Beginner questions

[erikoniga]

Hi,

I want to sell high-quality coffee produced by local producers, but they don't offer any dropshipping solutions. In this case, I would have to contact them and develop a Shopify solution with them, but I'm not sure how to proceed. Most of them don't even know what Shopify or dropshipping is. In this case, is it better to have my own inventory and organize my own transports or still opt for dropshipping? Thanks.

[Dan-From-Ryviu]

Hi @erikoniga 

Please request permission from the original sellers to resell their products. If they approve, you can then add the products to your store and set a profit margin. When customers make purchases from your store, use their shipping address to order the items from the original seller.

Best regards,

Dan from Ryviu

[JoesIdeas]

If they don't offer shipping, then you would have to buy in bulk from them. You can use a 3rd party warehouse to store inventory, and automatically ship to the customer. 2 companies I used when I was selling on Shopify: ShipBob and Amazon FBA (Amazon requires an Amazon account + setup: https://orderautomator.com/amazon-fulfillment-guide).

With either of those, you send in the products (or have your supplier send them), then you connect your Shopify store and they fulfill the orders for you.

Since you're just starting out, you may want to start small and ship yourself, to have proof of concept that the business will work and to also get to know your customers and business better.

1. Work out an arrangement with your supplier(s) - how much will they charge for 10 bags of coffee vs 50 bags vs 100 bags vs 1000 bags, etc.

2. Research your market. If you can sell the bags retail at a markup you're comfortable with, then go for it (2x - 4x markup is reasonable, but depends on various factors like the quality product, type of product, the supplier, etc).

3. Create a Shopify store

4. Place your first order with your supplier (50 - 100 bags would be nice if your supplier allows it, to start small before you make a big investment)

5. Take professional photos of the product and set your store live, then start marketing.

Good luck ☕️

[erikoniga]

Hi, I'm planning on selling curated coffee, where 250 g already costs around 25 - 30 €. I want to create a coffee shop where people have to pay a monthly subscription in order to receive special curated coffee from my shop. But I think it is not wise to buy coffee products from roasters, which have their own package and brand on them. Because people might just check the brand and buy from them afterwards, since their price might be cheaper. What do you think? Maybe private labeling through roasters would be an option, but I'm not sure how much the investments would be there or what the procedure would be or if it is a better solution. What do you think