We have a golden opportunity to leverage the massive uprise in online shopping and eCommerce. In fact, the eCommerce industry has been booming over the previous years, and there has been a steady increase in growth. As such, the eCommerce market is projected to reach 7.4 trillion dollars in the next 4 years.
Moreover, we can’t talk about eCommerce and not consider eCommerce dropshipping. Actually, dropshipping is an eCommerce business model that brings in significant profits. As a matter of fact, the dropshipping market is projected to reach 476.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2026.
Now, in this article, we will thoroughly compare the basic eCommerce model and the eCommerce dropshipping model. Moreover, we will take a deeper look into eCommerce dropshipping. Ultimately, this will help us understand eCommerce and dropshipping as business ventures.
What Is eCommerce Dropshipping?
eCommerce dropshipping is a low-risk, low-investment business model. Moreover, the seller doesn’t keep any inventory with dropshipping. Instead, the dropshipper works together with suppliers. Notably, we only purchase the inventory after making sales. All in all, the business model is a retail fulfillment method.
To elaborate, our store’s products get shipped to our customers by a third-party supplier. The biggest advantage of dropshipping is that we never touch any inventory while making a profit. To demonstrate, let’s look at an example.
Let’s say we charge $150 for a men’s watch while our supplier prices it at $100. From this, we can make a solid profit of $50. Uniquely, the fact that we act more as a middleman is the biggest difference between dropshipping and the standard retail model. But, to truly paint a clear picture, let’s look at the difference between the two eCommerce models.
eCommerce Dropshipping Vs. eCommerce Inventory- Which Is Best?
As mentioned above, one of the biggest differentiation points between eCommerce dropshipping and the standard eCommerce model is inventory. With the standard model, we have to hold inventory in stock.
Whereas with eCommerce dropshipping, that is not the case. Instead, when we dropship, we work with suppliers who hold and ship out our inventory. Now, let’s dive deeper into both the standard eCommerce and dropshipping model and their pros and cons.
eCommerce Inventory Pros
In truth, holding our own inventory in stock allows us to have better control over our store overall. Plus, there are multiple other benefits to it as well:
Fast order fulfillment
Reduce shortage risk
Bulk discounts
Control over price
Branding
Fast Order Fulfillment
First, by holding our inventory in stock, we can fulfill our orders faster. Since we control the shipping process, we can ship products more efficiently. As a result, this allows us to get the product to our customers sooner because we’re the ones handling the shipping.
Reduce Shortage Risk
Moreover, another benefit of having inventory is the significant reduction in shortage risks. Since we have control of the inventory, it’s easier for us to keep track of what and how much is in stock. Consequently, this allows us to avoid offering items that are out of stock. In contrast, when relying on a third-party supplier, we may run into stock issues when depending on a third-party supplier.
Control Over Price & Bulk Discount
On the same note, we have control over the pricing. As we’re the ones who handle the shipment, we don’t need to worry about sudden price changes for the products we’re offering.
Furthermore, because we are ordering a larger quantity to stock up, we can expect to get a bulk discount. As a result, this allows us to mark up our profit margin and enjoy higher profits while remaining competitive.
Branding
On top of that, we can provide a branded experience. To clarify, we can prepare and package the order how we want. Actually, this allows us to brand our packaging and include any complimentary branded material, treats, or offers in the package.
Overall, the benefit of holding our own inventory is having more control over our eCommerce business.
eCommerce Inventory Cons
On the other hand, there are also a few cons to holding our inventory. In truth, many of these cons end up costing us money. And, since the main objective of eCommerce is to enjoy our profits, the costly nature of these disadvantages hinders that.
Some of the cons of eCommerce inventory are:
Outdated product inventory
Storage costs
Lower profits
Less flexibility
Outdated Product Inventory
Importantly, as trends change super fast, holding our inventory means we can end up with outdated products. Thus, we can end up with a stock of undesirable inventory that we may not be able to sell. Consequently, this not only restricts us from making a profit but puts us at a loss.
Less Flexibility
Plus, when building up our product catalog, we become less flexible to adapt to customer demand. Now, when we can’t cater to customer demand, we experience lower sales volume. With that, we end up with lower profits.
Storage Costs
On top of that, we also need to cover storage costs. To elaborate, storage costs encompass multiple things we must pay for. This includes the actual space, storage workers, security, etc. Hence, we need to invest a decent amount of cash into storage.
Lower Profits
The bottom line is that all the cons of having inventory boil down to us having lower profits. Actually, every con directly affects our profit, as all of these disadvantages manifest as a loss to profit.
eCommerce Dropshipping Pros
Now, when considering eCommerce dropshipping, the most notable aspect is that we don’t hold inventory. Uniquely, in dropshipping, we can make a profit without managing or investing upfront in any inventory.
With this in mind, here are the pros of the eCommerce dropshipping model:
Low risk
Little to no starting capital
Test profitability of products
Scalability
Low entry barrier
Freedom
Little To No Starting Capital
As mentioned, since we don’t hold our inventory, we don’t have to invest in it. Because of this, we also don’t need to invest in storage. As such, this allows us to enter the dropshipping world with little to no starting capital.
Low Risk
Uniquely, there is little risk around dropshipping. Regardless of whether products are profitable or outdated, we limit any losses from occurring. Actually, we can just find new and better items to sell without worrying about leftover inventory.
Test Profitability Of Products
Importantly, we can easily test the profitability of products. For example, if multiple listings aren’t selling well, we can easily replace them with new ones and test them out. Additionally, we can always raid the best-selling lists across selling platforms and test those products in our own store.
Notably, this allows us to keep up with consumer demand and offer a diverse catalog of products in our eCommerce dropshipping store. While trends are shifting fast, not having inventory means not holding outdated products that don’t sell.
Scalability
With that being said, as we stay on top of trends and offer diversity, we can easily scale. As such, we can start testing and listing more and more items, gradually expanding our offerings. Plus, without having to invest in the inventory, scaling our business comes at no risk.
Actually, the best way to scale our dropshipping business is with dropshipping automation tools. They do the work for us while we can focus on marketing and customer service to increase sales.
Freedom
Notably, when we automate our dropshipping business, we save a bunch of time and effort that usually goes into dropshipping. With that in mind, we can enjoy a lot more freedom instead of being tied down to our business.
Low Entry Barrier
And last, with eCommerce dropshipping we don’t have to have any prior experience to start. To clarify, we don’t need any specific skills because the business model is so straightforward. So, we can start dropshipping easily.
eCommerce Dropshipping Cons
On another note, there are also some downsides to eCommerce dropshipping. So, we need to look at the dropshipping model from all angles in order to fully understand it.
With that being said, let’s look at the eCommerce dropshipping cons:
Higher competition
No control over stock & shipping
No control over product quality
Difficult to build a brand
Higher Competition
As dropshipping is a low-risk, low-investment model, competition is high. Now, with the fierce competition being so high, our profit margins can go down. Simply put, the more competition, the more saturated the market becomes which brings pricing down.
No Control Over Stock & Shipping
Also, as a result of not holding our inventory, we have no control over product quality or stock and shipping. Since we rely on third-party suppliers for shipping and stock, we may end up offering out-of-stock products. Consequently, this may turn away potential customers. However, we can use automation tools to track the stock.
In addition, different suppliers have different processing, billing, and shipping policies, so shipping times vary. As such, this puts us at fault if something is late or doesn’t show up. This is why our suppliers must have excellent customer service because we will be extending this support to our customers.
No Control Over Product Quality
Plus, because the products don’t pass through our hands, we have no control over their quality. But, we can test our products and find solid and trustworthy suppliers. For example, we can utilize the AutoDS list of trustworthy supplies and start from there. Moreover, some suppliers like CJDropshipping offer quality control to ensure our customers get good quality products.
Difficult To Build A Brand
Moreover, it’s a challenge to build a brand when operating a dropshipping business. To note, because we don’t handle the shipping, it’s harder for us to brand the packaging, personalize it or add complimentary branded material.
But, don’t worry! There are several ways we can combat this. We can combat branding and competition by focusing our branding on our store rather than our products. To begin with, we need to define the style, color, and other visuals shown on our website. After customizing our store layout with branded colors and designs, we can add our store logo in the right spots.
As a result, this will create a recognizable identity for our store. By branding our store, we’ll be able to stand out from the competition.
How Much Does It Cost To Run An eCommerce Dropshipping Business?
Interestingly, the cost of running an eCommerce dropshipping business doesn’t have to be sky-high. Nonetheless, to properly run our business and optimize it to boost sales, there are some fees we should know about.
Selling Channel Costs
One of the most important things to cover is the selling channel cost. Different selling channels have different costs, while some are entirely free. Notably, it’s free to dropship on eBay and Facebook Marketplace. However, platforms like Shopify and Wix require a monthly subscription payment. With that being said, we should note that both are quite affordable at $29/month for Shopify and $17/month for Wix, for their cheapest options.
In addition, we have selling fees that we have to cover. For example, on eBay, we have to cover both an insertion fee when we create a listing and a final value fee when our item sells. The amount charged depends on the item’s price, the format, and the category we choose for our listing. Additionally, eBay charges $0.30 on the final value fee.
Furthermore, on Facebook Marketplace, the selling fee is 5% per shipment. Or, the selling fee can be a flat fee of $0.40 for shipments of $8.00 or less. What’s more, the selling fee includes taxes and the cost of payment processing.
Marketing Costs
Another cost that can occur when running our eCommerce dropshipping business is marketing. However, this depends on what type of marketing we’ll be doing for our business. A free option is to run our own blog. On the other hand, marketing that requires some investment isPay-per-click (PPC) and email marketing.
For PPC, we can set and optimize a budget to run ads across various platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and more. However, the campaign’s optimization and success are closely related to our budget. On the other hand, for email marketing, we have to invest in emailing software to help us in the process.
With that in mind, eCommerce dropshipping remains more profitable than the basic inventory model. In comparison, dropshipping requires less investment and allows us to enjoy higher profits.
What Are The Best eCommerce Dropshipping Niches?
Granted, when dropshipping, focusing on profitable niches helps us have a more targeted approach to selling. While we test out the waters and try to find our niche, we can also start leveraging the best eCommerce dropshipping niches.
Now, diving deeper into each niche and understanding what makes it profitable will help us build a better product catalog.
Jewelry & Accessories
With the globaljewelry market predicted to grow to$19.88 billion by 2024; it proves to be a great and profitable niche to leverage. In truth, products from the jewelry and accessories niche will always be trending. Especially since there are numerous unique or handmade jewelry items and accessories, this niche is booming. Indeed, people are willing to spend more on unique and handmade items, making this a very profitable niche.
Additionally, there are a lot of subcategories within this niche that we can explore. With this in mind, we can easily test various products to see what works best for our stores.
So, let’s take a look at some of the most popular items from this niche:
Blue Stone Pendant Necklace
Spiral Ring Size Adjuster
Clasp Rings For Bracelets
Blue Stone Pendant Necklace
Jewelry will always be in style, and now the blue stone pendant necklace is all the hype. It’s dainty, sweet, and not too flashy. Besides, women will love to buy this for themselves but it’s also a perfect product for gift-giving. Because of this, the blue stone pendant necklace has become one of the best items to dropship.
Spiral Ring Size Adjuster
Equally important when considering which products to dropship in this niche is the spiral ring size adjuster. To elaborate, the ring adjuster is a spiral that covers part of the ring in order to make it fit better.
As such, it’s a super convenient and inventive way to ensure all of our rings fit us perfectly. And, with rings becoming more and more fashionable these days – this item is integral when we don’t have a receipt to get it resized.
Beginner’s Tip: There are various sizes in order to cater to the various ring size adjustments. As a result, we can offer a diverse selection in order to leverage the product’s full potential.
Claps Rings For Bracelets
Another great product for our eCommerce dropshipping venture is the clasp rings for bracelets. As a matter of fact, this product is perfect for when our bracelet breaks or the clasp is too small. Now, people often just choose to make these adjustments themselves, making the clasp rings a popular dropshipping item.
To elaborate on its functionality, the clasp rings are attached to our bracelets to ensure it stays on properly. Moreover, the perfect target audience for this product would be at-home jewelry makers and jewelry lovers.
Home Improvement
During the past couple of years, home improvement projects have taken a big swing. People have become more willing and ready to invest their time and energy in DIY or renovation projects. This entails putting up new decorations, improving existing aspects of our home, or working to add new ones. For example, repainting the walls, adding a kitchen island, and much more.
Since it’s a fun project for the household, the home improvement niche has been continuously growing since 2020. With that being said, let’s see the most popular home improvement products:
Banana Connector With Screw Lock
Drywall Smoothing Spatula
Adjustable Kitchen Faucet
Banana Connector With Screw Lock
Interestingly, one of the most popular items in the home improvement niche is the banana connector with screw lock. To clarify, the banana connector is used to finish off the exposed ends of speaker wires.
Furthermore, the banana connector with a screw lock is added to the banana slot on a device and screwed so that it stays in securely. In fact, this item is popular among DJs, event planners, or people that work with music.
Drywall Smoothing Spatula
Next, we have the drywall smoothing spatula. As mentioned, since people are getting more and more interested in home improvement DIY projects, they also need the tools for that. Actually, the drywall spatula is just a staple of any project and is also a basic home improvement tool. It is used to apply and smooth out drywall compounds on walls and ceilings. Thus, making it perfect for a DIY home project.
Adjustable Kitchen Faucet
Lastly, one of the most interesting items that have become popular is the adjustable kitchen faucet. Notably, it’s a super useful product to have in our kitchen. The adjustable kitchen faucet allows the user to detach and expand the faucet head for easier use. Plus, it has different and adjustable water pressure settings to cater to the user’s needs. Its versatility makes it a great item to dropship.
Consumer Electronics
Naturally, one of the niches that have a year-round demand is consumer electronics. To emphasize, electronics make up 22% of total sales in eCommerce as of 2020. So, this number shows us that consumer electronics is one of the most profitable niches that we can leverage.
Now, let’s see which are the best products to dropship from this niche:
LED Ring Light
Bluetooth Transmitter & Receiver
LED Video Light Camera
LED Ring Light
It’s never been more relevant than in today’s social media-driven world to produce high-quality content. This goes to say that items like the LED ring light have been selling like crazy. Plus, with work moving to a remote setting, the LED ring light allows for a more professional setting in our online meetings. And, because of TikTok and other influencers whose success depends on items like this – the LED ring light is in high demand.
To elaborate, the LED ring light is basically a tripod with a bright ring light. As a result, it’s convenient for different uses. So, it is truly one of the golden ticket items of our time.
Beginner’s Tip: We should offer various sizes and colors to attract a broader audience when dropshipping the LED ring light. Additionally, offering phone-sized ring lights will also be attractive to influencers, YouTubers, vloggers, and teens.
Bluetooth Transmitter & Receiver
In general, the world is technologically enhanced, and with it, we all want to be connected online 24/7. Because of this, the Bluetooth transmitter and receiver have become a staple dropshipping item.
Whether we want to connect in the car or the house, this item has us covered. To explain, the Bluetooth transmitter and receiver allow us to connect different devices to each other for convenience. And, once connected we can listen to music, speak on the phone via Bluetooth, and more.
LED Video Light Camera
Now, the LED video light camera is mostly for people who need good lighting for filming videos, holding webinars, etc. However, nowadays it’s super common for people to create content for YouTube, social media, and blogs.
Moreover, the LED video light camera is basically a high-quality camera with an LED light attached to it. To clarify, this helps users get better lighting and better quality content when filming with it. With this in mind, the LED video light camera is now in high demand, making it a super-profitable product to dropship.
Office Supplies
Next up we have the office supplies niche. Interestingly, this has been a profitable niche to leverage even before the eCommerce boom. That’s because office supplies always have a massive demand from all over the world.
From entrepreneurs, and students, to working professionals, everyone needs office supplies at some point. What’s more, office supplies most likely get exhausted over time. Thus, we can’t deny the possibility of returning customers.
Interestingly, office supplies encompass a myriad of things, however, the best items to dropship are:
Wristband Mouse Pad
Electric Pencil Sharpener
Single Hole Puncher
Wristband Mouse Pad
As our computers and laptops are used daily, many people are inevitably utilizing a mouse. This is why we should add a wristband mouse pad to our dropshipping stores. To illustrate, the wristband mouse pad is a mouse pad with an additional cushion for our wrist.
As such, allowing for a more comfortable hand placement when we are spending hours on our computers. As the product is useful and in-demand, it’s a great choice for our dropshipping store.
Electric Pencil Sharpener
Undeniably, the electric pencil sharpener is a classic. Notably, it comes in different sizes, colors, and styles, while also coming with different settings. It automatically sharpens our pencils to perfection simply by putting the pencil inside the sharpener. There is no doubt that this item will be around and worth selling for a while.
Beginner’s Tip: When selling the electric pencil sharpener, we can target teachers as this product is most commonly used in a classroom setting.
Single Hole Puncher
Last, but not least we have the single hole puncher. This product is both timeless and crucial in any office setting. Notably, its utility makes it a product that’s constantly in demand, making it an evergreen product. As a result, we can count on the single hole puncher to bring in significant sales.
Men’s Fashion
Truly, fashion is an evergreen niche in dropshipping, but it’s often and mostly associated with women. However, men’s fashion is actually a super-profitable niche. Especially since there is a lot of focus on women’s fashion, the men’s fashion niche is less saturated compared to the women’s. Moreover, to boost sales and increase profit margins, we need to include men’s clothing in our product catalogs.
So, let’s dive into some of the best items to dropship in the men’s fashion niche:
Swim Shorts
Short-Sleeved Polo Shirt
Linen & Light Pants
Swim Shorts
Since fast fashion is such a dominant phenomenon, the changing styles, colors, and designs drive the swim shorts industry. In truth, trends end up changing at lightning speed, and we all must have the best new thing. So, we need the hottest new swim shorts, with the trendiest designs.
Also, swim shorts are just simply a staple of any man’s wardrobe. Actually, it’s a seasonal necessity that enables us to leverage it every summer. To note, we need to include different sizes, designs, and styles. Because, the more variation we have, the higher the sales potential will be.
Short-Sleeved Polo Shirt
Unquestionably, the short-sleeved polo shirt is simply a classic. Whether we are going out for coffee, on a date, or having a meeting, this business casual staple is always a great choice.
As a matter of fact, the short sleeve polo shirts will never go out of style which means that we can profit off of them year-round. Lastly, it’s the perfect product for global audience targeting since it’s a popular product across most countries.
Linen & Light Pants
Although this has not been such a common item in the past, now it’s taking over the fashion industry. Linen and light pants allow for a more comfortable appearance while also maintaining a certain level of class.
In fact, linen pants embody the classy bohemian look while remaining trendy. Plus, the variety of colors and styles caters to everyone making them a great product to sell in our eCommerce dropshipping stores.
Women’s Fashion
As mentioned above, fashion is an evergreen niche. However, the focus on women’s fashion is unmatched. With trends changing quickly and a high emphasis on appearance, the women’s fashion industry is and will continue to grow. As a matter of fact, the profitable nature of women’s fashion with the incredible rise in online shopping makes this niche very lucrative.
As such, let’s take a look at some of the best items from this niche:
V-neck Chiffon Blouse
Solid-color Bikini Set
Long Sleeve Poplin Shirt
V-neck Chiffon Blouse
Undeniably, the v-neck chiffon blouse is a classic. Particularly, this item will never go out of style, it’s truly quintessential. Regardless of whether we are going out to dinner, heading to work, or even sitting down for coffee with friends, the chiffon blouse has us covered. Therefore, it is a timeless piece that will definitely attract interest and sales.
Solid-color Bikini Set
Much like the men’s swim shorts, a woman’s bikini will always be a necessity. Although it’s a seasonal item, it will always remain a staple of any woman’s wardrobe.Specifically, a solid color bikini is something that will never go out of style, which is a perfect way to promote the product. In fact, having this item in our eCommerce dropshipping product catalog will surely be profitable for us.
Long Sleeve Poplin Shirt
The classic above all classics, is the long sleeve poplin shirt. This item is a more professional piece of clothing, however, it’s also timeless. As such, the poplin shirt will always be in demand as there will always be a need for office-style clothing. Because of this, we won’t make a mistake when choosing to list the long sleeve poplin shirts in our stores.
Beginner’s Tip: We can utilize the cross-selling technique when selling the long sleeve poplin shirt. With it, we can pair items like blazers and classy sweaters to increase our average order value.
Where Can I Source eCommerce Dropshipping Products From?
As we’ve gone over the best niches and products to dropship, we can now take a look at where to source them from. It’s important to note that suppliers are available in different regions worldwide. As such, we can reach our target market both locally and globally.
When choosing our suppliers, it’s imperative for us to ensure that they have a domestic warehouse in the markets we’re selling in. Consequently, this allows us to offer faster shipping which ultimately brings about satisfied and returning customers.
With this in mind, let’s dive into the top eCommerce dropshipping suppliers:
To kick off the list, we have CJDropshipping. This go-to dropshipping supplier has 8 international warehouses, enabling quick shipping times.
Plus, some of CJDropshipping’s other great features include:
White-label products
Print-on-demand products
Quality control
The white label solution is one of CJDropshipping’s most attractive aspects. To clarify, white-label products are great for branding purposes. Additionally, we can offer custom products by utilizing their print-on-demand option. To break it down, print on demand is a process where we can customize our products.
Most importantly, CJDropshipping does product quality control ensuring that we, as dropshippers, can sell good quality products. As a result, we will be able to guarantee high quality items to our customers without compromising our integrity.
AliExpress
Undeniably, AliExpress is one of the top suppliers to source from. As a matter of fact, AliExpress has warehouses all over the world making it a great choice as a supplier. In addition, it has a massive product catalog of over 100 million products.
What’s more, some other great features to consider when looking at AliExpress are:
AliExpress Dropship Center
Extensive product selection
Low prices
First and foremost, AliExpress is super dropshipping-friendly with their Dropship Center. The dropshipping center helps us with our product research that will ultimately improve our own store catalog. Especially, when considering AliExpress’ huge product selection, this can come in handy.
Moreover, AliExpress is a Chinese supplier meaning that their product pricing is low. As such, this enables us to increase our profit margin and remain competitive.
Amazon
Next up, we have Amazon. This eCommerce giant has a huge product variety offering millions of products across every category. Because of this, they are one of the most attractive suppliers to source from.
Moreover, here are the key features of Amazon:
Fast 2-day delivery
International warehouses
Flexible return policy
Uniquely, with Amazon’s 2-day delivery for Prime members, this supplier is a super convenient choice to source from. As such, it ensures its Prime members get their orders at lightning-fast speed. Plus, Amazon is an international supplier with 110 fulfillment centers in the USand 185 centers globally. As a result, we can source from them regardless of the location of our target market.
Additionally, they have a “no questions asked”, free 30-day return policy. Thus, ensuring we maintain clear business policies and an optimal customer experience.
Banggood
Moving forward, Banggoodis a major Chinese supplier offering a large variety of products. On top of that, it’s a great supplier to source from as it covers locations globally like Asia, Europe, the US, and Australia.
Additionally, Banggood provides us with several advantages:
Certified dropshipper website
Dropship center
Low costs
Since Banggood is a certified dropshipper website, it provides dropshipping contracts to support dropshippers everywhere. Moreover, its dropship center offers benefits like personalized product recommendations, cashback sites, a credit point accumulation system, and more.
What’s more, as a Chinese supplier, Banggood has the perk of low prices. Actually, this is common with most Chinese suppliers, like AliExpress. As a result, Banggood is a great supplier to source from.
eBay
Importantly, we need to take into considerationeBay’s unique qualities. In truth, it’s one of the most well-supplied and diverse suppliers. Plus, with its express shipping options, our customers will be delighted.
With that being said, let’s take a look at some of eBay’s key features:
Buyer/seller protection
Easily spy on competition
Reliable customer support
Most notably, eBay’s buyer/seller protection can come in handy in case of a dispute. For example, if either the buyer or seller is making false claims, eBay will step in and protect the right party.
Plus, it’s super easy to spy on our competitors. To elaborate, we can see how many sellers are selling an item and how many sales they’re making by simply searching for a product or niche. Consequently, this helps us find profitable products that we can list in our store. And lastly, eBay has great and reliable customer support ensuring we can have a smooth sourcing experience.
Etsy
Our list of eCommerce dropshipping suppliers continues with Etsy. Etsy is an American marketplace and home to a variety of one-of-a-kind items made by independent artists, crafters, and collectors.
So, let’s look at Etsy’s beneficial features:
Unique products
Niche-oriented
High-profit potential
Uniquely, Etsy has a reputation for unusual and specialty goods, rendering them the land of the niches. As a result, their product catalog is very extensive but notably complemented by the uniqueness of the products. In fact, we are able to source custom-made, vintage, and handmade décor, accessories, art, clothing, and much more.
Thus, we can increase our profitmargins since customers are willing to pay top dollar for specialty items. So, sourcing from Etsy would be a great choice for any dropshipper.
Overstock
Moving on, with Overstock we enter the home niche. Apart from their high-quality products, they can be credited with great customer service, reliable shipping, and sensible prices.
In addition, let’s take a look at some of Overstock’s winning features:
Good return policy
Club 0 program
Price match guarantee
Undoubtedly, their outstanding price match guarantee is one of Overstock’s most attractive features. In fact, they will refund the difference if we find a product with a lower price from any other supplier in the world. Plus, if our customers are not satisfied with our product, we can leverage Overstock’s 30-day return policy.
Now, when it comes to their Club 0 program, there are very interesting benefits. With this loyalty program, we can enjoy 5% cashback on all purchases and free shipping. As a result, Overstock makes a great choice for a dropshipping supplier.
Target
Last but certainly not least, we have Target. From Target we can source almost anything because of their diverse product offerings.
With that said, let’s look at Target’s key features:
Generous return policy
RedCard membership
Holiday categories
In contrast to the other eCommerce dropshipping suppliers, when sourcing from Target we can enjoy a very generous return policy. To clarify, they offer a full-refund, 90-day return policy, and an extra 30 days if we have the Target RedCard.
Now, with the Target RedCard we can get free 2-day shipping on thousands of items and free standard shipping on most products. Furthermore, we can enjoy 5% cashback on a large number of select items.
On top of that, Target is a great supplier to source from, especially around the holiday season because of their themed products. Actually, we can stay ahead of the competition during the holiday season with Target’s holiday product categories and festive items.
Undeniably, it’s crucial to work with reliable eCommerce dropshipping suppliers. As such, we can utilize this list of suppliers to find the best fit for us. No matter which one of these we choose, we won’t be making a mistake.
How To Start An eCommerce Dropshipping Business
Now, in order to start a successful eCommerce dropshipping business, we have to cover some steps. Similar to most business models, we have to find our winning products.
Actually, building our product catalog is one of the most important steps as it directly relates to our sales volume and profit. Starting from there, let’s follow these 8 easy steps to start an eCommerce dropshipping business:
Once we have gone through these steps we will be able to enjoy high profit margins. So, let’s dive deeper into each of these steps.
Step 1: Find Winning Products
Undoubtedly, product research is the key to success. Whether we’re opening a niche or general store, we have to research what products will sell best in order to earn high-profit margins.
Of course, we gave a few examples of trending products, but trends change from time to time. So to ensure we’re staying at the top, we have to conduct research.
With this in mind, here are the best ways to conduct product research to achieve ultimate dropshipping success:
Search on supplier’s websites
Spy on the competition
AutoDS product research tool
AutoDS product finder
AutoDS blog & YouTube playlist
First, we can start by roaming the best sellers lists on our supplier website. This helps us understand which products are selling well on our supplier’s website. For example, we can utilize Amazon’s best sellers list.
Next, we can also spy on our competitors. By spying on our competitors we can get a peek behind the curtain as to what is selling well for other dropshippers. In fact, using spy Software like Koala Inspector allows us to get a deep inside look into our competitors and the reasons for their success.
In addition, we can also utilize the AutoDS product research tool. As a matter of fact, this tool helps us discover, source, research, and import trending dropshipping products in no time. Plus, after we find profitable products, we can utilize this product research tool for more than just research! Besides product imports, we can also do easy one-click returns. Once again, ensuring a smooth business process.
On another note, a sure-fire way to do quality product research is with AutoDS’ product finder. We can utilize this great automation tool to find the hottest products across 20 different suppliers in no time.
Finally, an easy and convenient way to find winning products is with AutoDS’ blog and YouTube best-sellers playlist. From this content, we can get access to exclusive product suggestions, enabling us to scale our eCommerce dropshipping venture.
Step 2: Choose A Supplier
So far, we’ve provided some great examples but we can get an even bigger list of reliable suppliers from AutoDS. In truth, a good and reliable supplier is one that has a good amount of positive reviews.
With that being said, having that positive social proof from other people can help us understand the relationship between other dropshippers and the supplier. As such, we can discover if the supplier is a good business partner.
On the other hand, another aspect to consider is if the supplier has warehouses internationally. To note, this will help us offer faster shipping times as well as cater to a larger market.
Importantly, there are some other factors that we should look out for when choosing a supplier:
Clear business policies
Vast product catalog
Positive product reviews
Excellent customer service
However, a good strategy to adopt is using multiple suppliers for our eCommerce dropshipping business. As such, we can compare prices, and shipping times. So, if one supplier is out of stock, we can quickly fall back on another. Plus, by sourcing from multiple suppliers, we can offer a wider variety of products in our eCommerce dropshipping stores.
Step 3: Select A Selling Platform
Sales channels are places where we can market and sell products for our eCommerce dropshipping business. However, there’s a big difference between a marketplace and a customizable eCommerce website.
If we want more customization and better brand development, we can utilize aneCommerce website. In addition, our buyers can focus solely on our products without their attention being pulled to another seller. However, oftentimes platforms like this have a monthly subscription.
Alternatively, when using a marketplace we can leverage the recognition the marketplace already has. Although there is more direct and immediate competition, we can bank on the large audience readily available on the platform.
With all that being said, the top selling channels are:
eBay
Facebook Marketplace
Wix
Shopify
eBay is known to be one of the most well-supplied marketplaces. Actually, starting an eCommerce dropshipping business on eBay is quite straightforward and doesn’t require much prior knowledge. Plus, eBay already has a vast customer base that we can leverage. Uniquely, there is also minimal investment required allowing us to start with very little money.
Similarly, Facebook Marketplace is also a great choice because it requires minimal investment to get started. Particularly, what makes it super profitable is the fact that it’s untapped, so there is not a lot of competition.
On the other hand, Wix allows us to build and customize our eCommerce dropshipping website with designer-made templates. Plus, with Wix, there are no selling limits, meaning we can maximize our sales. And, it’s super intuitive and easy to use.
Lastly, with Shopify’s diverse customization options and professional templates, we can create an eCommerce dropshipping store that stands out from the competition. Moreover, the platform has numerous tools that directly help online businesses grow. In addition, even though it has a monthly subscription, it’s actually very affordable at $29/month for their cheapest plan.
Notably, these four channels integrate with AutoDS meaning that we can run multiple stores from multiple platforms under one screen. With that said, any of these platforms make a fine choice, it just depends on finding the right fit for us.
Step 4: Import Products To Your Store
As mentioned, the key difference between the inventory and eCommerce dropshipping models is how we sell products. Thus, since we don’t handle any physical inventory let’s highlight how we import products in dropshipping.
As a matter of fact, there are two ways of going about this – manual and automatic. Essentially, by manually importing our products we have to individually copy/paste the product’s information from the supplier’s website. Then, we have totransfer the details one by one to our selling channel which takes up a lot of our time.
In contrast, with the AutoDS product importer, we can easily import products from many suppliers with justa click of a button. It allows us to import single items, in bulk, or even schedule a product import for a future date.
Interestingly, we can source item IDs or URLs and import them one by one. Or, grab full product pages in bulk using the AutoDS Helper item grabber extension. To elaborate, thisextracts products’ IDsfor us and helps import tens to thousands of products at once. As such, this not only saves us time and effort but also helps us build a more extensive product catalog.
How To Import Products With AutoDS
To illustrate, we can take a look at the product importing process with the AutoDS automated single product importing tool. To begin, we can click on the ‘Add Products’ button on the AutoDS dashboard and choose the ‘Single Product’ option.
Next, we need to head over to our supplier’s website and go to the product page of the product we want to import. From here, we’ll find the URLor Product ID of the item. Now, we need to paste the URL/ID into the AutoDS dashboard. Then, we have two options, to publish it directly to our store or to edit the listing. In reality, it’s always a good idea to edit the product listing in order to optimize it.
With that said, when we edit a listing, we can take advantage of all the editing options AutoDS has. For example, we can edit the title, tags, location, shipping options, description, images, and more. These edits will help us fully optimize our listing for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, with the goal being to attract more traffic to our website.
Although it may be scary to import products to our store we haven’t seen physically, we can still test the product. We can do so by either asking the supplier to perform a quality inspection or ordering it ourselves. Plus, remember with dropshipping, we can easily change our product catalog unlike with the inventory model.
Step 5: Market Your Products
When running our own eCommerce dropshipping business, we need to think about marketing. With that being said, good marketing translates into interest that turns into sales. With this in mind, getting the right message in front of our target audience at the perfect time is key. Now, let’s take a look at some marketing strategies, specifically for our selling channels.
Wix & Shopify
Since Wix and Shopify have no organic traffic, we need to market our eCommerce dropshipping stores. In fact, we can utilizePay-per-click advertising (PPC), email marketing andinfluencer marketing.
To begin, with PPC advertising we market our eCommerce dropshipping store onGoogle, Facebook and YouTube. Because social media platforms like these have immense organic traffic, we can reach a wide anddiverse target audience. Notably, we have to set aside a budget to run these ad campaigns because we pay every time someone clicks on the ad.
Next, we can utilize email marketing to reach out to existing or target customers. Now, in order to run an effective email marketing campaign, we need to have a database of emails. On that note, to retrieve email addresses, we can offer discounts and newsletter subscriptions as incentives to build a solid email list. Afterward, we can promote our products and earn more money.
Lastly, we can take advantage of influencer marketing and have famous personalities market our store or products. As a result, we can increase our sales because influencers have a follower base that trusts them. Thus, we can reach a larger audience that trusts the influencer’s opinion. Consequently, this will directly influence potential customers to buy our product.
eBay
Interestingly, eBay has a lot of organic traffic we can utilize to get exposure for our eCommerce dropshipping store. Actually, we can take advantage of the huge audience eBay has to explore either Promoted Listings StandardorPromoted Listings Advanced.
Although the Promoted Listings Standard is less target-oriented, we can still boost store visibility by placing ads across the eBay platform. However, in order to use this tactic, we need to have enough account activities.
Alternately, the Promoted Listings Advanced allows us to compete for higher ranks on eBay search results. Additionally, this marketing strategy on eBay works like paid ads on Facebook or Google.
Facebook Marketplace
Similar to eBay, Facebook Marketplace has a lot of organic traffic. But, with this selling channel, we can only sell to the US market. Regardless, we can still utilize different buy and sell groups as well as Facebook promotions to reach our US market.
As a matter of fact, we can use a few different techniques. For example we can boost our listings, post in buy and sell groups,promote our pages, and more.
Plus as Facebook groups have millions of active users, we can easily reach and freely interact with them. As a result, we can market our eCommerce dropshipping store and tap into a wide range of potential customers.
Finally, we have learned all the different ways we can market our store and products. Importantly, marketing is a crucial aspect if we want to increase sales and reach target markets. In reality, this helps us grow our business and scale faster.
Step 6: Order Fulfillment
In order to ensure customer satisfaction, we must fulfill orders immediately. Again, order fulfillment in eCommerce dropshipping differs drastically from the inventory model. However, the dropshipping model is the clear winner as we don’t have to ship the products. In fact, our suppliers take care of it for us.
And, it’s never been easier to do order fulfillment than now with automatic order fulfillment. Actually, automation tools allow for a significantly more optimized process while reducing errors. With the AutoDS Automatic Orders tool and Fulfilled By AutoDS, we can quickly fulfill orders and avoid errors.
With the AutoDS Automatic Orders tool, when we receive an order, it will appear on the orders page. Also, this tool uses our own buyer account which differs from the Fulfilled by AutoDS tool. Then, the system will automatically process it from our supplier directly to our buyer. Now, as soon as tracking information is available from our supplier, AutoDS will grab it and update it automatically on our customers’ orders. Furthermore, the order status will update automatically along with the supplier’s order number.
Alternatively, when using Fulfilled By AutoDS, we need to load a balance in order to fulfill our orders. This tool uses an AutoDS account with our suppliers. So, there is no more worrying about getting any account locked. Plus, AutoDS will process our orders as soon as they come in, and update the order status and tracking information as soon as it’s available.
Now in order to successfully build and scale our eCommerce dropshipping business, we should utilize the AutoDS order fulfillment automation tools. Regardless of which automation tool we prefer to take advantage of, our business will run smoothly.
Step 7: Provide Excellent Customer Service
Without a doubt, one of our biggest responsibilities is ensuring our customers have a pleasant shopping experience. Thus, offering excellent customer service helps us gain credibility and grow our customer loyalty. Ultimately, this enables us to stand out from the competition.
With that said, there are a few different ways in which we can offer great customer service. For example, we can have a live chat option in our eCommerce dropshipping store. This will allow for speedy responses and customer queries getting resolved timely. Another option is through email. However, if we opt for this, we must be fast with our responses in order to avoid customer dissatisfaction.
What’s more, we can utilize the AutoDS eBay customer management tool. To explain, this tool helps us manage questions, solve cases, process returns, and handle order cancellations. So, no matter which way we choose to provide customer service, we need to make sure that it’s impeccable.
Step 8: Continue Scaling Your eCommerce Dropshipping Success
We already mentionedAutoDS a few times, and now it’s time to show you how this amazing dropshipping service can help you multiply your success. By automating the eCommerce dropshipping process, we’ll be able to save a ton of time and effort.
Furthermore, AutoDS has a myriad of tools that allow us to scale and grow our dropshipping business:
Ultimately, automating our dropshipping business enables us to enjoy our freedom while making a profit. Moreover, it allows us to quit that 9-5 grind and grow a business while focusing on ourselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is eCommerce Dropshipping Profitable?
Of course! You can make money from dropshipping because it’s a low-risk, low-investment, high-profit business model. And, online shopping is booming, so there’s no better time than now to start a dropshipping business.
What’s The Difference Between Traditional eCommerce and Dropshipping?
The biggest difference between traditional eCommerce and eCommerce dropshipping is that you don’t have to hold any inventory when dropshipping. In contrast, with the traditional model, you have to buy inventory upfront and pay for storage.
Is It Hard To Start An eCommerce Dropshipping Business?
Not at all! Starting an eCommerce dropshipping business doesn’t have to be hard or complicated because the model itself is quite simple. Especially when using dropshipping automation tools, we can easily start and build a lucrative business. All we need is some helpful tips and tricks to kickstart our profit-driven business, and with the help of AutoDS, it’s easier than ever.
Conclusion
Finally, after covering so much information, we’re now ready to start our eCommerce dropshipping business. In fact, it’s important to have a well-rounded understanding of the dropshipping model and the competing traditional inventory model. Nevertheless, the dropshipping business model is the clear winner.
As such, it allows us to leverage its potential without investing upfront. Having the right facts and knowledge is crucial when starting an eCommerce business. Thus, with this information, we can take on the dropshipping world fully prepared.
And now, we can take a look at the following articles which will help us in our dropshipping endeavors:
