Convictional is a B2B commerce integration platform. Wholesalers who drop ship can manage their network of retail partners and integrate with them seamlessly.

Many of Convictional's customers use Shopify as their ecommerce platform. And some even offer a way to "blind drop ship" on behalf of their retail trading partners. In this post, we explain the simple concept of blind drop shipping, why you should do it (if you are a wholesaler or a retailer who drop ships), and how to do it on Shopify.

What Blind Drop Shipping Is

Blind drop shipping happens when the shopper receives the order and thinks it came from the retailer. In other words, the wholesaler ships the order with no evidence that the item came from them. Instead, the order has the branding and information of the retailer that made the sale. While this seems ideal, depending on your current supply chain processes, it may be challenging to set up.

The Benefits

Retailers own the relationship with their shoppers; wholesalers who fulfill the orders own the relationship with their retail partners.

Much of the shopping experience is predicated on the delivery process. Consumers want fast shipping times and an experience that is consistent with their view of the brand that they purchased from. After all, you have earned their trust and it's up to you to keep it. In order to deliver consistency, the brand must align with the order. If it doesn't, your shopper will likely be confused as to why there is another company's packaging and branding on the order.

How To Blind Drop Ship on Shopify

A great approach you can use to blind drop ship on behalf of another trading partner (ie. use your customer’s name and logo with your return address when shipping orders to their end consumer) using standard Shopify and their optional app called Order Printer.

The first step is to secure your partner’s company name (either legal name or operating name of the company you are planning to ship on behalf of) and the logo (in JPG or PNG format). Once you have this information you will need to download the Order Printer app if it is not already installed in your store. In the Order Printer app, click “Add template”. Use the existing packing slip as a guide, and edit the template to include your customers name and logo.

There should be existing spots in the template that represent the company name and logo on the packing slip. Replace the image source with a URL for your customers logo, and the company name with the text name you want to use. Name the packing slip the same name as the trading partner. When you go to ship orders, watch for orders that are from drop shipped trading partners (starts with “Drop ship: “, depending on how you do this now). Select the template associated with the partner. Now when you print packing slips, it’s in their name.

This is just a quick tip that can be an easy way to blind ship on behalf of your retail customers without too much in the way of process change, IT headaches or expense. If you need any more help getting this setup, here is a link to the Shopify help doc on the topic.

We hope you got some value reading it through. If we find a similar approach for another platform we will add a new article describing how you can take advantage. How do you do this now? Let us know.