Dropshipping for Beginners (10 Profitable Methods) 2024

Last updated on January 30th, 2023 at 08:08 pm

Just as with any type of venture, learning how to start a dropshipping business especially for beginners, isn’t easy.

Nevertheless, it’s the right step into entrepreneurship.

Dropshipping was first rumoured as a means to acquire a lot of wealth.

However, it has now been proven that the method is a sure way to amass wealth. Dropshipping is a business that became popular in the year 2006.

As a dropshipper, you’ll be able to sell products to customers in any part of the world, set your own product prices, as well as market your brand in the most effective way.

Also, you don’t even need to invest in inventory until you have sold to an actual customer. If you’re willing to give it your best, you can build a successful brand.

Chinese eCommerce stores have become popular, the likes of Aliexpress, have gained so much popularity in the United States.

Perhaps, not a lot of entrepreneurs were able to utilize this opportunity to make money online.

Dropshipping has over the years profited a lot of people who knew the hacks for it. It is one of the smartest ways to make money online without having to have a brick-and-mortar store.

All you need to succeed as a dropshipper is your computer and source of the internet. So, if you are considering getting involved in the dropshipping business, make sure for following this dropshipping guide for beginners.

However, before you get into dropshipping for beginners, there are certain terms you must understand and be familiar with.

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What is Ecommerce?

Electronic Commerce (popularly known as ecommerce) is the buying and exchanging of goods, services, and ideas, over the internet.

A system by which the exchange of goods and/or services is conducted electronically can be termed E-commerce. However, not every business conducted online can be termed eCommerce.

Ecommerce entails transactions that are completed online. Anything ranging from a retail store to a dropshipping store.

Types of Ecommerce

There are different types of eCommerce. They include:

a. Business To Business

This type of eCommerce generally involves the sale of services or goods from one business to another business. B2B is one of the largest and most widely utilized forms of Ecommerce in countries such as America, Canada, etc.

However, dropshipping is not usually categorized under this type of eCommerce.

b. Business To Consumer

This type of eCommerce involves the sale of goods and services from a business to a consumer. Goods purchased in this kind of business are usually not too expensive when compared with the goods or services sold in the B2B type of business.

There are other types of ecommerce as well; such as Customer to Customer, Mobile E-commerce, etc.

The Benefits Of Ecommerce

As a beginner that wants to dive into dropshipping, it is important to understand the benefits of eCommerce.

Ecommerce has made it possible for every customer to have access to a lot of factors that surround any particular product they are interested in.

The best part of it, eCommerce has made it possible for vendors, business people, salesmen and women to have a marketplace on the www (World Wide Web).

The following are highlighted benefits of eCommerce today to the average consumer.

1. Low Startup Cost

Dropshippers can confirm that they make a lot of money on eCommerce. However, they also boast in the fact that it really did not take them so much capital to start their online stores. This is a major benefit of the eCommerce market.

Acquiring a physical store can be quite expensive. However, eCommerce presents you with an opportunity to immediately have access to a global market and audience.

2. Branding

Developing and maintaining an online brand or logo is cheaper than a signboard that points to a store. Ecommerce puts you in a market for very little cost and you can make as much as you bake.

3. Access to Global Market

Yes, another major benefit is, you are visible to any and every country in the world. This is the power of eCommerce.

However, there are existing top stores with a lot of optimization set in place to rank higher in search engine results. If you must get involved in eCommerce, make sure your profiles, websites, etc. are optimized for SEO.

4. Low Budget Employees

To run a successful fully grown eCommerce platform, you might from time to time require the assistance of certain employees. Example; competent work-from-home virtual assistants, chat moderators, web administrators, etc.

They are usually not expensive as these are working-from-home offers.

5. Get Customer Statistics

For every customer that places an order or visits your store, if you have the right setup, you get to know and see every piece of information they dropped.

You have a stats board to work with and that enables you to retarget your customers with recent updates, etc.

What is Dropshipping?

A very profitable form of business in which a dropshipper does not have any of the products advertised on his or her store but rather collects orders and reorders from actual product owners.

It involves a vendor fulfilling a client’s order by ordering their requests from stores that have the goods and shipping them straight to their client’s address. Dropshipping as a choice of business is highly profitable and is recommended to venture into.

Is Dropshipping Still Profitable?

Dropshipping is still profitable for beginners and experts because the number of eCommerce activities around the world is on the rise.

It is not only profitable but thriving! Ecommerce and dropshipping profits have hit over $5 billion, which is about 7.5 percent year-on-year increase for the last decade.

If you are willing to invest the right amount of time and resources, dropshipping can profit you from $1000 to $5000 and even more monthly.

Hence as a beginner thinking of starting your dropshipping business, this is a confirmation that your thoughts are valid.

How Exactly Do Dropshippers Make Money?

Dropshippers build and execute an online store, where they find products that are in high demand or products they know their target audience would like to purchase.

The next thing they do is upload this same product to their stores, indicating availability. But with an increase in price figure.

When a customer orders the product and of course makes payment.

The dropshippers in turn order the exact product from their sources, or most times from a higher market where the goods are cheaper. And, they ship directly to the orders’ address.

Simple? Not so fast, dropshipping involves a great deal of understanding else you would fail in it, massively.

Types of Dropshipping?

Having to choose a particular type of dropshipping to capitalize on is something every new dropshipper should utilize.

Dropshipping for beginners can be quite tasking if you don’t understand the type of dropshiping that best fit the product you want to sell.

Hence, below are the types of dropshipping.

1. Product Reselling

This type of dropshipping involves reselling products from various sources in one store. It includes the addition of various marketable products and reselling them in your customized store.

Product reselling is the most popular type of dropshipping out there.

2. Product Creation

This type of dropshipping involves first the grouping of certain products together to sell as one. Like creating a kit that would entail varieties of products that probably work well together, or can serve a similar interest.

However, this style of dropshipping involves a great deal of creativity, and this is because you should be able to match products.

For example, a ballet dancer kit: would contain the following items:

Resistance bands, trigger point foam roller, workout mat, stretch pro, etc.

Putting all these products together in a kit and selling them as one would be the ideal product creation type of dropshipping.

3. Business Extensions

A lot of businesses out there are still in the dark when it comes to the benefits of a huge and good online presence.

This type of dropshipping would involve getting across to such a business and being their online store, in other words, becoming a business extension.

However, this type of dropshipping takes a lot of effort to establish as you have to be on friendly terms with the business owners.

4. Print On Demand

This type of dropshipping business involves setting up a store that specializes in selling products that have texts or images printed on them.

You need to work with a supplier that knows how to customize products. Know more about the print on demand type of dropshipping.

10 Best Dropshipping Hacks For Beginners

Getting involved in the dropshipping business would be much easier for beginners with the understanding of the following 10 great dropshipping hacks for beginners.

Let’s take a deeper dive.

1. Choose A Niche

A jack of all trades will not really excel in the dropshipping business, especially as a beginner. Focusing on a particular niche is highly recommended.

Your store should be customized to suit your niche.

A niche product is a product that is trending or popular within a particular class of audience. Choosing a niche that could get you really successful in the dropshipping business would be impossible without proper and delicate market research.

Choosing a niche would imply that you find a small area or sector within a large market and focus on it, capitalizing all your efforts to sell in that particular line.

For example; in a world where women are interested in jewelry, clothes, fashion etc. A niche in this category could be another tiny sector within the jewelry store, clothes, or fashion.

Choosing the wrong niche to engage in can ruin your business. Observe and study the market, and choose wisely.

2. Validate Dropshipping Websites

Dropshipping greatly requires that you trust your suppliers.

You should be sure that your suppliers or the store you order from has the products and are capable of delivering them. Validate your suppliers before reposting a product they have in stock to dropship.

It is recommended that you engage suppliers that have been tested and trusted with competence in delivery and excellent customer service, should there be any delay in delivery, etc.

This will help you succeed in your dropshipping business as a beginner.

Best Websites for Dropshipping for Beginners

Shopify.
Spocket.

AliExpress.
Oberlo
Suppliersdata.

Worldwide Brands.
AliDropship
SaleHoo.

Doba.
Wholesale2B.
Wholesale Central.

3. Website Or Channel

Not every dropshipper works with a website, some operate with channels. Social media channels, etc. However, website or channel, try to ensure it is customized and optimized professionally.

One of the popular websites to start a dropshipping business as a beginner is Shopify.

Shopify For Dropshipping?

Shopify is very recommended as a very good online store builder. It comes with a lot of templates for you to choose from. Also, Shopify is easy to use, it makes it easy to add products to your inventory or store.

It is very easy to navigate and is therefore recommended for the absolute beginner. In addition, Shopify is dropshipper friendly, packed with different features that are user-friendly.

How to Get Started on Shopify Dropshipping

Create a Shopify account.

Add products.
Edit Product details
Setup and design your store

Add and setup a domain name
Setup payment methods
Explore Shopify dropshipping apps and addons

To get more details, visit Shopify.

4. Know Your Target Audience

Failure to know your audience would lead to a massive waste of time and resources. Imagine selling baby clothes to a mechanic in need of spanners and tools?

Have a target audience and know them. This will help you with advertising.

Not all products in these supplier stores are for you. You should market what is relevant to your audience.

This employs the fact that if you fail to know who you are marketing to, you might not succeed with this hack.

Knowing your audience is a great way to feed your stores with products that would instantly be found appealing to your audience.

This also helps with your social media advertising.

5. Overprice Not Underprice

The essence of dropshipping is to make a profit, however, if you are underpricing you would stand at a loss.

When a dropshipping supplier store sells a particular product for maybe $32, as a dropshipper, your profit can only be realized when you overprice that particular item in your store.

Overpricing means selling that product at maybe $50. Profiting $18 in one single trade.

6. Master Your Marketing

Your marketing strategy should be one that is in sync with your product and audience. Whatever marketing strategy you use, ensure it works well with your niche.

This hack entails that you become a pro at your marketing.

Without a string of doubt, the competition is high, and as a beginner, you cannot maximize profit if you do not, master your marketing strategy and get your dropshipping business gradually in front of your competition.

A recommended method to engage when mastering your marketing is to model your competitors who have gone ahead of you.

Try to singular out whatever they had to do to get to that level, and remodel the path to suit your niche and dropshipping business.

7. Own Your Social Media Space

This hack details that your social media space should strictly be owned by your business. As a beginner, it would be easier to trust a growing brand with reviews, than a human with a very low engagement rate on social media.

Strictly promote your business, and if you must have personal activities on social media, use a separate account as a beginner.

With over 3.6 billion people currently on social media, it is a very good platform to promote your dropshipping business as a starter.

8. Provide Excellent Customer Service

Nobody would be pleased to engage a business that does not offer a rich customer care support system. As a beginner, you should not be afraid of getting calls and texts to respond to.

This would lead to a profitable increase in the reviews you get. Let customers know you are always reachable, and willing to help out.

9. Ship via EPacket

E-packet is very popular among the Chinese. A shipping method that would work well with your online store if you opt to go into dropshipping.

However, there are a lot of shipping methods available. But, Epacket is recommended for everyone dropshipping and most importantly, beginners.

10. Have a Regular Online Presence

This happens to be the last but not the least hack to get really successful in the dropshipping business as a beginner.

Demands can come in at any time, have a system that works for you. Be timely, this is a very good approach to a good customer service routine.

Dropshipping should not be stressful if you have a system that works for you and your customers.

Best Products to Dropship Today

Fitness Trackers

Portable Bluetooth Speakers

Vaporizers and E-cigarettes

Anti-ageing Cream

Security Cameras

Baby Carrier

Resistance Bands

Anti-Dandruff shampoo

Fitness Bands

Facial Masks, etc

Choosing a particular product to dropship is not so hard when you have a particular niche you want to expertise in. However, the above items are in high demand, and so many more.

Conclusion

Dropshipping can prove to be quite demanding and tedious for beginners. However, do not forget about the profits involved. Dropshipping can be done locally as well, within a particular state, or country.

It would still involve the reselling of various goods and services that are marketable in that region.

However, following this dropshipping step-by-step guide for beginners will help you get started.

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