Benefits Disadvantages Is dropshipping for you?

3. Retailers sell the products to consumers.
Suppliers and wholesalers do not sell directly to the public; that’s the retailer’s 
job. The retailer is the final step between the product and the consumer.
Retailers provide online storefronts from which consumers purchase products. 
After the product has already gotten marked up by the wholesaler, the retailer 
marks it up yet again to arrive at the final price. By ‘mark-up’, we’re referring to 
setting a price
 that covers the cost price of the item and brings you a profit.
That’s it! That’s the entire supply chain from start to finish. It’s a straightforward but 
crucial concept in business.
You might have noticed that I didn’t refer to any specific party as a dropshipper. 
That’s because ‘dropshipper’ is not a specific role. Dropshipping is simply the 
action of shipping products for someone else. Manufacturers, suppliers, and 
merchants can all technically be dropshippers.

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1. What Is Dropshipping?
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In this guide, I’m going to cover how to start a dropshipping retail business. In other 
words, I’ll show you how to become the merchant that purchases products from 
wholesalers to sell to the public. This could mean you sell via eBay or your own 
website with an online storefront.
Now that you know what the supply chain looks like, consider what it’s like for the 
customer.
What the customer experiences
You’ve bought products online hundreds of times before, but you’ve probably 
never thought about the experience. It’s second nature for consumers. As a 
customer, you don’t need to think about it, but as a retailer, you absolutely should.
Image source

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1. What Is Dropshipping?
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Retailers can learn a lot by thinking about the ideal customer experience of 
ordering from a retailer. This may seem obvious, but if there are any snags in the 
customer experience, it could spell trouble for you as a retailer. It’s important to 
know what your buyers expect.
For the sake of explanation, let’s pretend you have a business called Fancy Water 
Bottles, a site called FancyWaterBottles.com, and a wholesaler called Water Bottles 
Worldwide. Here’s what the ordering process would look like from the customer’s 
perspective: