Oberlo tool group buy account - Dropshipping app made exclusively for Shopify

What is Oberlo?

Oberlo is a dropshipping app made exclusively for Shopify. The app arranges the shipment of every product to customers and helps sellers discover new items for online selling. This resource will cover the ins and outs of Oberlo and answer the most common questions you have about the app. By the end of this review, you’ll have both the knowledge and confidence to start a dropshipping business with Oberlo.

Dropshipping continues to be an attractive business model for online entrepreneurs who aren’t keen on taking on supply chain and inventory management. With dropshipping, the merchant fulfills orders by shipping the products directly from the supplier, so the retailer doesn’t have to deal with stock control.

A recent study conducted by DiCentral and Lehigh University showed that retailers who adopted ecommerce and dropshipping have seen financial improvements on various levels including increased revenue and margin growth as well as expanded market share. The study also suggests that dropshipping can help sellers improve customer experience. 

If you’re a retailer that’s ready to embrace the dropshipping model and eager to learn more about how dropshipping functions – stay tuned! By the time you’re done reading this article, you’ll be armed with all the information you need to start using the Oberlo dropshipping app for Shopify.

Oberlo Main Features Review

When it comes to software and apps, there are two categories of main features that really matter: features that help you convert sales, and features that make it easier for you to update your website and track sales. Oberlo delivers on both fronts.

Let’s dive in and take a look at 9 noteworthy features of Oberlo:

1.    Easily add products from AliExpress

2.    Change product suppliers as you desire

3.    Product inventory is updated automatically

4.    Product customization

5.    Automated pricing

6.    Fulfill and track orders automatically

7.    Track your sales

8.    Multiple user accounts

9.    ePacket delivery (scroll up for breakdown)

EASILY ADD PRODUCTS FROM ALIEXPRESS

Oberlo allows you to browse the huge product database of AliExpress and add products with one click. You can also use the ePacket filter to import only products with the fastest delivery times, giving your website a unique selling proposition and potentially increasing your conversion rate.

If you’ve already been selling products from AliExpress on your website, you can connect them to your Oberlo account once you’ve installed the app. This is a real convenience for anyone who is looking to increase their efficiency but doesn’t want to have to start from scratch.

CHANGE PRODUCT SUPPLIERS AS YOU DESIRE

AliExpress offers the same products from multiple suppliers, but each supplier has their own prices and delivery times. Oberlo allows you to change the supplier for a product, which could make the difference between a customer buying from you or buying from a competitor.

Suppliers on AliExpress also have feedback ratings, so you can properly identify the best supplier for you.

PRODUCT INVENTORY IS UPDATED AUTOMATICALLY

Oberlo’s software will automatically update an inventory of the products that you have published on your site, so you won’t run the risk of selling something that has gone out of stock at AliExpress.

There are two huge benefits to this feature. First, it can save you a significant amount of time, since you won’t have to run and import inventory reports.

Second, it has the potential to save you from serious hassles and negative reviews when you accept a customer’s payment and then find out that an item is out of stock.

PRODUCT CUSTOMIZATION

Just because you’re using Oberlo doesn’t mean that your products have to look just like everyone else’s. Oberlo allows you to customize your products, including changing the titles and images, so they stand out from the crowd.

You can also make edits to the product descriptions, which is great for including important SEO keywords.

AUTOMATED PRICING

Controlling your margins is important in order to turn a profit. Whether you want to maintain an everyday margin or are creating a special promotion, Oberlo makes it easy to update product prices in bulk, using pricing rules you create.

FULFILL AND TRACK ORDERS AUTOMATICALLY

Online customers demand speedy order processing and detailed order tracking information, so Oberlo makes it fast and simple to fulfill an order once you have received the customer’s payment.

You just click “Order Product” to confirm that you want to ship the product to the customer, and Oberlo will process the order and provide integrated tracking, so you always know the status of a customer’s order. To view order tracking, go to the “Orders” page.

Please note that tracking for orders is only available for the “Basic” or “Pro” plans, not the “Starter” plan.

TRACK YOUR SALES

Oberlo provides a dashboard to help you keep track of what you’ve sold, and when you sold it, so you can “rinse and repeat”, or totally adjust your strategy.

MULTIPLE USER ACCOUNTS

Only one of Oberlo’s pricing plans (see below) includes multiple user accounts, but it’s a feature we appreciate.

As businesses evolve, so do the roles and responsibilities of the people behind the scenes, and having the option to have multiple user accounts is useful.  

EPACKET DELIVERY

Looking to offer faster shipping? Oberlo allows you to do just that. ePacket delivery is an agreement between the USPS and Hongkong Post that increases the speed of delivery of small packages – in most cases just 7-10 business days versus the 30+ days previously experienced. ePacket also allows for door-to-door tracking and free returns for undeliverable items.

Oberlo Pricing and Discount with Coupons Code

Oberlo offers to its users a 30-day free trial(that's actually the Pro Plan). So, you get the full use of advanced features at no charge.

After the first month of using Oberlo, you will have to choose one of 3 pricing plans: Starter, Basic or Pro. You can however stay on a free Starter account forever, if you are selling no more than 500 products and do not exceed 50 orders per month.

With the Oberlo app, everything looks pretty simple and clear. It's easy to choose a pricing plan, depending on you business-size. All of them have the basic set of features and differ mostly regarding the number of products that you are selling and the amount of orders you receive.

So what is actually offered by the Oberlo pricing plans?

Oberlo Starter

– Free of charge. Within the Starter plan, you are able to sell up to 500 products and receive up to 50 orders per month. You get a daily product sync, auto-fulfillment of customer orders, pricing automation, sales reports, the free Oberlo Chrome extension and access to the Oberlo Supply marketplace.

Oberlo Basic

– the fixed price is $29.90 per month. The basic plan allows you to setup 10 000 products and up to 500 orders for the month. You will receive all of the Starter plan features plus shipment tracking and fulfillment monitoring.

 Oberlo Pro

– within the Pro plan, for $79.90 per month, you will be able to sell 30 000 products with an unlimited number of orders. Pro plan includes everything from the Basic plan. And additionally, you get to have multiple users (different stores) within one pricing plan.

As mentioned above, all of the Oberlo pricing plans are great, the choice should only depend on the size of your business. Even within a free Starter plan, you are able to sell 500 products. This is really cool.

Oberlo Pros & Cons

Like any platform, Oberlo has advantages as well as disadvantages. Let’s have a look at what it does well, and what could be improved on.

Oberlo Pros

o    Links to AliExpress, one of the biggest eCommerce marketplaces of the world

o    A wide range of products and suppliers

o    Automatic order fulfillment and dropshipping

o    Super easy to use

o    Offers free plan

Oberlo Cons

o    Exclusively for the Shopify platform

Final Thoughts

With dropshipping becoming a very popular method to start an eCommerce business it was inevitable an app like Oberlo would be developed. It is a fantastic app and it will definitely make running a dropshipping business much easier.

If you are new to dropshipping, Oberlo has a wide range of resources to help you and it does have a fantastic customer support system should you need additional assistance.

Looking through their various blog posts and updates, the company is continuously improving the platform and this is reflected by the fact that Shopify acquired the company for a substantial amount in 2017.

The only negative point I have to make is that it only works with Shopify and so you are stuck with one eCommerce platform. This can be a problem down the road if you decide to move to another platform as you will have to start over from scratch.