You're running out of time, but that doesn't mean starting a successful dropshipping business these days is impossible.
SummaryChoosing the right nichePreservation productsFinding a reliable supplierDesigning a high-converting websiteSocial media optimizationScale your store to six figuresEveryone is on an equal footing, with the luxury of the same 24 hours a day. Money can be gained, lost, saved, invested, but not time. We cannot store minutes in a checking account or in the covers of our pillows.
Yet most people inevitably choose to trade their most valuable resource for cash. It's a mistake that often leaves them unhappy as they chase their next paycheck.
In an interview, Warren Buffett captured this reality in great detail, “If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you'll be working until you die. "
He greatly emphasizes the importance of creating multiple streams of income so you can retire early or live your best life. Unfortunately, most don't have enough time to start their own business – or so you thought.
Now, there are a whole host of reasons why you might consider jumping on the proverbial e-commerce boom. This boom has spawned an incredibly exciting business model known as dropshipping.
Thanks to dropshipping, entrepreneurship is within reach for all newcomers with free time. Undoubtedly, this business model has the least risk because the owner does not need to see, touch or handle the items they are selling. Each dropshipping store purchases the product from a third-party supplier who then fulfills the order at their customer's address.
This revelation gives entrepreneurs the freedom to focus their budget and time on scaling their business and revenue through paid traffic. But how do you start your dropshipping store? What is starting a successful dropshipping business?
Understanding how to start a dropshipping business without proper market research can be overwhelming. However, if you follow these six steps, you can be the proud owner of your own dropshipping business today.
The niche becomes the backbone of any successful business because every decision is partly guided by the one you choose. The key to a six-figure store is figuring out the niche that both appeals to you and that you are truly passionate about. If you are not interested in the segment you select, chances are you will get bored and discouraged from your dropshipping store.
In reality, it takes a lot of time, brains, resourcefulness and ingenuity to be successful with your first store.
Naturally, finding the right niche is incredibly time-consuming. So here are the two main things to consider:
It can be fitness, health, beauty or jewelry. The options are actually endless. Once you've identified what it is, you've officially chosen a niche – congratulations.
When you're exploring something you're passionate about, advertising and researching products becomes second nature. You understand what the customer wants and likes better than anyone since you were one.
Many beginners tend to choose extremely competitive niches like jewelry and clothing. Now, having competition is not a negative sign. Instead, it indicates that there is a clear demand for the various products offered in the selected marketplace.
However, if you plan to enter a pool crowded with sharks, you need to separate your business. You need to start targeting your laser marketing to a smaller subset of the niche.
For example, if you want to enter the pet segment, it's a much wiser decision to focus your precious time and money on a specific animal, instead of trying to be the next PetSmart. This way you can easily identify your target audience and personally tailor your social media, advertising and website to this individual market. This allows you to create your own space in the crowded pool.
Over time, the tools available to dropshippers have become more sophisticated and easier to use than ever. If you've never done product research before, don't sweat it. An invaluable resource for dropshippers, product research software tools are the gold standard for finding potential winning products to test for your store.
My personal favorite, Ecomhunt, has a wide collection of trending products in just about every niche imaginable. Ecomhunt makes it easy for you to discover products. Once you click on a product that catches your eye, the software provides a wide variety of useful factors such as daily orders, advertisements for the product, links to other sites that sell it, profit margin, and more. Moreover. Other software like Niche Scraper, Alishark and Spocket provide similar services.
When reviewing a product, it is essential to answer several questions to determine whether or not to add it to your store.
If you answered yes to all of these questions, chances are you've discovered a winner. However, the last factor is availability.
Can you find this product at a local mall or major retailer?
With phone cases and jewelry, the answer is always yes; indicating that you may want to look elsewhere. Limited accessibility to the product greatly increases the likelihood that a consumer will buy from you.
An often overlooked step, taking the time to check and compare suppliers is a critical factor in the future success of your dropshipping store. Having the wrong supplier can lead to unhappy customers, missing shipping labels, poor quality products, and a tarnished reputation for your brand. Luckily, with almost every dropshipping product, you have multiple suppliers to choose from.
Do your due diligence and message each vendor before adding the product to your store. Most of the dropshipping suppliers on AliExpress are located in Asia, so it is extremely important to find out how quickly they respond to messages, as well as whether or not they can communicate effectively with you. Otherwise, scroll through the different options and find out which providers you trust the most.
The best way to identify a great supplier is to simulate the customer experience. Place a test order for the product you want to advertise and see how fast it arrives at your address. Assessing whether the product came damaged or in perfect condition is a crucial step in avoiding an avalanche of future chargebacks and refunds.
Also ask the supplier if they offer custom packaging. If so, it allows you to personalize the product and significantly increase your conversion rate; because consumers will be convinced that you are the main seller of this product. The more likely you are to brand your product, the better.
Once you've chosen the right name and logo for your brand, it's onto the real money maker – your website. Designing a site can seem daunting at first. However, there are several e-commerce platforms like Shopify that offer plug and play options for designing your site. Once you spend some time familiarizing yourself with the platform, it becomes a fun project to see how you can bring that blank canvas to life.
Shopify offers both free and paid themes. Personally, I always recommend using a paid theme. As your website is the first impression that many potential customers will have of your business, subconsciously they will determine whether your business is trustworthy or not based on your site. Therefore, it is important to have this collection of pages on your site to dispel any objections a potential customer might have:
If you are having trouble designing your site, you can hire a freelancer from Upwork or Fiverr to create a beautiful site for you.
Your store can have a great website and products to match. However, without traffic, no one will be able to see it.
Now, the consensus method to drive traffic among dropshippers is through Facebook Advertising. The platform has many built-in tools to laser target your ideal customer with the perfect ad. However, before getting started with Facebook Ads, you will need to create an Instagram and Facebook page for your new business.
Often overlooked, social media plays a crucial role in the minds of potential customers. If your business doesn't have a lot of followers or posts, it will create mistrust among people seeing your brand for the first time.
Social proof is key to convincing consumers to choose you over the competition. Investing in a few thousand followers for your Instagram account can dramatically increase your conversion rate with cold traffic.
Make sure to stay consistent and post at least 4 times a week with your business.
Ideally, you want to stay as active as possible in order to grow your following and drive free traffic from the platform to your website. Using hashtags the right way can dramatically increase your following and bring more attention to your brand. Finally, sending direct messages to your subscribers with discount codes is an innovative way to increase your sales without spending a dime.
See also:How to drive traffic to your website through social media
The main factor that determines the success of a dropshipping store is the efficiency of your systems to find, test and evolve products. The best products always solve a serious problem for a specific group of people. Once you've found a product that fits that criteria, it's up to you to design an ad that really speaks to consumers and hits their emotional triggers.
The hard part is finding the perfect target audience for your product. Therefore, having a uniform system for testing products is essential to the success of your store. With Facebook advertising, you essentially buy data by testing different audiences with unique interests related to the product.
Testing different ad copy, creatives, and audiences is necessary to optimize all your ads and find out what works. The sooner you find out who your ideal target audience is, the sooner you can scale your advertising and make a ton of sales with your new dropshipping store. Keep in mind that not every ad or advertisement will be a winner, however, if you end up spending over $100 without a sale, it's either time to move from product to product or create a whole new marketing angle. and hang it.
With these 6 steps to starting a successful dropshipping business, you can create a side hustle that generates money for you while you sleep. Start your 2020 the right way and create your first store today.
See also:7 Cross-Border Dropshipping Tips Winners Use
