Drop Shipping for your business.

Do you know what a drop shipper really is?  Do you understand what happens when you choose your drop shipper?  I often wonder when someone is in the process of choosing a drop shipper, what steps are they really going through in their mind.

The fact is there are thousands, yep literally thousands of drop shippers to choose from.  Some are a "mom and pop" shop with a couple of garages of "stuff".  Others are full developed companies that have a warehouse, an inventory software, multiple departments and a true goal to be the best in the business.  As you would guess there is everything in between.  

So how do you choose?  The goal is to choose a company that will help you be competitive in 3 areas - Shipping cost of product, Return policy of product, retail product cost.  It sounds simple, but it isn't.  The secret is in your market research.  You really have to look at the market to determine where you should be in the first place.  

1. Perform a search for the type of products you would like to sell.
2. Look at the retail price of your competition
3. Look at the shipping cost of your competition
4. Look at the return policy of your competition

These three areas should be every online business owners priority.  If you cannot compete in any one of these areas you will not have any notable level of success.  These 3 areas are the what your customer base their decision on.  So in this situation, market research is essential..