0800 072 5334

FREEPHONE 0800 072 5334

DROP SHIPPING...WHEN IS IT A GOOD IDEA?

THE BASICS OF DROP SHIPPING...

It’s a simple concept...dropshipping means that you build your website and sell products that you will never need to store, purchase in bulk to get discounts and box up to ship to your customers nor deal with any returns. Every time your website gets an order, the notification is sent straight to your third part supplier and the send out the product and bill you at a price that you have been able to mark up and make a profit on...

It sounds like nirvana.

If you can find a supplier who is able to handle your fullfilment then all you need to do is concentrate on maximising the effectiveness of your website to reach your prospective audience and convince them to purchase your products. You basically become a marketing company, divesting all the production and fullfilment to third parties, just focusing promoting your products and managing your brand. You can do this from a beach in Thailand!!!!

PRO’S
  1. You don’t need to hold any stock.
  2. You don’t need to spend time or money shipping to your customers.
  3. You don’t need to deal with returns.
  4. Frees up short term cashflow for promotion.
CON’S
  1. You lose the direct relationship with your customer and this can be a risk.
  2. Unlikely you will not get the best unit rate in the early stages.
  3. Product quality and service performance is divested to a third party and you lose some control.

There are many companies out there doing millions in sales a month doing dropshipping, but like any business, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to grow it. 8/10 businesses fail in the first year or so, and only 3% last longer than 5 years.

HOW SHIRTWORKS CAN HELP YOU

One of the issues you will need to face when dealing with garment decorators is the price they will need to charge for producing low volume orders on demand.

is that it is not a quick process to decorate garments, there is a varying degree of ‘setup’ time required before you can even get a garment on the ‘press’.

This time has to get factored into the production costs and passed onto you as part of the unit price.

This means low volume, made on demand, drop shipping arrangements do not offer a great unit price and you may struggle to make a margin.

If your designs can be digitally printed then Shirtworks may be able to offer you a 3 day turnaround on single items produced and shipped directly to your customers.

Alternatively we have a ‘STOCK FULLFILLMENT’ option.

TWO SOLUTIONS

1 PRODUCED TO ORDER FULLFILLMENT. (PTOF)

Single items digitally printed and shipped directly to your customer. You pay a higher unit price but you do not have to take the risk on stock holding and sink cashflow into products you have no guarantee of selling.

2 STOCK FULLFILLMENT. (SF)

This method provides you with a better margin on each product sold. The idea is that you take advantage of the price breaks to get a cheaper unit price. It does mean that you will need to do some accurate forecasting to predict sales and this is a risk which will tie up capital until the products are sold. if you get it right, your profits will be healthier than option 1.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

  • .........................................................................Do some product research
  • .....................................Talk to Shirtworks about what is possible
  • ..............................................Decide if you want PTOF or SF
  • .........................................Get some samples printed
  • ..Get them photographed and on your website
  • .......Get the orders sent to Shirtworks
VIEW PRODUCTS CONTACT US

Do you charge set up costs for Embroidery?

Yes, each embroidery design needs a disc to be made and we charge £30.00 +VAT per design

How big can my design be for Embroidery?

Embroidery designs are limited to 90mm x 90 mm, however we can do larger embroidery but additional costs apply and we need to set up products especially for your designs, please contact a member of the sales team.

Do you do Sportswear?

Yes we offer a sportswear range, however it is printed in a different way from DTG and we use DTF for this process

What size can my print be for Sportswear?
The maximum print size for sportswear is 100mm x 100mm

What is the quality and type of artwork you need?

Your artwork should be sized to the size you want it. 300 DPI, png or jpg. To achieve the best results your blacks should be set to “true black”

What is your turn around time?

Our usual turnaround is normally 3-5 days

What if stock isn’t available?

Where possible we will offer a substitute item, but we will contact you before we print the item.

How do I pay for items?

Once you first order is sent to us we will contact you to obtain credit/debit card details that will then be held securely and automatically used for future orders.

How do I send you my orders?

We have plugins for many ecommerce websites including Shopify and WooCommerce.

Shopify Users. We have an app available for you to install https://apps.shopify.com/shirtworks

We also have full API integration for sites such as Etsy, Ebay and Amazon or you can link your own site
Other integrations are available please contact us for details
You can also send orders via API, please contact us for details

What it my customer wants to return the item they ordered.

Because all items we ship are bespoke we do not refund returns unless the item is faulty. We can except these returns and store them for you and send them back to you periodically at your cost.

What if my items are faulty?

In the unlikely event that your items are faulty, we will arrange for them to be picked up and a replacement sent out once we receive the faulty goods. Sometimes we might ask for a photograph of the faulty item to ascertain the issue.

Print Sizes.

Our stated print sizes are not always possible onto all sizes of garments therefore print sizes are a guide and we don’t refund items if a print size is different than advertised.
If you want you artwork a specific size then you will need to create a transparent png set to the size of our maximum print size for that garment.
The maximum print sizes are:
Mens T-Shirts/sweats 400mm x 500mm
Womens/Childrens T-Shirts/sweats 300mm x 370mm
Mens Hoodies front 320mm x 250mm
Mens Hoodies back 320mm x 450mm

Can I use copyrighted images?

We will print copyrighted images it you hold a licence to use them. You will need to send us a signed form that you have the right to use the image.

Can you add neck labels to my garments.
 

We can apply a heat transfer which is suitable for all garments.

 

At the moment we cannot print size labels but most of the garments we use have a separate size label already sewn in.

Swingtags can be supplied you and applied by us to your garments.

It is not possible to sew in labels for drop shipping, but we do offer a bulk service for this, https://www.shirtworks.co.uk/labelling-and-bespoke-clothing

If you want to add a heat applied woven hemtag to the sleeve or hemline we can apply these for you at £0.25 per item. You will need to supply the labels. These can be sourced on a 3 week lead time from www.asquith-group.com You will need to request ‘heat pressable’ woven labels for hem tags.

Labeling costs

Print on inside of neck £0.50

Swing tag application £0.25

 

Do you use GOTS approved garments

Yes, Shirtworks is an official dealer of Stanley/Stella garments and are GOTS approved.
 

 

Are you inks vegan friendly.

Absolutely, they are also water based, toxin free, safe to use on both adult and children's garments and are OEKO-TEX® certified and GOTS approved

 

Durability.

Our industry leading Kornit machines and inks are used for major fashion brands throughout the world and will not come off in the wash.

 

Delivery.

Our standard delivery is Royal Mail untracked. If you require a tracked service you can set this up in Shopify shipping settings

 

Delivery costs are based on points/weight
<

 

 

Tracking my deliveries

Notifications

When we despatch you garments a notification is sent to your Shopify shop (or other integration) with tracking info.