What is the meaning of drop-ship?

Drop-ship is common among the electronics retail business. Drop-ship means a reseller instruct their wholesale counterpart, which may be located in a duty free zone, to ship out orders according to the reseller and delivering directly to their customers in a as and when basis. The reseller does not actually take the job of stocking, packaging and shipping.

Wholesale on the other hand means buying products in bulks and get a discount from it, then retailing it one at a time to make a profit. This is the conventional way of retail business.

With the internet kicking in around the world, drop-shipping does make sense after all. Most drop ship services only exist hand in hand with the internet so no one will know that you don't keep an inventory on-hand. You won't be able to sell products with your conventional store front without products.