A drop shipping business is a sales model where sellers accept orders via websites and other sales channels, but don’t carry inventory and ship products themselves. Instead, drop ship sellers use suppliers that ship products directly to customers on their behalf. Thus, drop shippers have no upfront or ongoing inventory, storage, or warehouse staffing costs….
About the Author
Krista Fabregas
Krista Fabregas is a staff writer at Fit Small Business and editor of the Ecommerce Section. Krista launched her first ecommerce site in 2001, and soon grew to operate two niche B2B and B2C sites, a 10K square foot warehouse, and staff of nine. Combined, her sites sold more than $1.5M annually for several years. Krista now shares her hands-on experience with others looking to expand into online sales. When not helping small business owners launch and grow efficient ecommerce operations, Krista enjoys writing fiction and nonfiction and riding horses and motorcycles in her hometown of Houston.
25 Best WooCommerce Themes for 2018 [+ Free Theme Options]
WooCommerce themes are WordPress website design templates specifically designed to work with the WooCommerce ecommerce plug-in. WooCommerce ecommerce functionality works within most WordPress themes, but the best WooCommerce themes are designed to visually connect every element site-wide. WooCommerce themes ensure that home, category, blog, and shop pages all deliver the same branded experience. Our 25…
How to Integrate WooCommerce & QuickBooks in 4 Steps
WooCommerce QuickBooks integration connects and automates data transfer between systems in real-time, eliminating the need for manual data entry. Third-party plug-ins such as Zapier and MyWorks make this integration possible. Connections can be simple data transfers, like posting sales, or complex, like real-time inventory updates. The best plug-in for you depends on your operational needs….
How to Sell Books on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing in 4 Steps
Anyone can sell books on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Opening an Amazon KDP account, listing, and selling books on Amazon are all free—and you get paid each time a book sells. We’ll walk you through setting up an Amazon KDP account and show you how to sell books on Amazon in four simple steps….
Amazon Affiliate Program: What It Is & How to Get Started
The Amazon affiliate marketing program, called Amazon Associates, is free to join and pays bloggers and website owners a percentage of every sale they refer to Amazon. Getting started is simple, and the earnings can be big. Part-timers can make hundreds of dollars each month easily while some power bloggers make millions annually. Before you…
How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business in 5 Steps in 2018
Learn how to start affiliate marketing by finding a niche market, creating a website and crafting content that promotes affiliate products. You can start an affiliate site for just $2.95 per month and earn thousands per month working part-time. The biggest affiliate marketers make millions each year and most started out small — just like…
WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Price, Features & Which is Best in 2018
In comparing WooCommerce vs. Shopify, two top-rated ecommerce platforms, both deliver complete online sales, order management and shipping tools. WooCommerce excels in blogging features while Shopify provides built-in multichannel marketing integrations. Both are expandable via plug-ins or apps, and both are budget-friendly — WooCommerce starts at $6.95 per month and Shopify at $29 per month….
How to Market a Product in 5 Steps
Product marketing starts with defining your target audience—consumers, businesses, or both—then researching the competition, identifying your outreach and sales channels, developing a product story, and finally, launching your plan. Our five-step guide shows you how to market a product effectively and within budget, plus keep sales momentum going post-launch. How Product Marketing Works in 2018…
Best Shipping Software for 2018: ShippingEasy vs ShipStation vs Ordoro
Ecommerce shipping software lets you compare shipping rates among different carriers, select the best option for each parcel, and print shipping labels. We reviewed the best shipping software providers and found that ShippingEasy, ShipStation, and Ordoro cover a range of small business and ecommerce shipping needs in terms of price, ease of use, and key…
Fulfillment Center: Definition, Providers & Costs for 2018
A fulfillment center is a business that provides outsourced inventory storage, order packing and shipping services to ecommerce sellers and other companies that store and ship goods. With fulfillment centers covering these time-consuming tasks, small businesses owners can focus on growth. Outsourcing fulfillment is more flexible and often more economical than an in-house operation. Outsourcing…
Review: Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing vs. Smashwords
In this Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) vs. Smashwords review, you’ll see that both platforms let you sell e-books online, but each targets different audiences. Kindle Direct Publishing lets you sell e-books to readers using Amazon Kindle devices, which account for 70 percent of e-book sales worldwide. Smashwords distributes e-books across marketplaces that cover the remaining…
6 Best Free Inventory Management Software Options for 2018
Free inventory management software lets business owners easily organize and classify products, track stock counts, manage vendor data, and make manual or real-time adjustments for sold, received, damaged, and obsolete goods. We reviewed the range of free inventory software options and identified six top solutions for small business in terms of features and ease-of-use. Top…
