As the ecommerce landscape is evolving, new business models are emerging, some of them trying to organize the unorganized areas of the retail supply chain. We discussed five of such models in a previous articles and how they are reshaping the industry.
The one that we are going to discuss today is Drop Shipping: asking the 3rd party retailer to pack, ship and deliver an order that was placed on your website, that, too, on your behalf. Now, what gave in to the birth of this idea? Unsatisfied customers and an alarming rate at which visitors abandoned websites if their desired products were not in stock.
In a traditional supply chain, if an item is not present in the warehouse of the e-retailer, then it would be marked as out of stock on the webstore and there would be no means of fulfilling it. This led to 25% of customers abandoning the website instead of scouting around for other alternatives of the same product. So came the solution, drop shipping.
Another model that also came up with it is, 3rd party order fulfillment, and with its name, it sounds very similar to drop shipping. However, there is a hairline of difference between the two and the following infographic explains that pictorially. You’ll also get to know the ecommerce brands following each model to get a better understanding of what these two concepts are and how they differ.
One thing that you would have inferred by now is that drop shipping is a better option if one is planning to start an ecommerce business but is limited by capital at hand. It comes with its own challenges, but gives a plenty of benefits that make it explore-worthy.
So, give it a try. With drop shipping by your side, you can live almost anywhere and sell almost anywhere too! Isn’t that a lucrative opportunity?!
This article was first published on TargetingMantra Blog.
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