Start an E-Commerce Business: A Basic Guide for Dropshipping

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TLDR: Key insights and tips for starting and growing a successful e-commerce business in the dropshipping industry.

E-Commerce Business Insights

Understanding E-Commerce Business

🌍 Understanding e-commerce involves knowing how the online trading of goods and money works.
☑️ Important to build e-commerce around products people need today and likely need in the future.

Choosing the Right Platform

💡 eBay, Amazon, and Shopify have different features, benefits, and disadvantages to be considered.
👀 Use personal familiarity with a platform for choosing where to start.

Identifying Successful Products

🔎 Tools like Zeke Analytics or Jungle Scout can help identify top-performing products.
🚀 Emulating a successful seller’s products and strategies can lead to success.

Finding Suppliers

📚 Using Alibaba.com can help find suppliers for the chosen products.
ℹ️ Following a specific step-by-step process can assist in choosing the best suppliers.

E-Commerce Business Video Summary

00:00: 💼 The video is a basic guide for beginners interested in starting an e-commerce business. The author shares his personal experience of leaving his full-time job and establishing a successful e-commerce business with seven figures in sales. The guide includes tips and tricks for making money online, steps to start an e-commerce business, and valuable lessons learned from the author’s past experience. The author encourages viewers to subscribe, like and follow his channel for related content.

Key ideas:

  • The author left his full-time job due to the success of his e-commerce business.
  • He built an e-commerce business that eventually earned seven figures in sales.
  • The video serves as a beginner’s guide to starting an e-commerce business.
  • The guide includes step-by-step processes and practical tips for succeeding in e-commerce.
  • The author also shares personal lessons and things he wished he knew before starting his e-commerce business.
  • The author encourages engagement on the channel through likes, subscriptions, and alerts for new content.

01:36: 💼 The speaker gives a brief overview of the meaning of e-commerce, emphasizing the need for businesses to sell products that people need, now and in the future. They highlight the decision about which platform to build the business on, such as eBay, Shopify, or Amazon. Each platform has different implications for attracting customers, with marketplaces like eBay and Amazon already having a customer base and platforms like Shopify requiring efforts to drive customers to the site.

Key ideas:

  • E-commerce refers to trading goods for money on the internet.
  • The foundation of an e-commerce store should be around products that are needed by people.
  • Deciding on which platform (eBay, Shopify, Amazon) to use is a crucial step in starting an e-commerce business.
  • Ebay and Amazon have a built-in customer base while a Shopify website requires effort in attracting customers.

03:19: 💡 The text outlines advice for those starting an e-commerce business. Emphasizing the importance of concentrating one’s efforts on a single platform first—such as eBay, Amazon, or Shopify—the author shares personal experiences of diversifying platforms only after achieving significant success on one. Advantages and disadvantages of each platform are explained; eBay and Amazon offer free traffic but also competition, with easier setup for eBay. Shopify represents a personal asset, but this part of the conversation is cut off.

Key ideas:

  • Author’s personal e-commerce success began on eBay, generating $50k-$60k per month.
  • Based on personal experience, it’s advised to start e-commerce by focusing on one platform.
  • eBay and Amazon offer benefit of free daily traffic, but also have more competition.
  • eBay is considered easier to start with, potentially running in a few weeks.
  • Amazon setup is trickier and may take up to a month.
  • Shopify is highlighted as your own asset.

04:58: 💻 The text discusses the pros and cons of setting up an e-commerce business on one’s own website versus platforms like Shopify, eBay, and Amazon. It emphasizes the need for familiarity with the platform and highlights that many successful e-commerce entrepreneurs started as buyers, thereby understanding how to market effectively. The text also advises new e-commerce business owners to emulate successful sellers on their chosen platform, but not to directly copy them.

Key ideas:

  • Choosing an e-commerce platform should be based on familiarity and preference.
  • Many successful e-commerce millionaires were buyers before they became sellers.
  • Emulate successful sellers’ strategies but don’t directly copy them.

06:37: 💼 The speaker shares how they succeeded in building their own e-commerce business by emulating a successful eBay seller who was achieving over a million dollars per month in sales. They studied how the seller branded their store, listed items and the type of items they sold to build an inventory that eventually resulted in a store with seven-figure sales. They advise anyone looking to succeed in e-commerce to find a bigger company seen as a future competitor and use it as a blueprint. Wisdom is also provided on how to study the financial performance and product range of prospective companies on Amazon and eBay.

Key ideas:

  • The speaker emulated a successful eBay seller to build their own seven-figure e-commerce business.
  • They advise using a larger successful company as a blueprint for your own e-commerce endeavors.
  • They explain how to study a company’s financials and product offerings on platforms such as Amazon and eBay.

08:20: 📊 The text describes the use of tools such as Jungle Scout and Zeek Analytics for conducting Amazon and eBay product research, respectively. The writer uses Jungle Scout to determine that a seller is making over £60,000 by selling food storage containers on Amazon. In a similar manner, using Zeek Analytics, the author finds an eBay store called ‘Direct Lighting’ that sold £130,000 worth of goods in the past 30 days. Based on these examples, the writer suggests that beginners interested in setting up online stores could find suppliers and develop their own branding, taking inspiration from successful stores.

Key ideas:

  • Jungle Scout is an Amazon product research tool used to find the best products to sell.
  • A seller on Amazon is making over £60,000 by selling food storage containers, as demonstrated by Jungle Scout.
  • Zeek Analytics is a product research tool specifically for eBay.
  • An eBay store named ‘Direct Lighting’ was able to sell over £130,000 worth of goods in the past month, as shown by Zeek Analytics.
  • New sellers can take inspiration from successful stores and build their own brands.

10:00: 💸 The text discusses strategies for starting a successful e-commerce business. It encourages finding profitable sellers and products, and advises careful research before undertaking any venture. The text suggests using tools such as Zeke Analytics or Jungle Scout, links for these are shared in the description. It’s also noted that deciding on the exact products to sell is a crucial step, which should be done after signing up and registering on the preferred platform. A method is explained using Zeke Analytics on eBay, showcasing how to identify top-performing items in any seller’s store, with a suggestion to add similar top-performing items own store.

Key ideas:

  • When starting an e-commerce business, it’s important to research profitable sellers and top-performing products.
  • Tools like Zeke Analytics or Jungle Scout can aid in this research.
  • Deciding on the exact products to sell is an important step.
  • It’s suggested to add similar top-performing items to your store.

11:43: 📦 The speaker discusses finding a supplier on Alibaba.com, referencing a step-by-step guide they’ve previously made available. They link to another video explaining their personal success story of scaling an eBay store from $0 to $3000 daily sales. They emphasize the need for action-taking in order to achieve e-commerce success and encourage people to start their journey, no matter how small the step. A webinar link and further content are promised in the video description.

Key ideas:

  • Alibaba.com is used to find suppliers.
  • A previous video provides a step-by-step guide for choosing the right supplier.
  • The speaker has been successful, scaling their eBay store from zero to over $3000 per day in sales.
  • Taking the first step and taking action is emphasized for success in e-commerce business.

Q&A

What is a critical factor in choosing which e-commerce platform to start with?

Personal familiarity with the platform is a critical factor to consider as it can ease understanding how things work.

How can one identify which products to sell in their e-commerce business?

Tools like Zeke Analytics or Jungle Scout can help identify top-performing products. Additionally, emulating a successful seller’s strategies can also guide towards successful products.

How can one find suitable suppliers for the chosen products?

Alibaba.com is a resourceful platform that can help find suppliers. Following a specific step-by-step process can assist in choosing the best suppliers.

What is a vital consideration when building an e-commerce store?

It is critical to build the store around products that people need today and will likely need in the future.

What is the role of understanding e-commerce in the business?

Understanding e-commerce fully helps in building the foundations of e-commerce stores around products that people actually need, which is crucial for a long-term business.

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