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Is your favorite jumper starting to wobble? Here’s a fabric shaver for £2.98. Bags scattered in the corner? Try a door hanger for 89p. Or are you afraid of slipping when getting out of the tub? This website can get you a handrail for £1.41.
Solving these small everyday problems, targeting so-called “pain points”, is characteristic of the low-cost, highly competitive world of fast online shopping. And this easy path to entrepreneurship is how Generation Z is entering the business world.
These sellers use “dropshipping” services so that they do not own the stock they are shipping to their customers, removing the traditional risk that comes with transferring products. Instead, once an order is placed, an online seller ships the order directly from a warehouse, usually in China. It is then sent directly to their customer, and they keep a portion of the margin.
The dropshipper’s job is to market the item, push it to the top of searches, and send it out on social media. This can be done in a few hours a week, as a “side hustle” alongside a day job, or anywhere from the beach to the beach – anywhere with an Internet connection.
Now thousands of young entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to dropshipping to build businesses.
Vanessa Parker, 31, of London, set up her own online shop in 2022, where some of her products are sourced through dropshipping.
“I had my own business selling products a few years ago, but it was very time consuming and the materials were very expensive.
“But I’ve always been interested in art and studied design at university, so I knew I had the skills. I decided to believe in myself so in 2022 I started this business along with my full-time job.
“I integrated my website with a few dropshipping providers for art prints, gifts, and notepads. There are tons of things I can list on there, which makes it a lot easier to focus on marketing and creating new things.
“The hardest part is setting it up, which took a lot of work in the beginning: checking the quality of the product, getting photos, working on generating interest among people through social media. Now I only work on it a few hours a week.
Ms. Parker said that in the long term, she hopes the business will generate enough income to pay off their mortgage. “But right now I’m reinvesting everything into the business to build it up. It would be nice not to be so dependent on my daily job.”
Alex Hickson-Burr, who works full-time as a PR manager in Leeds, set up a candle company with her husband in 2020. The company made a name for itself during the pandemic with unusual concepts like “The 2020 Fragrance.” A four-layered candle that mimics the scent of banana bread, followed by hand sanitizer, wood symbolizing the DIY craze and finally the scent of cheap aftershave in honor of Joe Exotic, star of the pandemic Netflix hit “Tiger King.”
“We started branching out into dropshipping for merchandise,” he said. “The candles that sold well for us, we started printing them on T-shirts and mugs. We realized that candles are our passion, what we are known for and what we make ourselves, but obviously it requires a lot of time, effort and resources. Whereas dropshipping is really simple because we can leverage the success of some of our candles.”
Over the past 18 months, the couple has moved away from their core candle business and focused more on dropshipping merchandise as well as “white labeling” candles – selling their product to another company, which then sells it under their Rebrands as.
“We found that we make a lot more profits by doing this, even though our stuff is a passion project, but drop shopping is just time efficient,” he said.
“The biggest thing is to join the trends, be aware of the buzzwords and silly things on TikTok. You have to be quick to execute a design and drop-ship it because they have a short cycle time in terms of demand.”
But the high-speed nature of dropshipping can also pose dangers to online shoppers who are unable to see red flags. The market is filled with scams, some orders never arriving, or products that are so poorly made that they either bear no resemblance to what is advertised or simply do not work.
Alison Lowe, a fashion business expert at the University of East London, said the industry grapples with tight quality control and transparency issues in manufacturing. “Dropshippers will often do little to determine the environmental and social impact of the goods they ship,” he said.
Consumer expert Jane Hawkes warns against blindly following social media ads, especially for consumers who don’t feel completely confident online. “Only shop from trusted retailers and check reviews before buying,” he said. “Beware of spelling mistakes or basic grammatical errors in any ad. Avoid any impulse purchases, take time to think and do not fall into pressure sales tactics at any time.”
Ms Hawkes said credit card payments may also have legal protection under the Consumer Credit Act. “Remember your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 Any product must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.”
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