COVID-19 and Dropshipping: Everything You Need to Know
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, governments all over the world have had to put in place various measures in order to safeguard both local and international populations from this coronavirus. So far these protective measures have included countries going into lockdown, factories being closed indefinitely, and travel being heavily restricted. Public health and safety has become the top priority world over. Economic production has had to take the back seat as we literally fight for our lives. Naturally, these measures will significantly impact the dropshipping industry that heavily relies on free movement of goods.
It’s a grim and uncertain new reality China is a major global shipping hub. However, even as factories there begin to slowly reopen, many logistics companies have slowed their operations down to trickle, forcing some cargo terminals to shut down due to low volume. Air transport has also taken a huge hit, with shipping services severely affected, and passenger services coming to a near complete hault.
but there’s some good news! Fortunately for dropshipping, packages don’t pose any health risk to customers. The CDC has found no evidence to suggest that this virus has been transmitted through imported goods and packages. This means that despite all the delays and restrictions hindering global trade in this time as explained above, whatever goods manage to get shipped do not present a COVID-19 danger to the recipients. While this coronavirus has been found to be transmitted very easily from one person to another via respiratory droplets from coughs or sneezes, it doesn’t generally don’t survive for long on surfaces.
This might actually be the best time ever to get into dropshipping On top of the usual low barriers to entry thanks to the low cost of setting up a Shopify store, seasoned dropshippers are having to scale back on their operations due to the aaforementioned shipping issues. Also, the fear, uncertainty and economic anxiety surrounding this pandemic is discouraging many potential new entrants from starting out. This means that for the few brave entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risk of entering the business now, the competition is going to be lower than ever. This means that dropshipping businesses that manage to gain and/or expand their foothold in the market during this pandemic will be primed for massive success once it clears and lockdowns are lifted. Below are the top 5 things you should be doing for your Shopify store during this COVID-19 crisis.
1. Prepare for Delays With many manufacturing and logistics facilities severely restricted or temporarily closed, you need to more attention than ever to your supply chain before continuing to run paid ads and take orders. You should know which country your dropshipping products are being shipped from, how much stock your dropshipping supplier still has remaining, and whether or not they will manage to restock.
2. Nail Your Customer Service This is the time to shine when comes to having great customer service. It’s extremely important that you stay upfront, transparent and honest with your customers about the situation at hand. The last thing people need now is dishonest and/or unclear promises or excuses from the businesses they deal with. Inform them to expect delays in shipping, keep them updated with whatever information you have about their products that are being shipped and also prepare to offer refunds on their purchases.
3. Optimize Your SEO, Social Media and Email Marketing
Now is the time to optimize your homepage and your product pages, drop your site loading speed and focus on streamlining your digital marketing efforts – from SEO to social media to email marketing. Now is also the time to polish your email marketing especially strong email sequences to ensure that none of your visitors slip through the cracks. You should also consider revamping the look of your Shopify store with a sleek, attractive layout. The Debutify theme comes in perfectly handy for this.
4. Learn New Dropshipping Skills and Knowledge Whether you’re new to dropshipping or you have been doing it for a while, you should take this time to learn as much as you can about highly relevant topics like
paid advertising, social media marketing, store design and branding so that once all this is behind us, you are set to hit the ground running.
5. Stay Safe and Healthy Don’t forget that as the primary human resource of your dropshipping business, you’re its most vital and important asset. Your health is extremely critical to the success of your ecommerce store in this time. Make sure to follow the prescribed measures of avoiding the coronavirus and reach out for treatment as soon as you feel any symptoms appearing. Your mental health is extremely important too, especially given how stressful the whole situation is. Exercise regularly, eat healthy and get enough sleep.
Debutify Los Angeles, CA, USA info@debutify.com https://debutify.com/