Dropshipping for wholesale and retail online stores

What does dropshipping mean?

Dropshipping can be defined as a situation, when a retail store does not offer its own products – if a customer order is received, the store places an order for necessary products at a wholesaler, and the wholesaler sends products to the end customer. This sales model lets retail stores focus on acquiring new customers and making sales, while leaving the order fulfilment process to the wholesaler. In turn, the wholesaler can focus on order handling and warehouse management.

Dropshipping therefore can be mutually beneficial both for wholesale and online stores. Have a look at some of the advantages below:

Cross-docking and dropshipping – the difference

Cross-docking is often mentioned together with dropshipping – sometimes it is even used as a synonym. Quite similar to dropshipping, in the cross-docking model, products are not stocked by the retailer. However, instead of shipping directly do the end customer after receiving an order, the wholesaler sends the products to the retailer first, who then ships them to the customer, often on the same day.

Dropshipping for wholesale stores

Dropshipping advantages for wholesale stores

focus on logistic processes only
sales, marketing and building brand awareness is handled by online stores
once created, the sales network generates long-lasting profits
you do not have to follow web design trends – we do it for you. Just use our STANDARD B2B templates, prepared especially for online wholesale stores
online store orders automatically appear on the list of orders to be handled by the wholesale store – the retail store does not have to place orders on the phone nor via e-mail
as a large wholesale company you can take advantage of ready to use Dropshipping Cloud™, where you will be directly integrated with online stores

How to prepare system of any wholesale store for accepting dropshipping orders from IdoSell stores?

Each wholesaler in the world can provide dropshipping services to thousands of stores using IdoSell, and this is because our online stores are prepared to provide information about dropshipping orders in the CDF format. It is an open format that accepts CustomerAPI - API for exchanging data about dropshipping orders. It is enough to implement CustomerAPI in a wholesale store to become a supplier for all IdoSell shops.

Taking dropshipping orders in a wholesale store is offered in two modes:

basic - through a set of AJAX endpoints, which enable:

• checking whether a wholesale store has products ordered by customers in stock
• uploading products to a wholesale store basket
• placing orders with the indicating shipping address

advanced - through CustomerAPI-ICDF dedicated to dropshipping, which apart from the full functionality of API gateways enables:

• check if the warehouse has ordered products in stock
• upload products to the wholesale basket
• place orders with an indication of the address for shipment and transfer of additional documents for printing (e.g. discounts)
• download a list of couriers offered by the wholesaler
• inquire about the status of store orders in the warehouse
• modify and manage address data of these customers, which the store has transferred to the warehouse
• generate batch invoices on monthly basis

No matter the preferred communication method, the wholesaler receives ICDF formatted XML data. It includes all information necessary for processing dropshipping orders.

Implementing the processes around dropshipping that suit your business requires some knowledge about web services. You can do everything yourself, useful information can be found on: Internet Cross-docking and Dropshipping Format (ICDF). We can also help you prepare the integration, or even create entirely custom logic - contact the support department if you would like to discuss the possibilities.

How to prepare an IdoSell wholesale store for accepting dropshipping orders from online stores based on any software?

Your wholesale store in IdoSell has CustomerAPI, so it can accept dropshipping orders from any online store. It is enough for such a store to adapt to the open format accepted by CustomerAPI in accordance with CustomerAPI documentation.

Dropshipping for online stores

Dropshipping advantages for online stores

no need to stock products yourself
all you need to conduct your business is a laptop and internet access
shipping is commissioned to wholesale stores, you can focus on maximizing sales
after a customer places, pays for an order, and the order is transferred to a wholesale store, you do not have to perform any more actions
your profit comes from the difference between wholesale product price and the price offered in your online store

Dropshipping orders automation

When an order from the customer is sent to the IdoSell shop, the system automatically transfers the order to the wholesaler, and when the order is sent to the customer, a notice is sent to the store, along with the shipment number. The dropshipping order process is transparent for the customer. In conjunction with online invoice delivery the possibility of running a store without human participation is real.

If you decide on full automation of IdoSell stores, as the owner of the online store in case of dropshipping orders handling you will not have to do almost anything when it comes to order handling.

Handling dropshipping orders in IdoSell shop:

Customer places an order
a new order appears in the administration panel. Documents will be issued automatically, e.g. a VAT invoice
we immediately send an invoice to the customer via e-mail - also automatically
the customer pays for the order, the payment is allocated automatically, and we send the order to the supplier (warehouse) - again automatically, without the participation of the store!
the supplier (wholesaler) handles and sends the order to the customer. At the same time, the warehouse sends an automatic notification to the store about the order completion
on basis of the received notification, we will complete the shipment number, change its status to "sent" and notify the store customer by e-mail that the shipment is on its way - also automatically

That's it, the order is already handled and you can wait for the next one. Doesn't it sound good? What's more, online stores and dropshipping wholesalers can exchange information about orders with no additional work. All you need is the right configuration and you can start the adventure with dropshipping - all in the name of the plug & play idea.

Dropshipping Cloud™ - ready ecosystem for large online wholesalers

Thinking about large dropshipping suppliers (wholesalers), we have created the Dropshipping Cloud ™. It offers the ability to install IdoSell online stores with full functionality and capabilities for which the sellers do not incur costs in the form of a typical subscription and which are directly integrated with the supplier's wholesaler, offering automatic adding and updating of products or placing orders.