Shopify Dropshipping: Tips For Getting Started in 2022

The retail market has evolved so much through the years and the advent of the Internet and e-commerce has made it possible for almost anyone to start a business even with limited capital. Dropshipping is one of the business opportunities that have seen enormous growth especially in the time of the pandemic.

But what exactly is dropshipping and does one of the most popular e-commerce platforms support it? In this article, we will be learning much about dropshipping and find out whether Shopify allows such selling format in their e-commerce platform.

What is Dropshipping?

In the past, business owners who wish to sell to customers online through their e-commerce stores needed to keep an inventory of products and make sure that everything is in stock. The same is still true today but only to businesses with physical stores. If you are an online entrepreneur who seeks to earn profit by selling, dropshipping is one of the best options you’ll have.

Dropshipping is a form of retail business where the fulfillment and shipping of products is done by the manufacturer, wholesaler, supplier or a third-party business. Using the dropshipping model, the business will simply purchase the product from the manufacturer at a wholesale price and shipping to the customers is handled by the supplier himself.

Unlike the standard model of retail business that requires keeping and owning stocks on site while constantly monitoring inventory to ensure there’s enough for everyone, dropshipping eliminates all the hassle so the business owner can focus on more important matters like marketing, order processing, and improving customer support.

The Crucial Question: Does Shopify Allow Dropshipping?

The direct answer is yes. In fact, Shopify is the top e-commerce platform when it comes to dropshipping. Different businesses choose it because of the ease of use and wonderful support that it offers along with several apps that can add features to a particular shop and make management, advertising and promotion a lot like a breeze.

Aside from the above-mentioned reasons that make Shopify the top e-commerce platform for dropshipping, there are some other reasons that make the brand popular among startups including their budget-friendly plans that already include hosting. For as low as $29 per month, you can already run an online shop within their platform while enjoying all the apps that you can use to further enhance your shop’s performance.

If you still need to see how well Shopify would work for your product or business, you can take advantage of their free 14-day trial that is already enough for doing tests for your brand concept or choosing the best theme or layout that is another great feature which you can enjoy if you choose Shopify as your e-commerce business platform.

Now that you know much about dropshipping and Shopify, let’s delve into some important points that you need to remember as you plan to open your own online business this 2022. Is Shopify still a feasible business that has a good potential just as it had in the previous years? What are the dos and don’ts of doing conducting a dropshipping business in Shopify. You’ll find answers to all of these and more as we move along so just read on towards the end so you can be better involved before making those bigger decisions.

Starting Your Shopify Dropshipping Business in 2022

Just like any other business venture, starting your very own Shopify dropshipping business isn’t as easy as 1-2-3. But taking your first step ensures that you’re paving a way into the world of online entrepreneurship, one that is full of opportunities for growth and expansion. It’s perfect especially since it has a big potential for generating large sums of profit while maintaining low operating expenses.

Just imagine selling to customers around the world without having the need for holding and maintaining stocks and monitoring inventory. This means that you need less people in your business team, less salary and benefits expenses and more resources to be spent on marketing and promotion and as well as customer service team expansion, development, and training. If you’re contemplating about starting your own Shopify dropshipping business, here are some dos and don’ts that can guide you in every decision that you want to make.

Dropshipping Dos and Don’ts

Every business venture has its own set of best practices and don’t dos to succeed. We will be looking into some that we have collected from different store owners and made sure they’re updated and are still applicable this year and onwards. Let’s start with the dos list.

The Dos

1. Start By Creating A Real Business

As you make those first steps building your shop up with Shopify, it would be a good idea to also build a strong foundation for all the efforts that you’ll be putting in next by establishing a business entity. This is essential for many reasons. First, it can help develop your relationship with other verified businesses and make tax matters more manageable.

If you plan to sell expensive items, having a legitimate name confirms your business’s authenticity and boosts your trust rating. Explore options like forming a Limited Liabilities Company (LLC) and other feasible options for making your business as real as possible. Be sure to make this step right at the early stages so it doesn’t get ignored especially when excitement kicks in as sales starts pouring in to your shop.

2. Make Sure Your Chosen Product Would Sell

Ask yourself, does the product address people’s certain needs? Does it help in accomplishing some common tasks that most people do each day? Does it protect them from something harmful or does it make life easier for them? People tend to purchase products that are useful to them, those that will bring comfort or make daily life better in one way or another. Some online entrepreneurs frequent social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and others looking for products being shown by people using the platform that has several positive engagements.

Look for products that has comments like “Where can I buy those”, “Does it break easily”, “How much did you pay for it”, etc. all indicate interest from viewers which is a good sign that the product shown has a good potential of making sales. Take some time really thinking on this as it can either make or break your business.

3. Find Verified Suppliers With Good Production and Supply Capacity

After finding the perfect product, your next step is finding suppliers that are capable of producing your store’s projected demand. Dropshipping sites like AliExpress have ample number of suppliers for different products. In fact, they have thousands upon thousands of fancy products that have trended through the years and made dropshippers successful in their business. One particular product can have multiple suppliers so the job of finding the best one depends on you. Don’t be too concerned about the price that a supplier places for a specific item, go for their overall shop rating and product review.

You can even read some customer feedback which can give you the idea on their shipping times for specific countries and the overall quality of the product that they send. Other crucial details to watch out for are how well the supplier handles shipping times, how good their product packaging is especially for fragile items.

4. Find Multiple Suppliers For The Same Product

Even the best supplier for your product of choice can run out of supply at times and when this happens, you’re going to have sure trouble especially from customers who placed orders that they would give as gifts for special occasions and other time-sensitive matters. Customers want to get what they paid for at the timeframe you promised their order/s would come. This is the reason why it’s a good idea to find not just one but two or more suppliers so that you’ll have ample source of your product in case one fails.

Another benefit of having multiple suppliers is that you can route customer orders to suppliers that are able to ship to their specific country or region. Not all suppliers are alike and there are others who cannot ship certain products to particular countries and regions so be sure to choose wisely especially if you’re planning to offer worldwide shipping for your product of choice.

Having multiple suppliers also raises your order fulfillment ratio and ensures your business remains online even when one supplier decides not to do business with you anymore. Other possible scenarios that can put your business at risk if you only have a single supplier are:

- The supplier raising prices which will greatly affect your profit margin and lessen your capacity to pay for other crucial operating expenses.

- The supplier suddenly goes out of business due to several reasons like their shop being penalized, etc.

- The supplier started performing badly like missed shipping times, consistently shipping the wrong item, and other matters that are making bad reputation for your shop.

5. Offer Multiple Payment Options

Customers from different countries, states, and regions would have varied preference in terms of payment method so be sure to offer a variety of ways for customers to pay for the product that they’ll purchase from your shop. You don’t have to offer all available payment channels that are there but only the most common ones that you can maintain and keep secure as your shop operates and begins selling.

Credit card and check payments are two popular ones along with Paypal and bank payments but the first two we mentioned entails charges and fees that can drive the price of your product up so only offer it if you see that it can still sell even with the fees already added or if your profit margin would still allow space for the fees without the need of jacking up the price. Also, you must ensure that your order processing team is trained to verify credit card payments and checks to avoid any unfortunate loss and other issues from ever arising in the future.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t Go Into The Way of FB Ads Right Away

One common mistake that online business startups do is putting all their capital into FB ads in an effort to boost sales and start making profit but the truth is this isn’t the most effective way to go especially if you have limited money to spend on ads. Most users that are on Facebook are looking to be entertained or want to learn the latest about their friends, family, or from current events. They are not there to watch your ads so definitely don’t place all your eggs in FB advertising.

Explore other options instead such as Google ads and other forms of content marketing as the very first fuel to burn in your overall marketing effort. The goal is to build up some traffic by using other methods than FB ads.

2. Don’t Invest So Much Time Making Your Site SEO-Friendly

You still have limited budget as you start growing your shop so better make sure that you’re spending it rightly. Use the product descriptions that are available in your supplier’s website and invest in advertising that works. SEO will be of great use later on when your shop is already up and running and is already making some sales so better focus on how you can improve that now and think about SEO later on.

3. Don’t Stop Until You Make Your Very First Sale

It is possible that your shop will not have any order for days or weeks as you start getting things in order but you should not feel discouraged by that. The best ingredient for success is consistency and it will feed your soul especially when things get to the rough part of the overall process.

Dedicate time each day and be consistent with every routine while making sure that every single one of them are aimed at making that very first sale and getting your shop to sail towards the vast ocean of success. Once you start making sales, you can start exploring the option of hiring a virtual assistant who is experienced in running an online shop and understands every process involved.

4. Don’t be Limited to One Industry or Niche

It is possible to sell a few products and it’s even possible to sell only one product in your shop but if you want to really grow and make that 6 or 7-digit income with Shopify, it would a good idea to keep exploring different niches and even spying other industry for the purpose of finding the next big product that you can start selling and making profit from.

Don’t be limited to just the product that is already making sales for your competitors but instead, find other products that others are not selling yet and capitalize on that. There’s an unlimited set of possibilities on this so be sure to keep exploring and sniffing through different areas and aspects of every industry to see what people need, what their wants are, and find a product that will address those things.

Shopify Dropshipping in 2022? Why Not!

Dropshipping on e-commerce platforms like Shopify remains as a feasible business even as we enter year 2022 and even onwards. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven the value of online businesses and even took them into the spotlight as one of the best ways of doing business especially under the new normal.

Just remember that setting up and building an ultra-profitable online business takes time and entails so much effort. But as long as you’re consistently doing your part in the overall equation while making sure that you’re following the best practices and avoiding the don’t dos that we’ve listed above, you should be on the road to success.

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