How to find dropshipping suppliers?

 Choosing the best products is the most crucial step to launching a profitable dropshipping website. Then comes the effective way to figure out how to buy desired dropshipping items you want to sell on your website. It often happens that suppliers become your business partners. That’s why finding the best dropshipping suppliers who meet your brand’s requirements and share common goals will help you generate more business profits. A bad approach to this crucial step can endanger your dropshipping business.

 Multiple things should be kept in mind during dropshipping products acquisition. This article will explain the pros and cons of different ways of finding your dropshipping products’ manufacturer or supplier. Reading this article will surely help you boost confidence in bargaining with suppliers, closing a contract, and finally launching a more profitable dropshipping product.

 Choosing the right products to sell on your dropshipping website can be a tricky process, especially for those who are new to e-commerce. It’s the most critical step you will ever take in your dropshipping business journey. Beside this you also need to understand some business tips for beginners. Because it includes filling your online store’s inventory with top-notch products that you can sell to your customers at affordable prices. Below are the most common methods of finding products:

Strategies to Acquire Best Products

1. Manufacturing Yourself: This method is making or manufacturing the product yourself.
2.  Partners: In this second method, you find a partner who will manufacture exclusive products just for you.
3.  Wholesale: A method by which you buy a product from another manufacturer and then resell it.
4. Dropship: Manufacturer or supplier produces a product and you act as a middleman. Then you forward the order to specific manufacture once a customer places an order. After that, the manufacturer will then send the order to the buyer, but you will still get a profit on each sale.

Overseas VS Domestic Dropshipping Suppliers – Which is Better For Your Business?

First of all, decide that you want to source domestic or overseas while looking for products suppliers. Maintain quality standards of your products to find suppliers of dropshipping products. That’s why you need to maximize your options, including whether you’re buying goods at home or abroad. The pros and cons of both options are clearly stated, so to make the right choice, let’s look at some of their differences.

Understand Domestic dropshipping suppliers

Domestic sourcing refers to the supply chain type where you source products from manufactures of your own country. You choose local manufacturers instead of foreign suppliers to buy your products in domestic sourcing.

 Pros of Domestic dropshipping suppliers

1. Since the supply chain of domestic sourcing is very short, therefore this factor increases the faster and reliable delivery period possibility.
2. With a domestic supplier, you can easily do quality checks, manage inventory, and make plans accordingly.
3. There is no time difference, which simplifies the response time and allows you to contact the domestic supplier immediately to sort out any problem.
4. Building brand image is another benefit of choosing a domestic supplier. You invest within your local community in this method so it improves your brand image.
5. Orders can be delivered very cheaply, without customs, import duties, and tariffs.

Cons of Domestic dropshipping suppliers

1. You maintain a physical connection with your domestic supplier and working staff. Due to this close relation ethical issues may arise.
2. There is usually a small pool of competent domestic suppliers. Limited choice of domestic sourcing creates competition among potential suppliers.
3. Unwanted negative publicity can arise when you need to terminate the contract with a domestic supplier.

What is Overseas dropshipping suppliers

Overseas or global sourcing refers to choosing foreign suppliers for the manufacturing or delivery of products. Adopting this product acquiring strategy means sourcing products from global suppliers across geopolitical boundaries.

Advantages of Domestic Sourcing

1. If certain resources or products aren’t available in your own country, you can easily arrange them from global suppliers who have your desired product.
2. You have multiple choices of manufactures and a wide range of products variety in overseas sourcing.
3. Global suppliers deal with international clients from the whole world. Thus, they maintain effective and disruption-free supply chain management systems.
4. Production cost is relatively low in overseas sourcing. 

Disadvantages of Overseas Sourcing

1. Production cost hikes and longer delivery times due to major time zones differences between you and the supplier.
2. Difficulty in doing effective communication due to language differences.
3. Difficulties in import clearance and interactions with customs brokers.
4. Overseas sourcing lacks intellectual property protection.

How to Find Best Dropshipping Wholesalers

Choosing a dropshipping supplier is the most crucial decision you’ll ever make in your e-commerce business. You’ll make it up to your buyer if a supplier spoils the deal. Choose someone wisely who always has your back. Every supplier isn’t competent. However, some strategies can help you find diamonds in the rough. Check out the following links to locate a legit supplier:

Contact the Source – Product Manufacturer

Start where the product was manufactured while searching for a reliable supplier. Contact your product’s producer because starting with the source significantly reduces the number of middlemen that increase the cost of purchasing the product. Cutting these extra charges leads you to the lowest price rates for the product. Physical stores set up their business by buying goods directly from the source and then selling them at a profitable rate. To keep working with some dropshipping suppliers, you need to meet their minimum order requirements. If you don’t meet this number, it is time for the supply chain to go down. Get an idea from the manufacturer, that do you have alternative product distribution ways. It’ll help you to shorten the supply chain and keep costs down. This allows you to be more viable prices with product pricing.

• Online Directories for Suppliers

An online dropshipping supplier directory is a list from which you can choose a supplier as per your business needs. It functions as a database of suppliers organized by product, market, or niche. Many of these online directories employ screening or verification processes to ensure the validity of suppliers.

Check out famous sites to locate reliable local or foreign suppliers. Some have paid access but you can also use free ones.

1. Brandsgateway: It is Europe’s forefront dropshipping marketplace for branded accessories and luxury clothing for men and women. The worldwide delivery time of Brandsgateway is within 3 to 5 working days.

• Alibaba: One of the world’s largest retailers that is offering a wide range of top-notch products. This Chinese multinational brand has regional suppliers from 17 different countries.

• Wholesale Central: Leading B2B directory to find wholesale products and suppliers. With Wholesale Central, you can choose from 1,400 plus suppliers and approximately 740,000 products.

• SaleHoo: A powerful supplier research directory, the most trusted online community that offers a database for e-commerce stores, drop shippers, and wholesalers. It is one of the most reliable portals with more than 8,000 local and international suppliers.

• Kompass: A global B2B business directory operating from over 70 countries worldwide.

• AliDropship: A reliable dropshipping supplier with services of over 100K suppliers and 100 million products.

• Doba:  A hassle-free dropshipping directory enables you to find wholesale suppliers from an impressive list of 165 suppliers and more than 2 million products.

• Worldwide Brands: Dropship and wholesale directory that helps you locate genuine wholesalers. 

• Bambify: Carefully curated list that includes verified manufacturers.

1. Indiamart: India’s largest company that has providing B2B services. Its market share is 60% of the online B2B classified space of India.

1. Oberlo: It is a perfect marketplace that helps you launch and grow the dropshipping business. A marketplace where you can find awesome products that you want to sell directly to your customers with global availability.

Google & Find  Dropshipping suppliers for your business

 For initial research, you can begin by doing basic Google searching. It’ll help you find the best choices in most cases. Type “supplier”, “wholesaler,” or “distributor,” in the Google search bar and then add keywords for your desired dropshipping product. Having specific brands and products names in mind will be beneficial to focus your search. Keep in mind the following points while doing a Google search:

1.  Don’t Be Fooled by Website Designs: A wholesaler or a distributor rarely has a well-designed website. They mostly don’t focus on proper website design. Therefore, don’t judge the websites and visit them because in this way you’ll land on the web pages of reliable wholesalers.

• Usage of Keywords: Wholesalers don’t concentrate on SEO. Since they don’t practice this approach, therefore, you will have to try various keywords.

Attending Trade Shows – Good Investment of Time

Attend local trade shows if you want to utilize your time profitably. The most competent and trusted wholesalers and suppliers visit these trade shows. Interacting with other reputed companies is another benefit besides finding the right supplier or wholesaler. You can avail special deals and terms from these trade shows as well. It’s also a great way to get to know other companies, their ways of doing business, and perhaps it’ll open your mind to generate great dropshipping product ideas.

Best Leads Can Come From Referrals

Referrals provide the best leads. Getting referrals from your trusted people are the most effective way of finding the best wholesalers and suppliers. Don’t be shy in asking your relatives and friends because anyone can pave your way towards the perfect dropshipping supplier or wholesaler. Work on contacts from family and friends that you may not know about. Involve them while looking for suppliers and manufacturers. Referrals from a close friend or a family member bring authentication along with them. Also, they may not recommend people who can cause problems in your dropshipping business.

Tips to find the best dropshipping suppliers

As we’ve mentioned above in this article, your suppliers can become your dropshipping business partners. Keep in mind that they will either help you speed up business growth or cause a headache to you in the future. Be specific and set standards to only find the trusted suppliers. Check out the below tips to locate the right supplier for your business:

1. Skilled and Supportive Team: Trusted and competent suppliers always have skilled team who knows each and everything of the product they are selling to customers. These knowledgeable people know their industry and they’ll guide you on every step in case of any issue.

• Good Supplier Always Invests in Technology: You can identify a good supplier from investment in technology. To be more productive and successful in ways of doing business, the best supplier always invests money in technology. Keep in mind supply chain management, database, online catalog, customer service, etc while looking for a supplier.

• No Compromise on Efficiency: On-time delivery, no compromise on the quality of products and services are also signs of a trusted supplier. These characteristics will help you locate the right dropshipping supplier.  

Conclusion

Aspiring online sellers may face insuperable problems while locating the right manufacturer or supplier for their dropshipping products. You may consume a lot of your time while finding the compatible supplier and manufacturer but it’s indispensable to boost your dropshipping business. No doubt that it is a daunting prospect for many people but this article will surely help you smoothen up the process.

In this article, we discussed the most common methods of acquiring products and the basics of sourcing an overseas or domestic supplier for your dropshipping business. Keep in mind the advantages and disadvantages of domestic and overseas sourcing methods this article has mentioned. This guide will pave your way to make the right choice after knowing the well-defined pros and cons of domestic and overseas dropshipping suppliers. We gave you brilliant ideas to devise an effective strategy for locating trusted suppliers and manufacturers. Go through all steps we’ve discussed above again and again. It’ll help you choose reliable suppliers or manufacturers for your dropshipping business.