Archive for the ‘Turnkey Solution - Shopster’ Category

by: Sarah McKinsey

While you can easily find Shopster and websites that review or talk about that site and drop shipper, you won’t be able to quick discover other little known drop shippers and their companies. A good way to get around this in search engines is to use specific keywords. If you simply apply the word “drop shipper” or “drop shipping” you will be looking at a less than honest list of drop shippers that you can buy.

You will need to place keywords that describe the items you are looking for in the search engine. For instance, you instead of “drop shipper” you could input “cell phone accessories drop shipper”. While this does not guarantee that you will be able to find a good drop shipping company, it does help to eliminate many of the junk or spam websites that are simply there to steal your money. 

Using eBay to keep an eye on your competition is always a good item. You can check up on the products that you would love to sell and make a small purchase of the items. This could help you trace the whole sale drop shipper so that you can use them in your own store. It is often easy to know who is using a drop shipper on eBay. See how many of the same items that they are selling, and also check to see if the product images are do it yourself, taken at home types of images or professional store brand pictures.

Another great way to keep up with the keyword searching that will be needed for websites that are smaller than Shopster, is by the use of a keyword tool. These tools will allow you to type in a specific keyword and once complete, you will see a list of popular keyword searches that other internet users have used and you will also be able to see less popular long tail keywords. The keyword tools works in two ways. The first use of the tool will help to find what internet searchers are looking for, and it could help find the hot drop shippers.

While Shopster may be popular, finding the lesser known drop shippers and wholesalers can leave you with a headache. Another good search tip is to search for internet or whole sale directories. On many of these directory websites, you will be able to see reviews showing the differences between multiple drop shippers, which companies have the best products as well as prices and the many different items that are up for sale.

Although the search and hard work of find a good drop shipper and wholesaler can be tedious, it is something that you should spend a bit of time on. As a reseller you will want to make a profit, and if you do not do your homework, you are likely to find what is known as a middle man.

These companies will try to convince that they are wholesalers but in truth, they will be buying from a wholesaler, raising the prices and then charging you much more than what you would pay, if you were able to find the company and buy directly from them. The hunt for a good wholesaler and drop shipper can sometimes turn into a spot the scammer quest; you just have to keep searching.

Shopster is a great service that connects dropshippers and internet marketers from all over the world. Read our Shopster review for more information.

by: Sarah McKinsey

Even if you are not new to drop shipping and wholesale companies, you can easily find yourself changing drop shippers frequently. The reasons for the changes may vary, but if you know how to deal with companies and the inventory that they will provide. 

While Shopster will offer both whole sale drop shipping and your own store, most of these businesses will only drop ship to your customers. This means that you will have to create a website else-where and you should try to make it look as professional as you can. Paying a freelance website builder may be in your best interest depending on how much computer skills you are able to provide.

If you are selling from a website and even on eBay, a good reason to switch to a new drop shipper may involve the shipping. Too many drop shippers promise fast delivery but if you don’t do a test order to check the shipping as well as delivery of items bought, you can find a lot of angry emails from customers in your inbox.

A drop shipper like Shopster will offer hundreds of thousands of products for sale, but most wholesalers will not be able to match that number of products. This does not mean that they will be a bad company to work with. When it comes to the products that you will be listing for sale in your store, pay attention to what is hot and popular at the moment.

Also remember that when you buy an item it should cost very little, but be good enough to allow you to mark it up to make a good profit. While this should be a common sense rule, some people will buy products without realizing that they have not received a very good deal on them. If that happens, your profit margin will be extremely low if not non-existent.

Computer and electronic items should allows be on the top list of products you should frequently check up on. Both of these categories carry products that are ever changing and if your customers love the products listed, they may come back to you when they decide to upgrade.

Always try to change what does not work. Doing your research and checking out a number of drop shippers will help in the long run. You want to have a well checked out list of drop shippers that you can try just in case the current one you’re using is no longer satisfactory. Trying to change and taking time out from running your business to find a new drop shipper will only slow you down in the end.

A quick glance at your seller’s page in Shopster will show that you have many options close by, but many drop shipping sites will not have a good way to let you know what is good to sell or how you’re progressing at the moment. To keep up with your entire business, you should take note of the important things that have been going right or wrong. This list will also help you to get rid of products that are not doing well. 

Shopster is a great service that connects dropshippers and internet marketers from all over the world. Read our Shopster review for more information.

by: Ricky Lim

Shopster dropshipping is a site where a person can put up and establish his online business or branded products instantaneously. This allows and provides you with the option of trading only the goods that your prefer to market.

Shopster has created a platform that allows you to build ecommerce stores quickly populated with items from dropshippers. To date, there are nearly 1 million products that you can sell on your ecommerce store. The entire process is streamlined and designed to allow novices and people with no technical skills to build fully fledged ecommerce websites online.

All the products that are on your ecommerce stores are dropshipped. This means, you do not need to hold any inventory and don’t need to handle the shipping. Once a customer orders a product, the invoicing, delivery and shipping is taken care of by the backend of Shopster dropshipping which have agreements with some of the largest wholesalers and dropshippers in the country.

This is a great online venture especially to those who are just learning the ways of doing business online. Your main task relies heavily on the marketing of the product with the aim of turning possible clients to loyal consumers. All the other business facets such as product delivery, shipping, invoicing, stock count, inventory, payment and order fulfillment are handled by shopster.

Shopster Dropshipping allows you to trade and do business on eBay as well with their integrated store front where you can list multiple products for auctions easily. They are a certified solution developer for eBay and thus the integration with eBay tools is smooth and quite easy to use.

By the way, Shopster also has a customer support center that is available for both you and your customers.

Shopster dropshipping is suitable for people who want to do business online but with limited capital and experience. Shopster provides a 7 day full trial to let you see how it works before committing.

If you are for an easy to setup ecommerce webstore, I recommend shopster dropshipping. Learn how shopster dropshipping can provide you with drag and drop tools as well as stock your ecommerce store with thousands of retail products effortlessly.

Visit Shopster at http://Shopster.com/

by: Rick J Williams

Shopster can provide a full end to end e-Commerce solution for your internet business. It not only offers you access to suppliers but it also makes it possible to create an online store which will automatically be loaded with a large number of products. Shopster does most of the hard work for you, handling everything from product warehousing, packaging and shipping to returns and customer support. 

Shopster makes it possible to run an online business with minimum specialist skills and up-front investment. If you sign up to their premium package it’s quite possible to create your very own customizable online store in around half an hour. You can then choose which products you want added to your store.

eBay integration is another very popular service enabling you to automatically import products into eBay listings. This is done through Shopster eBay Listings manager.

Product Pricing

Shopster has a very large database of products. There are over 1 million products to chose from, supplied by about 130 dropship suppliers. All of these products are of high quality and most of the products available are from branded companies. Products are available from companies like Canon, Apple, Intel, D&G, Fendi and many others.

The pricing of products is fairly competitive when compared to other dropshippers. However, prices will always be more expensive than wholesale companies because you pay a premium for the drop shipping service. Having said that, it is still possible to make a profit with certain products even when selling in very competitive market place such as eBay.

Membership

To use Shopster to source your products you must sign up for an account. There is a free 14 day trial for you to test the site and decide whether it’s the right site for you. After the free trial the cost of the site will depend on the type of account you sign up for.

Shopster Product Source is the entry level package, giving you access to in excess of 1 million products sourced from over 130 different drop ship suppliers. There is a one off set up fee of $99 and an ongoing fee of $49.95 per month.

Shopster PowerMerchant is the premium package, which includes the same services as product source but also includes a very flexible and user friendly store builder. Shopster ‘PowerMerchant’ costs $69.95 per month with a one off $99 set up fee.

Education and Support

Shopster is an ideal website for any first time dropshipper because they have lots of educational and support materials. There are a number of e-books and drop ship guides available for download.

The information and support offered at Shopster is ideal for beginners and existing drop shippers alike. You will be able to get useful advice about search engine marketing, advertising, and how to get the most out of your products.

Who is the site suitable for?

Shopster is a perfect site if you are thinking of building an online store. It is also a useful site for advanced entrepreneurs as the educational material is fantastic. 

If you would like to access the second part of this Shopster Review and compare Shopster with the best wholesale suppliers and drop shippers currently available, visit Wholesale Dropship Reviews.

by: Thomas Altamont

Continue your success after the holiday season by learning how to target the dollars still out there! Many online retailers will relax their sales and marketing efforts, believing that they cannot overcome the so-called post-holiday slump. However, for those retailers savvy enough to target the substantial sales still to be made, continued success can be achieved. 

Here’s an outline of post-holiday sales expectations, in perspective.

 
$23 Billion Dollars. That’s how much consumers spent online between November 1st and December 16th 2007. From January 1st until the end of October, consumers spent $93.6 billion. Roughly 20% of the year’s online business was done in six weeks.

 
The average for the weeks after Christmas is expected to be about $2 billion (per 2006’s numbers plus the 18% increase seen over last year’s numbers to date). While this is only about 60% of the holiday shopping average of $3.25 billion per week, it’s still a sizable amount.

Why the post-holiday season is a great time to continue marketing efforts.

The good news is: People still buy after Christmas. This is due both to retailer efforts and seasonal customer behavior.

1. Suppliers must get rid of holiday overstock. Many suppliers load up with inventory in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. They are forced to clear out excess inventory after the holiday buying rush has ended.

2. People are looking for complementary products. People bought and received a number of big ticket items over the holidays, and will be looking for the accessories that go with them. Customers who bought gaming systems look for games and controllers. Customers who bought home electronics need cables. DVD, HD, and BluRay players need DVDs, HD, and BluRay disks to play. Think about what products you can carry that complement the products you sold.

3. People receive cash as holiday presents. This is money that they now have available to spend on the big ticket items they didn’t get - or products to complement the ones they did. Or, they may look for interesting products they didn’t know they wanted before Christmas.

4. Hot products - the products that were in the highest demand - were invariably marked-up in price by suppliers and retailers. Those hot products are now priced to clear… or at least back to normal levels.

Tips for successful post-holiday marketing

There is still a lot of money out there to be spent, but what can you do to attract the spending to your site? Here are some tips on getting started with your post-Christmas marketing.

1. Send your customers an email inviting them to return to your site. Keep in touch with your existing customer base. Let them know about any promotions your store is running. Existing customers have already purchased from you - they are more likely to buy from you now that they have had a positive shopping experience. Winning their trust means you can work on getting them to buy more.

2. Create coupons or offers that will attract business. People love a deal. For example, a reputable sandwich company just held their “Christmas Special”: two six-inch subs for $6 - which looks like a good deal. Then, you look up at the menu and see that a twelve-inch sub is $5.99. While we don’t recommend perpetuating false economy, this example shows how the prospect of a “deal” can motivate sales.

3. Continue to advertise and drive online traffic. Keep up your efforts. The pool of active online consumers decreases after Christmas, so you’ll have to make sure your store retains visibility. In the process you’ll attract the more passive, “window” shoppers. Consider using pay-per-click advertising.

4. Provide additional support for your website visitors. You have to be willing to give your customers those little extras. Sales in the post-Christmas period are more elusive than during the holiday frenzy. It will be the extras that keep customers coming to you. In addition to giving a little extra help to your visitors, adding services like Live Person’s Live Call to your online store act as trust marks to consumers.

Do your research.

The information you need in order to be successful is available to you - often free of charge. You just have to look in the right places. You can pay to get industry information, or you can try out the following ideas to get that info for free.

1. Products that sell after the holidays are different than the pre-holiday best sellers. Visit as many of your competitors’ sites as possible to see what they are selling. Check out the big box websites that are selling similar products to your store. Take advantage of the research that your competitors have done in their product selection.

2. Talk to friends and family. Nothing beats talking to people when you want info. Word-of-mouth puts you in touch with what consumers want.

3. eBay and Amazon both publish the best-selling products on their systems. That information is free. Have a look and be in the know.

4. Keep your eye out for seasonal products. Those miniature MLB pennants sold fairly well… but baseball season ended months ago. Keep your product line in line with seasonal variations.

5. Christmas isn’t the only holiday with sales spikes. Find products that correspond to upcoming holidays. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, 4th of July, et cetera, are all great sales opportunities.

6. Read high-level industry research. Sites like comScore.com offer raw data and interpretation of online sales trends. Visit and have a look at what the market is doing. You’ll get a first-hand look at retail: Leverage that information to tweak your sales strategy. If sales numbers are in a trough Internet-wide, you know that consumers just aren’t as active - so you’ll have to be more active in driving sales. If online sales numbers are at a peak, and your sales are not, then you know you’ll have to make some changes to your marketing tactics or your storefront (new products, more content, etc.).

Conclusion

To sum it all up: Don’t stop marketing just yet. If you stop your efforts now, you’re missing out on your part of the estimated $100 billion in next year’s pre-Christmas online sales. Sales are an all-year event. Follow the tips above, and get active in developing your sales strategy for the New Year.

(All sales figures taken or extrapolated from http://comScore.com/)

Thomas Altamont is a Communications Analyst for Shopster.com.

Shopster.com is an industry leader in eCommerce. Shopster provides online storefront, dropshipping, and product source solutions for professional online sellers, as well as those just getting started in online retail. 

Visit Shopster at http://Shopster.com/