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What Is Shopify Dropshipping?

What Is Shopify Dropshipping?

Last Updated:  
March 18, 2024

If you have an ecommerce business, you’ve likely heard the term “dropshipping” thrown around in conversation. Dropshipping through Spotify has become a prevalent business model in recent years, as more and more entrepreneurs and small businesses are attracted to the benefits. 

But what is Shopify dropshipping? Is it an excellent opportunity to make a profit? Does it take a while to learn the ropes, or is dropshipping a quick study? 

Below, Triple Whale answers these questions and many others. Let’s find out if dropshipping is the suitable model for your company:

Is Shopify Dropshipping Profitable?     

Before you dive into opening a Shopify dropshipping store, you probably want to make sure it is worth it. In short, a dropshipping business can be profitable, but it is not going to earn you much money in a short amount of time. Many entrepreneurs choose dropship as a side business to pad their income.

With that said, succeeding in this business model requires time, effort, and money. Several factors have slowed down growth for dropshipping businesses. For example, a lack of customer support, refund delays, long delivery times, rising costs of goods, and low product quality have given consumers and entrepreneurs alike a reason to be more hesitant towards the model over the last couple of years.

If you’re going to profit from your dropshipping business, you must keep customer satisfaction a priority. Many dropshipping companies neglect their customers to boost profits and essentially compromise the standard of their online stores. No matter how well or poorly a business is doing, remember to treat customers with respect, and you can thrive as a dropshipper.

What Are the Steps for Shopify Dropshipping?     

One of the greatest advantages of using Shopify for ecommerce is that you can research the many product options while building your store. 

Setting up your Shopify dropshipping store is a straightforward process. Here are the primary steps involved:

Sign Up for Shopify

Opening a free trial account on Spotify is the quickest way to learn the ropes about dropshipping. You can explore vendors and products while actively building your product selection.

All you have to do is go to Shopify’s website and enter an email address. If you don’t already have a separate email address for your business, consider opening a free Gmail account. 

You can finish this step even if you have not decided on a business name or store concept because you can easily change the store’s name and email address as you finalize your brand and niche.

After creating your account, you will see Shopify’s quick-start wizard that clearly explains everything you will need to launch your dropshipping store. 

You can even choose for Shopify to automatically download your store’s apps, including the Oberlo dropshipping app, which will connect your store to AliExpress (the dropship mega-marketplace). 

You can use many other dropshipping Shopify vendor apps by themselves or with others.

Name and Launch Your Store

The next step is to name your dropshipping store. Research the most successful ecommerce stores in your niche, make a list, and compare them. 

You should also consider making your name trendy, such as adding the suffix “ify,” “oly,” “eva” to a keyword or keyword phrase specific to the niche. And your store name should be easily brandable and correctly spelled.

Moreover, you don’t want to choose a name for which you cannot purchase the necessary domains. If a domain is not available for your store name, it could indicate another store with the same name, not to mention that you want to make it as easy as possible for consumers to find your store.

You will then need to launch your store. If you have already chosen a platform like Shopify, you are halfway there. Your Shopify website will be where you sell products, process payments, and send all of your web traffic. 

You do not need a developer or designer to build your Shopify site. After creating an account, you will see clear instructions on making your site, hundreds of world-class Shopify themes, and tools to help you select a domain name and create a logo, among other resources.

Add Products for Dropshipping

Many Shopify dropshipping apps provide easy-to-use intuitive interfaces for researching and comparing products through filtered searches or by categories. The Oberlo home screen will be the default headquarters for all of your dropship product searches. 

It allows you to identify products to sell by category or keyword quickly. It also lets you filter your search by price, order count, seller raters, and more.

If you are entirely new to dropshipping, you may find the “Order Count” filter is an excellent way to determine who the top-selling vendors are and which products are selling well in your niche. 

The key is to find products that coincide with your brand concept. Each time you find an item to sell, all you do is add it to your import list. The Shopify dropshipping apps like Oberlo make product search very easy, and you can quickly build your entire drop ship collection.

With that said, the quick-start process is only the beginning; you can go much more in-depth with your product research. Just try not to overthink product research as you get your dropshipping business up and going. 

Go with products that have stellar track records so that you can launch your site and learn as you go.

Market Your Products

After making your Shopify dropping website live, you will need to start marketing it. Understand that new websites always take a while to appear on search engines like Google and Bing. The best approach is to come out of the gate strong by using marketing mediums like social media, email, and paid ads.

Social media marketing is the most effective way to promote your new online store. Shopify seamlessly integrates with Facebook and Instagram, meaning you can sell directly to users from these platforms. 

You can choose to display all or some of your Shopify products in your Facebook shop and promote items directly through Facebook Messenger. Other built-in sales channels on Shopify include Rakuten and eBay.

Creating promotional videos and writing blog posts are also impactful for promoting an online store. And you shouldn’t overlook email marketing, Google Adwords, and Facebook Ads. Even if you have to pay for advertisement, it can quickly pay off through increased sales.

What Are the Benefits of Shopify Dropshipping?      

Now that you have an idea of how to set up your Shopify dropshipping store, let’s talk about some of the most prevalent benefits of doing so:

It’s Simple for Beginners       

Dropshipping is accessible, which is one of the main reasons it is a $13 billion industry. You don’t have to have any prior experience to flourish as a Shopify drop shipper. With no need to keep a physical inventory, you have far fewer things to worry about than other business models. For example, you don’t have to pay for or manage a warehouse.

You don’t have to keep track of your inventory (one of the biggest challenges for goods-based companies). You don’t even have to pack or ship any products; you simply sell a product from your site and let the distributor handle the shipping. 

You also don’t have to worry about inbound shipments or dealing with returns. And drop shipping does not require you to constantly order products to keep up with demand.

Your Location Is Flexible

If you have an internet connection, you can start a dropshipping business from wherever you are. Many successful drop shippers work from home, coffee shops, or any number of other places. 

The key is to ensure you can constantly communicate with your customers and suppliers.

You Can Sell Varying Products

One of the most significant advantages of starting a Shopify dropshipping business is offering a wide selection of trending products to consumers. This is because you don’t have to purchase any items you sell. 

As long as the supplier is stocking a thing you want, you can list it for sale on your website for free. Not only are there endless types of products available, but you don’t have to worry about paying upfront costs.

It’s Easy To Test 

By dropshipping through an ecommerce platform like Shopify, you don’t have to commit to purchasing a large amount of inventory before listing items to sell on your online storefront. 

This fulfillment method is ideal for gauging the consumer appetite for additional product categories or launching an entirely new store. In other words, you can launch and learn while making money along the way.

The Bottom Line       

There are clear benefits to opening a Shopify dropshipping store. It’s easy for beginners; you can do it from any location, you can offer a wide variety of products, and it allows you to test before purchasing a large number of products. Plus, the Shopify dashboard and apps are intuitive and easy to use.

If you are interested in starting a dropshipping business, keep the tips above in mind. And don’t forget to try Triple Whale for keeping all of your ecommerce metrics in one place!

Sources:

E-Commerce Business Name Ideas Using Business Name Generator | TechJournal 

Oberlo Review: How Easy Does It Make Dropshipping With AliExpress? | Digital.com 

Shopify's Net Worth: How Much Is Shopify Worth Right Now? | GOBankingRates

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