How To Find Reliable Suppliers

Finding reliable suppliers for your dropshipping store will take some time but it isn’t difficult.

Determine Your Platform

One of the first steps to finding a great supplier is choosing a platform to dropship on. There are many great options for beginners and ecom veterans alike such as Aliexpress, CJ Dropshipping, DH Gate, Alibaba and many more. This is where you will source your products, export your orders daily and have your suppliers manage the rest. Aliexpress is definitely the most common source and a perfect option to get started with as well! There are countless reasons to have a great supplier representing your brand, such as customer satisfaction, product quality, pricing, your reputation and more.

So what exactly are you looking for in a quality supplier? To start, you want the best quality available for your selection of products as they are the heart of your brand. In order to minimize returns & refunds while maximizing customer happiness, you need to be able to guarantee the quality of your products. Doing this will result in more organic 5 star reviews being posted across your store. Another thing you need to look out for is their sales rep(s). You want your suppliers to have helpful and knowledgeable sales reps working for their brand to make communication easier and ensure that your needs are met.

Besides quality control and helpful sales reps, fast shipping speeds will be another major determining factor. You want to find a supplier that works well with dropshipping stores, offering at least 24 hour processing times and 1-2 week shipping speeds. A good supplier will offer multiple shipping options at competitive rates while a great supplier will also throw in bulk VIP pricing depending on the volume of sales you receive each day. They will create “VIP Links” for your products, allowing you to receive exclusive discounts without your competition snooping around and finding your winning products.

Finding The Right Supplier

You’ve picked out your platform and now understand the basics of what makes a great ecommerce supplier. Next you need to choose the right ones for your brand and start reaching out to them. You should have chosen a product by this point, but if you need help be sure to watch this video on how to find winning products. So let’s look for suppliers based on the factors mentioned above.

To start, find multiple suppliers for your product and message them asking them using a pre-written script, customized to your brand. Don’t overthink this message, but simply introduce yourself, your company and ask a few questions to determine if they’re a good fit.

These questions should be:

1. Do you support dropshipping? How many orders per day can you process?
2. What is your processing time? Which shipping options do you offer?
3. Which countries do you ship to? What are the speeds?
4. Do you offer bulk pricing? What is the deepest discount?
5. Can you put my logo on this product?

These happen to be just a few of the important questions you want answered. As mentioned, you should message around and compare suppliers to find the best one for each product you sell. Once you find one that’s reliable, you can even ask them to expand their inventory and source other products for your store. One time I had a supplier in the healthcare industry help me out with print on demand sourcing for one of my stores and he’s still one of my best contacts to this day! Putting in the time to find quality suppliers will be beneficial and valuable to your brand for years to come.

Based on their answers from your initial messaging, you should have an idea as to which supplier might work out best for you. The best way to really determine a supplier’s shipping speeds is by actually placing a test order. Go ahead and place an order from your supplier to determine the shipping speed, product quality and customer service. When it arrives, you can then use it to shoot custom content such as video ads, product photos and more. If everything passes the test then you’ve got a new supplier!

They should be able to create VIP listings for your product, exclusive to your company. These are Aliexpress listings without product images or descriptions (to keep your products off the radar) and adjusted pricing based on your negotiated rate. It’s also a great idea to message around and negotiate with suppliers as you may be able to get your cost down with each one. Keep repeating this process with each new product an store you create, and you’ll have a brand that’s ready to scale to the moon!