Dropshipping is a low-risk business model with potentially huge rewards. Here’s how you can easily start turning a profit with a Shopify dropshipping store in 2020.
Dropshipping is a controversial topic these days. Many people swear by it, while others insist the margins are too low. Dropshipping isn't all sunshine and daffodils. It doesn't take much money, but it can suck up a lot of your time.
I'm going to share some best practices for building a dropshipping store on Shopify that will turn a juicy profit and scale quickly without taking up all of your time.
Dropshipping has become a very popular business model thanks to the low start-up costs.
I'm not going to tell you these tips will guarantee you a successful Shopify dropshipping store. That's largely down to your ability to choose the right products and market them well.
Still, if you're going to try your hand at dropshipping then you'll need to put these best practices into action before you start seeing your balance increase.
How to build a profitable Shopify dropshipping store
There's a lot to consider when building a dropshipping store on Shopify. You're blessed with not having to hold inventory, which gives you more time to focus on marketing, customer service, and refining your store design.
Don't overlook the following steps when making your store. Trust me, they'll come back to bite you if you ignore them.
1) Invest time in marketing
Dropshipping is more about time than money in the early days. You've got more time thanks to all the inventory being handled by someone else. Make sure you invest this into marketing your products.
Shopify page builder app PageFly uses relevant content to help bring in traffic to their site.
You'll need to learn how to use SEO to gain more organic traffic, as well as how to use Google ads and other services to bring more prospects to your site. Ecommerce stores have an average 1-2% conversion rate, meaning you'll need at least 5,000 people to visit your site to make 100 sales - and that's on a good day!
· Learn SEO to rank higher on search engines.
· Learn how to run successful ads on search engines
· Create meaningful content
· Build a social media marketing strategy to boost traffic
PRO TIP: Google's Fundamentals of Digital Marketing course is free to take and offers 26 modules about how to bring traffic to your website. It covers Google ads, SEO, how to create great content, and more.
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2) Provide phenomenal customer service
Jeff Bezos didn't bring Amazon to where it is today by selling more books than anyone else. He became the world's richest man by putting the customer experience before everything else.
Bezos did that while managing warehouses. You don't have any warehouses - or any excuse not to provide exceptional customer service.
Many big brands neglect the customer experience. They do so to their detriment. This is where your small brand can really shine. Remember it's your customers who will make you successful, so reward them for their loyalty.
· Treat your customers like human beings, not cash cows
· Offer monthly giveaways and discounts
· Be available to answer questions
· Offer refunds for faulty products
· Have clear return and private policies
· Be friendly and understanding
· Always take responsibility for problems
3) Pick a niche
You need to decide what products you're going to sell. While a general store can be very profitable, it's also very difficult to run and requires a whole team to manage. Newcomers to dropshipping should find a niche to stick to.
Skincare dropshipping store YourSkinLove sticks to six products that sell well.
Not only does having your own niche make your store unique, but it also allows you to develop a deep understanding of your customers and make content that's valuable to them.
Choosing a niche for your store isn't something you should do overnight. It requires a lot of research and consideration. You should know the profit margins, as well as how many sales you're likely to be able to make.
1) Think about what stores, blogs, and channels you like
2) Narrow it down to a list of categories like fitness, watches, and photography
3) Research what's trending in these categories
4) Consider whether this is evergreen or just a passing fad
5) Settle on your niche, like kayaking gear, watch straps, or camera accessories
4) Use a dropshipping app
The Shopify App Store is one of the best things about the eCommerce platform. Dropshipping apps can make your life much easier by automating the process of importing products to your store and fulfilling orders.
Oberlo makes it easy to import products, as well as photos and copy, into your dropshipping store.
Oberlo is one of the most popular and effective Shopify dropshipping apps. The app lets you search for products from reliable suppliers from AliExpress and quickly import them to your store. This saves you loads of time. You can also automate most of the fulfillment process with Oberlo.
5) Start small, grow sustainably
You might think that adding 200 products to your Shopify dropshipping store on day one is going to land you more sales, but in reality it'll just cheapen your store.
You should only add 20 to 30 products to begin with. This allows you to focus on writing great product descriptions and even taking your own pictures of the products. Building high-converting product pages takes time and you'll struggle to do too many at once, especially if your store is beginning as a side hustle.
You can add another 10 or so products each week to gradually build up your collection and ensure that you can stay on top of marketing.
PRO TIP: You can build much better product pages with a Shopify page builder app. Try out PageFly to easily design unique and effective product pages and make more sales.
6) Build a brand
People trust established brands much more than independent sellers. If you want your dropshipping store to really take off, you'll need to build a brand around it. Start by designing a logo and clearly featuring it on every product page, as well as in the top section of your homepage.
Apple is renowned for their branding: Its products are considered 'creative' even though they're similar to the competition.
You can use a myriad of methods to help build your brand. Everything from photography to the tone of voice in your copy contributes towards forming a personality that customers can relate to.
Find your brand's voice and shout it out loud. Use it in your content, your social media marketing, your ads, and even in your product pages.
A strong brand will build trust and loyalty from customers. It will also help distinguish you from your competitors.
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7) Automate everything
Feel like you've already got too much on your plate? Don't worry, once you're up and running you can automate a lot of your dropshipping business. Everything from marketing and social media posts to email notifications and order fulfilment can be automated to some degree with the help of some handy apps.
· Oberlo automates importing products and order fulfilment
· Buffer automates social media posting
· Kit automates retargeting, email marketing, and ads
· IFTTT automates blog posts on social media and more
· Product Reviews Addon automates requests for product reviews
8) Make your store look professional
This is one of the most fun parts of building an eCommerce store. Customers will trust your brand more if your site looks professional and there are plenty of ways you can tweak your store design to be more creative and engaging.
Sometimes less is more. Avoid making your site look cluttered and stick with high-res images.
Take inspiration from other eCommerce websites to optimize your own. You don't need to hire a developer to have a great website. Shopify's themes provide all of the basics and if you want to make further customizations then you can install a page builder app like PageFly to drag and drop elements into your store.
I could write an entire guide for creating a professional website, but here are some quick tips that you cannot miss when starting out.
· Ensure all images are high-quality
· Make sure there aren't any incomplete pages
· Use your own SEO-friendly product descriptions
· Have contact and FAQ pages
· Make sure the customer can always get to the checkout in three clicks
· Have a custom web domain
9) Ship with ePacket - and leave a note
One of the biggest concerns of customers online is shipping time and cost. Fortunately, ePacket is there to reduce both. This is an agreement between the US Postal Service and the China Postal Service that allows for quicker and cheaper delivery times between Asia and the US.
Shipping with ePacket can reduce delivery times to as little as six days. This is a big deal for the customer.
ePacket revolutionised dropshipping by massively reducing shipping times from Asia to the US.
Make sure you also leave a note for the supplier telling them to ship with ePacket and not to include their own branding or invoices. Also mention that you're dropshipping - they'll understand.
You can't stop your supplier from including their address on the package as this is required for returns.
PRO TIP: Offer free shipping and move the costs into your product price if possible. This will reduce the frustration of added costs.
10) Offer discounts and bundles
Sell, sell, sell. It's the aim of the game, right? But some prospects need a little nudge before they're convinced to fill out their card details. Offering discounts and bargain bundles is one of the most effective ways to turn a prospect into a customer.
Run seasonal sales and discount items that are relevant to particular holidays, events, or weather patterns. Always display some discounted items on your homepage.
This seller offers a Nikon camera with two lenses at a much cheaper price than if you bought separately.
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Try to bundle more of the same product together if you can. Also, make use of upselling and cross-selling.
· Upsell on your product pages
· Cross-sell on the checkout page
Bonus tip: Don't underprice your products
New dropshippers often make the mistake of pricing their products too low. You need to account for marketing costs, as well as store design, and possibly even salaries in the future. Customers love a good deal, yes, but if you price your products too low they might assume they're knock-offs.
A product you buy at wholesale for $5 can be sold for $20. Research your competition and don't be afraid to make a proper profit.
Final thoughts
There are some who say dropshipping isn't worth the time. It's likely that they either tried it and failed or didn't even bother to try. You can turn a healthy profit from your Shopify dropshipping store if you take the time to plan.
Automate the process where you can and invest the time you gain into marketing, customer service, research, and tweaking your eCommerce website.
Most important of all, don't give up if you don't make many sales for the first few months. There's a lot of completion and making it work in eCommerce isn't easy. It takes time to build a trustworthy brand and start bringing in organic traffic.
Adapt, persevere, and aspire for greatness.
