drop shipping
Supplier-direct retail model
Drop shipping is a retail method where the seller doesn't keep products in stock but instead transfers customer orders directly to a manufacturer or wholesaler, who ships to the customer.
The seller never handles the merchandise, profiting from the markup between wholesale and retail price.
The model has become popular for online businesses with minimal startup capital: She runs a drop shipping business from her laptop.
Also spelled as one word or hyphenated.
- warehousingStoring goods commercially
- direct-to-consumerSelling without retail intermediaries
- inventory managementOverseeing stored merchandise levels
- orderMethodical arrangement or request
- supplierSource of goods
middleman · logistics · fulfillment · retailer · print-on-demand · white label · ecommerce · customer · supply chain · Shopify · online marketplaces · product · inventory · consignment · package · sourcing · Amazon · entrepreneur
- logisticsdelivery, warehouses, warehousing, carriers, warehouse
- shippingfreight, package, logistics, crates, freighters
- supply chainsupply, supplier, delivering, suppliers, vendor
- distributiondistribution, distributors, distributor, allocation, allotment
- E-commerce historydot-com boom, dot-com bust, online auctions, shopping carts, Amazon Prime
- shipping practicesair freight, sea freight, express delivery, tracking, customs
drop shippingself-fulfillment
Realizing one's own potential
stockpiling · bulk purchasing · vertical integration · wholesale buying · bulk buying