5 Strategies for Fashion Dropshippers to Build a Successful Business

Branding tips and tricks for e-commerce entrepreneurs looking to become dropshipping success stories

How important is branding in dropshipping?

Very.

Like anything else in life, dropshippers get out what they put in. In other words, the more effort an owner puts into their store, the better their results will be.

While this may seem like a no-brainer, many shop owners cut corners to save time and money in the short term.

What happens when dropshippers don’t have a strong brand?

More than 90% of dropshippers fail within the first month of operation. Skipping over important steps in an attempt to get ahead quickly catches up to store owners, ending in revenue losses instead of revenue gains.

Effective branding is one of the most fundamental baselines that emerging e-commerce experts must establish to reach success.

How can online fashion shops build a successful image?

While many see dropshipping as a temporary revenue generator, approaching the opportunity as a longer-term investment will produce more promising results.

Considering the following five tips can help you boost sales in the long run:

1. Tune in to Dropshipping Customer Conversations

Creating a strong brand starts with understanding your customers. While large retailers and e-commerce stores have the funds to pump out studies and surveys to gain shopper insights, dropshippers typically do not have access to the same resources. One free resource provides an endless stream of shopper perspectives to give dropshippers a competitive advantage: social media.

To create a trendy brand image, leverage social media platforms to find out exactly what customers are saying about specific clothing styles.

For example, say you’ve noticed shoppers are purchasing a higher number of velvet pants on your website than usual. To continue growing sales, your brand needs to adapt to external consumer trends.

A quick Twitter search for velvet pants reveals that the pandemic and Olympics are two current external trends driving the purchase rate of velvet pants. Knowing these insights, you can now develop specific marketing messages aimed at these two connecting these trends to your brand.

For instance, knowing that when the men’s gymnastics team is on screen during the Olympics, consumers will be more likely to talk about velvet pants online, providing you with an exact timeline of when to post product promotions.

If your store shares a clothing post online at the exact time the men’s team is on screen wearing similar items, you are positioning your brand as having the relevant, trendy products shoppers are looking for.

2. Make your Product Photos Cohesive

While you may be sourcing your products from multiple suppliers, you don’t want your customers to know this. Featuring product photos with different backgrounds and levels of quality are telltale signs of an amateur site.

Because each supplier will have their own item pictures you have two options to promote consistency:

1. Order samples of all of the items featured on your site to take your own product pictures.

2. Utilize photo editing software to create a more consistent product stream.

The first option, while potentially worth it, is expensive. Most dropshippers do not have the budget to purchase all of the items on their website for testing. This leaves us with option two.

Utilizing inexpensive tools like Canva’s background remover, dropshippers can edit product photos to look cohesive.

Take the two website scenarios below. If you were shopping for jewelry from two stores and saw the following product images in your queue, which store would you consider to be more credible?

Store #1

Store #2

While Store #1 simply copied and pasted images from suppliers, Store #2 took the extra step to align their product images.

Having visually similar product photos aids in establishing customer credibility rather than skepticism. As dropshippers do not have a high amount of name recognition, ensuring that your website actually looks professional is important in creating conversions.

3. Update your Dropshipping Product Descriptions

There’s a famous Ted Talk in which David JP Phillips describes the value of adding a strong story to product descriptions. After purchasing a horse sculpture for $0.99, Phillips resold the object online for $62.75. That’s a price increase of 6395%.

His trick? Creating a powerful narrative that would add value beyond the product.

The same exact strategy is applied by successful dropshippers to turn low-cost items into wardrobe staples. Imported product descriptions from suppliers like AliExpress will not cut it. Product descriptions need to be tailored to your target audience. They should not be one size fits all.

Consider the example below that features a t-shirt designed for a teenage boy AND a caption that is written for a teenage boy.

Aligning these elements will help create your businesses’ personality while also making your products more memorable and personalized.

4. Stray Away from Standard Website Templates

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: customize your website.

While there is nothing wrong with utilizing pre-made templates, they must be tailored to convey your dropshipping store’s specific branding.

A common mistake in selection? Picking the first template that appears under search. If it’s popping up first for you, it’s likely appearing first for everyone else looking to revamp their shop.

Ensure that your site does not appear to be yet another carbon copy of the competition. Create a specific color scheme, choose a branded font, and develop a logo that is apparent across each website page to provide branding at every step.

5. Create an Ambassador Program for Your Store

Go a step further by creating brand loyalty generating programs. On average, micro-influencers tend to receive higher engagement rates than macro-influencers. Brand ambassador programs are largely tailored for micro-influencers, making this a win-win opportunity for dropshippers unable to afford major influencer marketing practices.

Here is an example of American Eagle’s ambassador program that empowers everyday women to promote their clothing:

Giving customers the title of ambassador strengthens their relationship with your store through empowerment. You can directly decide who can become a representative by creating an application on your site.

Requesting applicants’ information (such as the applicant’s social media accounts, email address, etc) will allow you to vet exactly who should represent you. Those with a high number of followers or that can add additional value through product photos and quality reviews should be considered.

Overall securing consumer-generated content through brand ambassadors will extend your network of customers while adding validation to your overall dropshipping site.

Takeaways for Clothing Dropshippers

Creating a strong brand does not happen overnight. In order to generate loyalty, your dropshipping strategy must feature branding initiatives. Ensure that your businesses’ image is memorable, consistent, and aligned with the real needs and desires of your target audience.

Once you build this strong foundation, the rest will fall into place.