EP#7 - FIGHT! Is Dropshipping a Load of Old Bulls***?? Product Designer Vs. Marketer

We challenge each other to decide once and for all, is dropshipping worth anyone's time or is it a load of old bull? We Cover:

First of all, what is drop shipping? Is there any value in you learning about it and should you try it?  What are the pros and cons? Ultimately, is it a load of old bullshit?  YES, IT SUCKS DONKEY BALLS. 

Alex's arguments:Why would a customer want to wait 14 days for shipping when most of the products are already on Amazon in prime. When you’re in a business and you’re competing with Amazon, you need to be bloody sure that what you’re offering is unique. It needs to be premium or something totally unique, otherwise you’re going to lose. Wish has the game locked down. How do you compete with that?Factories work by scheduling mass production. They are able to make a profit when an assembly line is used for a long time. That’s where they are able to make money, it’s the economics of scale. Set up costs a lot, factories aren’t set up for small orders. They are set up for large orders, they’re essentially just taking on the cashflow burden. The barriers to entry are so low, that anyone can set up a site and sell anything. You have no credibility selling outside of a platform like amazon. If you’re drop shipping you’re not necessarily rebranding, you’re not changing the product, you’re not adding any value. It’s a commodity product business and a place for shallow brands No, it's the bee's knees. 

Luke's Arguments:Dropshipping is a great way to test the market for a business idea. Rather than taking on the risk of buying bulk inventory, utilise the availability of manufacturers willing to ship directly to customers and you cover the marketing.It is a low setup cost business model, that is easy to scale.Companies like GymShark started with dropshipping to test their branding and then scaled from there.Partnerships with good quality suppliers in your home country and bringing a great product to market could be a better option than low quality products from Aliexpress.