Last updated on
October 29, 2023
In this day and age, merchants are searching for ways to create passive incomes or generate more income streams. Over the past few years, dropshipping has emerged as a favorable option with a high correlation to the bloom of online shopping. With the available support offered by different eCommerce platforms, dropshipping can open your way to success and financial prosperity.
One platform standing out from the crowd is Shopify - a dynamic all-in-one hosted eCommerce solution. To understand why many merchants are opting for Shopify to implement their dropshipping plan, let’s dive deep into some outstanding strengths of this platform.
Dropshipping is a fast-growing business and it is likely to be a notable player in the competitive race between online merchants.
Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method that does not require businesses to keep goods in stock. Instead, whenever there is an order, the retailer will purchase the item from a supplier and have it shipped directly to the customer.
Unlike traditional eCommerce selling, this revolutionary business model allows entrepreneurs to narrow their focus on warehouse and inventory management which often are major contributions to initial cost.
The dropship model
Shopify, which is currently home to over 1,4 million live stores, is undoubtedly among top-of-the-line eCommerce platforms for drop shipping. Shopify has a well-deserved reputation for its simplicity in operation, a plethora of powerful built-in features and eye-catching themes. Before laying the very first stone for your Shopify dropshipping business, let’s explore some outstanding strengths of this platform.
As a hosted shopping cart, Shopify is quite easy to use even for non-tech savvies. Thanks to its ergonomic interface, setting up and managing e-stores on Shopify is just a breeze. Without any coding skills and technical knowledge needed, you are able to personalize your drop shipping store and monetize it right away.
Generally speaking, Shopify is a powerful platform with magnificent functionalities that can greatly facilitate your drop shipping process.
Shopify provides a huge chunk of apps/plug-ins on its store which are divided into different categories such as inventory management, orders & shipping, sales & conversion, etc. All these apps/extensions support you to monitor your e-store more easily as well as crazily drive more traffic and sales. Additionally, Shopify enables you to integrate with external sales support tools (livechat), as well as marketplaces such as eBay or Amazon that can boost your sales dramatically.
In terms of marketing, Shopify has an effective email marketing tool that paves the way for a closer connection between retailers and customers. You can also list products for free on Google Shopping and create Facebook Ads right from Shopify without a hitch. Besides, Shopify's SEO tools let users edit title tags, meta descriptions and product elaboration.
When it comes to drop shipping, there are 176 supported apps on the market. These drop shipping apps act as helpful intermediaries since they connect merchants with suitable suppliers globally and simplify business tasks with a high level of automation.
A dazzling design is likely to impress customers, which in return can uplift conversion rates. Hence, choosing the right theme that fits your objectives is unquestionably a key contributor to the success of your drop shipping store.
Shopify theme topic
Shopify offers an appealing array of themes for varying budgets. Apart from the Shopify Theme Store, users can explore more themes from other sources such as ThemeForest. Created by professional designers, Shopify themes are tidy and easy to use yet feature-rich and mobile-friendly.
In case, you have difficulty determining the proper theme for your drop shipping empire, let’s take a look at 2021’s best Shopify themes.
First things first, you need to create a Shopify account by filling in your email address, password and store name. Please note that the store name will become the default URL (e.g., storename.myshopify.com). Though you can’t change it, you can still purchase a custom domain (e.g., yourstore.com) later on.
Once you’ve answered some questions, you’ll find yourself inside your own Shopify dashboard. There are a number of things you can do at this point. You can customize your store, set up a domain, add payment and shipping information, among other things.
Set up a Shopify store
Check out this guide on how to set up a Shopify store from scratch.
Basically, merchants can do absolutely everything on their own, from contacting a supplier to ordering products whenever there is a new purchase on the site. Because of its low cost, this conventional method is an ideal solution at the outset of your venture. Nevertheless, when your eStore grows, managing a larger amount of orders and products is no longer an easy feat. In the long run, store owners will need the assistance of a robust dropshipping plugin to reduce workload, save time and effectively administer their stores.
In terms of drop shipping apps on Shopify, Oberlo and Dropified are two of the most well-known. In fact, there is not a tie-breaker for either of these dropshipping apps since both offer the same facilities that are essential to any drop shipping business.
For instance, follow these steps to add Oberlo dropshipping app to your Shopify store:
Add plugin to your Shopify dropshipping store
When the integration completes, you can surf the installed app to search for products that you want to sell. Click the import button on any products and they’ll be imported directly into your Shopify dropshipping store.
Learning how to embark on your drop shipping business, as with any type of venture, is a challenging yet rewarding experience. Dropshipping can be a profit-spinning business if you pursue appropriate strategies.
The first step in building your own drop shipping empire is to figure out which products you are selling and who your target customers are. In other words, you need to determine your niche. A niche helps you build a loyal subset of the audience, influences your marketing and content efforts. It also makes it easier to offer your ideal customers better products.
The niche you select needs to be laser-focused and something you are genuinely interested in. Suppose that you are a fitness folk and you want to trade items in the health and fitness space. Then, your niche could be exercise mats, resistance bands, yoga pants, etc.
Image by Alexandra Tran
Furthermore, you can utilize several tools to conduct necessary market research. With Google’s Keyword Planner, you can get a better idea of the monthly search volume for your products and how competitive it is. Meanwhile, Google Trends can indicate whether a product is trending upward or downward, as well as the seasons they tend to trend in.
Google Trends
After selecting your niche, the second step is to find a suitable dropshipping supplier for your eShop. If you want to gauge a potential supplier’s professionalism and commitment to partnerships, you ought to consider some elements such as high-quality products, low per-order fees, helpful sales reps and fast shipping capability.
Besides, you should pay great attention to some signs to decide whether the supplier is credible or not. If the supplier charges you monthly/membership fees or refuses to publish the company address, there’s probably something fishy occurring. Thus, in order to steer clear of controversial issues down the road, you’d better run a thorough background check before partnering.
Since dropshipping takes stock control off your plate, you can increase investment in marketing tactics to boost your Shopify dropshipping success rate. These strategies should be a judicious mixture of Facebook advertising, SEO, influencer marketing, content marketing and video marketing. As you continue to improve your business, you can always alter your marketing strategy to lower costs and maximize revenue.
Although the dropship model enables you to outsource inventory management and fulfillment, it is strongly recommended that you take primary responsibility for customer service.
Be prepared to respond to questions related to your products and order issues such as damaged items, delayed shipments, unsatisfied shoppers, etc. You should, at the very least, leave an email address that shoppers can use for their inquiries.
Whether you are an eCommerce vet or you just want to dip your toes in the water to check out online business, Shopify dropshipping is undoubtedly among the best options. It is easy to use and requires very little upfront investment. In addition, with the help of a myriad of powerful plugins and nicely designed themes, you can boost your leads.
Hopefully, with the detailed instructions above, you can successfully set up a store and grow your business with Shopify dropshipping.
Aqsa Mughees works as a Content Lead at Mailmunch with 5+ years of experience in creative content strategy. With a grip in digital content creation for the tech industry and an undying love for writing, she is crazy about helping businesses grow through content marketing.
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