Dropshipping has become the talk of the town in the past couple of years. If you’re thinking about starting your private label beauty brand, take a look at how dropshipping can be a retail option for you!
What is dropshipping?
In 3 steps, you’ll get an understanding of what dropshipping is.
- You receive an order from your customer on your online store
- Your store automatically sends the order details to your supplier
- Your supplier packages and ships your private labelled product directly to your end customer
It’s important to note that you’ll never hold any product inventory when you are dropshipping beauty products.
How do dropshippers make money?
With this retail model, the supplier will set a product cost. In order to generate a healthy profit margin, you will set your retail price by marking up the product cost. The retail price is the amount the customer pays on your store. Take this example:
- Mascara product cost: $6.00
- Markup: 200%
- Retail price: $18.00
The pros and cons of dropshipping
Why you should dropship beauty products
- Ecommerce is exponentially growing
Is it growing? It sure is! In 2021, retail ecommerce sales worldwide amounted to $4.92 trillion and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to $8.1 trillion in 2026. Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities worldwide. As the ecommerce space grows about 17% every year, 33% of online stores account to using the dropshipping model.
- Less inventory fulfillment burden
The process of compiling, packaging, and shipping products can add heavy expenses to your business – especially when orders get heavier and heavier. In the dropshipping business, the supplier holds your products and handles packaging and shipping. While you’re not burdened by the logistics and expenses of packaging and shipping, you can focus on marketing, branding, and sales for your online store which streamlines the selling process.
- Low start-up costs
Because you’re not carrying or storing inventory, this accounts for low start-up costs. Typically, inventory costs are the most significant costs for ecommerce businesses that start from the ground up. For traditional ecommerce businesses, initial capital pays for storage space and day-to-day processing operations. Dropshipping cuts those costs so you can use your capital on branding and marketing instead.
Things you should be aware of when dropshipping
- Less control over order fulfillment
If a customer complains about the product they ordered from your store, you might not be able to quickly solve their issue as you don’t have inventory at hand. You’d have to rely on the supplier to resolve the product issue instead. Depending on your supplier, they may or may not respond as fast as you’d like, resulting in a dissatisfied customer and potentially losing them as a returning buyer.
This is where a reliable 3PL and order fulfillment provider for ecommerce brands can make a significant difference. Such providers can ensure faster response times and more efficient handling of returns and exchanges, thereby minimizing customer frustration and enhancing satisfaction. By partnering with a proficient 3PL, you can offer your customers a smoother, more reliable shopping experience which can help in retaining them despite initial product issues.
- Lower product quality
In the dropshipping space, it’s typical for entrepreneurs to find suppliers from overseas – most commonly from China. Products are lower quality and cheaply made. If your customers are dissatisfied with the products and more returns or refunds are made, it could damage the reputability of your store.
- No control over shipping delays
As we mentioned in point number 2, the dropshipping space is saturated with oversea suppliers. Because the supplier is on another continent, your customers based in North America might not be satisfied by shipping delays. You have zero control over shipping delays because the inventory is in their hands, not yours.
What are the solutions then?
Be customer focused
For many beginner dropshippers, they may think they don’t need to be held accountable for their customers’ satisfaction. The truth is, you need to be customer-centred as a dropshipping entrepreneur. Give priority to your customers and solve their dissatisfaction to retain returning customers.
Choose the best suppliers
Researching and vetting the best suppliers that manufacture the right beauty products that meet regulations AND meet your criteria… can be difficult.
That’s why here at Blanka, we have done that for you! We have sourced the highest quality beauty products directly from North America. At Blanka, you have the option to private label beauty products to start your own product line, and ultimately ensure you’re delivering the highest quality products to your end customers.
Always order samples
Remember to test samples of your products to see if the quality of the product is what you expected, and if their shipping meets your criteria. You can request to order samples before you begin purchasing large orders for your online store.
How dropshipping beauty products with Blanka works
Blanka is a platform that automates the process of starting a private label beauty brand. You can dropship beauty products to the end customer, so you never have to hold inventory.
With Blanka, you’ll gain access to hundreds of high-quality makeup products, while you handle the marketing and sales!
- Create an account with blanka
- Upload your logo
- Add products to your store
- Customer places an order
- Blanka packages and ships your product to your customer. Voila!
Let’s break it down.
- Create an account with Blanka
When you create your online store on Shopify, you can install the Blanka app and create an account.
- Upload your logo
Once the app is installed, you can browse our catalogue and select makeup products to sell in your Shopify store. Now it’s time to upload your logo onto our app and check out how your brand looks on our private label makeup products.
It looks great. Perfect! You’re ready to start selling these private label products on your ecommerce store.
Remember, it’s crucial to order samples so you can give the products a try. You don’t want to blindly sell to your customers and write beauty product descriptions when you don’t know the product yourself!
- Add products to your store
You’ve ordered the samples and you love them. Now you can add the products to your store. With a simple toggle button, the products are automatically in your Shopify store.
- Customer places an order
Awesome! A new order!
When your customer makes an order from your ecommerce store, all you have to do is process the order on Blanka. With Blanka’s technology, all the necessary information will directly be sent to our supplier to prepare the order.
- Blanka packages and ships your product to your customer. Voila!
Here at Blanka, we hold all the products in our warehouse. We’ll provide the service of putting your brand on the makeup products, packaging the product, and shipping it directly to your customer. What you end up with is one satisfied, happy customer.
Who is this for?
This is ideal for those that have a good following on social media or a decent client base. Dropshipping can be a competitive space but Blanka’s purpose is to help entrepreneurs expand their brand and sell directly to the audiences that trust them.
By combining the powerful techniques of private labelling and dropshipping, watch your business and brand grow!
Conclusion
Choosing to dropship beauty products can help you build a successful brand when you carefully select your suppliers. This is why Blanka can be a good option for you to start selling branded, high-quality products as we provide you with local, dependable suppliers.
It can be daunting at first, but with the necessary tools and resources, we’ll support you in expanding or launching your private label beauty brand in no time.
