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Coronavirus Dropshipping Update

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Coronavirus Dropshipping Update

Coronavirus Dropshipping Update

This year has been the toughest start to anyone dropshipping from China.  First, dropshippers had to prepare for Chinese New Year when factory workers take a two week break and all shipping from China completely shuts down.  Then unexpectedly, the Coronavirus made its mark across the world.  As the virus spreads, I’ve been hearing many questions about the toll the current situation has taken on dropshipping.  People are scared, and many are unsure about what to do with their eCommerce businesses.  In this post I want to provide you with an accurate Coronavirus dropshipping update.

Finally, some good news!  According to Zendrop, the vast majority of Chinese suppliers are back to work and processing orders again.  There still remains some backlog that they must process so receiving tracking information may take up to a week.  However, my experience has been even better.  Just about every order I’ve placed in the past week has been processed and shipped within 2 to 3 business days.  It seems like the suppliers are operating even faster than before.  Many suppliers who were low on inventory are fully stocked up and ready to process orders.

Coronavirus Dropshipping Update

It’s a good idea to get in contact with your suppliers.  If you are still using AliExpress, send them a message asking them what their current back-order situation and processing times are.  If you are looking for a sourcing agent outside of Zendrop, search in larger dropshipping Facebook groups asking for sourcing agents.  They’ll usually give you their Whats App so you’ll have a direct line of contact with someone on the ground in China.  I’ve talked to one of my sourcing agents to confirm that everything is back to normal and this is what he had to say:

Coronavirus Dropshipping Update

Even during times of crisis, it is a great time to get started dropshipping again for several reasons.

Positive Coronavirus Dropshipping Updates:

  • CPCs are Low – Dropshippers have slowed down or stopped all of their advertisements on Facebook due to the Coronavirus.  With less competition in the market, the cost to advertise on Facebook is very low.  I’ve recently been getting CPCs as low as $.06 that I usually needed to spend at least $.25 to get. 
  • People Are Online More – With the vast majority of people being told to stay at home and self-quarantine, there are many more active users on Facebook and Instagram throughout the day than ever before.  People are stuck in their homes bored and looking for things to do.  It’s a great time to dropship toys, electronics, or anything that can relieve their boredom.  Throw an enticing ad into their feed and people are much more likely to convert during this time
  • Cheaper Prices – With suppliers trying to get back on track, they need business and are willing to negotiate.  Supply and demand! With the decrease in the number of orders they’re receiving, they are willing to negotiate the wholesale price down to offer dropshippers a larger profit margin
  • Fast Processing – I’ve never seen processing times as fast as the current times.  The slowest processing speed I’ve seen over the past week is 2 days.  The majority of my orders are being processed and shipped within one business day. 

Negative Coronavirus Updates

  • Countries Closing Borders – You still have to do some research if you’re targeting countries worldwide and shipping from China.  Currently, Italy is the only country where you can’t get your products shipped into. Several countries have completely closed their borders to people living outside them, but they’re allowing shipments through.  You can checkout this Forbes article to learn how Europe has become one of the most affected area during this time.
  • E-Packet Delays – Although processing times are as fast as ever, e-packet shipping is facing some delays due to the coronavirus and the shipment backlog. Shipping times may average around 20 days, so just be sure to be transparent with your customers to avoid customer satisfaction issues
  • Higher Shipping Prices – Prices for shipping have gone up across the board by roughly 20%. Don’t stress, this means if you were paying $1 for shipping you’re now only paying $1.20.

Overall, I hope you feel a little relieved with this Coronavirus dropshipping update.  It’s been a rough start to 2020 but now is a great time to start researching products, optimizing your store, boosting your social media, producing quality content and creating a solid strategy.  Low advertising costs and more people on their devices means more dropshipping potential. 

Here is another Coronavirus dropshipping update from Scott Hilse:

Keep an eye out in the news for more Coronavirus dropshipping updates. As it seems the situation may get worse in many countries, especially Europe, before it gets better. Don’t run ads to Italy at the moment, and I wouldn’t recommend scaling with advertising in Europe until the situation begins to brighten.

I hope this article has provided some value, I’ll continue to post content regarding the effect of the Coronavirus on dropshipping.

In the meantime, checkout a few of my latest posts related to dropshipping: