Only 17 days left until the Chinese New Year, this is known as a black hole for dropshippers who use websites like Aliexpress and GearBest or other Chinese suppliers because for a period of time which I will outline below all suppliers and couriers/post is closed and you cannot ship/order anything from China.
The Chinese New Year starts on January 28th and runs for a total duration of around 2-3 weeks, I will be zeroing out my stock quantity for this period however there are ways to still get orders.
If you’re going to be freezing your stock then I will and suggest freezing your stock as early as January 21st as suppliers take time to process your orders and some late orders might not go through.
I will also be resuming my operations a month later, February 21st, to give plenty time for everything to go back to normal because during this period things will get quite chaotic in China.
However depending on what sales channel you’re using, you can notify your customers of the delays, offer them some kind of bulk discount as long as they’re aware that their orders are going to be shipped with a delay.
Another option would be to buy stock and get it shipped to your house, if you have a product that you can estimate the daily demand for then it can be a great way to keep your business going, if your suppliers are on Aliexpress it wouldn’t hurt to ask them for a better price if you’re going to buy in bulk.
I use GearBest for some orders so I contacted them to find out what their Chinese New Year dates are:
If you use Aliexpress there is no specific date I can give you because some suppliers could possibly close down at a different time, I’ve heard of some suppliers closing down earlier that’s why I urge you to contact your biggest suppliers now and ask them when they close down.
Tools and Websites that integrate with Aliexpress
Have any questions?
Feel free to contact me through my blog or email me at dropshippersblog@gmail.com
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