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Using Magento for Dropshipping – The good, the bad, the ugly

Sheenu Dhawan991 28-Mar-2019

Using Magento for Dropshipping – The good, the bad, the ugly
Dropshipping is one of the best ecommerce business model for individuals and small businesses in 2019. It requires almost zero investment and you can set up this business in a single day. There are many ecommerce platforms available for dropshipping because this business can be started in the same way as any other ecommerce business. But, expert ecommerce store owners think that Magento is a great platform to start dropshipping on a large scale. Here is why:

- It can easily scale and doesn’t require a lot of time in customizations (provided that you are a developer)

- It can manage thousands of products without breaking the structure. Other ecommerce stores can’t handle lots of products and usually collapse. Magento has a clear advantage over these stores because of its strong backend framework.

- Simply get a good cloud hosting for Magento and you are all set to start your dropshipping store. A managed hosting solution like Cloudways will be a great choice to create a scalable Magento dropshipping store.

Pros and Cons of Dropshipping on Magento

Let’s discuss pros and cons of dropshipping on Magento ecommerce platform.

Pros of Magento Dropshipping 
  • No inventory in hand. Simply pass your order to the wholesaler and they will directly ship it to the customer saving you both time and money.
  • Almost no overhead cost. You can start this business directly from your home and you won’t have to pay renting or maintenance costs.
  • You are not bound to a single niche. With a general dropshipping store, you can sell almost any product that you want irrespective of where the manufacturers reside.
  • Magento comes with many features out-of-the-box to help dropshippers double their business growth. 
Cons of Dropshipping Business
  • Margins are low for most low ticket items. So, make sure you choose products wisely and shuffle these products to get the best price.
  • Choosing a trusted vendor is another issue when dropshipping. Most vendors will not work as per your plan so expect delays in shipping. However, this problem isn’t just related to Magento dropshipping. It is a widespread problem and all new and experienced dropshippers face it.
  • Low quality products can also become a major issue when you are trying vendors for the first time. A safe alternative is to find multiple vendors for your project. Some of these vendors may not offer quality products, but because you have connections with multiple ones, you can easily get rid of those who are not providing products that are up to par.
  • Shipping costs will also become a major horror for new Magento dropshipping store owners. The cost of shipping varies from vendor to vendor. If you are importing products from China then epacket shipping is the cheapest option available. Use it for dropshipping items to western countries.
Manual vs Automated Dropshipping On Magento

Another debate that most people get confused about when they start dropshipping with Magento is of manual vs automated dropshipping.

Magento doesn’t have a built-in tool to automate dropshipping. So, when you start dropshipping for the first time, you will have to manually import products to your ecommerce store. This is a time taking process but it will allow you to start small and focus on winning products.

Tip: You can find some of the most trending dropshipping items to sell in 2019 on websites like product mafia, thieve, trending products to sell, or even in groups like product research lab.

Our Recommendation

If you are just starting a dropshipping ecommerce store for the first time, then it is better to start small. In the start, you will have to manually dropship products but when you get more orders switch to an automated dropshipping system. There are many dropshipping extensions available that can reduce your workload while helping you get more orders for business.

Here are a few Magento dropshipping extensions that you can choose for your store.

Magento Dropshipping Extensions

Magento offers both free and paid extensions to start a business. Some of the best ones are:

CED Commerce

First in our list is the CED commerce dropshipping extension. It offers partial dropshipping facility from AliExpress. This means it will automate the form-filling process but won’t order the product.

Drop Shipping by Boostmyshop

Another great dropshipping store is the Dropshipping extension by Boostmyshop. It is a complete ERP solution that imports price, automates selection process, and monitor dropshipping requests of the whole ecommerce store.

Knawat DropShipping

Another great dropshipping extension for Magento is Knawat. It provides you the ability to list new products easily and directly to your Magento® 2 store with variations, attributes, descriptions and product images. The platform has a list of reputed dropshippers from across the globe and allows easy dropshipping facility. The best part? It is completely free to use.

Conclusion

It is now time to answer the big question: Is Magento a good option to dropship products? Yes. In fact, because of so many extensions available for Magento dropshipping, one can easily launch and create a successful dropshipping business.

We hope that by now you know what things to look for while starting your dropshipping store. If you are still unsure or have a question in mind, then let us know in the comments below.


Updated 07-Sep-2019
Hello, I am blogger by hobby and writer by profession..

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