Dropshipping With Independent Retailers

When you enter the world of dropshipping, it can be tempting to list as many products as you can, from as many vendors as possible. However, this approach can be akin to trying to run before you can crawl and may cause you problems down the line later.

The most successful dropshipping sites are those which focus on relevancy and quality. Spend time curating high-quality products from independent and more artisan brands. Think about your brand and the customer experience your site offers. Make sure your audience is always at the back of your mind. When you curate a carefully chosen selection of vendors who all appeal to your target market, your site is destined to attract a loyal customer base and in turn generate higher sales.

We know that dropshipping with independent vendors can pose problems, though. That’s where Onport comes in. Onport is designed to help streamline your dropshipping operations with those lesser-known, more bespoke vendors. Here’s how:

Why Some Vendors are Reluctant to Dropship

Once you’ve identified the vendors you want to work with, we know that neither you, nor your vendors, want to waste hours manually entering crucial information like inventory levels, shipping data or order information. Manually entering such data is very time-consuming and increases the likelihood of possible mistakes.

Some vendors are concerned about the idea of dropshipping itself, particularly with regard to its effects on their workload. They have minimal staff, with no technology resources or experience, which inevitably causes a lot of resistance and concern. Such vendors may be wary of wasting their valuable time, emailing complicated CSV files, or logging into external systems to keep a constant feed on their orders and inventory. But with Onport, you can automate much of this process - saving both you valuble time and money.

Onport is here to take the stress and hassle out of dropshipping. You can fully automate shipping, orders payments and inventory all within a single system.

How Onport Works

Onport connects seamlessly with your vendors’ e-commerce stores. Here’s how it works:

1. A customer orders items from your Shopify store. The order might include items from a selection of different vendors. No problem.
2. Onport automatically raises a purchase order for each vendor. The order is placed directly with each vendor’s store, and it ships just like any other order would.
3. Track shipments right to the customer’s door, all through a single system.
4. Vendor invoices come straight back to you and can be paid automatically via PayPal.
5. Sales and vendor invoices are exported to your accounting software. Without you having to do a thing.

By integrating directly with the vendors system, they can just ship your orders like any other placed in their store. Taking away this technology barrier will make it far easier to convince smaller vendors to work with you.

With smaller vendors in mind, we also have some other features to help:

Shipping Labels, Sorted

Working with smaller vendors is no issue. Onport creates shipping labels straight from your carrier account. We can even create labels via our discounted USPS accounts. It’s just one click to create and print your label.

Fully Automated and Ready To Go

Payments are fully automated and the whole process is seamless. Take a look at all the ecommerce platforms Onport can be integrated with here. With Onport, the world really is your oyster - and your store is destined for greatness.

Sync With Your Vendors

Time is money in the world of e-commerce. Within Onport, you can sync and publish products from your vendors, so your store will always be one step ahead of the competition.

Getting Started

Onport’s futureproof technology has connected merchants to thousands of small, independent vendors who might never have considered dropshipping as a business avenue in the past.

Smaller vendors are, understandably, risk averse in their nature. So it makes perfect sense that many smaller vendors may have a few questions about how Onport will enable them to work with you. Here’s how you can get smaller, independent vendors on board.

1. Introduce Onport. We recommend you kick off with a short introduction to Onport, so everyone is clear on how Onport’s automation will make life simpler.
2. Get the info. Firstly, you’ll need to know how your vendor wants to be paid. We recommend Stripe - it’s one of the top software platforms for running an internet business, handling billions every year. Next discuss the products you’d like to sell. Ensure you consider which products best suit your audience - remember, when it comes to successful e-commerce stores, it’s all about the quality, not the quantity.
3. Pitch Onport. Spend 10 minutes explaining how Onport works to your chosen vendor. Focus on how little work there is to do, their side. If they need further information, you can send over our setup guides.
4. Time to sell. Agree your commission rate, finalise the details and you’re ready to start selling!

Remember, the Onpport support team is always here to help you nurture great relationships with your vendors. If you have any problems, just get in touch.

A Strong Partner For Dropshipping - Onport

Onport is an ecommerce marketplace and dropshipping platform enabling companies to centralize the core areas of backend marketplace dropshipping operations using next-generation composable technology - inventory syncing, order routing, shipping workflows, payment automation, and returns management.

The Onport Platform can accommodate both those seeking an out-of-the-box solution and, through an API with +3.000 endpoints, those who require a more flexible implementation.

“With Onport, we were able to launch in less than three months, which we just couldn’t have done, had we built the system ourselves.”

Frank A. Ricciardi | Founder & CEO at Maavee

From growing SMBs to well-established enterprise-level companies, its composable and adaptive infrastructure was designed to be a reliable partner for the growth of any company operating in the e-commerce marketplace and dropshipping space.

Over 200+ companies in the e-commerce space are future-proofing their business with a solution trusted by brands such as Stadium Goods, Cupra, Ivalo, and Naduvi.