As one of the fastest-growing ecommerce ventures and perhaps one of the most profitable opportunities out there, dropshipping might be one of the best and the top-recommended online ventures you could try out. The reason for this is that besides not needing any cash upfront or boxes piling up in your garage or storage room, dropshipping means that you know which investments are worth your money.
Of course, you never have to touch the products you are selling, and you won’t be responsible for shipping or packaging, which means that you must find the absolute best suppliers to run the dropshipping business from. On the downside, dropshipping means you won’t have control of what customers order, especially if the items you are ordering are out of stock, and also, you won’t be able to control packaging or the shipping speeds. In other words, you have to be prepared for the fact that any weird packaging would mean bad reviews whole long shipping times would result in canceled orders.
So, which are the best dropshipping companies for you to work with? In this piece, we’ll look at ChinaBrands and AliExpress, two of the bigger dropshipping brands today. Here, we’ll help you make the right choice between these two brands by answering the questions – Is ChinaBrands a better alternative to AliExpress for dropshipping? What differentiates these two companies from each other?
Brief introduction of ChinaBrands
ChinaBrands easily is one of the largest distribution and dropshipping platforms in China. A subsidiary of the listed Global Top companies, ChinaBrands takes the spot as the top-rated professional crossborder ecommerce company.
As the leading dropshipping and wholesaling platform in the world, this business-to-business ecommerce website facilitates product sales from manufacturers, as well as the medium-enterprises and buyers, hence the integration of China’s high-quality resources from various suppliers. ChinaBrands promises safe payments, and the products can be paid for via PayPal.
ChinaBrand is one of the subsidiaries for Global E-Grow, the parent company, and it’s run by the same parent company as Gearbest and SammyDress.
Today, ChinaBrands displays at least 500,000 products in many categories such as jewelry, clothing, and auto parts, among others. Despite being based in China, it also has warehouses in most parts of the world, including Britain, the United States, UK, ES, AU, RU, and Hong Kong, among other regions and countries.
Dropshipping with ChinaBrands works rather simply in that when a customer places an order for the products in your store, ChinaBrands would obtain data for the products and customer, shipping it directly to the customers from ChinaBrands’ nearest warehouse.
Brief introduction of AliExpress
Launched by Alibaba Group in 2010 as one of the biggest B2C platforms allowing Chinese companies to sell products to foreigners, AliExpress is the other leading dropshipping platform. It is based in Hangzhou, and it’s the biggest Chinese ecommerce company that dominates in their domestic B2C market. This retail group runs in the same fashion as the other large preeminent counterparts such as Alibaba, its parent group, or Amazon. Like these companies, AliExpress displays its products from multiple suppliers worldwide, and it ranks high in the list of the top-rated blue-chip brands in the world.
AliExpress is also one of the best dropshipping companies because it allows its suppliers to look out for a little more range of options, which is why AliExpress is the best option for you if you are looking for a dropshipping option.
What’s the difference between ChinaBrands and AliExpress?
As two of the leading online platforms for dropshipping, ChinaBrands and AliExpress offer some of the best offers for dropshipping, and either of them might offer the best performance for the business you are trying to launch. But which of these two should you try?
ChinaBrands and AliExpress are notoriously known for the widest variety of products they offer along with the highly competitive product pricing. So, if you are going to launch a dropshipping business because of product variety, then either of these brands offers a great start for you.
To determine which of these two companies offer the best dropshipping services, let’s look at the main features of these two companies.
- B2B/ B2C
The differences between these two dropshipping companies lie in the kind of services that they provide.
AliExpress offers specialized B2C or Business to Customer services, and though most of the online platforms offer B2B services, AliExpress offers an extensive catalog from AliExpress, meaning you can buy products in small and in large quantities.
ChinaBrands, on the other hand, is committed to offering the best wholesale products as well as dropshipping services to customers across the world. Despite the option of providing the best B2C services, ChinaBrands also provides great B2B services, especially for the small businesses that can access the products at very low prices in wholesale.
So, if you are looking for dropshipping business options for your customers or small businesses, either ChinaBrands or AliExpress would be a great option for you.
MOQs (Minimum Order Quantity)
When it comes to dropshipping, one of the things you need to consider when looking for your best dropshipping partner is the company’s MOQ requirements.
ChinaBrands offers the best solution when it comes to the MOQ offered, and the brand offers a flexible MOQ that allows you to run your dropshipping business smoothly. If you are not sure about how the dropshipping business with eventually pan out for you, it might be a great idea for you to start working with ChinaBrands because of the MOQ flexibility offered by the company.
AliExpress is also an equally good business partner for dropshipping because they don’t have specific MOQs. AliExpress’s primary target is the individual customers, as well as the small businesses that are just trying out their online businesses. If, on the other hand, you are looking to make bulk purchases, AliExpress would still make that possible thanks to the MOQs starting from 10 units. The only catch is that the MOQs will affect the pricing for the products you buy.
Note that if you are struggling to find a brand that offers no MOQs or that allows just one order to be processed, then you could negotiate with the supplier for a better deal. That said, ChinaBrands and AliExpress are two of the best brands for dropshipping where the MOQs are concerned.
- Pricing
The other important consideration to keep in mind while trying to decide between ChinaBrands and AliExpress is the suppliers’ pricing and the pricing model.
ChinaBrands offers one of the most competitive wholesale prices for their product to both customers and small businesses, and though the prices depend on the number of products purchased and your budget, ChinaBrands’ pricing is quite friendly to most of its customers.
AliExpress, on the other hand, offers more static prices. Unfortunately, the wholesale prices offered by AliExpress are a little hard to find from the site, and you’d have to reach out to specific suppliers then negotiate the prices, especially for bulk purchases. The prices would also be based on your MOQ, which is the basic requirement put forth by AliExpress.
So, if you are to choose one of these brands based on the pricing, we’d recommend ChinaBrands because they offer friendlier prices.
- Matters Logistics
ChinaBrands takes the lead when it comes down to logistics management for wholesale and retail suppliers, boasting at least 200 options for logistics. As a result, ChinaBrands makes an excellent brand option for dropshipping, especially for small businesses.
AliExpress, on the other hand, only offers some 5 options for delivery, specifically for worldwide shipping.
To avoid struggling with logistics, ChinaBrands would be a better option for you.
- Product Categories
ChinaBrands is one of the best options for dropshipping and even wholesale purchases, thanks to the large product catalog that boasts over 1 million product listings on the website. What this means is that ChinaBrands allows you to find and to buy the widest selection of products, all at the same time, which also means that their processing is a lot easier. ChinaBrands’ biggest feature is that besides offering the widest variety of products, they also provide quality control for all of the products listed on the ChinaBrands website. If you are looking for an online dropshipping platform that offers more control over your purchases while also allowing you to run a successful business without having to worry about customers missing their orders, the ChinaBrands would be a great place for you to start.
AliExpress also offers a large product category on its online platform, but you’d still have to check for products from different suppliers for different products, all from the same website. There’s one caveat, though, you’d have to sift through the widest variety of product providers for you to find the right sellers and suppliers. This would also allow for better quality control. Unfortunately, it also means that you will be losing a lot of valuable time in the search for the best products and suppliers from the AliExpress brand.
- Type and Nature of products sold.
ChinaBrands and AliExpress both offer a wide variety of made-to-order and ready-made products, both large and small. If you are a dropshipper trying to source the best quality products from these wholesale vendors, you will be happy to know that they all offer products that meet your specifications for both products and services sold by Alibaba and ChinaBrands.
- Branding and Customization
The other important consideration to bear in mind when deciding between AliExpress and ChinaBrands is the branding and the customization options given by each of these brands.
ChinaBrands not only ensures the delivery of ready products but also gives an option for product customization, which means that ChinaBrands would easily be your go-to dropshipping brand. For customization, all you need to do is to contact the company directly and to provide them with the necessary customization details.
AliExpress is, unfortunately, not the best in terms of branding and customization because the company deals with a whole range of products that are offered by multiple suppliers. The products offered by the suppliers selling on AliExpress have already been manufactured and also customized, which means that unless the customization is given to the suppliers, you won’t be able to change or modify the details on the products. What this means is that beyond the wide product variety and the great pricing, AliExpress might not be an ideal dropshipping site for you if you need customized products for your small dropshipping business.
- Processing Times
If you are running a dropshipping business or are thinking about starting one, you need to make sure that the processing times make sense, not just to you but also to your customers. Between ChinaBrands and AliExpress, ChinaBrands seems to be a better dropshipping partner because they offer 24 hours shipping, unlike AliExpress that offers shipping that is done between 2 and 7 business days.
ChinaBrands vs. AliExpress (Which one is better for dropshipping?)
These two are the leading companies for dropshipping, but between the two, ChinaBrands offers the best deals and options when it comes to dropshipping thanks to the great pricing, widest product range, customization and branding options, and also great MOQ options. The 24hours shipping period makes ChinaBrands the best brand for dropshipping, especially if you are looking for peace of mind in your dropshipping business.
Besides AliExpress and ChinaBrands, what are other dropshipping platforms?
So, which are the best brands for dropshipping besides ChinaBrands and AliExpress?
ShopMaster – this brand is a great option for you if you are looking for help with imports. ShopMaster allows for easy dropshipping from at least 29 suppliers that feature at least all the suppliers mentioned and listed by brands like WooCommerce, Wish, and eBay, among others.
Spocket – while the suppliers on the Spocket come from the US and the EU, as well as suppliers from China, Spocket also offers the widest range of items from leading suppliers shipping to China and the rest of the world at reasonably low prices. You can find multiple products using the filter option for Spocket’s catalog.
Conclusion
If you are planning to start a dropshipping business, but you aren’t sure if you should work with ChinaBrands or AliExpress, this article offers a comprehensive review of the two brands. You will be happy to know that between these two brands, ChinaBrands would be a much better brand choice for you if you are looking to get started with dropshipping.
