By Murphy February 25, 2019
AliEepress is commonly used as product source for drop-shipping. While market changing rapidly and so does your business model. Are you still got complaints about its slow delivery time? Is your price competitive? Let’s find out are any better alternatives than AliExpress. The article will introduce 3 alternatives to AliExpress.
What service you adopt reviews your status on the drop-shipping business. There are three alternatives to AliExpress for drop-shipping. AliExpress is a great tool to get started with drop-shipping and to get a feel for the business model. However, it is not an optimal fulfillment strategy when you start getting a lot of orders and want to provide a good customer experience. Each of these Aliexpress alternatives has a different level of barrier-to-entry and provides different benefits for your business.
The first method is Oberlo suppliers. Using Oberlo suppliers allows you to avoid going through AliExpress and streamlines your fulfillment by allowing you to one-click order for all your orders. However, the downside is that the products are priced at a markup relative to AliExpress and there can still be processing delays.
The second alternative, drop-shipping agents in China. It is very efficient and cost saving. This is the cheapest method for drop-shipping internationally. Drop-shipping agents buy in bulk from the source and ship your orders for you. However, they typically have a minimum of 20-50 orders per day in order to work with you. The fulfillment is usually done by exporting your orders to a CSV file every day and sending it to the agent. The agent will send it back with all the tracking numbers once the orders are shipped. If you are averaging 50+ orders a day, a Drop-shipping agent is very helpful.
The last alternative that I cover is the use of fulfillment centers. With fulfillment centers, you buy inventory in bulk from AliBaba.com and send it to a fulfillment center. This is the best alternative for building a long-term business, having full control over your inventory and offering fast shipping times. It is possible to offer delivery in under 7 days in the US. However, the main downside is that you need to distribute your inventory effectively if you’re shipping internationally.
So what you choose to apply basically up to your business scale. If you’re a beginner for drop-shipping, AliExpress is where you start. If you already have winning products in hand, or you want to do a bulk order to save cost, drop-shipping agent in China is the right choice for you. If you already build a brand that make a lot of sales, and you can manage inventory, you can try local fulfillment center.
Any other options do you know?