Drop Ship with a Point of Difference


fudjj
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9 Nov 13 12:52:45 am
The one thing anyone usually notices when choosing to Drop Ship products on an eBay or similar open marketplace, is the level of competition they are up against. As with any business, you have to try and find a way to stand out from the crowd by creating what is called in marketing terms, a POD

POD stands for Point Of Difference, and there are many ways you can set yourself apart from competitors. When it comes to dropshipping, I think one of the most important ones is price. Drop shipping by its nature is super competitive on a site such as eBay. Of course everyone wants to sell the same popular products, but then struggle because many others are buying from the same supplier, meaning no one has an advantage on price.

In situations like that you can create a POD by the way you offer your products. Taking a fishing genre as an example. You might be drop ship selling a fishing rod, same rod as 756 others are, and all at the same price. So now ask yourself, when someone buys that fishing rod, what else might they need to go with it.

Fishing line, hooks, sinkers, a tackle box ..... OK, you get the point. By thinking ahead of what the consumers needs are, you can put together package deals. Tie in multiple products as one lot that all compliment each other.

When using a structure like this, you can get ahead on price by not putting mark up on one or more of your items. The secret to making this more competitive is to keep your margin low still. So keep your margin on the fishing rod and perhaps on some lures or such, then package the line, tackle box and whatever, at cost.

A good way to then market the package deal as great value is to then find sellers who are marketing those items individually with margin, and then promote their product and cost on your own listing, showing the customer a complete break down of prices they would pay if they purchase these products individually from other sellers.

This creates a POD, and it highlights the great value you are offering.

What you can then also do is make it clear in your listings copy, that each one of the packed items are in fact still available through you to purchase, and to contact you for pricing. Now this is a little sneaky to suggest, but for those who do contact you in relation to buying individually, it gives you a chance to actually sell outside of the website and save yourself listing and sales fees.

OK, now I'm not promoting how to circumvent paying for fees here lol, simply bringing up some talking points.

Now this package deal marketing strategy works best when supplying from the one drop shopper, however if you make a point of indication that shipping times may vary between certain items in the package deal, then you might get away with using multiple suppliers.

OK, so I've used fishing here as an example, but this strategy can be adapted to pretty much any product/genre of products. So for those looking to create a POD with their drop shipping model, give that idea some thought.


Mark (fudjj)

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Last edited by simon-slade on 25 Nov 16 01:56:56 am, edited 2 times in total.
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kember315
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18 Nov 13 05:26:25 am
Wow Marc that is a wonderful idea! I will try that, I too seem to be drowning on the eBay platform, I even noticed that the wholesales are saleing products to us and then they also have a eBay website they are selling the same products on as well. So not only are they selling there products as a wholesaler they are also taking most of the business on eBay as well. It's really frustrating!


fudjj
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19 Nov 13 12:20:26 am
Thanks Kimberly

It probably doesn't suit every product genre, but I think if people gave it some thought they would be able to put together some appropriate deals. I say appropriate because you can't just get away with bundling odd and ends, it has to make sense to the buyer.

Now if you feel like you aren't in a genre where you can bundle effectively, maybe try volume discounting. So how this would work is that you list your item with your margin, then in the same listing offer other items at cost price for people who buy this listed item. The products aren't technically for sale, so will require people to email you on how to purchase and that of course gives you an opportunity to sell outside of eBay and save the fees, in essence still creating a margin of sorts for you.

OK, so you do run the risk of upsetting eBay doing that, but trying things like this is well worth getting a listing removed in my opinion lol, and if you get away with it, then all good because you are creating a POD for yourself : )

You're absolutely right about suppliers using eBay themselves to compete against their own customers. You have everyone in the food chain from manufacturers themselves, all the way down now using the eBay platform to market products through. It's just getting more and more competitive now and is of course why so many are finding it harder and harder to get a foot hold.

You have to really think outside the square, position yourself apart from the pack in as many ways as possible. That's in marketing strategies, in marketing image and in customer service, anywhere you can stand out from the crowd in a positive way can only be good for your business.

My own personal thoughts on eBay, is that it's best use is as a marketing funnel. If you're not sure what that is, I'll be doing a post on it over the next few days, so you may also find that quite interesting also.

: )


Mark (fudjj)

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Last edited by fudjj on 19 Nov 13 03:30:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
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devilwear-ltd
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2 Dec 13 11:52:03 am
We offer ski accessories and we find that Ski packages such as helmet, goggles, gloves etc work very well.


We offer Clothing & Accessories dropshipping worldwide. Check us out at Link hidden: Login to view and chose form our packages.

fudjj
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17 Jan 14 11:06:55 pm
Thanks DW, that's exactly what I'm talking about!


Mark (fudjj)

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