Make Ship Happen: Becoming a Dropship Success Story
The results are in, the ROI is there, and the sales are being closed. So what’s holding you because from taking the Dropship plunge?
I get it — implementing new technology is no easy feat and choosing the solution that’s right for you isn’t a quick, reactive decision. While you evaluate every option, why not browse this blog and see how your business can become a Dropship success story. It’s not a one-in-a-million shot.
The Dropship Basics
If you’re not familiar with Dropship, it’s not hard to get up to speed. This fulfillment service gives you the ability to send items from vendors directly to your customer’s door. With supply chain integrations, you’ll get your customers what they want, when they want it — every time.
While there are a few different drop shipping services out there, Dropship is the only one that integrates directly into RQ. The Dropship Wizard allows you to easily add virtual items to any existing invoice so there’s no need to run two transactions if your customer is also buying a product or service that’s in-store.
A seamless integration not only means product information and pricing details are updated automatically, but it also ensures the customer’s information is pulled from the CRM module of RQ. This means accurate shipping information every time you transact with Dropship.
After a sale is completed in RQ, the vendor is notified and the item is picked, packed, and shipped. It really is that easy!
FUN FACT
Successful Dropship retailers sell approximately 24
Dropship items per location per month.
Supporting Sales Staff
You might struggle with high turnover or low employee engagement but no matter what, the reality is that all associates have a lot on their plate — whether they’re brand new or long-standing workers. Dropship helps alleviate their burden, but their buy-in to a new process all starts with you. As their manager, you’re who they look to when things get tough. Show them all the benefits of Dropship and they’ll be sure to hop on the ramped-up revenue train!
Start with Incentives
Align commissions or start a friendly competition to see who can sell more Dropship items. Bonuses for top performers can help employees see why Dropship is for their own benefit.
Staff Training
Comprehensive training and reference guides can only aid in your staff feeling more comfortable with their Dropship abilities. After outlining the benefits, ensure sales associates have how-tos or tips and tricks readily available. Helpful reminders around the store couldn’t hurt! Not only that, but iQmetrix offers webinars and training programs to help associates become comfortable with their software.
Lead by Example
Like we said, your staff look to you for leadership, support, and help when they need it. Why not show them how it’s done? Hit the sales floor and display how Dropship works in a real-time sales situation. They’ll quickly see how Dropship fills gaps, helps upsell, and is their handy guide to closing a sale.
Words Matter
Saying your staff are busy is an understatement so it’s easy to see how Dropship can be forgotten. Talk about trigger words they can listen for in a conversation with a client that would spur them to bring up Dropship as an option. Maybe the customer talks about looking online — like browsing Amazon of eBay. Make it a rule that if that happens, the associate has to offer Dropship as an alternative. With simple reminders, good habits start to form!
Monitoring Your Metrics
It’s pertinent to make Dropship a focus immediately after the launch of this program. Above and beyond that, it’s important to pay attention to how it’s performing, making sure you’re taking advantage of the sales opportunities this system can offer. Here’s how:
Assign Roles and Accountabilities
Decide who’s responsible for running Dropship reports and how often this should happen. Whether it’s a company owner, operations leader, IT manager, or inventory personnel, having clear ownership will ensure it’s done. Pro tip: ensure whoever is responsible is at a corporate level so information can be disseminated as necessary. It also helps to choose frequency so that information stays relevant and inspires action.
Metrics
When it comes to analytics, there are a lot of different things you could look at. Think about your companies key metrics or performance indicators. Perhaps you can even company different vendors to ensure you have the best product mix.
Managing Intelligent Inventory
Dropship allows you to get creative with your inventory strategy, giving you better control over your cost-of-goods on hand.
More Inventory
Inventory management is always a balancing act. A lot of the time, inventory levels are based on guesswork, making assumptions, and evaluating your own personal opinions on what new items to bring in. With Dropship, you’ll remove that guesswork without adding risk. By monitoring items that sell well with Dropship, you can decide to bring top-selling products that you didn’t stock before, giving the customer exactly what they’re looking for.
Less Inventory
On the flipside, you may decide to carry less inventory altogether because, with Dropship, you can! You don’t need all offered items in store when your vendor can house them for you. Say goodbye to worrying about stale, slow-moving, or outdated inventory. For example, some Dropship users have opted to carry fewer low-end items as they sell quickly and frequently with Dropship. That frees up store space for other items, widening your product offering.
Real-Life Success Stories
When we talk about Dropship generating unprecedented success for your business, we’re not just guessing; we’ve seen it happen before.
Case #1
One of our retailers that operates multiple store brands has seen exponential sales growth with the dynamic duo of Dropship and Endless Aisle — an interactive, customer-facing touchscreen.
The retailer initially enabled only the Dropship functionality but when proved to be successful, they wanted to see how sales would be affected if customers could browse their endless virtual library themselves.
Did the see a difference? You bet! They saw an additional $361 in revenue per screen per month which amounted to an ROI of 1,424%. What started out as 6 Dropship orders per month turned into 200 orders.
During this three-month implementation timeframe, profit from these solutions increased by 6,730%. But what’s next? Because of their success, they decided to expand the Dropship program to more locations which means, you guessed it, more revenue.
Case #2
A retailer launched Dropship and added Endless Aisle as a sales assist for their customers. Being that they were a user of RQ, the seamless integration meant adding these services was easy.
When store managers explained to their sales associates that they could now sell more product and make higher margins, the team actually stood up and cheered. They’d been looking for a way to go above and beyond, and this was it! Now, this retailer uses the screens to not only compare products but to also showcase virtual Dropship items that may not be in store.
Since then, this retailer has seen an 800% increase in Dropship transactions. Their associates are so happy with the ability to sell more and satisfy even further; something they didn’t think was possible given the small square footage of their retail location.
Within three months, this retailer had sold 3,529 additional Dropship items, which resulted in $90,000 in additional profits.
Numbers, and the Dropship solution, don’t lie. With the right implementation, the right buy-in, and a team eager to do business better, you business is sure to be the next Dropship success story.
Want to learn more? Read all about our Dropship partners and how they can help your business close every sale.
