Dropshipping in Ghana: Should you start this business?
If you are on this page right now reading this article, that means you’ve probably heard of Dropshipping business. If not, then its time to have a glimpse of what the term Dropshipping means.
In the 21st century, a lot of business ideas came into being and these ideas have makes millions of cedis for most of the people who took their chances. Nowadays, most people prefer to buy products online than in the supermarket.
Every household today feels safe and convenient when buying items online and because of that, there has been an increase in the demand for retail online shops.
Most businesses shift their operation to the virtual but lack enough products to help them carry their online activities effectively which they end up sourcing most for their products from wholesale stores online acting as third parties to those stores.
This was how the Dropshiping business idea came into existence.
What is Dropshiping?
Dropshiping is a form of eCommerce business operation, where individual source their products from a third party and sell them at a profit margin.
This Dropshipping store owner does not own the items that he or she sells on the online store but rather took the product from a wholesale vendor.
The job of the drop shipper is to serve as an agent between the original seller of the product and the prospective customers.
Operating a Dropshiping business is simple. You’ll need to spend a couple of cedis for creating an online store/sales funnel.
This online store is where you will publish the products and drive traffic for prospective buyers to come and buy.
Previously, a lot of people in Ghana didn’t know of this method of making money online, due to that people like myself who have prior knowledge about Dropshiping made some decent amount of money using this system.
Today, the dropshipping business is well known to the large general public and new entrants are always eager to have the share of the market.
How Does the Dropshipping Business Works?
The Dropshipping business is a form of supply chain method in which the owner of the store does not have the inventories at stock but intend to pick the products from the wholesaler and make it available for the customer for the purchase.
The whole process of Dropshiping is operating this way:
A drop shipper picks the products from a wholesalers store (Aliexpress), he/she then creates a store and place the products on a store or another wholesale store (Amazon or eBay) at a retail price.
He then drives traffic to the products page for a customer to come and buy at the retail price.
Once the products are bought from the Dropshiping store, the owner of the store then goes to the original seller of that product and purchases the product at a wholesale price using his customer’s details.
The original seller of the product will then ship the product to the customer. As a dropshipper, you may end up not seeing the product. You only sell the product at a profit margin.
How to start a Dropshipping business
Before you start a Dropshipping business in Ghana and make the money you need, you must know the below-highlighted points:
- Choose a niche
- Select a Dropshipping platform
- Look for a Dropshipping supplier
- Promote your store
Chose a Niche
A niche is a market or an area of operation that the dropshipping owner of business owner decides to venture into.
The E-commerce sphere is too broad for one to decide to operate as a whole. Before starting a dropshipping store, you’ll have to choose the type of products you want to sell/dropship in the store.
This will help you have a focus and also help speed up your dropshipping success. Selecting the right niche will help you to effectively manage and run the business.
So its good to always research and find the best niche before starting the dropshipping business.
Look for a Dropshipping Supplier
As mentioned earlier, the dropshipping business operation depends on a wholesaler for their products.
This means for one to successfully operates this kind of business, you must find a supplier that you’ll get your products from. There are quite a number of wholesales stores that you can get your products from. But the most widely used one is the Aliexpress.
Aliexpress has become the number one leading eCommerce stores in china and the world at large. Today, almost all the dropshipping stores online use Aliexpress as their source of inventories.
Select a Dropshipping platform
Getting the right dropshipping platform for operating your dropshipping business can contribute to the success of your dropshipping business in ghana.
There are different platforms in which one can use to run the dropshipping business. The most widely used ones are Shopify and WordPress.
Shopify is one of the best platforms everyone dropshipping business can take advantage of, but as a Ghanaian drop shipper, WordPress will be the best for you. Most payment gateways used by Shopify are not accepted by the Ghanaian sellers.
So the only option is WordPress. If your store is aiming at Ghanaian buyers, then WordPress should be your ultimate choice simply because there are many payment gateways(Mobile Money) that can be implemented for accepting purchase payments.
Should One Start a Dropshipping store in ghana 2020?
Most people are saying the dropshipping business is dead and will not be profitable in 2020, but little do they know that, as far as household will continue to purchase products online, then drop shipping will continue to rein.
What makes most online gurus think dropshipping is dead 2020 is the fact that most of their chosen niche is saturated. For instance in Ghana, Jumia ghana and most shops have taken the market and for that matter starting an eCommerce store will demand you doing a serious search on the niche to find the most profitable items to sells.
Once you are sure of the niche to venture, then you can start a dropshipping business in ghana otherwise there is no need to start the Dropshipping business in 2020 as you’ll have to battle with these big brands in the markets.
Let’s see the below “If”:
If your target market is not a Ghanaian buyer, then you can start the dropshipping business in ghana.
If you have enough budget to spends on ads, you can start a dropshipping business in ghana.
If you have much SEO knowledge, and you can rank your products high in the search engine, you can start a dropshipping business in ghana.
If you are good at marketing and have the right skills to persuade buyers to buy your products, then you can start a dropshipping business in ghana.
Finally, if your business has already been into existence and has been able to capture the heart of the Ghanaian buyers, then you can start a dropshipping business.
My Final Take
The above “If” statements will let you decide for yourself whether you should start a Dropshipping in ghana or not.
But Left on to me, Starting a dropshipping store is still worthwhile in 2020.
If you are ready to know much on the dropshipping business or you need help creating your store, you can get in touch with me or any of the Mfidie team for further details.
