Durban-based startup Dropstore has launched a dropshipping application that allows e-commerce businesses to quickly and easily supply their customers.
Launched in March and already connecting dozens of suppliers with hundreds of online retailers, Dropstore allows suppliers to easily supply their products to online retailers, and retailers to sell them via their Shopify or Woocommerce stores.
The application helps the retailer in delivering orders to their customers within a few clicks, allowing them to easily list and customise products, and fulfil orders automatically. An integrated order tracking feature allows retailers to follow shipped items, while they can also track their earnings and expenditure.
“We came up with Dropstore to simplify product sourcing from South African suppliers and also to help South African entrepreneurs who want to start online businesses but do not have access to funding, and who normally resort to dropshipping from China, which is a terrible business model for South Africans due to our postal services,” Adewale Adejumo, the startup’s co-founder and chief marketing officer (CMO), told Disrupt Africa.
Aside from assisting online entrepreneurs, Dropstore is also solving problems on the supplier side.
“For suppliers that want to increase their sales channel into the online space, it saves money with regards to trying to find resellers. We give them access to hundreds, and soon thousands, of retailers who will be able to resell their products easily,” Adejumo said.
The business was launched in October, but Dropstore only launched its minimum viable product (MVP) on March 1. Adejumo said as a B2B platform its competitors are platforms that offer a similar service but for Chinese goods.
“We are the first to do this in South Africa, which has made us the most attractive option for South African entrepreneurs,” he said. The self-funded Dropstore has plans to replicate its model in other countries on the continent once it has captured the market in South Africa.
