New member, developing dropship software for wholesalers
Hello everyone,
I'm Paul, based in the North West UK. I've got a small software development company and we've been working on a dropshipping software solution for wholesalers for a good part of 2 years now.
A little about me : I'm 35, from a technical marketing background, have worked with numerous technical start-ups and one toy wholesaler, with my primary role as a consultant on Internet related marketing. I've also done some 360 degree panoramic photography, and I surf at the weekends in North Wales.
A little about my company : we started working on a dropshipping solution for a client company, then went on to start a dedicated dropshipping business to make our software portable and affordable to other wholesalers.
We are very close to beta testing our software which allows any wholesaler or distributor to dropship their products, with blind label shipping. It also allows the retailer to instantly launch a fully stocked, fully customisable webstore.
I've seen all sorts of 'dropshipping' related efforts pop-up over the past year, many of them scams, many of them completely disregarding the basics of good trading and customer service.
Our software is designed to handle the basics of any good trading situation well, and is based on our following beliefs;
a) Good dropshipping is all about efficient stock control
b) Existing retailers (even the late adopters) are better at selling than 'get r*ch quickers'
c) Make tools simple enough for your Gran to figure out
d) If a wholesaler ever wants to profit from dropshipping, he has to provide tools which make it easy for Internet resistant retailers and tools which make it easy for the consumer.
e) Just because you want to dropship, doesn't mean you can break all the rules of e-commerce (or not learn them in the first place) and think you will get away with it.
With all that stuff in mind, our software ended up being a tool that favoured wholesalers who want to help their existing retailers make a successful leap from bricks and mortar trading to both bricks and mortar and online selling. (As opposed to wholesalers who want to attract get r*ch quickers)
Ours is more of a 'get r*ch slow' tool.
Ok, I feel myself slipping into evangelist mode, so I'll wrap it up there. I am on here to start a conversation with wholesalers who are serious about getting dropshipping right and I'm actively looking for beta testers for our system. I'm also very interested in talking to retailers who want to make the transition to selling online, but feel like they really aren't 'internet people'.
Our wholesale experience is quite hands on, but somewhat limited when you consider the diverse range of businesses the title covers, so I'm keen to learn.
Most of all, I'd love to talk with people who have the vision to combine the best of bricks and mortar retailing with the benefits of online retailing. That's where I believe the real and most exciting potential is - local, human faced retail experts who can show you a physical product, but also have the back-up of unlimited product options online, stock that they don't need to buy or shelve, but can have quickly delivered direct to the consumers door.
Look forward to some interesting chats!
Paul Magee
Linear Mode
December 2008
