Beginner questions

Product Development & Sourcing

Topic summary

A user seeks advice on selling high-quality coffee from local producers who lack dropshipping infrastructure and are unfamiliar with e-commerce platforms like Shopify.

Business Model Clarification:
The original poster plans a subscription-based coffee shop (€25-30 per 250g) featuring curated specialty coffee. They’re concerned that selling products with existing roaster branding could lead customers to bypass their shop and purchase directly from producers at lower prices.

Suggested Approaches:

  • Traditional dropshipping: Get permission from roasters to resell, then forward customer orders and shipping details to the original seller
  • Third-party fulfillment: Purchase bulk inventory and use services like ShipBob or Amazon FBA to handle storage and shipping
  • Self-fulfillment: Start small (50-100 bags) to validate the concept, understand customers, and test pricing (2x-4x markup suggested)
  • Private labeling: Consider white-label arrangements with roasters to build brand loyalty and prevent customer bypass

Key Considerations:
Dropshipping offers lower upfront risk but thinner margins and less control. Holding inventory requires more investment but enables better branding, quality control, and profit margins—critical factors for a premium subscription model.

Summarized with AI on November 1. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

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.

2

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

3

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 :hot_beverage:

4

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

5

Hi :waving_hand:

Both dropshipping and holding inventory have their pros and cons—it really depends on your goals.

Dropshipping is lower risk since you don’t need to buy stock upfront, but margins are slimmer, and you rely on third-party suppliers for quality and shipping times.
Holding inventory gives you better control over product quality, branding, and faster shipping, but it requires more upfront investment and storage.

If you’re testing a new product or want to minimize risk, dropshipping is a good start.

But if you want higher margins and a strong brand, owning inventory is the way to go.

What’s your main concern—cost, speed, or control?

6

Since you’re looking for a dropshipping supplier for coffee. I would suggest our Shopify app

The app is called Dripshipper and specializes in providing over 70+ coffee & tea products that are private label (your branding) and no minimum order quantity.

All the coffee through Dripshipper is specialty grade so you can get the high quality coffee you are looking for.