| The number one problem with the dropshipping | | | | have already paid for an item. |
| business model is the out-of-stock problem. You come | | | | The solution: Only use dropshipping distributors who |
| across this all over the place. Dropshipping is a very | | | | have automated inventory systems that update |
| attractive business model because it does not require | | | | regularly. Do your homework before signing up with a |
| you to hold any inventory. For those who do not know | | | | distributor and make sure they have this feature. |
| about this, it is a special arrangement where the | | | | Additionally, as an online store owner, you will have to |
| distributor is set-up to send the product directly to your | | | | invest in some type of automated inventory update on |
| end customer. The customer usually doesn't know | | | | your end. You need a way to take this information |
| where the product came from, or care. This | | | | from the distributor and update it on your web store |
| arrangement has become very popular for | | | | very frequently. |
| Internet-only stores because they typically don't have | | | | We've accomplished this at our store by building a job |
| the storage or capital required to stock actual | | | | that runs every 4 hours. The job pulls the most recent |
| inventory. | | | | inventory data from our distributors and updates the |
| However, this brings about a new type of problem. | | | | quantities on-hand for all 15,000 products in our store. |
| With a regular store, the owner and the customer can | | | | Using this strategy, we have not had ANY |
| generally tell what's out of stock by looking at the shelf. | | | | out-of-stock problems. We think that in the long-run this |
| In the online world the shelf is virtual and the customer | | | | will be a competitive advantage for us, until it eventually |
| is simply looking at pictures and reading descriptions. | | | | becomes expected of all stores. In the mean time, we |
| This leads to the common out-of-stock problem for | | | | plan to offer a run-you-own estore front for others to |
| dropshippers. This is amazingly frustrating to | | | | benefit from the automation we've built into the store. |
| customers, particularly when they find out after they | | | | |