{"id":6293,"date":"2020-04-27T15:46:48","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T14:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.contrado.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6293"},"modified":"2020-07-30T14:56:28","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T13:56:28","slug":"when-did-drop-shipping-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.contrado.co.uk\/blog\/when-did-drop-shipping-start\/","title":{"rendered":"When Did Drop-Shipping Start? A Brief History of Drop-Shipping and Its Pre-Internet Roots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By now, you\u2019ve probably heard all about drop-shipping and\nhave an idea of what it is and how it works. If not, then don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ve\nput together a post which you can\nfind here<\/a>, that explains all of that in detail. But, knowing what it\nactually is doesn\u2019t necessarily give you all of the answers. This modern-day\neCommerce concept seems to have spring out of nowhere. This may leave you\nwondering when did drop-shipping start? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve put together a brief history of drop-shipping to tell you where and when it started, and what happened to cause it to bloom into the hot topic that it is today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"when<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Did\nDrop-Shipping Start?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to pinpoint this exactly, as it\u2019s something that\npeople could have been doing for years without anyone being much wiser to it.\nWhat we can say, however, is that it started before the internet. <\/em>This\nmight seem a little strange, as drop-shipping is notoriously linked to\neCommerce, which if you didn\u2019t know, means electronic commerce. You can see\nmore on what eCommerce actually is here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drop-shipping dates back at least as far as the 60s, if not further. When drop-shipping started, it began its life in the good old mail order catalogues. That\u2019s not to say that the mail order catalogue itself was the birth of drop-shipping. It was more people that saw the mail order catalogues and could see how to exploit them to turn a profit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"when<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How Does\nThis Give Us an Answer to The Question When Did Drop-Shipping Start?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, mail order began with big department stores. They were\nbasically selling their store stock via another medium. By that, we mean that\nthey would have their store items in a brochure, which would be sent out to\ncustomers, who could in turn place their orders from their homes. The\ndepartment stores would then pop over to the relevant shelves and pick up the\nproducts that their customers had ordered and sent someone from the company to\ndeliver it to their door. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprisingly, this really took off. So much so that these huge department stores were leaving their shelves empty just to meet the demand of the home orders. They had to come up with a solution that took advantage of this amazing new way to sell their stock, while ensuring that the people that did make the trip to their stores were still able to browse and buy their whole range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"when<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How Did\nthe Department Stores Fix the Bare Shelves Problem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Enter fulfilment warehouses. These massive buildings were specifically designed to both store large quantities of the products in the mail order catalogue as well as speed up the order delivery process. They were designed in a way that made it really easy for the staff to pick the right items to send out for each mail order that they received. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"when<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How Does\nMail Order Exploitation Turn into The History of Drop-Shipping?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is when the crafty companies saw their opportunity.\nThese huge fulfilment warehouses were full of items that were just waiting to\nbe sold. A full inventory list of these were provided in the form of a mail\norder catalogue. What they decided to do with this, was to list the exact same\nitems from the major department store\u2019s warehouses in their very own mail order\ncatalogue, at a marked-up price. When their customers placed an order with\nthem, they would simply order it from the department store and have it\ndelivered straight to the customer, keeping the mark-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, it was pretty clever. We\u2019d go as far as to say it was genius. Although the larger department stores weren\u2019t entirely aware of what was going on \u2013 at least not at the beginning. This, however, was the first large-scale example of drop-shipping. But it\u2019s still got a long way to go before it becomes the business model we recognise today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"when<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Did\nDrop-Shipping Start Being Done Online?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As with most-things-internet-related, it pretty much began\nwhen the internet did. The 90s saw the birth of the world wide web, and with\nit, great opportunities. The first to make the transition to the online space\nwere the mail order companies. They\u2019d already established a method of keeping\nlarge volumes of stock and easily and quickly fulfilling customer orders, so it\nmade sense for them to make the transition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public, on the other hand, was not quite so receptive to\nthese changes. As a nation we pretty much sneered at the thought of online\nshopping for years \u2013 I know, I know, it\u2019s pretty hard to believe. People\nthought it really stupid to give their private bank account details to people\non the internet, regardless of how well known the company asking for them were.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This might strike you as a little odd, considering that in\nthe modern day, we have no issue putting our card details into an online\nsystem, but would be seeing massive red flags if someone asked us for them over\nthe phone. It\u2019s worth bearing in mind at this point that end-to-end-encryption\nwasn\u2019t even a concept that people understood back then. Also, cheques were very\nmuch still a thing, so most mail orders wouldn\u2019t actually involve sharing any\naccount details. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, people did come around and as the 90s progressed so did drop-shipping. The initial excitement sand the novelty did wear off, and by the early 2000s many had gone bankrupt as they were unsustainable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"marketplace<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If these\ncompanies were unsustainable, how come drop-shipping didn\u2019t die out?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A lot of the companies that went bankrupt were smaller\ncompanies that relied on American drop-shipping suppliers which became more\nexpensive as demand increased. There were a couple of very well-known major\nplayers which not only survived this, but flourished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ladies and gentlemen, and those in between, we introduce you\nto Amazon and eBay. These two not-so-little-guys totally revolutionised not\nonly the way we buy, but the way people sold as well. These two internet giants\nadvertise your goods on their websites as well, which reduced even more of the\nlabour-intensive side of starting your own business. No longer did you need to\nset up your own website, pay for (often quite costly) advertising or have\npretty vast technical knowledge. Simply fill out a couple of boxes on a form\nand voila, you\u2019re good to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although they weren\u2019t supplying the drop-shipping services themselves, they were facilitating everyone who wasn\u2019t a large corporation to jump on the drop-shipping bandwagon and take a slice of the action for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"one<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One Final\nPush Made the All-Important Difference Between When Drop-Shipping Started and\nWhat It is Today<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As we fast forward, to much closer to the present day, some\nhuge contributors to the history of drop-shipping set off a chain reaction that\nchanged everything completely. With the great Shopify launch in 2015, allowing\npeople to create their very own storefront and personalise it to sell their\ndrop-shipped goods to customers,  people\nwere jumping on this \u2018new\u2019 concept that had actually been around for decades\nand making it accessible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These advancements meant that drop-shipping was now, more than ever, achievable by anyone. As more and more drop-shipping suppliers became available, everyone got more competitive. This journey from \u201cwhen did drop-shipping start?\u201d to \u201cwhich of these drop-shippers is my best option?\u201d has meant that there is a supplier out there for everyone. Whether you want print-on-demand, cheap and cheerful or a luxury line \u2013 somewhere there is someone waiting to fulfil your requests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"contrado<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So where exactly do we come in?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, at Contrado, we pride ourselves on high-quality, handmade clothing, homeware and gifts. We always have. You, our loyal customers, have shown us time and time again that we have good reason to. With your kind words, stellar reviews and consistent orders we know we have products to brag about. That\u2019s why we are now offering you the chance to create your very own designs and become the sellers yourself. Our brand-new app offers you Shopify integration, so that you can offer your customers the same excellent quality that you have come to expect from us. Interested? Simply click on the banner below to find out more and sign up for a drop-shipping account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By now, you\u2019ve probably heard all about drop-shipping and have an idea of what it is and how it works. If not, then don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ve put together a post which you can find here, that explains all of that in detail. But, knowing what it actually is doesn\u2019t necessarily give you all of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"When Did Drop Shipping Start? Drop-Shipping's Pre-Internet Roots","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"If you have ever wondered 'when did drop-shipping start?' then wonder no more. We take a deeper look at the history of drop-shipping."},"categories":[778,5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Did Drop Shipping Start? Drop-Shipping's Pre-Internet Roots<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you have ever wondered 'when did drop-shipping start?' then wonder no more. 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