Dropshipping Explained: Using the Backbone of Ecommerce to Grow Your Business

Ecommerce 5 min read

If you order products online, there is a good chance those products are being dropshipped to your doorstep. Dropshipping has become the backbone of ecommerce for retail giants and small businesses alike.

I’m embarrassed to admit there are a handful of words that I use with some regularity that I cannot actually define (looking at you, apropos), but let’s not make dropshipping one of them. We’re diving into what it is and how you can use it to streamline and grow your business.

What is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a method of retail where the seller doesn’t hold or manage inventory for the products they sell. Instead, they facilitate the purchase, usually through their website, and let the supplier of the product handle the shipping and fulfillment.

I buy things from Etsy quite often. Some (my husband) might even say too often. But their algorithm is perfect, and they know me better than I know myself, so here we are. When I purchase something from an Etsy seller, their bio might say they’re from Canada, but when my product—most recently an adorable sweatshirt that says “It’s a Good Day to Read” (I mean, honestly, take all my money)—shipped, it came from Florida.

This is a classic example of dropshipping. The seller in Canada lists the graphics and the variety of shirt styles and colors you can order; you pick which you like best, the order is placed, and sent to the screen printing company in Florida to fulfill and ship the order.

This happens with a myriad of products, from shirts and sweatshirts to hats, mugs, and koozies. Many of the products available for dropshipping are printed on-demand, meaning the product isn’t made until the order comes through, but this is not the only application for dropshipping. Any person or business that is holding inventory and allowing you to sell it without having to hold it yourself is facilitating dropshipping.

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How Does Lulu Use Dropshipping?

But since we’re talking about print-on-demand, let’s also talk about books and how Lulu uses print-on-demand technology coupled with dropshipping fulfillment to make dreams come true. If your dreams involve using high-quality books to scale your business without inventory.

All of Lulu’s fulfillment options are powered by dropshipping. In fact, we’ve built a global print and fulfillment network so we can dropship orders more efficiently than anyone else in our industry. And we have multiple ways for you to take advantage of it.

Lulu Bookstore

If you publish and sell books through the Lulu Bookstore, or simply purchase one that someone else has published, each order will be drop shipped to the destination. The order is placed, Lulu prints the book, and ships it to the recipient. Easy peasy.

Order Import Tool

If you are fulfilling pre-orders, a crowdfunding campaign, or just need to place multiple orders at the same time, you can do that easily with Lulu’s Order Import tool. With this tool, you simply upload a CSV file to Lulu with customer and order information included, allowing you to place several orders at once that will all be fulfilled and dropshipped to your customers. If you would like to white-label your orders, the Order Import tool is a great way to start. Orders placed through the Order Import tool will arrive at your customer without any Lulu Branding.

Lulu Direct

If you are using Lulu Direct to sell books through your own website, you can take white-label fulfillment even further with custom packing slips. This means that when your customers receive their order, your branding is on the packing slip, not Lulu’s. You can maintain continuity and keep your branding front and center.

Print APIs

Our Print APIs also allow you to sell books through your own website, with the added benefit of the ability to create custom orders for your audience. This could be a children’s book with the recipient’s name in it, a fitness plan crafted specifically for one person, a workbook with a student’s name on it, and more. Along with all of this, you can also white-label the delivery of the books, making your operation seem like a one-stop shop.

Incorporating Dropshipping Into Your Business

Dropshipping allows you to offer a wide variety of products without having to manage a wide variety of inventory. This allows you to be agile in your product offerings and responsive to market trends and fluctuations.

If you are interested in giving dropshipping a try, the easiest way to start would be by selling a print product through Lulu’s Bookstore. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the publishing process and see the sales come in without having to worry about fulfillment. As your business grows, consider moving to a direct sales method, like Lulu Direct or our Print API. Both give you the opportunity to connect with your audience directly, providing opportunities for real-time feedback, relationship building, and growth. And that nifty white-label shipping we talked about.

Eliminating inventory management and post office runs will give you more time to focus on the things that actually grow your business. You can fine-tune your social media ads or improve email marketing campaigns, moving your attention from just managing to long-term planning and growth.

Regardless of how you decide to enter the world of dropshipping, be sure to give yourself enough time to test the products yourself. Whether you are selling books, calendars, manuals, workbooks, guides, or fuzzy slippers, take the time to order the product for yourself to ensure the process is seamless and the order looks perfect when it arrives. And once you know it will, sit back, relax, and let us do the heavy lifting when orders come in. Except for the slippers. You will have to find someone else for that.