Today we talked with retail and boutique expert Sarah Shaw who told us about Drop Shipping - maybe your new way of selling through retailers.
Drop Shipping has been around for years, and used to be one of the ways the "indie" designers got their goods to market, without having a retail store take a risk on them with a wholesale order. It's when a retail shop lists a designer as a brand they sell - but they don't pay up front for it. They pay the designer (or producer of product) when an order is made. Then the designer ships the product from their base.
Today, drop-shipping is done by Amazon, Wayfair, and others. It's big business, and in the time of coronavirus, an even less-averse way for retailers to connect their customers with brands like yours.
Or - maybe you run a shop and are looking for new products and designers to sell, with less risk of carrying inventory.
Today, we talked with Sarah Shaw, retail expert who has been working in this space for years.
Topics We Covered:
Pitching retailers with the drop ship option - how to pitch them.
Terms to consider.
What percentage is “normal.”
What percentage should be normal? We don’t want to live too low if we don’t need to.
Return policies and experiences.
Packaging.
If defective, who to call?
Pricing. Is your own retail pricing high enough to absorb the wholesale.
Sales: what’s the norm on putting product on sale at your own website if your drop shippers or wholesalers aren’t.
Is this a trend that is growing?
When is it time to stop? When is it too much of a pain to deal with?
What to watch out for?
Payment terms: what should you push for to get paid. We don’t want people waiting.
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