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Dropshipping in South Africa - Is it viable in 2024?

South Africa presents a good opportunity to start a dropshipping business in certain popular niches, such as electronics, apparel, and car accessories. In this article, we'll discuss whether dropshipping is viable in South Africa in 2024. Let us begin.What is a Dropshipping Business?A dropshipping business is an order fulfilment business model where the seller does not keep any inventory on hand. Instead, they utilise their connections with the suppliers to fulfil the orders. This is how it works.A dropshipper has an online e-commerce website where they sell the products. When a customer places an order through the website, the dropshipper forwards the order to their supplier. Then their supplier handles the order fulfilment process. The customer then receives their order. The product may include customised packaging or your branding on the product as well.How does Dropshipping work in South Africa?The most common dropshipping model is Chinese Suppliers processing the order you receive on your website in South Africa. Chinese giant e-commerce websites like AliExpress or CJDropshipping allow you to set up a dropshipping business easily.This includes your e-commerce website, either made with WooCommerce or Shopify, and plugins that allow you to import dropshipping products. The process is simple. Install the necessary dropshipping plugin on your website and import the products you wish to sell. You can also check supplier ratings and product ratings before you choose to import such products, allowing you control over choosing quality suppliers and products.You might have heard that these Chinese dropshipping models are obsolete in South Africa due to high shipping fees and long delivery times. But with solutions like Airpool, you can make the process significantly easier for you.Is Dropshipping still viable in South Africa in 2024?Dropshipping has certainly become a viable business model, especially in the post-pandemic recovery era. You can most certainly try your hand at running a dropshipping business in South Africa in 2024. While it is not for everyone, dropshipping can be your calling if you can identify trends and trendy demands in the market.Dropshipping is a business that mainly runs on trendy products. TikTok and other social media platforms are excellent sources for such research. For suppliers, you can use traditional Chinese sites from Alibaba or AliExpress. Or, you can consider using South African dropshipping suppliers like DropStore or Shopstar.Choosing a South African dropshipping store can significantly reduce order fulfilment times. Besides, Dropstore and Shopstar both have plans that may provide you with a web design as well. With them, you can start your business in mere hours at reasonable monthly costs.ConclusionSouth Africa has a favourable environment to start a dropshipping business. However, you must understand the niches and the trends that sell well in South Africa. The flexibility of a dropshipping business also allows you to change or offer new products as you move forward. Use this to your advantage to experiment with various niches to understand what would work for you.Skill Space is developing a full-fledged course on Dropshipping. It will be available soon, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, if you have any questions, feel free to drop a message to us and we will get back to you.

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Published - Tue, 02-Apr-2024

Created by - Skill Space

Instagram Advertising in South Africa | Why should you do it?

Instagram advertising is a great way to reach and engage users in South Africa with visual content. As a platform that focuses on visual storytelling, Instagram provides a unique opportunity for businesses to be creative. Let's understand how to advertise your business on Instagram in South Africa in this article.Instagram: A Visual Storytelling PlatformInstagram, a social media platform owned by Meta Platforms or simply Meta, is a social media platform focusing on sharing photography, images, GIFs, and videos. As a visual social media platform, Instagram allows for unique opportunities, like product showcases, brand awareness, providing insights, and more. In South Africa, users are more prone to watch your videos or interact with your image posts than any other platform, such as Facebook.With Instagram advertising in South Africa, you can create a unique brand identity for your business, or efficiently showcase your products. If you are considering advertising on Instagram in South Africa but are still deciding about it, then let us convince you.Instagram Advertising in South AfricaHere are four reasons why you should advertise your business on Instagram in South Africa.Brand AwarenessAs a visual storytelling social media platform, Instagram is an excellent platform to improve your brand awareness. Whether organic or paid, if you push the right buttons, your presence can take off on Instagram within a night. When it comes to Instagram, #hashtags (hashtags) are popular. All you have to do is identify the right trend that matches well with your brand and capitalise on it.Efficiency with Ad CampaignsThe best thing about Instagram is that you can integrate your Facebook ad campaigns here seamlessly. Your Facebook ads can be optimised to show on Instagram and vice versa. What's more? You do not have to pay separately for each platform. You can simply manage your ads via Facebook/Instagram Ads Manager and you are good to go. To advertise on Instagram, however, you will have to convert your account to Professional status.Freedom of CreativityInstagram does not restrict you from creative freedom as long as it does not go against the community guidelines. You do not have to have technical knowledge to advertise on Instagram. All you have to do is come up with a solid idea that resonates well with your business ideas and then shape it into an attractive image with a catchy phrase. Of course, that is the most difficult part. However, you can use tools like Canva to design your posts.EngagementAs a visual storytelling platform, Instagram is famous for engaging with your audience, and your audience shows a keen interest in engaging with your business as well. Visual storytelling is more than just words and information, it is a captivating story about a specific part of your business. In this digital world where the attention span is less than 3 seconds on average, Instagram works wonders on storytelling, thus having a significantly higher chance of conversions.Bottom LineInstagram is a popular social media platform in South Africa, especially with a young audience between ages 18 and 24. If your business targets a young demographic and relies on growing with trends, then Instagram is an exceptionally perfect platform. In South Africa, following trends to grow your business is crucial.As an online learning platform, Skill Space is currently working on an Instagram marketing course in South Africa. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, we encourage you to reach out to us with your queries, and we will do our best to help you out.

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Published - Wed, 01-Nov-2023

Created by - Skill Space

Dropshipping in South Africa | What can go wrong?

Take our FREE Takealot seller course today here: https://skillspace.co.za/home/course/takealot-seller-course/51Dropshipping is a business model where a seller sells a product without holding any inventory. The model has been holding popularity for a while in South Africa. However, most dropshippers 'drop their business' in South Africa after 6 months to a year. Why? In this article, let's understand dropshipping in South Africa and the precautions you should take to make your dropshipping business successful.What is Dropshipping in South Africa?In simple words, dropshipping in South Africa is a middleman business. As a dropshipper, you connect a warehouse directly to the demand in the market. This way, you eliminate the traditional upfront costs of starting a business.A dropshipper usually has an online website where they display the products and take orders. It is important to be transparent about prices as, even though you are sourcing a product from a warehouse or a supplier, you will still have to pay some extra charges, such as transport and handling fees, customs fees (if ordering from overseas), taxes, and so on. Therefore, even if sourcing a product directly from a warehouse should be cheaper than the retail price, these extra charges add up to the cost. This is one of the reasons why dropshippers actually earn less profit on their sales.So is dropshipping really profitable? It can be if you find the right customers and the right supplier for the products you want to sell.The Problems with Dropshipping in South AfricaIn most cases, the cons weigh more than the pros when it comes to dropshipping. Why? Because it is difficult to find the right niche for your ideas. Secondly, most entrepreneurs fail to understand that the profit they would make via dropshipping would really be insignificant in the beginning. Dropshipping is a great model, but most expect to get rich in a shorter amount of time. This is primarily why many dropshippers get demotivated to keep up with the business, or even begin to cut corners to earn more profit.Like any other business, regardless of its low upfront costs, Dropshipping business also requires dedication and passion to make it successful. Yes, you can do this business from within your comfort space, does not mean it is an easy business.The two main problems you face in dropshipping are logistics and customer service. As a dropshipper, you are not in control of how the product will be delivered. It is usually done by your supplier. Secondly, as you are not involved in the actual operation of dealing with the product, you cannot really guarantee the product quality by yourself. So in this case, you may take a longer time to resolve customer complaints, which really hampers your business as well.I understand the problems, what should I do?As a dropshipper, it is important to deliver good quality products and good customer service. These are the two pillars of making your dropshipping business successful in South Africa.The idea of your dropshipping business begins with understanding the niche, market demands, and competition. If the competition is too saturated, you need to rethink your plan. Otherwise, once you figure this out, your next move is to find the right supplier. In South Africa, we highly encourage you to find local suppliers to streamline logistics and shipping costs. One way you can do so is by finding best-selling products on Takealot. Finding international suppliers from platforms like AliExpress may incur additional costs like customs, currency differences, and taxes.Once you find the right supplier that is trustworthy to your standards, you may start dropshipping via your website. Remember, you are just a middleman, so you have no control over product manufacturing, quality, or delivery. This is exactly why finding the right supplier is the most crucial part of dropshipping.To sum upDropshipping in South Africa takes patience, determination and passion. To get your dropshipping business right, you should do the following.Find the right supplier, best if it is a South African supplier.No cutting corners on the customer service. Do your best to resolve your customers' doubts and grievances.Make sure your website is up-to-date and visually good.Dropshipping may look easy, but finding the right customers and suppliers is the key to making it successful. Are you interested in starting your own dropshipping business? It's completely legal in South Africa. Skill Space is currently working on a course to help aspiring dropshippers in South Africa. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, feel free to reach to us via the message tab and we can help you out.

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Published - Mon, 16-Oct-2023

Created by - Skill Space

Good items to sell online

Take our FREE Takealot seller course today here: skillspace.co.za/home/course/takealot-seller-course/51Takealot is a famous online selling platform exclusive to South Africa, made for South Africans. While selling on Takealot may seem complicated, it really is not. Skill Space has an excellent course on the topic if you are interested. However, if you already know how to do so, but are confused about what to sell on Takealot in South Africa, this article is for you. Here are some good item suggestions to sell online on Takealot in South Africa.Takealot - South Africa's Largest Online MarketplaceLet's familiarise ourselves with Takealot, especially if you are a South African but have never heard of them. Though that would be very very rare.So what is Takealot? Takealot is an online selling platform made for South Africa by South Africa. No matter the size of the business, Takealot allows you to post products for selling, however, restricted within certain guidelines. Furthermore, it also streamlines the delivery process with the Takealot DC system.Utilising Takealot services will incur fees, as with any other selling platform. Adjusting your prices according to the fees and your revenue projections is the way to go. If these prices and fees seem reasonable to you, or profitable for your business, then Takealot is certainly for you.What can I sell online on Takealot?There is no one jack-of-all-trades sort of answer to this question. When it comes to online shopping, there are certain trends that make certain items popular; which means that items would get sold rapidly. However, an item that is not currently trending may have fewer buyers in the market.There are certain items you may be able to sell without having to worry about these "trends". In this article, we will cover such categories only. Let's take a look.a. Laptops, Smartphones, TabletsWith our ever-growing digital world, the demand for Laptops, Smartphones, and Tablets will never cease to exist. In South Africa, almost everyone has at least one laptop or a smartphone. The versatility of these products makes them an everyday item. Thus, this makes them excellent products to be sold on Takealot in South Africa.Search volume for laptops and smartphones is amongst the highest in South Africa. Tablets may not perform as well, yet they are a popular search.b. Baby Products, Baby ClothingSearch demands for baby products or baby clothing are also at an all-time high in South Africa. These are essentials almost every family in South Africa with a baby is looking for. Hence, selling these products can generate sustainable revenue for your business.Baby Products such as baby toys, nutrition, powders, accessories, and other baby products. Baby clothing would include diapers, onesies, and so on. Make sure your products are of high quality and are okay for babies. As long as your products are good for babies, you should be able to make a fair deal of sales with baby products in South Africa on Takealot.c. ApparelShopping for clothes is a common phenomenon, regardless of trends. While trendy fashion styles do experience a higher volume of sales, apparel generally does generate sustainable revenue. Selling clothes of high-quality materials at discounted prices is one way to boost apparel sales in South Africa.More adventurous shops would consider importing fashion statements that may not be available in South Africa. These are always a hit or miss. However, when hit, they become a trend and thus this would boost your sales in South Africa on Takealot.d. Kitchen AppliancesWhile kitchen appliances are made to last long, they consistently generate revenue as people in South Africa would often look for a replacement. Compared to apparel or electronic devices, kitchen appliances generate less search volume and only by a specific demographic, such as married couples, elderly women, and so on.Selling high-quality, branded kitchen appliances is one way to generate consistent revenue. People have shown to trust popular brands. It is best to search for these popular brands before you start selling these appliances. If you can procure branded appliances, then you will be able to make a good sale. The key here is to build trust with your customers with these products.ConclusionSo, what can you sell on Takealot in South Africa? Literally anything, as long as it is within the guidelines of Takealot. However, some products perform better than others. And there you have it. These are the four product categories that perform well in terms of sales in South Africa.If you are looking to sell your products on Takealot in South Africa but don't know how to, Skill Space has an excellent course for you. Feel free to take a look or connect with us via the message tab on Skill Space for more information.

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Published - Fri, 29-Sep-2023

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Skill Space

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Live zoom workshops

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Meta Course - Facebook & Instagram Advertising (COMING SOON)

Google Business Profile Course (Google My Business) (COMING SOON)

Takealot Seller Course - How to sell on Takealot

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Featured courses

Latest blogs

Dropshipping in South Africa - Is it viable in 2024?

Instagram Advertising in South Africa | Why should you do it?

Dropshipping in South Africa | What can go wrong?

Good items to sell online

12 Live Classes included with Every Course

Skill Space

Expand | Grow | Empower

5 Online courses

Expert instruction

Live zoom workshops

Top categories

Top courses

Meta Course - Facebook & Instagram Advertising (COMING SOON)

Google Business Profile Course (Google My Business) (COMING SOON)

Takealot Seller Course - How to sell on Takealot

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Course (COMING SOON)

Featured courses

Latest blogs

Dropshipping in South Africa - Is it viable in 2024?

Instagram Advertising in South Africa | Why should you do it?

Dropshipping in South Africa | What can go wrong?

Good items to sell online

12 Live Classes included with Every Course

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