Dropshipping in India is an innovative business idea, through which a start-up firm can start an e-commerce business. Dropshipping allows the sellers to run their business without bearing the inventory cost as well as the sellers can courier the products to the targeted audience.

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Dropshipping is familiar as a low-risk business model, which is mostly preferred by start up business owners.  Dropshipping in India is a boon to the Indian eCommerce sellers. Consequently, the eCommerce sales in India have increased by 51% at an annual rate.

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Indian dropshippers allow online retailers to sell their products to the global market. Hence, being start-up sellers, they also get a chance to expand their businesses to the international market.

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The sellers should not bear the cost of inventories, in turn, dropshippers directly ship the products from the manufacturers or wholesalers to the target audience. In a nutshell, dropshipping in India has reduced the business risks, usually suffered by start up firms.

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In addition, to operate a dropshipping business, the owner of the business does not take the burden of the location of running the business operations. Since the entire business functionality will be performed solely through the internet, therefore, the business owner should not be worried about hiring a location for business operations as well. One can start the dropshipping business in India only from his home.

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In a nutshell, the operations to run the dropshipping business are associated with the following steps:

• The customers place the order through the eCommerce website

• The seller/ business owner gets a notification on the same

• The manufacturer/ wholesaler receives the order confirmation from the merchant (business owner)

• The wholesaler courier the order from the warehouse with the help of suppliers

• The supplier sends the product to the buyer

• The buyer receives the product or the item.
  

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Hence, because of the absence of physical inventory, dropshipping businesses in India only work for the eCommerce merchants, instead of traditional brick and mortar stores.

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How to Start the Dropshipping Businesses in India?

Dropshipping in India is in high demand. With the changing in shopping style, demand for dropshipping has increased at a faster pace in India. On the other hand, dropshippers in India have been gaining popularity over the years.

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1. Find the Niche

If you are about to open a start-up business implementing the Dropshipping business model, then you must first figure out what you want to sell and who is your target audience. Only make sure, when you are choosing the niche, it is in demand in the market.

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A lot of start-up business sellers are showing their interest in dropshipping business due to its low overhead costs. However, since the competition in the dropshipping business in India is quite high, therefore, the start-up sellers should work on the competitive edge to survive in the market.

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Start your market research by making a list of products, which you intend to sell. For this, you have to find out how your potential consumers could search for the products. For example, use the probable keywords related to the products or items and check the Google search volume against the keywords. If the search volume or the keyword density is high, then opt for the product and start dropshipping for it.

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Also, make a note, that your keyword searching should be very specific. For instance, if you search for “Saree selling online”,  it shows 1,86, 00, 000 results. So the competition for this particular keyword is very high.

Nevertheless, when you search for the “Silk saree selling online” keyword, then the search volume shows 98, 50, 000 results, which is much lower.

Hence, first set your product and then start the market research for it. Otherwise, the seller can be misguided. Moreover, after starting the dropshipping for “Silk saree selling online” if you have planned to run a paid ad, then the cost per click for this keyword should be lower compared to the vast and generic keyword, “saree selling online”. Hence, your niche should be based on the demand and competition apart from the specific product, for which you are going to start your dropshipping business.

Also keep in mind that if you are starting to sell silk saree online, then try to sell 5-6 varieties as per the higher demand. For instance, you can sell Kanchipuram silk (which is the highest demand saree), Assam Silk, Pochampally Silk, etc.

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Customers are usually attracted to the variety of products.Once you get success in your business, you can add more products that are also in demand apart from your main product.

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2. Detailed Market Research

The entire dropshipping model depends on the ability to find a low-cost product so that you can sell it at a higher price. Based on the business niche, a business owner will be able to identify the demand for a particular product.

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This in turn requires thorough market research, so that one can find your product easily. For instance, the e-commerce business has made the dropshipping business smoother. As a result, through dropshipping a seller can sell the products anywhere to anybody across the world. In that case, the seller only needs to make the delivery process more effective.

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It is very important to select the target audience wisely in the dropshipping business so that your business can get successful. For choosing the target audience, market research is also very important.

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Tip: If you are dropshipping cotton-made light-weighted dresses, then your target market should be the people living in tropical regions and coastal regions, instead of targeting the customers living in hill stations.

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Google Trends for Cotton Dress in Himachal Pradesh: The trend is showing the irregular demand for the product. Check the following image.

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Google Trends for Cotton Dress in Delhi: The following graph is showing the higher (even increasing sharply) demand for the particular cotton dress in Delhi. Go through the following image.

Hence, before targeting the right customers of the target location, take the help of Google Trends for finding better search trends. Before starting a dropshipping business, the business owners should have study and research the following questions:

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• Whom are you targeting?

• How are you targeting your potential customers?

• What should be your marketing strategies?  

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Once you have the answers to the above-mentioned questions, it will be easier for you to start the dropshipping business for the target market. Not only that, thorough market research will help you to run your business smoothly even in the competitive market.

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3. Identify a Right and Profitable Product

Though dropshipping is giving you the flexibility of selling anything you want to the online eCommerce sites like the Fynd platform, however, it will be wise to choose only those products, which seem to be in demand and are equally profitable.

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Choose those products, which can give you a profitability margin of 40%-70% at least. Though the cost of inventory, and storing cost is nil, still the sellers should consider the running cost of business (business account charge), shipping fees, and marketing fees.

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• The sellers should start a dropshipping business for those products which are trending. To get an idea about the trending dropshipping business in India, go through the websites like Google Trends, Kickstarter, Trendhunter, Wish, and AnswerthePublic. Here the sellers will get all the relevant answers about the trending products and businesses

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• The start-up sellers can also research using the hashtag “#viralproduct” on Instagram. It will, in turn, help you to find out the latest trend. Once you find the results, you will get the latest ideas. You can also use the same hashtag while searching on Twitter and Pinterest

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• Also, use the Google search engine and type your query like “Most trending and demanding items in 2024”. So that you will get numerous answers. Check the responses and pick the most suitable one among them.

• Find the items/ products your competitors are selling. In this context, try to figure out how your competitors are sourcing and selling the products in the dropshipping business. Also, follow their pricing strategies. To get all the relevant information related to the business strategies followed by your competitors, you can use the “Competitor Tracking tool” for getting the answers to all your queries fast.

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Kindly note: This is nothing but a top-notch business strategy. Do not encourage any kind of unethical marketing practices.

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• Use “Product Research Tool” to help the sellers in finding out the winning products along with the data sources from several marketplaces for your business. More specifically, with the help of such a tool, the seller can evaluate the potential salability of a particular item based on the order volumes, sales history, and other data. Apart from the above-mentioned tool, there are some other relevant tools like ”Sell the Trend”, “Niche Scraper”, “Split Dragon” and “Dropship Spy”  

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So ideally, being a start-up seller, you should look for a low cost yet high demand product so that you will have a chance of earning high from the dropshipping business in India. ‍

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4. Make a Business Account to Fynd Platform

To start a dropshipping business in India, the seller can open a business account on Fynd online platform. Creating an account will take a maximum of 30 minutes. Before opening an account, the sellers can refer to the below-mentioned steps:

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Step 1: Go to the Fynd official website and complete the signup process

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Step 2: Choose your Dropshipping business name and other details

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Step 3: Upload your Product details. Note: Learn to click and upload better photographs for grabbing the attention of the customers.

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Step 4:  In the last step, the sellers have to link the custom domain name. Consequently, the sellers will be able to make their brand website.

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5. Make a Channel and Build Connection with the Stakeholders

Since the products will be sent to the customers directly from the manufacturers or wholesalers, hence, it is important to make a good connection with them. Sometimes, it can be seen that the wholesalers take the actual price from the sellers, however in turn send the faulty products to the customers to make a high percentage profit.

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Being a start-up seller, it is very important to build the trust of the customers, so that they want to have a long-term relationship with you and show their interest in purchasing from you.

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Hence, it is equally important to maintain a good rapport with the manufacturers and sellers as well. Kindly make a note that in dropshipping business, the sellers have to pay the wholesalers or the manufacturers (including the courier fees) on behalf of the shoppers.

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For instance, Aliexpress is one of the most profitable and reliable suppliers in the dropshipping business in India. Aliexpress offers a potent customer service team. Hence, if you face any difficulty regarding the wrong shipment, damaged product delivery return, or refund,

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it is comparatively easier to deal through Aliexpress than the other small-scale suppliers. Nevertheless, you can also connect with the local vendor at competitive prices, so that you can earn a good profitability margin after launching the start up business.

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Tip: People around the world are feeling gaga over products like Pashmina shawls, which is the trademark of Kashmir. Hence, if you have an order to export the Pashmina shawls to another country, then it is better to ship directly from the authentic Pashmina shawl manufacturer in Kashmir. In turn, you can sell the product at the actual price. There will be no extra charge for the middle man or any other vendor.

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6.Shipping and Delivery through Suppliers/ Manufacturers

In dropshipping business, the suppliers or the manufacturers will send the courier to the customers on behalf of the start up sellers (who is the intermediary here). Hence, ask the suppliers to add white label shipping to get your branding done and also to keep the identity of the suppliers hidden.

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Do not forget to share the tracking number with the customers, once you collect it from your suppliers. Because there should be transparency between you and your seller. It is the other way of building your trust in front of your customers.

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7. Market Your Dropshipping Business

A well converting (attractively designed) and user friendly website has a strong value proposition for the dropshipping business. Apart from that, the business owners should upload a good quality and detailed photograph of the products, so that the buyers can get a clear idea and other relevant details of the products.

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Once you upload all the details and the website is good to go for selling the products, then the merchant should also take the help of an SEO marketer to increase the reach of your products to a large scale of customer base. Though SEO marketing is not good for short run profit, it is more helpful for long-term business operations.

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SEO marketer tries to improve the rank of your website, so that when a customer searches for a particular product on Google, then your website comes first and holds the first rank. Hence, SEO marketing can be the fastest way to get potential consumers.

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As per the statistical report, the average website conversion rate of eCommerce websites or online stores is approximately 2.86%. This implies that 2.86% of potential customers immediately purchase any product after their first visit.

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Email Marketing:

To increase the conversion rate, it is very important to make your content interesting to the customers. Hence, the sellers do not want to lose their customers when they are browsing the website. Here, the power of email marketing comes.  

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When the customers visit your website for the first time, ask them to sign up for a newsletter and in exchange, they will get a discount. Check Manyavar’s official website and find out how the email marketing of the brand works.

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Through email addresses, the brand tries to keep in contact with the customers and can notify them of the new product launching, exciting offers, and many more. A strong marketing policy helps to influence the customers so that they are interested to purchase the products from the brand.

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Use Social media platforms for marketing

‍Millions of people are associated with social media. The customers will find a lot of verified business pages of the sellers on social media. Hence, to sell your products, the sellers should cultivate more potential and target customers more through Facebook and Instagram.

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To make people aware of the products, try to get connected with the customers very frequently. Hence, it will be wise if you make 2-3 posts every day, then you can keep your customers notified continuously.

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Apart from posts, you can upload pictures of the products in your story. Social Media Marketing (SMM) has a strong role to generate more sales by engaging loyal audiences.

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2.89 billion people are actively using Facebook in a month, hence, it can be a good source of getting loyal customers. Being a seller of dropshipping business, you can run Facebook Ads Manager to make the customers aware and can also track their performances.

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The sellers can create an exclusive Facebook group for the customers so that they can directly connect with the customers and can share the exclusive deals. After Facebook, around 1 billion users are actively associated with Instagram, which can also be a good platform for exploring your business. To get some traffic organically in your business, you can ask for the help of social media influencers.

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Social media influencers post attractive reels tagging the brand so that the followers would come to know about the products. Take the example of IndiaMart and how they run dropshipping businesses through their Instagram handle.

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Apart from Facebook and Instagram marketing, the sellers can get few sales through Pinterest and LinkedIn. Just like Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest is also used as a visual platform, where the customers can get all the products in one place.

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Depend on YouTube Marketing:

In today’s era, 90% of people take their purchasing decision based on the reviews provided by the bloggers via YouTube.

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As per the above chart, it is evident that with time, the sales have increased if the sellers refer to the videos for marketing their products. In turn, it helps the sellers to experience a higher conversion rate through the selling of the items. Before purchasing an item, people usually ask the YouTubers or check their reviews on the same item.

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Invest in Advertising the Brand: The above mentioned marketing techniques are all organic marketing. Organic marketing takes time to generate traffic to the business over time. If you are looking for the fastest growing result, then you should invest in running paid campaigns or Google ads. It will in turn help you in getting immediate action.

Google Ads allows your business to be placed at the number one rank. Each of the online sellers wishes to hold the first position in Google ranking so that customers can easily find the website, explore the website and start shopping.

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Google and Facebook paid Ads always keep the customers reminded about the products, which they left on the website a long back. Hence, to increase the reach and conversion rate, Google Ads and Facebook paid Ads have a large contribution to dropshipping business in India.

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8. Provide Premium Customer Service

One of the challenges the owner of dropshipping business faces over the retail business is longer shipping and delivery of the products to the customers. To deal with such challenges, business owners need to serve top-notch customer service.

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The business owners must follow the below mentioned facts in serving the best quality customer services:

• The owners should be ready at any point time to solve the queries or answer them at any point of time

• Send the customers regular updates after they place the order

• Provide the tracking details

• Take a confirmation that the customers receive the products

• Request the customers to share the review on social media so that the others get a chance to know about the service and quality
  

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Tip: If any customers will receive damaged products due to the shipment on a long journey, it will be the seller's duty to refund the amount for that particular item. In that case, to claim the refund, ask your customers to share the opening video, so that there should be transparency. The business owner should deal with the entire process very quietly.

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9. Get Your GSTIN

If you have completed the registration for running a dropshipping business in India, then you should provide your GSTIN to the suppliers after all the transactions, so that you can claim the ITC (Input Tax Credit) afterward.

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This technique applies only to dropshipping organizations. Nevertheless, if you have a plan to operate and run the dropshipping business as an individual, then you do not get the GSTIN. Keep your suppliers reminded about the GSTIN to stay guarded against any legal issues in the future.  

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Dropshipping Companies in India

Dropshipping companies in India do not manage to store the products they are selling. Rather, the dropshippers purchase the products from the third-party/ suppliers/ wholesalers immediately after the customer places the order and confirms the same. This is how the dropshippers are dealing with the inventory and storing issue.

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More specifically, the dropshipping business allows the sellers to make a direct sale between the third party and the customers, instead of storing the items previously (even before the customers place the orders).

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Since the dropshipping business does not demand a huge investment like the retail business model. Hence, it is one of the lucrative and feasible business ideas to start your career.

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Some popular dropshippers of India are mentioned in the following section.

• myCDS

• Tradeindia

• Tradeford

• Webdealindia

• Baapstore

• IndiaMART

• Jim Trade

• ExportersIndia  

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Here in the following section, the business strategies of some of the above-mentioned dropshippers have been discussed.

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1. myCDS

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myCDS is the first existing dropshipper in India, which aims to build a connection between the wholesalers and the resellers. myCDS has a separate professional team to look after the connection between the retailers and resellers so that they can be empowered in turn.

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2. TradeIndia

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TradeIndia has been operating its dropshipping business since 1996. The organization targets to provide a 360° digital solution to all the listed businesses under it. The businesses associated with TradeIndia can make a secure and safe transactions and can operate smoothly for both the buyers and the third party. TradeIndia also has a presence in the global market. Hence, it assists the buyers to shop from the Indian suppliers, manufacturers, and exporters. ‍

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3. Tradeford

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Tradeford dropshipper is an ideal example, which is in the growing stage of the business unlike the established top dropshipping companies of India. Tradeford enables the products to reach customers from Indian manufacturers.

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Hence, the new start up dropshippers can get an idea about the business strategy followed by the Tradeford to make its business an established one. Being a new dropshipper, Trade form takes care of its customers in a better manner.

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4. WebdealIndia

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WebdealIndia serves the wholesale marketplace in the nation. This indicates that both the local and global manufacturers will get a chance to display the product on the website. WebdealIndia is dealing with premium brands across the world. The company offers user-friendly websites for its clients so that they can easily search for their products through the wide category line.  

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5. IndiaMart

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IndiaMart is one of the largest dropshipping companies in India, which offers its customers a genuine supplier base so that the customers can easily get their products as per their choices. Under the B2B business model offered by IndiaMart, the customers will get all the major suppliers and manufacturers. The dropshipping model of IndiaMart is the ideal example of bridging good connections between the retailers and the suppliers.

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6. Jim Trade

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Jim Trade is the other example of successfully running a dropshipping business in India, which also facilitates global trade. It aims at providing detailed information about the local business to the international buyers along with the integrated marketing services to suppliers.

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7. ExportersIndia

ExportersIndia is counted as one of the most reliable dropshipping companies in the country since it offers a flexible shopping experience for the customers. It has been running its business successfully for two decades after gaining so many positive reviews from its customers.

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ExportersIndia got facilitation not only in India but also in the global market. With ExportersIndia, the customers also get a chance to be associated with the big brands like NAULAKHA, MIRAJ, ACE, PARAG, etc.

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8. Baapstore

Baapstore was founded only a few years back in India. Within a short period, it acquired the title of the best dropshipping company in India. It originated in Chennai.   Baapstore has a partnership with the companies like Ecom Express, Speed Post, Aramax, FedEx, and Delhivery. Baapstore always looks after the operational functioning of the backends such as the hosting, deliveries, technical, and cataloging more carefully.  

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Is Dropshipping Profitable in India?

As per the current trend accepted by the customers, it can be concluded that Dropshipping business in India has been booming for the past few years. With the rising sales of eCommerce businesses, the dropshipping business has been growing at a rapid pace.  

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As per the above graph, it can be observed that the e-commerce business has been leaping across the global market. Consequently, India is not left behind in this matter.

Not only in the global market, but the e-commerce business in India has also been growing sharply. Hence, the constant expansion of the eCommerce businesses during the past few years is solely driving the demand for dropshipping businesses.

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The sellers are now more interested to enjoy flexibility, and scalability from the business, more specifically where the inventory requirement and capital investment are very low.  

Apart from the sharp growth rate experiencing the eCommerce business, the business owners of India can also think of starting a dropshipping business in India, which are listed in the following section:

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Average Income in Dropshipping Business in India

In India, the business owners of dropshipping businesses can expect to earn between Rs 20,000 to Rs 5,00,000 every month. The profitability percentage is depending on the number of items sold and the pricing strategy of the products.

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After opening a new venture, it is difficult to expect to earn a high profit. Once the sellers start to get recognition or start to become familiar with the customers over the years, the sellers can draw a decent salary every month.  

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The sellers should fix the prices of the products in such a way that it also includes the shipping fees apart from paying the amount to the wholesalers. The sellers should also pay a certain amount to the dropshipping website for maintaining the business account and for marketing the products (for running Google Ads or Facebook Ads, as discussed earlier).

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Once the payment is done, the rest of the amount will be enjoyed by the business owner. For instance, a dropshipper can earn 20%-30% profit from the sales of the products.

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Is Dropshipping Legal in India

Dropshipping in India is completely legal. The entire process under the dropshipping business model is completed when the retailer handles sales and the supplier handles the shipping. Before starting the dropshipping business in India, the business owners should look after the following things:

• Get licenses and trademark

• Taxes Management

• Selling counterfeit products

• Responding to the customers as per their needs

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Apart from these, the business owners must also deal with legal issues. Go through the following content to get an idea about the legal issues.

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Top Dropshipping Products in India

The ideal way to find out the top dropshipping products in India is to look at the competitors or to check the Google trends. Check the lists of best dropshipping products in India are listed in the following section.

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1. Tshirts

As per the report, a dropshipper can earn around 30,000 monthly by dropshipping Tshirts. Considering the climate of the Indian tropical regions, the T-shirt is the most demanded item in India. If the buyers like the quality of the product, they don't even care about the brand name and price. The most important thing that they are looking for is comfort.

Some successful dropshippers, who sell Tshirt, are:

• Qikink.com

• Printship.com

• Printrove.com

• Vendorboat.com

• Eprintcare.com

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All of the above-mentioned dropshipping websites provide customized Tshirt to the customers according to their demand.

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2. Cosmetics

Girls and women are fond of cosmetics. They love to wear makeup on any occasion, whether it be a birthday party or it is a baby shower. Considering the trend, one can start a dropshipping business in India in cosmetic selling products.

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Moreover, women are very conscious about their makeup brands. They love to apply overseas makeup products due to their quality. In that case, the dropshippers in India can import those items and drop ship to the customers. Only you need to make a channel with the global suppliers and manufacturers.

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3. Small Innovative Gadgets

Indians love small gadgets to make their lives simpler. Small gadgets like mobile stands are one of the most demanded items for dropshipping. Dropshippers are making a lot of money by dropshipping small gadgets like mobile stands or mobile holders.

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Another demanded product for dropshipping is a laptop table. The sale of such small gadgets has increased especially after covid when people have to work from home. The dropshippers in India are referred to the Ali-Express or Chinese websites for dropshipping small innovative gadgets at a cheap rate.

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4. Winter Jackets

Selling jackets during the winter season can be a good option for dropshipping in India. The dropshipper can get the products from the manufacturers of any hill station at a much cheaper rate and can supply them to potential customers. Before winter, the sale of winter wear is getting tremendously high. This is also a very good option for making money.

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5. Accessories for Home Decorations

Who does not want to decorate his home beautifully? If the buyers find anything innovative and lucrative, target to purchase them. Hence, the dropshippers should not lose this opportunity to make a profit from selling this product.

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Only the drop shippers need to target the correct customers for them and need to market accordingly. The business owner can rely on Facebook advertising for marketing purposes so that the people will be aware of it.

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Conclusion

Considering the statistical estimation, the dropshipping business in India will reach a valuation of $557.9 billion by 2025. Hence, 33% of online retailers have opted dropshipping business. Hence, to make people aware the business owner can make a business account on the Fynd platform.

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Fynd platform allows the sellers to launch their brand and products in 30 minutes at a nominal subscription charge, that is Rs 599/ month. This amount is bearable for everybody and especially when you have plans to start your dropshipping business on a large scale.

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As per the market trend and demand of the customers, the business owner can smoothly manage the orders, and payments, and the logistics partners are very trustworthy.

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The business owners can expect commendable technical support as per their requirements. Hence, to successfully operate and run the dropshipping business in India in the long run, one should sign up with the Fynd platform without giving it a second thought.

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