One common business in the online world is eCommerce. Lots of people who finally decide to start an online business will definitely want to think of having an eCommerce store.
To build an eCommerce business and become successful, you need to be sure you have a good supply of the products you want to start selling. Also, you need a reliable and effective source for these products.
finding an eCommerce supplier is one thing, getting one that’s the reliable and trustworthy is another. These are all the necessary steps you need to take to ensure you can be successful in your eCommerce journey.
Although there are lots of eCommerce suppliers including wholesale distributors, drop-shippers, and networks available. However, before you start sourcing for products, you must choose a product sourcing method that works best for you, evaluate different product sourcing companies, and then select a supplier to work with.
The process and procedure to do all of this can be tiring and time-consuming, but don’t worry, in this article, we have got you covered. By the end of this post, you will be able to know exactly who to work with and bypass all that rigorous process.
We are going to cover the 3 most popular product sourcing strategies used by top brands to make their work easier. And then take a look at the 10 US product sourcing stores and websites that you can use.
As stated earlier, there are 3 main strategies used for product sourcing — they are listed below:
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#1. Wholesalers
This is a process of buying products directly from the wholesaler. With this method, you buy products in bulk from a wholesaler at a reduced rate.
This means you have an inventory of the products you are selling. Because when you buy from a whole seller, they will ship the products directly to you and you can keep stock of the item.
You can then store them in a room or in a warehouse and ship orders to customers yourself when they make purchases.
This method of sourcing is very straightforward as you are buying directly from a wholesaler/supplier.
Bear in mind that some suppliers do provide private label services — this means, when you purchase products in bulk, you can have the supplier add your branding to them. This is a very nice way to increase your brand as well.
#2. Manufacturers
Ok, so you are now getting big in the business and don’t want to buy from whole sellers but want it directly from the company who in this case is the manufacturer. One thing you should note is that getting Manufacturers directly is in doubt, the most challenging way to source products for your business.
Another downside of this is that manufacturers may be more expensive and time-consuming because they typically require high minimum order quantities unless you are very lucky.
#3. Dropshipping
This is where most new beginners in the eCommerce business start. Dropshipping is hands-down the easiest way to source products and get started in the eCommerce business in no time. Amazingly, Dropshipping is not just a product sourcing method — it also comes with a fulfillment method.
Also, with dropshipping, you are not taking any inventory and you don’t need much capital to get started.
To start your eCommerce business with dropshipping method, you only need to partner with a dropshipping source and select the products you want to sell. Nest you need to add these products to your store and start marketing them online. That’s all. When you receive an order from a customer, your dropshipping source will be notified, and they’ll send the product to your customer for you. You will only need to remit the price of the item to them and keep the commission.
To get more details about dropshipping and how to get started, see this article….
Now that we understand the 3 main methods of sourcing for products, let’s look at the different places you can source for products in the US for your eCommerce store.
Here are 10 product sourcing websites and apps to consider:
#1 Amazon
Amazon is a great place for those looking to start their eCommerce business, especially for drop-shippers. It is obvious that Amazon happens to be the number eCommerce store out there and this is because they attract millions of buyers on monthly bases and also offer a very wide range of product you can simply chose from and start your eCommerce store.
Amazon has a huge list of best-selling products literally for any category you can imagine and the best part is that they are updated on an hourly basis.
This list of products in Amazon includes both branded and unbranded. You can simply explore any of them as inspiration to find winning products to sell on your eCommerce website.
#2 LightInTheBox
This is another great place to source products from. LightInTheBox is a global online retail company that delivers products directly to consumers and eCommerce retailers around the world. Although they focus more on fashionable clothing, that doesn’t mean their categories are limited. They offer a wide range of categories you can choose from to start your eCommerce business.
Product categories to check out in LightInTheBox includes but are not limited to Women’s Clothing, Men’s Clothing, Wedding & Events, Shoes & Bags, Jewelry & Watches, Phones & Accessories
#3 Banggood
Another great place to source products for your eCommerce store is Banggood. This is an online retailer platform with a variety of products to choose from. You can find cool gadgets, clothing accessories, and trendy products at decent prices.
Although, their main focus is to allow customers to shop freely and securely from all over the globe for products they want. They also have a dropshipping zone for business owners who’d like to distribute Banggood products in their local markets.
#4. Handshake
Handshake is a wholesale marketplace that features a selection of handpicked US suppliers offering more than 150,000 high-quality products in a variety of niches and verticals.
Handshake is simple to navigate. The amazing part of Handshake is that all their suppliers have been pre-vetted and pre-approved. If you’re looking to buy products in bulk from USA suppliers with peace of mind, then this is the perfect product sourcing website to start with.
#5 Wish
Wish is a US-based shopping platform that offers over 150 million curated items at an affordable price.
This is another huge eCommerce platform you can use to source for winning products to dropship or sell on your eCommerce store.
To get started with a wish, simply sign up, look for products with extremely high numbers of orders, because those are the products that are doing very well. Unless of course you already know what, you want to sell and have your market on the ground.
#6 Alidropship
Alidropship started as a dropshipping business but developed into a resource center for product sourcing. The good part is that they have now incorporated their years of knowledge in dropshipping into a more robust eCommerce business. They now offer eCommerce businesses an opportunity to model the exact same thing that they have done and get great success. Not only that, but they also provide their users with a better means of shipping that’s faster and more reliable. The only downside to this is that you must be dropshipping from their platform.
#7 Walmart
Walmart is a US-based company and one of the largest in the world. They are best known for their worldwide chain of stores and suppliers. This means, when you source for products on the Walmart website, there is a chance that the product may be at a local store close to your location and the supplier can then deliver it to you straight to your door without any hassles, you may even decide to pick it up at a nearby outlet. Walmart is famous for its low prices.
#8 Tomtop
This is an established store – founded in 2004. Although Tomtop is a China base marketplace, they have warehouses in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany where you can easily source your products from.
They are a reliable wholesale and retail online shop where you can find the best collection of any item you are looking for.
This company has a good reputation and ratings with online review platforms like TrustPilot. Also, they update their items on a regular basis to help you get their more recent releases.
#9 Kole Imports & Closeouts
Kole Imports & Closeouts is a US-based company that also offers quality products. This company is majorly known specifically for wholesale merchandise and closeout suppliers.
Most of their items need to be bought in bulk, but with good research, you can see some of them that are available as single pieces as well.
#9 DHgate
This is a popular platform that is based in China but has its warehouse in the US and UK as well. This platform like Aliexpress serves both online retailers, and eCommerce businesses alike.
DHgate is both a Business to Customer or Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) cross-border platform, you can find diversification within any category. This means each category on DHgate has a lot of sub-categories which will account for quite a long product catalog or lists to choose from.
#10 AliExpress
AliExpress is an online retail service based in China with most of its sellers having warehouses in the USA and European countries. Even though you are shopping from the AliExpress site, you will have options as to which supplier you want to work with and where your shipping should be coming from.
With this, you can cut down your delivery time and ship the products to your customers right from the United States, Spain, France, and other countries if you are dropshipping in any of those regions.
It is no doubt, AliExpress is one of the biggest sites you can really source your products from. The good thing with them is that the site is owned by Alibaba which is a platform that hosts all the big manufacturers in the eCommerce world.
With AliExpress, you can do a dropshipping business or mini importation business, the choice is yours.
If you are looking to start your own eCommerce business today, the above companies are ways you can use to source products from manufacturers or suppliers. Note, you only require to source for supplies or manufacturers if you are importing the products and shipping to your customers. However, for dropshipping business, you don’t need all of that.
Simply use Shopify or WordPress (WooCommerce), create your store, import products from AliExpress, and start selling them on your store.
