customer found aliexpress

Guillaume

New Member
Hello,
Someone contacted me to ask me what was the difference with the products on my store and the ones on aliexpress as they are cheaper.
I don't really know what to answer to that.
Any suggestion?
Thanks
 

Mar

Moderator
Hello,
Someone contacted me to ask me what was the difference with the products on my store and the ones on aliexpress as they are cheaper.
I don't really know what to answer to that.
Any suggestion?
Thanks
You should be prepared to answer questions like that. In fact it is very easy, you just tell that someone that the same products are sold in many stores and of course with different prices. It is true, they can check other online stores and they will find the same products. Sellers are selling in other online stores and it is normal. You know it is up to you how to explain, even the prices.
 
Hello,
Someone contacted me to ask me what was the difference with the products on my store and the ones on aliexpress as they are cheaper.
I don't really know what to answer to that.
Any suggestion?
Thanks

The first question that came to our minds when we decided to embark on our dropshipping adventure with AliE products was: "How do we compete with AliE?" Simple answer we told ourselves was, "you don't".

IOHO, to survive the dropshipverse, you have to work with percentages or probabilities. The odds are not that bad (one can safely ignore the naysayers) given the expanse of the online market and with it, the myriad personality types.

... to name a few,

1. The KnowAlls
There will be those customers (even us sometimes) who will turn every stone to get the lowest price; the net-savvy ones need just google some text related to a product, inspect the code for CDN links, etc. and find the same on AliE! This group of buyers are not your buy-on-instinct happy shoppers ... depending on your niche, you may be able to steer clear of the lot or simply accept that you can't win them over no matter what you say nor should you. Like them, you have a choice. You can tap a whole spectrum of other personas who will buy off your site.

2. The ShopBrowsers
The window-shoppers of old have graduated to online browsing and continue to browse and browse without actually buying anything - they form the bulk of your abandoned cart traffic ... which is a good thing! Stats show that some may yet still be converted into buying through re-marketing :)

This group is more interested in what's out there, to see what's trending rather than focus on sources and sourcing.

3. The Instinctuals
This is arguably the most loved buyer group - they blur the line between need and want by acting purely on instinct (well, almost). Perfect for deployment of those 'countdown timers', 'recent sales popups' and upsells/crossells motivators to close that elusive deal. The bonus here is this group tends to come back for more if they had a great user experience on your site.

You can probably break down the shopper populace into an infinite number of group types and the personalities that go with each. The point is there will always be buyers who will like your site, enjoy the user experience and appreciate your after-sales support, as much as they are those who will go elsewhere.

To answer your question, we would ask the customer to think of AliExpress as a warehouse of LEGO parts with thousands of suppliers he/she will have never heard of or will ever be in contact with. Dropshippers (ideally) close the gap, filter the best and save them the time and trouble of having to chance on the right one. We make sure you get the right LEGO part from the right supplier(s) coupled with guarantees. Will you not pay a markup for the right service?

Sure the customer can harp on the price and just want to pay less (you can't win them all) but they should leave with this lingering thought - that it's one thing to simply compare items and prices and another to build a trust-relationship. We owe it to our target niche to offer an awesome user experience and deliver items 'as advertised'. Those who appreciate our efforts will stay, shop and share their experience with others. Those who do not never will. Life goes on and we sell a few more items each day :)

We must accept that dropshipping is not something that works the minute you unpack the box. It's a process. It's super challenging - your first sale (a mini-eureka moment) is virtually proof of concept. It worked!

It doesn't stop there. Like everything else, knowledge is power. We are still learning and hope to share more of our experiences as we go along. To our kinsfolk, HAPPY DROPSHIPPING!
 
How's this :

When you buy an apple from the supermarket it costs more than if you went to the apple orchard & bought the apple directly from the farmer.
The supermarket compares & tests apples from all the apple farmers & makes sure that you, as the consumer, have access to the freshest, tastiest, highest quality apples from the most reliable, reputable suppliers.

That is a value-added service with an associated cost & therefore the apple must cost more from the supermarket.

You're the supermarket & AliExpress is..well, you get the analogy I'm sure.
 

Dahlia869

New Member
" Hi customer,
Thanks so much for reaching out. The products we sell may come from the same wholesaler, however, you'll find our store offers its customers a much higher level of dedicated customer service. While we aren't able to offer our customers the same price as some other retailers online, we do offer {unique selling proposition} {USP..} and {USP...}. Many of our customers find these things more valuable than the bottom dollar price."

This is the truth anyways, since Aliexpress stores are also dropshipping stores. If I knew Chinese and had a bit more startup cash, I'd go right to Alibaba.

Also,

1. Aliexpress doesn't let you pay with paypal, only Alipay with North Americans are wary of. They won't realize this til they try to buy it, and it takes a day or two to process their credit card info if I recall correctly.

2. Most Aliexpress sellers do not know English well... at all. Things sometimes don't arrive, and it's incredibly frustrating to open a dispute or try to converse about an issue in broken English/your language versus have someone tell you in plain English "So sorry! here is a refund" or "we've sent another for free". You can capitalize on this and have a killer customer satisfaction policy (just take a hit on the odd customer that gets the no-show item from Aliexpress) and be quick with making sure your customers are happy.
 

Mar

Moderator
This is the truth anyways, since Aliexpress stores are also dropshipping stores.
This statement is not necessary. It is admitting that the store is a dropshipping store. Anything bad with AliExpress including services will affect you since it is the source of your products.
 

Dahlia869

New Member
This statement is not necessary. It is admitting that the store is a dropshipping store. Anything bad with AliExpress including services will affect you since it is the source of your products.

I was only suggesting to use the text put in the quotations. This was just an afterthought for OP, everyone here knows we're all dropshipping.
 
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