Traditionally, if you wanted to start an online store, such as a clothing brand, you had to order hundreds of t-shirts from a supplier. If you couldn’t sell them, you'd be stuck with all the inventory and thousands of dollars wasted.

With dropshipping, you find a product, list it on your site, and only when someone buys from you do you place an order with your supplier.

The supplier then ships the product directly to your customer, so you don’t have to physically store or handle any inventory. This method minimizes risk and upfront costs.