1. Select Unique Products
Before selecting your next drop shipping product, ask yourself this critical question. With so many drop shipping options and sourcing options available, what's going to make your product unique? If you can't answer that question, prepare for your product to be one of MANY products already saturating the market, where the only real differentiator between you and your competitor is, who has the lowest price. If beating your competitor with the lowest price is your only option, also prepare for very, very low profit margins.
Having spent over 30+ years in the fitness business, we knew this was going to be a challenge from the start. That's why instead of simply copying existing products that were already on the market, we use our first-hand fitness experience to develop our own line of products then protect them with patents.
The F2 Training System product line boasts pieces designed by real fitness enthusiasts with committed users in mind. We believe in the power of hard work, but our customers get the most out of that work with our patented functional fitness equipment.
2. Target Your Channels
Whether you plan to offer your products and services through business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B), you’re going to need MULTIPLE sales channels to make your products available. Examples of eCommerce sales channels are online marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Shopify... ), physical retail stores, mobile apps, private sales (personal training, online training…), and many others. From an eCom perspective, these may also be referred to as selling platforms.
However, one of the biggest and most costly mistakes people make is assuming that if they have a product and a platform the customers and money will start rolling in. Or, the old movie Field of Dreams summed it up best with the fictitious phrase, “If you build it, they will come.” Well, please believe me that: No. They. Won’t. At least not without having a unique product and additional promotional work!
3. Promote Your Product
Once you have at least one unique product and a sales channel in place, you’ll be ready to test your product in the market. Notice, we said test, and specifically sell. This is another aspect of eCom that people overlook and end up wasting a lot of money on. Because here’s the hard reality, most products fail. Or, fail to delivery a decent Return on Investment (ROI), most notably which you’ll hear a low Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). Understanding this upfront is important because while you’ll frequently hear eCom retailers say they made $100,000 in their first 3-months, you need to balance that out by asking the question, “And how much did you spend to make that $100,000?”
That’s because if done incorrectly, marketing your product will become your biggest expense (if no money is coming it). Worse yet, you’re more than likely to be sitting on inventory for months until you find the perfect niche and market for your product. Which also means your cash will be tied up in that inventory, reducing your cash to effectively market them for to be sold.
How We Help You Get Started
Unlike most drop shipping services we specialize exclusively in the development and manufacturing of fitness equipment. That combined range of experience has been used to create our new fitness drop shipping service. We’ve specifically designed FitnessDropShipping.com to help other entrepreneurs reach their goals faster, while avoiding the most common mistakes.
Right off the top, one of the biggest mistakes to avoid is over-processing and overproduction. Instead, start by TESTING your product in the market upfront, with small batches, using the least amount of cash and resources. This can be done either through direct or indirect routes like testing with paid advertising or affiliate programs. The most important thing to remember is that you don’t want to go all-in on an unproven product. In today’s over saturated eCom marketplace that would be the equivalent of going Vegas and placing all of your money on a single roulette number, hoping to get lucky.
Problem. Solved.
By understanding the most common problems, mistakes and challenges eCom entrepreneurs encounter we wanted to develop a easier and safer solution that takes the risk out of building a eCom business.
That’s why we encourage and help newcomers to the eCom world to start with our simple Influencer or Retailer options, to test our products within their intended market. Once they find the right niche, and seeing at least a 2x to 3x return on their involvement, then you scale up to our Wholesaler program to increase your ROI velocity with lower product costs. That’s how we help you succeed at growing your eCom business, while creating a Win-Win for both of us.