The world finds itself in unchartered waters amid the coronavirus pandemic. From logistics and manufacturing to hospitality and travel, businesses both large and small have been impacted in more ways than one.
Whether you’re a budding or experienced entrepreneur, the coronavirus outbreak has probably also affected your business. This is especially given that most products are sourced from China, where the outbreak started and whose supply network has been shut down for a couple of months now.
As bleak as the situation may appear to be, it is important to keep your spirits high. There’s a silver lining in every situation and opportunities to keep your ecommerce store going and growing abound.
For more insight, we spoke to four successful dropshippers from around the world and they shared their experiences with us and told us how they’ve been affected. Instead of taking the hit lying down, these expert entrepreneurs are staying positive and are taking advantage of the situation to build their dropshipping store.
We’ve compiled their answers, tips, and advice in this post and we hope they can offer you an inspiring perspective running a business.
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Emma Reid
How It’s Affected Her Business
The factory Emma usually orders her products from has been shut down for over a month. That means she remains unable to place orders and will be running out of stock very soon. Deliveries via ePacket shipping have proven impossible because of cancellations to passenger flights. To make matters worse, the factory takes 30 days to manufacture her product, which puts her further in limbo.
How She’s Coping
- Keeping her customers updated with shipping times
- Planning the future of the business and her product
- Redesigning and customizing her website with a new store theme
- Working on branding and getting a new logo
- Taking new product photos
- Redoing her social media
“If you’re not learning, preparing, and building things while there is this lull where no one’s really doing much, you’ll be behind when things return back to normal.”
—Emma
Rodney and Kory
How It’s Affected Their Business
Rodney and Kory were moving towards creating custom products when the pandemic hit. It came at a bad time, too. As the products were about to be delivered to their fulfillment agent, production and shipping in China came to a halt because of Chinese New Year. The shutdown was extended due to the pandemic and remains in place today.
How They’re Coping
- Stopped their ads
- Using the time to learn more skills
- Redesigning their website
- Optimizing email marketing and email automation flows
- Cleaning out old posts and engaging more on social media
- Revamping their affiliate marketing strategy
- Contacting social media influencers
- Setting up a system for their plan to get into retail or wholesale
“The lessons and experiences in self-education that we’ve developed will never be taken away from us whether this coronavirus takes us down or we work through it.”
—Rodney and Kory
Ryan Carroll
How It’s Affected His Business
During the Chinese New Year lull, Ryan spent his time getting his creatives ready for after the break. Immediately after, he launched his Google campaign in anticipation of things returning to normal. But he ended up having to turn off his ads when the pandemic hit and his suppliers shut down and shipments got canceled.
How He’s Coping
- Refunding customers
- Keeping them apprised of the situation via email
- Working on rebuilding two other stores
- Sourcing out US-based suppliers as alternatives
“Regardless of the coronavirus, I would suggest most people start looking for suppliers who offer shipping from the United States.”
—Ryan
What about you? How are you coping in these unprecedented times? What measures have you taken for your dropshipping business? Do share with us in the comments section.
