Why do you need a dropshipping platform?
Dropshipping is a newer eCommerce model to which more online entrepreneurs are adapting. The low entry barrier of dropshipping is indeed very attractive to many beginners. However, under such intense competition in the industry, it is still hard for anyone to stand out and succeed.
Luckily, many dropshipping platforms and suppliers are out there for you to choose from and improve the performance of your stores. Such dropshipping platform can greatly improve efficiency and reduce many workloads for users.
Different platforms have their specialties and offer unique features, so choosing the most suitable platform for yourself is extremely important. In this article, we will bring you a comparison between two top dropshipping platforms: CJdropshipping and Spocket. You could consider which is more suitable for your situation.
Dropshipping automation
Dropshipping can be profitable, but it also requires a lot of effort, including much repetitive work. Thus, Dropshipping automation is designed to free you from lengthy and boring tasks including listing products, updating product quantity, syncing orders, syncing tracking information, etc.
That being said, automation is a “MUST” if you want to scale up your business. Both CJ and Spocket can help you to achieve dropshipping automation and no big differences are shown.
They offer automated import of orders from your store, automated order fulfillment, automated inventory update, automated syncing tracking information to your stores, etc. These are all essential features for any dropshippers.
Product sourcing
Dropshipping businesses are heavily dependent on suppliers, which means a reliable supplier can save a lot of time for you. According to Spocket, the average product quality on Spocket is better because it mainly focuses on local manufacturers (mostly US and EU suppliers) while many others find most manufacturers from AliExpress, and product inspection is also implemented on Spocket.
The supplier team of Spocket would go over a strict procedure for onboarding suppliers, including interviews and sample tests. All of which result in better product quality. Although US and EU suppliers do offer better quality products sometimes, the product varieties are limited.
On the other hand, CJdropshipping’s most manufacturers are from China. Many customers have biases about Chinese products. In fact, due to China’s fast development, many new technologies are being used in the manufacturing industry, and more trained laborers are capable to produce better quality products.
China’s manufacturing ability has gone up to a new level. Furthermore, there are more manufacturers in China than US and EU, so CJ will definitely take advantage, and have more product choices for dropshippers to choose from. Not only that, the product prices are much lower in China, which would ensure higher profit margins for dropshippers.
Logistics and shipping
Spocket has overall faster shipping since most of its suppliers are local manufacturers that can ship the parcels locally. This is an important advantage in dropshipping, and many customer complaints are logistics-related, for example, damaged products or lost products during distribution and delayed delivery.
CJ has always been improving its shipping methods to bring better experiences for all dropshippers and customers. For instance, CJPacket Ordinary and CJPacket Sensitive are two newer shipping methods built by CJ, and the former is designed for normal products while the latter is for battery-contained products.
CJPacket Ordinary takes around 8-13 days from China to the US and Sensitive takes around 10-14 days. Moreover, CJ has many global warehouses that can be used to stock private inventories.
If you are regularly selling a product and you don’t want to lose any sales due to delayed delivery, you could pre-order private inventories and have them sent to one of CJ’s global warehouses.
If you choose to send your private inventories to the US warehouse, then CJ will have them stocked and ship them out for you from the US when your customers place orders. This will greatly reduce the shipping time since it’s local.
Branding
Create your own unique brand can help you to market your products to a great extent, and this is what many dropshippers are doing right now. Spocket guarantees that none of the suppliers will add any promotional material, invoices, or flyers with the packages that reach your customers.
With Spocket, you get an additional benefit that along with neutral, generic packaging, suppliers will also attach your store’s invoice to the box with your store’s name, contact details, your logo, and a personal note from you to the customer if you want to.
CJ also provides you with what Spocket offers above, moreover, CJ has some more features for you to build your brand easily. One feature is the POD (Print-on-Demand) product. These products are available for custom designs. You can put your logo, and the picture on the products, change the colors or engrave anything you want on the products. Another feature CJ has is the customized packaging.
You can choose what kind of packaging you want, and design it by yourself to better fit the products. With all the uniqueness CJ brings to you, it is easy to build a special brand to obtain customer loyalty. What’s more, you can add a Thank You card to the package to show your appreciation to the customers, and CJ can help you with that as well.
Pricing and plan fee
Here is where things truly diverge: Spocket has three plans, with the basic one being entirely free, the Professional Plan costing $39 and the Empire Plan costing $99. If you are selling more than 25 products then the PRO plan is needed. It also has a 7-day trial that allows users to test it out before actually buying it.
CJ’s plans are different from most of the other platforms. First of all, CJ is completely free. There is no setup fee, no monthly fee, no storage fee, and no minimum order quantity on most products (some POD products might have MOQ).
However, CJ does have different customer levels, and they are not based on your plan but on your sales amount. When you reach a certain sales amount, you will be promoted to higher levels and more privileges will be given. This is a big advantage of CJ because no subscription fee means a lower barrier for startup dropshippers.
Customer Support
Spocket and CJdropshipping both have 24/7 customer support, with multi-languages supported so that no matter what problem you incur, you would receive assistance. Beyond that, both platforms have a well-stocked self-help center, where you can go through all the frequently asked questions and step-by-step explanations of all processes.
Additionally, both platforms have Facebook groups where tips, tricks, and educational material are posted regularly, and retailers can have their sites reviewed by experts for free.
Last words
CJdropshipping and Spocket are both the top one-stop dropshipping platforms, and they offer different functions for different needs of dropshippers. Ready through the article and consider which platform is the best fit for you and start scaling up your dropshipping business now.
| CJdropshipping | Spocket | |
| Dropshipping Automation | Support full dropshipping automation | Support full dropshipping automation |
| Product Sourcing | Mostly from Chinese manufacturers More product varieties and lower prices | Focus on local manufacturers (US and EU) Higher quality but more expensive |
| Logistics and shipping | Provide its own shipping methods and have global warehouses for faster shipping | Ship from local to ensure faster delivery |
| Branding | POD and customized packaging to help dropshippers build unique brand easily | Guarantee none of the suppliers will add any promotional material with the packages that reach the customers |
| Pricing and plan fee | No setup, monthly, plan fees | Plan prices range from 0-99/month |
| Support | 24/7 multi-language support | 24/7 multi-language support |
