Dropshipping vs wholesale
Inventory/ products are the most important aspect of a successful Online Boutique. Once you’ve identified what you want to sell in your store, you’ve got to source the items from a supplier.
There are multiple approaches when it comes to sourcing inventory for your online boutique - making the products you want to sell, manufacturing, wholesale and dropshipping.
For the sake of the course, we are going to focus on - Wholesale & Dropshipping.
What is wholesaling?
Wholesaling is a method where you find a supplier & purchase products in bulk. You can buy wholesale products from a manufacturer, a warehouse selling products at a discounted price or liquidating their products, a middleman, which you can later resell at a higher price. It's a great option for those who have the resources to purchase products, store them, pack & ship them out.
You can purchase locally or import them, it’s entirely up to you.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a retail selling method where unlike wholesaling, you DON’T purchase products in bulk; but piggy back over your supplier’s inventory.
Think of it as a distribution system where you resell products from your supplier and buy them only when the product is sold. Your supplier processes the order for you and ships them directly to your customer on your behalf. You do not see or handle the product.
It's great for those who want to get started soon without investing or holding any inventory, but who also want to offer a variety of products to their customers. It's also good if you want to test your market before investing and purchasing bulk products at wholesale price.
Here’s a BONUS for you. A snippet from my Dropshipping Crash Course talking all about the basics of dropshipping, order fulfillment, setting yourself apart, myths & more. Grab the PDF below!
PS - Now that you know the 2 ways of starting an online boutique, what way are you going to lean on? What kinda boutique are you going to start?