When I started a dropshipping store, I wanted to develop skills that would allow me to build a sustainable ecommerce brand later on. In his course, Ecommerce Millionaire Mastery, Kevin Zhang outlines the 4 steps to transition from dropshipping to brand building.
Overall, I think his course is fantastic so far. It’s much more detailed than similar courses and offers a long-term perspective on dropshipping, ecommerce, and entrepreneurship. With almost 200 lessons, I’m sure that I will develop a deep understanding of dropshipping and ecommerce.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FMWpfudLhx8lDmrgp_KFIg_R3E1JNMY6nCkYmLmyz0n0vxW5HTkD8SEtgXNXQ1pMrlGb6GhQBHmVsMGcQstw5aXz_J3P58pXDsYt8dvdvz4IFVs-VuuF4aLlpyVFqjhZ3nWkVQM
Kevin is a serial entrepreneur who, at the age of 23, generated $20 million in ecommerce sales during his first year as an entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Kreator Ecommerce, an international ecommerce organization with over 60 team members. Kevin also has mentored thousands of people around the world and is a strong advocate for ecommerce education.
Kevin notes that 99.9% of dropshippers are in this stage, running unsustainable businesses. They’re using Aliexpress to source products and Oberlo to fulfill orders. This is where Kevin started out. At this point, entrepreneurs are testing concepts and sourcing from a lot of suppliers, getting as many suppliers as possible and sourcing broadly. The priority is to sell as much as possible.
Although you don’t have many resources at this point, you’re focusing on what you can control: monitoring product quality, being very responsive, and offering lenient customer support. The product quality is questionable, shipping speed/logistics is bad and unpredictable, and there is a lack of feedback from customers. However, you’re trying to find the best products through targeting and creatives. This is the phase most single-product and general stores get stuck in.
At this stage, you’re at 50 orders/day or a revenue of $2-3k per day. You have a proven concept, and you’re starting to narrow down suppliers. You know your best sellers, so you go to your agent and move from 20 to 2-5 suppliers. Additionally, you’re making adjustments to products based on product quality and are getting to better and better products. Finally, you’re starting to negotiate with agents to obtain faster shipping times.
In this stage, you’re moving from a proven concept to mass scaling. Your store is based on volume, performance, and more sales. The store is making about $4-10k/day, and you can make demands about product quality, as well as create branded products for your store.
On this step, a third party logistics is in the US handling all returns and exchanges, as well as holding emergency inventory for angry customers so that they can send product replacements to the customers. You’re no longer using Aliexpress and Oberlo, and shipping times are extremely fast. Additionally, costs are down because you’re negotiating prices with your supplier and paying their invoice once a month.