USA Dropshipping Suppliers and Vendors (Updated)
Drop shipping is one of the most asked about topics surrounding wholesale clothing and the boutique fashion industry. I've pulled together some information to help wannabe fashion drop shippers find suppliers and understand how a drop shipping business works.
What is drop shipping?
Drop shipping is a fulfillment model that allows you to buy products individually (versus entire packs) from a wholesaler and ship them directly to your customer.
The object is to partner with a fashion drop shipping supplier and list their merchandise for sale. Once you receive an order you forward it to the supplier or purchase it on their platform for fulfillment. The supplier will ship the product directly from their warehouse to your customer, and charge you only for the price of the shipped item and the cost of the shipping.
This is how it would look step by step:
- A drop shipper lists a dress for $12.50
- You grab the pics and sell it on Facebook for $25 and $5 shipping cost.
- You will purchase the dress for $12.50 on the drop shippers website and pay the shipping price of let's say $5.00 to have it shipped.
- The drop shipper will ship it to the customer with your name on it as the sender and you come out with a profit of $12.50.
Let's dive into some dropshippers including my favorite USA suppliers.
Notable Drop Shippers
1. Bloom DropShip
BloomDropShip likely has what you've been searching for, cute USA boutique clothing. The problem with most other drop shipper on my list is that they aren't on point with their trends and clothing for American customers (especially middle America). This is likely because most good clothing manufacturers don't drop ship and thus you will have to find a company like Bloom that has one way or another got their hands on good brands.
What also separates Bloom is the prices, low prices means easy sales for you. It's possible you might find a drop shipper with cute clothing but it's unlikely it will be at Blooms prices.
2. Suppliersdata
3. SaleHoo
SaleHoo is a wholesale supplier directory that connects fashion drop shippers to suppliers. It includes suppliers in a variety of niches that serve the United States, UK and Australia.
4. Doba
Doba is a giant marketplace that compiles manufacturers and suppliers into one place. You can search through products in your industry and consolidate them into custom lists. Doba is a well known drop shipper that has been reliable for many boutique customers.
5. Ave Shops
Avenue Shops is a top notch drop shipper that specializes in equipping boutiques with all the five star products, marketing materials and images to flourish a boutique. Before Avenue existed the drop shipping market was really just a desert filled with generic products coming in from China. Thanks to Avenue Shops the market shifted in a major way and now we see the second generation of drop shippers that cater better to boutiques who want to make a boutique online without the costs.
6. FashiongoDS
The site that hosts thousands of wholesale vendors now also provides us with drop shipping products from those same trusted vendors. FashiongoDS launched over a year ago and although it was a slow start due to high prices on clothing and shipping it has since gotten much better and now serves as a genuine portal to find quality drop shipping products. Fashiongo DS also connects with Shopify making it one of my favorite suppliers to work with.
7. Boutique Simplified
This is a fun company that has been around for some time and only gotten better thru the years. Boutique Simplified offers a nice complementary of unique styles and accessories and they are one nicest and most personable groups to work with.
Prices are solid, pictures and models are cute and they ship same day with adorable wrappings and bagging giving your customer that mom and pop feel.
8. Commentsold
Commentsold's latest feature is a drop shipping service that provides all the tools to jump start your boutique. Commentsold is known for being a Shopify webhosting company that is more tailored to boutiques. Now a long with tools such as apps and social media selling it also provides boutiques is a catalog of products that are available to be sync'd to your drop shipping store.
Here is a one minute video I took from Bloom's website that details exactly what drop shipping looks like.
What are some benefits of drop shipping?
Low Capital Needed: With drop shipping, you don’t need to invest thousands of dollars in inventory. Rather, you only purchase a product when you have it sold. The costs you will need to occur will be for an ecommerce platform upon which to sell the item (ie. Shopify, Volusion website or facebook business page) or a monthly business subscription on sites you can sell on like Amazon and Ebay.
Expansive Product Selection: Since it is know cost to you to have more products the only thing holding you back is finding suppliers. The more suppliers you add the more expansive your selection of products and higher likely hood you will sell some merchandise.
Reduced Risk: Without thousands invested in inventory or a brick and mortar store the risk involved with starting an online store is dramatically reduced. If things don’t work out you will probably only lose a couple hundred dollars and additionally you won’t be stuck with thousands in inventory.
Non-Labor Intensive: If you ever wanted to work from home then have I got the career for you. Being a successful drop shipper takes countless hours on the computer marketing and connecting while never having to lift a finger to do shipping and returns.
Did someone say work from home?
Almost all boutique drop shippers run their operation out of their home. Why pay rent for an office when you don't need to!
Is drop shipping a profitable business model?
My take is that with 20 hours of work a week you can realistically come away with 500-2000 dollars of sales a month. Anything more than that will take either 40 hours of work or paid marketing. Additionally you will need some great web design and an ecommerce platform that can set you apart from other online boutiques. The great thing about drop shipping is its not cost intensive, meaning with $200 month you can get completely set up with a hosting site and products.
The downsides to Drop Shipping
The dropshipping market is becoming cluttered. Savvy customers are wising up to the fact that the boutiques they purchase from utilize drop shipping suppliers. Boutique customers purchase and usually spend more money with boutiques because of the idea that they are getting an exclusive style that contrasts with what they can purchase at a big box store like Walmart or Target. When a boutique customer see that the boutique they have been purchasing with carries items that are found all over other websites and social media platforms, this can be a turn off.
You can avoid this as a boutique by being very selective about what your bring into your store and site. Curate what your customers are looking for and don't cram the site with a million products. Also try shooting the products on yourself or a friend. We've all got a smart phone laying around that takes hi-def images and putting out original photos with you as the model almost always makes your customer think the pieces are ultra exclusive.
Another downside to drop shipping is the infrastructure doesn't allow for much personalization with your customers. Contrast this with a cozy brick and mortar that allows boutique owners to be face to face with their customers and solidify lasting business relationships.
You can avoid this downside by doing live sales and putting a face to your business. You can attempt to mimic your live shows off the wildly popular QVC channel. QVC, despite not being in-person, creates a fun and personable experience with their customers that you too cane take advantage of with the latest tech available to you. Additionally be sure to reach out via email or phone to personally welcome any of your new customers. This will cement a relationship with the customer and keep them shopping with you in the near future.
What kind of profit margins can I expect with drop shipping?
Profit margins will vary greatly depending on the products you sell. If is is jewelry then you will be looking at a couple dollars of profit. However if you can manage to sell a couple dozen dresses and tops and double up the cost of the item then you will be looking at a nice profit and some extra income. The standard mark up in the boutique is 2.5x, so if something is priced on the drop shipping site at $10 then you will sell it at $25 and pick up $15.
Where do people sell drop shipped product?
Any where you can! Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest and now the latest place is TikTok. Social media sites continue to make it easier to do transactions and build businesses on their platform. These sites are especially useful to battle against brick and mortar stores because you can reach tons of people and hopefully have an item or two go viral (Read 3 ways to go viral). In fact most boutiques that you've shopped with have at one point had their big break via a social media blowup that jumpstart their boutique.
Using Synclogic Drop Shippers
Synclogic redefines the dropshipping landscape by streamlining the synchronization of products and inventory management. With the ability to manage multiple stores from a centralized platform, Synclogic empowers businesses to expand their reach effortlessly. Whether you're a dropshipper, wholesaler, or managing multiple storefronts, Synclogic offers a comprehensive solution.
Tips and Tricks
As mentioned, check out commentsold, this website and many others are catering to the rapidly expanding drop shipping market. You may have seen other boutiques utilizing Commentsold tech before that includes the capability to create seamless transactions with customers on social media purchasing via chat comments. Commentsold makes it easy to garner sales during your live showcases, customers simply list their email and product # on a post that you list and this app automatically generates an invoice for them.
If you find a drop shipper that offers SyncLogic or any syncing capabilities this is also a great tool for wanna be drop shippers. By using a program like SyncLogic you can instantly transfer all of the data, products images, inventory, etc to your boutique website and sell it as your own.
The drop shipping market is rapidly evolving and so far I'm loving what I'm seeing. I highly recommend hoping on this bandwagon while its still in its infancy.