The Philippines’ first cash-on-delivery dropshipping company, Dropify, just added local books to its catalog, effectively enabling dropshippers to operate their own bookstore.
If you’re unfamiliar with Dropify, they are the first company in the country that enables Filipinos to dropship through their storefronts on Shopee and Lazada with the option of cash on delivery (COD) for their customers, including everything from shoes and sleep essentials to fast fashion and kitchenware. For their newly added catalog, the business model is simple: an interested bookseller can subscribe to either Superdeal or Superstore, the two categories that now offer books courtesy of brand partner Bookshelf PH, a publishing company in the Philippines focused on books, ebooks, and audiobooks.
Dropify will provide this subscriber with his or her own Shopee and Lazada storefronts, carrying the books and other products that the person elects to sell. When a customer buys a book, Dropify will ship the product directly to the customer from their warehouse. The customer thus gets to build their eCommerce brand with none of the operational costs associated with holding inventory, employing warehouse manpower, and developing logistics infrastructure.
Books are already popular as a dropshipping product in other markets, like the United States and the United Kingdom.
“As a dropshipping product, I’m especially excited about books because we can help entrepreneurs as well as readers. Dropshippers get a more diverse catalog of products to offer with the addition of books, and their customers get more convenient access to books at the stores of their choosing,” according to Charles Sy, Dropify CEO, adding that he hopes the introduction of books as a dropshipping product will produce more readers in the Philippines.
Aside from being the first COD dropshipping company in the Philippines, Sy is also an active thought leader in promoting the business model to potential entrepreneurs. As an example, he recently shared his insights into dropshipping in publishing house Bookshelf PH’s The E-Hustle: What the Country’s Best Digital Leaders Can Teach You About Launching and Growing Your Online Business, alongside leaders from Shopee, GCash, Quad X, Great Deals, Kimstore, Booky, and many other top brands.
Like The E-Hustle, the books available to dropship will also be in non-fiction, spanning across genres like business, women’s, financial literacy, and more. Some titles already in the collection include works about local startups, Filipina heroes, marketing insights, and HR leaders, and others set to soon follow include a book on motherhood and parenting from Senator Risa Hontiveros, an anthology of art and writing from Filipina youth, and work on social entrepreneurship in the Philippines.
“Dropify has shown the ability to grow entire product categories through their network of dropshipping entrepreneurs. The same virtuous cycle will occur with books. As books are made more accessible, there will be more readers, and also more booksellers and publishing houses,” said Ada Ortega, Co-founder of Bookshelf PH, who arranged the partnership adding that she believes it will contribute to the growth of reading, helping readers, writers, and booksellers.