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Adidas, Apple, and Nike – everyone knows these brands without any introduction, right? That’s because they have built a solid, recognizable brand over the years.
Building a dropshipping business that is branded is possible. Branding gives a sense of reassurance and familiarity about the business. As the dropshipping business has low startup and overhead costs and the market is booming, this market is forecast to reach $243.42 billion in 2023.
Meaning that it is the perfect way to build customer loyalty and succeed in business in a fiercely competitive e-commerce space.
So, if the thought of dropship luxury brands or your own branded products intrigues you, and you are looking to make a twist in your already existing drop shipping business or planning to start dropshipping branded products, this article is dedicated to you.
In this post, we will be digging a bit deeper to help you understand what branded dropshipping is all about. Additionally, we will share tips to help you brand your dropshipping business in the cheapest way possible.
Let’s get into it!
A brand is the perceived identity of a business or a product. Branded dropshipping is the concept of giving your dropshipping business a custom and unparalleled identity so that potential buyers can recognize and remember your brand.
This identity is created by using elements like logos, taglines, colors, imagery, labels, and packaging like unique visual cues. These elements combined contribute to creating an identity different from the competition for a dropshipping business.
You can run your own branded dropshipping business by incorporating your own unique logo, color, custom packaging, private labeling, and other elements, even custom products to differentiate your brand. Or, you can choose to sell products of trusted brands upon their permission.
People have a positive impression of branded dropshipping stores. So, creating such a store would help you earn trustworthiness and build a loyal clientele community.
A study says 81% of customers say they can only buy from a brand they trust. Meaning that branding holds the power to make your dropshipping business memorable and trustable among potential buyers.
Here is why branding is important for your dropshipping store:
Branding your store makes it difficult for a callous dropshipper to clone your store. Your business will stand out from the competition and grow as an endearing and unique brand as it allows you to gain a competitive edge.
The study says that acquiring new customers costs 5x more than retaining the existing ones. Branded dropshipping allows you to retain existing customers and make them feel specialized so that they won’t want to switch you.
Customers are willing to pay and make repeat purchases for good or trusted products regardless of cost. So, dropshipping branded products gives you the edge in pricing your products and making good profits.
When you are working to establish a branded store, you will definitely want to make happy clients with products, services, and even post-sale services so that your brand name isn’t tarnished. This means better customer satisfaction and, in turn, lesser returns.
Branding your dropshipping store opens doors to expand your business with ease. As you can access and manage it from anywhere, you can work on boosting brand awareness and target niche-related audiences across different countries.
As we said earlier, you don’t need to be a marketing guru or a branding expert to brand your dropshipping business. In fact, you don’t even need years of dropshipping experience to do so. What you need is to set a goal and have a solid plan, do ample research, and start implementing the plan.
But don’t worry; to assist you in your journey, here are tips to effectively build a memorable brand around your dropshipping business.
Unless you want to build the next Amazon or Aliexpress – which is improbable – by all means, avoid selling everything and anything. Doing so will make you look like a generalist.
And people don’t take generalists seriously – they come off as jack-of-all-trades.
What to do?
Will you dropship designer brand name products or sell your own branded products?
Niche down!
By niching down, we mean finding a sub-segment in the market you are looking to target and focusing on it.
For example, let’s say you want to dropship pet supplies products. Since there are several niches in this market, you will want to research and find which niche to target.
By way of illustration, you can decide to pick the dog toy niche and double down on it. Or, you could choose to dropship veterinary products.
Of course, these are just examples, but you get the idea. If you are having trouble finding a niche, Google Keyword Planner can help.
How to use Google Keyword Planner? Launch the keyword research tool and plug in a general keyword that relates to the market you want to target. A list of suggested related terms and their search volume will appear.
You can also check Sell The Trend to find winning products to dropship online.
Once you have figured out what you will be selling, the next step is to determine who to sell— your target audience.
How do you find your target audience?
The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for that. You just have to try different approaches, and here are some.
Sneak up on your competitors to know the demographic of the audience they are selling to.
Conduct a survey to find out what kind of product your visitors would like to buy?
Dig into Google Analytics – you are sure to glean some helpful insights there.
Check your social handles to see who engages with your posts the more – they are potential customers.
Determining your target audience will help to save you money in marketing. When you know exactly who you want to sell to, you won’t waste money trying to impress people who will never buy from you.
Selling to the right people will help to boost your conversion rate.
To create a brand personality, first, you have to name your brand dropshipping business. This is a no-brainer.
While naming your business, keep it simple, sweet, and as short as possible – it will make it easier for your customers to remember.
Then, pay heed to create your brand’s assets. For example, brand logos, font, color, taglines/slogan, jingles, packaging, etc. Make a memorable, iconic if possible, eye-catching and should encompass what your brand stands for.
For example, the iconic half-eaten apple in Apple’s logo is one of the most memorable logos. It represents Apple’s identity and forms the core of its branding efforts.
Make sure your brand assets are consistent across your website, social media handles, marketing channels, etc.
The time has come to choose the right channel or places to sell your branded products. There are different places you can target, each with its own set of rules and regulations for dropshippers to follow and advantages & and disadvantages. Let’s check those out:
You set your own rules and have complete control over your store, from design to customer service. As you are the proprietor, you have to be competent in technical and marketing skills and have a strong vision.
E-commerce platforms already have access to a broader client range. So, if you start a business there, you will find your niche-relevant audience fast. So, You can target e-commerce marketplaces like Aliexpress, Alibaba, etc, to sell your branded products. E-commerce platforms have their own regulations and a fee for the sellers. The downside is the limited customization options.
You can also use dropshipping website builders or platforms like Sell The Trend Shops, Shopify, and WooCommerce, and others allow customization in design and development, and integrate with other platforms to ensure a seamless selling journey for the merchants. However, these sellers have to upgrade to premium pricing to access all the features.
Check your requirements to decide which aligns more with your needs, and you can control and manage as well as ensure a seamless process.
If you are going to build a reputable brand for your dropshipping business, selling high-quality products is non-negotiable.
So, you must ensure that the products are delivered to customers on time – this will require efficient and fast shipping. And since product quality and shipping are majorly dependent on your supplier, working with a reputable one is of uttermost importance.
Not sure how to find a reputable supplier? Here is how:
Once all these are sorted out, you can import products to your store from the suppliers. As you are dropshipping, your supplier is likely to manage the inventory, so pay heed to product image quality, title, description, and features so that they are understandable to the viewers as well as search engine optimized.
Take advantage of social media and acquaintances to display your products. Also, keep an eye on which platforms get the most attention so that you can take strategic methods based on that platform.
Let’s say your products are getting more responses on Instagram. Keeping the promotion on other platforms active, you can go for more advanced level targeting for Instagram.
To make more people aware and ensure you are a brand of consistency, you can run ads, hire influencers, invite followers to sign up for emails, send discount or coupon offers, or product updates, etc.
When you have found the right supplier, you can connect your business with the supplier’s platform. Then, whenever you receive notification of a customer’s order, you can send it to the suppliers. Suppliers will take care of the rest— from packaging to delivering to the client’s doorstep.
Many suppliers offer complete order fulfillment options. So, when any dropshipper makes an order, the supplier charges them based on that sale, not before. So, managing orders for dropshippers becomes easy, keeping the profit margin. Check out the complete dropshipping order fulfillment solution available through Sell The Trend if you are looking for a centralized system to handle order fulfillment.
Make sure to keep a vigilant eye on each of the processes happening. This will help you understand the insight of your business, understand clients and their needs, and come up with a strategy to streamline the process efficiently.
The growth of a business doesn’t come overnight; however, improving one at a time makes up for massive success.
Branded dropshipping business is one of the most profitable business and smart business models of 2023. Statistics say that the average dropshipping business success rate is between 10%-20%. This type of business can build trust, beat competition, and increase profit margins.
Yes, it is allowed to dropship on multiple stores. Doing so will allow you to test the market, work with a wide range of audiences to find all the opportunities and challenges, and take strategic approaches according to those assessments.
Dropshipping is to sell products collected from the wholesaler or manufacturer, whereas branded dropshipping is to sell either branded products with the brand authority approval or selling products with personal level branding.
Yes, you can dropship luxury branded products on your Shopify store. For that, you have to get legal approval of the brands whose products you will be selling and abide by their regulations.
Branding your dropshipping store has a lot of benefits – better customer loyalty, more profits, an upper edge over your competitors, and lots more.
Hopefully, our mentioned tips will assist you in branding your store.
If you want to make the most out of your applied strategy, you need the right tool in place. This is where Sell The Trend can assist you.
We are an all-in-one dropshipping platform that allows you to automate your dropshipping product research and other repetitive tasks, connect with suppliers within and outside the US, automate order fulfillment with ease, and many more.
Make your way to a branded dropshipping business and escalate the process. Sign up for a free trial right away.
