Dropshipping is a way of fulfilling an order without the goods passing through the business's own warehouse. This piece is about setting up dropshipping in Odoo.
What dropshipping is
Dropshipping is the fulfilment of a customer order by having the goods shipped directly from the supplier to the customer, rather than the business buying the goods into its own warehouse and then shipping them out to the customer. The business still sells to the customer and still buys from the supplier; it is the physical movement of the goods that goes straight from supplier to customer, skipping the business's warehouse.
Why a business dropships
A business dropships to avoid handling and holding goods it does not need to handle or hold. For goods that the business sells but does not need to stock, does not need to inspect or process, dropshipping removes a pointless detour: rather than the goods coming into the warehouse and then going out again, they go straight from supplier to customer. This means the business does not hold stock of those goods, does not handle them, and the fulfilment is often faster, the goods are not waiting at the warehouse to be re-shipped. For the right goods, dropshipping is a more efficient way to fulfil.
How dropshipping works in Odoo
Odoo supports dropshipping. The mechanism is, in essence, a route: a product can be set up to be dropshipped, meaning that when a customer orders it, the order results in the goods being supplied directly from the supplier to the customer. Odoo manages this within the connected system: the customer's order, the purchase from the supplier, and the direct delivery to the customer are all tracked, even though the goods never physically touch the business's warehouse. Setting up dropshipping is largely a matter of configuring the products that should be dropshipped to follow the dropship route.
What setting it up gives
Setting dropshipping up properly in Odoo, rather than handling it informally, gives the business the efficiency of the direct movement without losing visibility. The order, the purchase, the direct delivery are all in the connected system, so the business can see and manage the dropshipped fulfilment, and the financial side, the sale to the customer and the purchase from the supplier, is handled within the system. The business gets the benefit of dropshipping, no handling, no holding, faster fulfilment, while the order remains tracked and managed.
When dropshipping is the right choice
An honest note on when to dropship. Dropshipping is the right choice for goods the business genuinely does not need to handle or hold itself, where the direct supplier-to-customer movement is genuinely fine. It is not the right choice where the business has a real reason to receive the goods first, to inspect them, to combine them with other things, to hold stock of them. A business should set up dropshipping for the products it genuinely suits, and fulfil other products from its own stock where there is a real reason to. Dropshipping is a tool for the right goods, not a blanket approach.
The takeaway
Setting up dropshipping in Odoo means configuring products to be supplied directly from the supplier to the customer, skipping the business's own warehouse. Dropshipping suits goods the business sells but does not need to handle or hold, removing a pointless detour and often speeding fulfilment. Odoo manages it within the connected system, so the order, the purchase, and the direct delivery stay tracked. Set up dropshipping for the products it genuinely suits, and fulfil from stock where there is a real reason to. For how we approach Odoo, see our ERP practice.