Drop-ship or U-ship: That is the Question
by Cari Haus
Published on this site: July 26th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
For small Internet retailers, drop-shipping is one of the
best innovations since sliced bread. How else can a start-up
offer a wide variety of products and convince customers that
they have a fully-stocked warehouse-while investing virtually
nothing in inventory or warehousing? Before you jump right
onto the drop-shipping bandwagon, however, there are some
pitfalls to avoid.
While a quality drop-shipper is truly a dream come true for
the Internet retailer, there are plenty of painful pitfalls
to avoid. Things can get embarrassing and costly in a hurry
when a drop-shipper:
- sends products out late
- forgets to process your orders
- sends out poorly packaged products
- double-bills your credit card for orders on a regularbasis
- provides cheaply made products and/or shoddy workmanship.
A Matter of Credibility
In addition to the above drawbacks, many customers are not
very impressed when they find out you retail drop-shipped
products. This is especially the case with the rustic log
furniture I sell on the web. Many phone customers ask if we
make the products ourselves, or are "merely" drop-shipping.
They are relieved and impressed when they find that we manufacturer,
finish or pack most of the log furniture we sell at our warehouse.
We sell to a lot of people with expensive vacation homes,
and quality is of utmost importance. It's always easier to
testify to the quality of furniture when you have seen it
yourself, and we are able to offer a more unique line by going
to Amish suppliers whose products aren't sold elsewhere on
the Internet.
Advantages of Drop-Shipping
With this said, there are still some sizeable advantages
to drop-shipping. As the volume of our orders grows, it becomes
more and more difficult to package all of that furniture.
Fortunately for us, our largest supplier is only two miles
away and we have a pretty good deal going: we finish all the
log furniture they want finished, and they drop-ship the unfinished
furniture. So they make it, we finish it.
That means if somebody orders unfinished furniture, it can
go directly from the factory. This might have made me nervous
about quality control at one point, but I have developed a
high degree of confidence in our log furniture manufacturer.
In the five years I have been associated with them, they have
never let me down. They fill orders with a high degree of
quality and accuracy, which makes our job easy.
Choosing a Drop-Ship Partner
Unfortunately, not all drop-shipping companies are as reliable
as the one I have found. This is why it pays to do your homework
before choosing a drop-shipping company. If you align yourself
with fly-by-night operations, your business will most likely
suffer as a result. If you are wildly successful, which you
no doubt hope to be, a small start-up may not be able to manufacturer
or ship product fast enough to meet your needs. A drop-shipper
that is unstable as a business may be happy to take your cash
but fail to fill orders on a timely basis.
Any business who drop-ships your orders will affect your
reputation as a company one way or another. As a result, it's
important to make sure any drop-shipping companies you partner
with meet the high level of customer service and quality control
standards you set for your business.
Cari Haus is webmaster for http://www.logcabinrustics.com,
an online retailer of quality log furniture.
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