What is Dropshipping?
The short answer
Dropshipping is a retail model where the store sells products that a supplier stores and ships directly to the customer.
Dropshipping, explained
It avoids holding stock, but margins, shipping times and quality control depend on the supplier.
Questions people ask about Dropshipping
What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a retail model where the store sells products that a supplier stores and ships directly to the customer.
Related terms
Print on demand produces a product, such as a shirt, poster or mug, only after it is ordered, printing the design and shipping it through a fulfilment partner.
Inventory managementInventory management tracks how many of each product are available, so a store never sells what it cannot ship.
E-commerceE-commerce is buying and selling online: a website that shows products, takes orders and payments, and hands orders to fulfilment.
CheckoutCheckout is the sequence where a shopper enters shipping and payment details and places an order; it is where most online sales are won or lost.
Part of the Web Encyclopedia by Apex Flow Digital. Definitions are general knowledge, kept current, with no invented statistics.