03/05/2020
The Concept Of Drop Shipping
Sam is a young graduate who searched for a job for months after his NYSC but couldn't find any and felt frustrated. With no help from anyone, he determined to find a lasting solution. He had 2 options
1. Volunteer with an NGO to learn the art of project management but this came with a challenge, he may not be able to afford the fare since there was no stipend attached.
2. During his service year, Joel from Supretec Aluminium and Roofing trained his group about starting a roofing supply chain business with Zero capital,took them through a social media session and tutored them on exploring canva to fuel their expenses by designing simple business cards, wedding invite etc. for family and friends for a token
Sam after thorough reflection and conversation with self,he settled for 2
A. He reached out to Joel expressing his interest to market the Aluminium and Stone coated roofing sheets.
B. Joel agreed to sell full 0.45mm guage Long span Aluminium for N1450 .
C. Sam decided to sell to his clients for N1550
D. Sam got his first order via social media ads he deployed using the proceeds from his canva design business and also subscribed for data and bought airtime.
E. Sam sent the order to Supretec .The order was processed and shipped to Sam's customer's construction site for installation.
F. Sam sold 1000 meters of aluminium. The profit to him was (N1,550- N1,450 x 1000 meters) i.e N100 x 1000 meters= N100,000
Sam without products or warehouse for aluminium roofing sheets, made N100,000 with N1000 ads and N500 airtime. The most interesting part was that he closed the deal right in his bedroom.
The scenario above is called Drop shipping.
Dropshipping means you don't own any good but you act as a middle man between the buyer and the seller to sell for a commission or profit.
To start dropshipping business, you must fulfil the following
1. Identify a pain-point/Market Research
Pain point means the needs of people around you.
What are they complaining about?
Do they go through any stress to fulfill a need?
Is there any one serving this target audience?
What can you do differently to add value?
Your ability to answer these questions will serve as basis for your successful dropshipping business.
2. Narrow down your target audience
Don't be jack of all trades. Determine what your target audience would be--Use demographics- age, race,location,taste,gender and psycho-graphics with tools like Facebook Insight to establish this.
3. Approach a Dropshipper/Supplier and Seal A deal
Have a detailed agreement with the supplier and get all the supports-product knowledge, samples ,pricing etc. that would assist you in communicating effectively with your customers.
Please ensure your supplier is NOT the type that will cause backorder. Backorder is a situation when your supplier runs out of stock when your customer places order.It is bound to cause delay and the aftermath could be losing that sales- funnel driven customer.
Your Roofing Expert
Osho Ademola Joel
Supretec Aluminium and Roofing is a full-service roofing company in Nigeria. We are also the major distributor of roofing sheets such as Longspan Aluminium roofing sheets (Longspan and Metra), Steptile and Metcoppo as well as stone coated roofing tiles (Bond, Classic, Shingles, Romano and Milano).
