We have all heard in major news channels about Coronavirus and impact. Dropshipping, eCommerce and Amazon or eBay sellers are heavily taking the hit. Majority of Amazon sellers and Dropshiping firms or individual businesses rely on Alibaba and other Chinese channels. But the recent cut down in shipping or products from china is causing turbulence in the eCommerce sector. There is an argument that recent trader war by the USA and China already created the friction, but the surprise impact came from Coronavirus. Many who already paid are now stranded and no communication received from several manufacturing firms in Wuhan. However, some of the orders are disinfected and shipped.
Some of the products imported from China, dropshipping firms, and other small business took hit. However, few smart sellers sold sanitisers, Dettol handwash and similar items. Reckitt Benckiser Group share price is trending upwards is the evidence. Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang already announced that there will be few losses in this quarter. China is the largest manufacturers of all kind of products in the world. So there will a huge crisis when the whole country comes to halt. One can see the market crash in early March 2020. All the markets in the globe are trembling. Not only small retails sellers, big companies like Amazon itself already took the shot.
What should Dropshipping businesses do?
Wait. Whenever the problem like these appears, hold your business or switch to a local source. Also, a simple solution to the problem is to wait until everything cools down. Many logistics firms in China were closed in February. Strict orders have issued to not to ship the products with proper disinfection. Also, sensitive material to virus and food products are completely halted. However, reports suggested that the shipping business is resumed to meet the demand.
Let’s look at the effect of coronavirus on dropshipping.
- Expect delay from the manufacturers. Manufacturers might not be able to meet the logistic demands for a short time.
- You may not hear from some of the small businesses. Crisis at this scale is enough to bankrupt small manufacturers.
- People might hesitate to buy products “Made in China”, for a few days or months. This will impact many amazon sellers eBay sellers.
- Free shipping is difficult. Shipping business may charge few extra bucks since disinfection, inspection and other costs might increase the overall cost of shipping.
- Product quality might be poor. Since manufacturers need to work overtime and fulfil the orders. Also, sellers must be prepared for bad feedback and returns.
- Stock market across the globe is pulling down. Not only because of the virus, but the trade war as well. From last few years, since Trump came to power in the USA there was a trade conflict. Coupled with coronavirus, the global market is down.
Finally, if are an Amazon or eBay sellers and depending on China dropshipping or suppliers, just hang on for a while. The new cases on coronavirus are decreasing every day. Keep in touch with your manufacturers and suppliers. Also, focus on finding alternative suppliers.
