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Do you know anything about dropshipping in Germany? Felix, our today’s guest, has a really positive experience in it – so, let’s see what he wants to share with us!
Hi, please introduce yourself!
Hi! My name is Felix, I live in Germany and run my business here. I had an apprenticeship as a Computer Science Expert.
My computer career began very early. I’m 31 now, and I started learning about computers when I was 7. When I was 11, I programmed my first own text adventures and at the age of 14, I programmed a 3D Modification for the Game “Unreal Tournament”.
After high school (or German “Abitur”), I had an apprenticeship as Computer Science Expert with a focus on Software Development. I shortened the apprenticeship from 3 to 2.5 years because of my high performance.
Why did you decide to try dropshipping in Germany?
I worked for 7 years as an IT Freelancer (Web design, Web development, SEO and SEM).
At some point, I understood that I want an independent lifestyle with no limits associated with a 9 to 5 job.
How did it all begin?
I have read about dropshipping and AliDropship in Yaros’ post on the Warrior forum. It hit my attention from the beginning. “This is was I was searching for”, I thought.
So, I started using various AliDropship solutions, both the original AliDropship plugin and its WooCommerce version, on my different stores. I also purchased some of the Add-ons (Upsell, Facebook Business, Abandoned Cart, Countdown Timer and Recent Sales Pop-up) after they were released. The AliDropship solutions make it very easy to import a product from AliExpress and to fulfill the order after a sale occurs. The addons are great to increase your conversion rate. The Countdown Timer and Recent Sales pop-up nearly doubled my conversion rate.
At the moment, I run 3 stores, but initially, I built around 7. I dropped the stores which weren’t successful after a two week testing phase.
With these 3 dropshipping stores, I made around $350k revenue last year. Here’s a screenshot of the most successful store:
Do you remember the first sale made from your store?
Of course!
Around a week after my first shop went online, I booked an Instagram shoutout. I have written to Instagram influencers with the template AliDropship provided in one of their blog posts. Some influencers liked my store and products, so I booked shoutouts at their pages (one per day only to measure the results & ROI).
And so, I was in the cinema. I knew that an Instagram influencer will bring up a shoutout while I watched the movie (“The Arrival”, btw). At half of the movie, I looked at my phone and couldn’t believe it, the shoutout was up and the orders came dropping in like cheesecakes!
I was so happy and proud of myself at this moment.
How did you choose the niches?
My three successful stores are made according to my personal interest.
Ironically, for the two stores that weren’t successful, I’ve chosen the niches only because I thought the market was broad (cats & dogs supplies), but I did not have a real interest in those niches.
I recommend to choose a niche which you are passionate about!
How do you choose products and suppliers for your store?
I used the search strategies AliDropship recommends in their blog. For the suppliers, I check them with the AliDropship plugin and the “AliPrice” Chrome plugin to see if they are a good fit.
To add new products, I created different wish lists with niche names at AliExpress. I get personalized Instagram ads from AliExpress every day. They show me a set of 10 products and most of the time there are 1-2 new products which I like to add to my store.
How do you set the prices?
I normally aim for a 60-70% profit margin, but I also got “bait” products in my store which have around 20% profit margin.
How do you promote your stores?
Mainly through Instagram influencers, but I also set up a Facebook retargeting campaign (for Instagram), which targets customers who visited a product site, but not the thank you page.
To reach my target audience better, I searched on Instagram for the influencers who fit into my niche.
Promotion through Instagram influencers is the most efficient strategy for me. I tried Facebook ads (not the retargeting, they work great on Instagram!) & Google Ads, but the ROI wasn’t as good as expected.
On average, to promote my stores, I spend around $3,000 per month on all the stores together.
How much time does it take you every day to manage your stores?
Around 1 hour per day (even Saturday and Sunday!) to check if the Virtual Assistants are doing their job right.
Customer support takes most of the time, but I hired 3 Virtual Assistants to provide 24 hours support and I don’t have to take care about it myself now.
What are the most difficult challenges?
Overseeing the Virtual Assistants! In the beginning, I made a wrong choice and hired a person who made a lot of mistakes. But now, all 3 are doing their job great (But I had to test 7 VA’s first to find the right 3).
How do you deal with difficult customers (if any)?
I send them a free t-shirt/sweatshirt/hoodie if they ordered something in the wrong size. I also send free $20 gift codes to the angry customers.
Once, I turned an angry customer to a loyal Evangelist after I send her a free hoodie because she ordered a too small size + a free $20 gift coupon. This customer has had his 7th order now and recommends my store to all their friends!
Did you register your business officially to do dropshipping in Germany?
Yes, I registered an official business here in Germany. In Germany, it’s easy to start a “UG (haftungsbeschränkt)”. You can do so with just 1€, but I recommend you to start at least with 1000€ to cover the legal costs of the founding!
How has your life changed?
I now have the financial freedom to live my life like I want it. And I turned from working as IT Freelancer with 70-80 hours weeks to a business owner with around 10 working hours per week.
My friends and family are very proud of me. Especially my niece is very proud and wants to join my company after school.
What are your plans for the future?
I would like to expand my current stores and build more stores in the niches which I am passionate about!
What can you advise our readers – those who already run their stores and those who didn’t start the business yet?
Keep on board. The beginning may seem a little bit overwhelming until everything is set up and ready, but it’s totally worth it!
Never feels as good as watching the sales come in!
Thank you, Felix, for such an inspiring story! Now we see that dropshipping in Germany, as well as in any other point of the globe, is a highly rewarding business – and it’s definitely worth trying!
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Dropshipping is profitable anywhere if you know how to deal with the right sources.
How is this?
The model is based on the advantage that you don’t have to have your own inventory, that is 0 stock. As an advantage per se, it can have a long list of complications if you don’t do your homework right.
Choosing the wrong partners, and your fees will eat up all the profits, mismanage the opportunities, and have the possibility of chargebacks and too many returns.
Remember you have to use your savings wisely, that is the money you are saving by having to manage and deal with inventories and the consequences and problems you face, such as warehousing costs, utility bills, all the local taxes, and the constant need to move your inventory so it doesn’t become obsolete, or you have to sell it at cost, to recover your capital.
It’s foolish to think dropshipping is risk-free … but it’s a great opportunity, and sometimes, a good way to start earning, that can become your day job.
To be more specific, it’s the only way to risk a minimum, and yet get returns, without having to shed money for operations in advance, even before you start selling.
Yes!! Not only in Germany, you can earn a huge profit through dropshipping from any part of the world if you have basic knowledge in online business and know how to deal with the right source.
Most of you might know about dropshipping. If you don’t, then here is a brief description of it and its workflow.
Dropshipping is one of the popular e-commerce stores that involves a supplier, the dropshipping store, and the customer. It is not necessary to keep products in your stock to sell them to your customer when you’re selling your product through dropshipping. Instead, you can direct the customer product purchase details to your supplier to fulfill the customer’s order—the workflow of dropshipping looks as follows.
Consider, you have started your online retail store. Now, you need to import products that you wish to sell in your store. Once your store becomes online, the customer can start purchasing products. Now, when a customer places an order, the details of the order will be sent automatically to your supplier. Supplier prepares the customer order and ships it directly to the customer.
To create huge profits using dropshipping, there are some important things that you need to keep in mind before starting it.
Choosing the right source. In dropshipping, the source is very important to deal with online business traffic.
Selecting the right partners. The supplier you choose should be trustable.
Managing your savings and shed money for operations in advance. There are many dropshipping suppliers in Germany. You can’t say all of them are trustable. However, there are some suppliers that you can trust, and some of them are Nedis, Dropshipping Paradise, Kokoon Design, Youngfash mode, and Gallay Jewellery & Services.
