Online shopping has provided a whole new opening for anybody who wishes to sell products or merchandise of any kind as their core business. Hitherto the only way of achieving this was to open a shop, whether as a means of selling to customers face to face or as the source of a mail order operation.

Now it is more likely than not that the supplier from whom you purchase will never even have seen the item that is being mailed out to you in their name. All that seller is in effect is the agent, the person in the middle. They take the order, place it with the real supplier and receive a commission or percentage from the sale for their part in the operation. In some circles it is known as drop shipping.

Because there is no need to physically store any item a drop shipping business can be run without premises, other than somewhere to sit with a laptop or even a smartphone. Some businesses of this kind can actually develop to a size where they do indeed situate in an office and employ other people, but there is still no warehouse from which to pluck the order from a well-stocked shelf once it has pinged through. Anybody, even a kid operating from the bedroom of his mother’s semi once he’s finished his homework, can be a superstore now. It’s a great time to be in the online shopping business.

Specializing in Sports Merchandise

Drop shipping is now the online shopping format of choice for almost any kind of service or produce. Statista has produced some useful figures which illustrate the relative success of the various online shopping models. One area where it has been more than successful is in marketing and supplying sports equipment. From professional quality footballs to the best compact crossbow on the market, there is somebody somewhere who will receive your order through their own online “skin” and ensure that it is shipped to you by the supplier, being suitably compensated of course for their efforts.

Drop Shipping and Traditional Supply Means Merge into One

Whether you are in the market for some hi-tech gadgetry for angling or hunting, or something pretty basic like a running vest, there will be an almost endless list of suppliers vying to send it out to you through the simple expedient of accepting your online order through a virtual shopping cart and shipping it to your preferred delivery address within a matter of a few days. Other than, sometimes, through your personal knowledge of the supplier and their particular business model it would not be possible to ascertain whether they are a physical store like Walmart or a drop shipping franchise like Shopify. And what is more most customers don’t really care as long as the transaction is seamless and the item arrives when and in the condition anticipated.

The openings this new reality provides for embryonic small businesses are legion and it really is an attractive option for entrepreneurs who lack starting capital but not imagination, enthusiasm and determination.