What is Shopify Dropshipping? How To Sell Smoke and Vape Products Dropshipping On Shopify
Smoke and Vape Dropshipping is a low-risk retail product fulfillment method where an online store doesn't buy the smoking accessories it sells upfront. When a store sells a smoke or vape product using the dropshipping model, it is purchased and shipped by a Shopify drop ship supplier like Smokerolla. This way, you don't have to handle products or hire employees to pack and ship them.
The most significant advantage of dropshipping is never stocking inventory before you land a sale. Instead, the seller purchases inventory from Smokerolla, who then ships items directly to customers.
Related Article: How to start a dropshipping business?
How does shipping work on Shopify?
One of the most common approaches for dropshipping on Shopify requires seeking out a US based wholesaler using supplier databases, or to seek out a Shopify app that connects you and your store to thousands of suppliers.
Oberlo is a recommended marketplace developed by Shopify that helps independent business owners find products to sell. With Oberlo, you can browse AliExpress and import the products that pique your interest directly to Oberlo.
Oberlo and AliExpress are great for mainstream general merchandise stores. If you're interested in learning how to dropship smoke and vape products using Shopify automation, you can subscribe to the Dropshipping program with Smokerolla.
Benefits of smoke and vape dropshipping
Dropshipping bongs and vaporizers is a great business model for aspiring cannabis entrepreneurs to start with because it's accessible. With dropshipping, you can quickly test different product lines with a limited downside, which lets you learn a lot about how to choose and market in-demand products. There are a few other reasons why dropshipping is such a popular model.
Less capital is required
Probably the most significant advantage of dropshipping is that it's possible to launch an e-commerce store without having to invest thousands of dollars in inventory upfront. Traditionally, retailers have had to tie up vast amounts of capital purchasing inventory.
With the dropshipping model, you don't have to purchase a product unless you've already made the sale paid by the customer. Without significant up-front inventory investments, it's possible to start sourcing products and launch a successful dropshipping business with very little money. And because you're not committed to selling-through any inventory purchased upfront, like in a traditional retail business, there's less risk involved in starting a dropshipping store.
Easy to get started
Running an e-commerce business is much easier when you don't have to deal with physical products. With drop shipping, you don't have to worry about:
- Managing or paying for a warehouse
- Packing and shipping your orders
- Tracking inventory for accounting reasons
- Handling returns and inbound shipments
- Continually ordering products and managing stock level
Low overhead
Because you don't have to deal with purchasing inventory or managing a warehouse, your overhead expenses are relatively low. Many successful dropshipping stores are run as home-based businesses, requiring little more than laptops and a few recurring fees to operate. As you grow, these costs will likely increase but will still be low compared to traditional brick-and-mortar businesses.
Flexible location
A dropshipping business operates from just about anywhere with an internet connection. As long as you can easily communicate with suppliers and customers, you can run and manage your business.
A wide selection of products to sell
Since you don't have to pre-purchase the items you sell, you can offer an array of dropshipping products to your potential customers. If suppliers stock an item, you can list it for sale on your online store at no additional cost.
Easier to test
Dropshipping is a useful fulfillment method for launching a new store and for business owners looking to test the appetite customers have for additional product categories, e.g., accessories or wholly new product lines. The main benefit of dropshipping is the ability to list and potentially sell products before buying a large inventory amount.
Easier to scale
With a traditional retail business, if you receive three times the number of orders, you'll usually need to do three times as much work. By leveraging dropshipping suppliers, most of the book to process additional charges will be borne by the suppliers, allowing you to expand with fewer growing pains and less incremental work.
Inventory issues
If you stock all your products, it's relatively simple to keep track of which items are in and out of stock. But when you're sourcing from multiple warehouses, which are also fulfilling orders for other merchants, inventory can change daily. Fortunately, these days, there are a handful of apps that let you sync with suppliers. So drop shippers can "pass along" orders to a supplier with a click or two and should be able to see in real-time how much inventory the supplier has.
Smokerolla lets retailers automate actions when their stock hits zero. For example, when a product is no longer available, you can automatically unpublish the product listing or keep it published but automatically set the quantity to zero.
Shipping complexities
If you work with multiple suppliers, your online store's products will be sourced through several drop-shippers, further complicating your shipping costs.
Let's say a customer places an order for three items, all of which are available only from separate suppliers. You'll incur three different shipping charges for sending each item to the customer, but it's probably not wise to pass this charge along to the customer. And even when it does make sense to include these charges, automating these calculations can be difficult.
Supplier errors
Have you ever been blamed for something that wasn't your fault, but you had to accept responsibility for the mistake anyway?
Even the best dropshipping suppliers make mistakes fulfilling orders—mistakes for which you have to take responsibility and apologize. And mediocre and low-quality suppliers will cause endless frustration with missing items, botched shipments, and low-quality packing, which can damage your business's reputation.
Customization and branding
Unlike custom-made products or print on demand, dropshipping doesn't give you a lot of control over the product itself. Usually, product drop shipped is designed and branded by the supplier. Smokerolla can accommodate your business's product needs branding concerns. You can send Smokerolla your marketing material placed in every box they drop ship for your business.
How To Sell Smoke and Vape Products Dropshipping On Shopify?
As we've mentioned, dropshipping is a stress-free way to build a successful online business—hard work is required to start a dropshipping business. The model has some definite advantages but comes with several built-in complexities you'll need to address.
We'll be examining these challenges and how to address them in future chapters best. The good news is that with some careful planning and consideration, most of these hurdles can be resolved and need not prevent you from building a thriving, profitable smoke and vape dropshipping business.
