Top 10 Dropshipping Store Builders

What is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping as a business model is becoming more and more popular in the eCommerce world. It is a shipping and fulfillment method in which the online seller does not actually stock its inventory. When defining the term, it is important to highlight the three parties involved in the dropshipping process:

• The dropshipping supplier
• The seller/retailer (you)
• The customer

Once the customer purchases the product from the seller’s online store,  the seller notifies and pays the dropshipping supplier, either manually or automatically, and the supplier packs the item and ships it directly to the customer. As the products are stocked, packed and sent to the customer by the supplier, the seller does not need a warehouse to hold such products, which allows the seller to save a lot in overhead expenses.

Products sent by the dropshipping supplier are packaged with the seller’s branding and address so in most cases, the customer doesn’t even know that the seller and the supplier are two different entities. In the case of returned items, the customer returns the package to the seller (and the seller must organize returning the product to the supplier).

Starting a dropshipping business is not an overcomplicated process, but does involve a step-by-step procedure that includes choosing an eCommerce platform with the right integrations to build an online store for dropshipping, choosing the products you want to sell and promoting your store online.

What is an eCommerce Platform?

An eCommerce platform (or online store builder) provides sellers with tools and functionalities to build and launch their own online store. With the use of an eCommerce platform, anyone can create an online store, because it doesn’t require any coding knowledge or previous experience from the user.

The process of building an online store is divided into several steps:

1. The first step involves choosing a pre-designed template that gives the store its basic look & feel. Usually, an eCommerce platform offers a choice of templates to choose from.
2. The second step involves customizing the template to create a unique look for your store. Most online store builders offer a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor to make customizations, including options to change fonts, add or edit images and video, change the order of elements on the page, add social media links, et cetera. Mobile traffic is important, which is why eCommerce platforms offer responsive templates that will display well on desktop and mobile and some also provide a special mobile site editor.
3. Once your site’s basic design is set up, you can upload your products, including images, product descriptions and details. Set categories or collections and finalize how the products will be presented in your online store. At this stage, you can import products from the dropshipping supplier that integrates with your chosen eCommerce platform. Volusion, for example, offers a built-in dropshipping app using Inventory Source’s products, enabling you to quickly and easily select the products you wish to sell from within their eCommerce platform. Shopify, on the other hand, integrates exclusively with dropshipping supplier Oberlo, for seamless product upload to your online store.
4. Next, set up your store with third-party integrations such as PayPal and/or other payment gateways to make sure your store can process transactions, Google Analytics to monitor visitor stats and more. In this phase, you can also take care of SEO related settings. Most online store builders offer these integrations or functionalities as part of the package, for example in an app store.
5. Finally, publish your store on the web, using the hosting plan included with the eCommerce platform, which often includes a free domain name.

How to Compare and Choose an eCommerce Platform for Dropshipping

eCommerce platforms that help users build an online store for dropshipping offer a variety of tools and features to make an online store come to life. Some of the core elements to consider when comparing eCommerce platforms include:

• Template variety and design
• The flexibility of the platform’s website editor to customize existing templates, create optimal product pages and add content
• SEO & marketing tools such as coupons, discounts and lead capture
• Product and order management capabilities, including shipping and invoicing tools
• Payment gateway integrations such as PayPal and Square.
• Built-in analytics or the ability to integrate with traffic analysis platforms (such as Google Analytics)
• Web hosting capabilities
• Customer support

In terms of choosing the right eCommerce platform to manage your dropshipping business, there are some additional factors to look out for. Depending on the type and number of products you wish to sell, it is important to check which dropshipping suppliers each eCommerce platform integrates with. With some platforms (and their supplier integrations), you need to manually add products to your online store and once you start selling, you will need to send the purchase orders 1-by-1 to the supplier to make sure each order will be processed.

The larger your dropshipping store and the more products you offer, the higher the need for automation of the sales and fulfillment process. For this reason, leading eCommerce platforms such as Volusion, Shopify, and BigCommerce offer additional tools enabling sellers to fully automate the dropshipping process: from displaying the store’s products and syncing inventory, to automatically sending purchase orders to suppliers and completing the order fulfillment process. Top dropshipping supplier directories such as Inventory Source, Oberlo and Doba work with the leading eCommerce platforms to offer these functionalities and more.