Shopify and offer both e-commerce, a showcase site or a training site. With WordPress, anything is possible!

The biggest problem with WordPress is that it will take some time to master the tool! Indeed, it will be necessary from time to time to come and edit the code, solve some bugs and successfully optimize your website. After a week or two of hacking, you won’t have to worry about mastering WordPress in dropshipping!

E-commerce store: Why choose Prestashop?

In all honesty, Prestashop is the solution that I have used the least. I was not seduced either by its value proposition or by the interface. However, this software which allows you to set up your e-commerce store has many advantages:

• It is open source and the whole community can therefore contribute to its evolution.
• Almost everything is already integrated and it only takes a few clicks to create your store.
• I find the themes much prettier than those offered by Shopify!

However, some modules are not present and you will have to spend a fortune to obtain them. It takes almost a hundred euros for certain modules such as email reminders. It’s rather embarrassing when you start with few means and you know that everything can be automated for free or almost with Mailchimp on WordPress and Shopify.

E-commerce store: My opinion on the CMS to use to create your e-commerce and dropshipping store

Here is my opinion on the comparison of software/programs/CMS to use to create your e-commerce site . First, I would avoid Magento and prestashop for the reasons mentioned above. Next :

• If you don’t have a lot of budget and you are comfortable with computers, it would be very interesting to launch your online store with WordPress and woocommerce. You will save a lot of money while having a customizable site from A to Z.
• If you are not comfortable with the Internet, you will just have to use Shopify. It is disconcertingly easy to set up an online dropshipping store.

My personal choice will be WordPress, I like to be able to run my sites without worrying about the bill at the end of each month and to be able to customize it from A to Z! For the rest, I teach you everything through my dropshipping training !

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