Unique Dropshipping Store: 11 Amazing Tips to Create One

Are you wondering how to be more unique than all the other dropshipping stores out there? Well, you came to the right place! In this article, I will give 11 tips on how to create a unique dropshipping store that will help you beat your competition.

Creating a dropshipping store is great. It has many advantages, like not holding any inventory or selling everything that you want, but most dropshippers are lazy. They don't do anything extra on their store because they know that they can advertise within hours after launching. Beat these people by creating unique images, descriptions, and more!

Wondering how?

Follow me below, and I'll show you everything.

Why create a unique dropshipping store and not just copy everyone else?

Alright, so before we start with learning how to create a unique dropshipping store, it's important to know why you should create one in the first place and not just copy everything you see.

One thing to note here, I'm not saying you shouldn't look at other dropshipping stores or ecommerce stores at all, but just take inspiration from them like what are they doing good or what can you improve. Don't literally copy everything! (Click here for more information about why inspiration is great)

Look, there are so many people learning about dropshipping and starting dropshipping stores right now.

For example, type in Google Trends “Dropshipping”.

Do you see how popular dropshipping is?

Everyone wants a piece of it because so many of these “gurus” advertised it as an easy way to earn money online. (Source)

But do you know what the sad thing is?

Most of them don’t put any effort into their dropshipping store.

They open their store, import some products without changing anything, and start advertising.

This means that a lot of people that are dropshipping are selling the same products with the same information they got from maybe even the same dropshipping suppliers.

Of course, having the same product is not a bad thing yet because it's almost impossible to sell something that nobody else is selling. Although selling what everyone else is selling has it's downsides as well (More on that below)

But to also have the same images, descriptions, and so on will definitely not help you in the long-term!

One more thing before we begin, if you were thinking of buying a premade dropshipping store, then I recommend reading this article here first.

Q4 Update: Don't forget that Q4 (Quarter 4) contains the biggest months for ecommerce! You can learn more in the article below:
How To Prepare Your Dropshipping Store for Q4? (2023 Guide)

11 Tips to Create a Unique Dropshipping Store in 2023

Do you understand now why having a unique dropshipping store is so important?

If so, then that's awesome!

Below you will find all my tips so you can make your dropshipping store stand out from your competition. If you want more tips to beat your dropshipping competition, then you can read this other article of mine here as well!

I'll start by giving you my biggest tip:

1. Don't copy everything to save time

Yes, this might seem obvious, but you don't know half how many dropshipping stores are out there who look exactly the same…

Same theme (most use Dawn), same images from their supplier, same product description, and so on! For example, take the store below. Does it look familiar?

I mentioned this above as well, but it's so important that I thought I'll make it a separate tip on this list.

Look, if you want to build something for the long-term, then the chances are that you won't get there by just copying everything you see.

You might even get into legal trouble if you copy everything. (More information about fair use here)

So what you need to do is shift your mindset. Instead of thinking, you will be rich the next day; you will need to start treating your dropshipping store like a real business. (More information here)

The other thing that you need to do is to start looking at what your customers want and not what your pockets want.

Put your time and effort into it instead of opening a store in a few hours, importing a few products, and starting advertisements already without trying to be unique at all.

If you do the second one, then that’s the correct recipe for the failure of your dropshipping store.

If you don't want to be like the second one, then keep reading to read all my tips on how to be unique with your dropshipping store!

2. Creating your own product descriptions

Let me ask you this question, do you want your product descriptions to be the same as everyone else? Or do you want something unique and something that you can test and edit the way you want so that it fits perfectly with your target audience?

Of course, copying the product descriptions of your supplier will be easy, and it might be the best option if you don’t want to spend any time on your dropshipping store (read: be like everyone else).

One of the problems of using the product descriptions of your suppliers is that they often don’t go beyond the physical features of a product and don’t describe the benefits and results, which is what most customers need to make their decision.

Below you will find an example of a product description from a product on AliExpress. You will see that it just mentions some features like color, holder size, and so on:

Most people that do dropshipping with AliExpress just copy that description and call it a day, and then later wonder why not many of there store visitors want to buy their product(s). (Note: You don't have to do dropshipping with AliExpress)

Here is an example for you:

Also, if you use product descriptions from multiple dropshipping suppliers for different products, then you have a great chance that your product descriptions will be inconsistent.

Some descriptions might be long, some might be short. Another might only contain a sizing guide while the last one might only contain some featured bullet points.

This could become something negative if someone decides to browse around your store more and see more products. They could lose trust in your dropshipping store and might decide to leave.

That’s why creating your own product descriptions for your dropshipping store is a great idea. You could have the same kind of description for all of your products. Plus, you will know what to split test to get the perfect product descriptions for your target audience!

Here's a great example from Carbon Coco:

Ready to create your own product descriptions?

If so, then I got two amazing articles for you below:

• 8 Product Description Examples for Ecommerce (+ 5 Tips)
• How to Write Product Descriptions for Dropshipping Stores?

Plus, a great skill to learn to be able to convert visitors into buyers is copywriting. You can learn more about that in this article here.

And if you're wondering about a tool that can help you with this, check out the AI tool called Jasper!

Here's an example:

If you're interested in learning more, I explained that product description that was made by Jasper in more detail here.

Plus, they can help create images now as well! Check out our in-depth Jasper Art review here.

3. Creating your own product images

My next tip for you is to create your own product images. The reason for this is the same as for the product descriptions. Everyone uses the same images!

I know that's hard to believe, so let's take this beautiful image from this AliExpress product here.

Let's do a reverse image search on Google to find stores selling the exact same product with the exact same product image.

To be honest, I thought it would be a bit harder since the image is quite unique, but I was wrong:

Here is one store example that I found on the fourth page:

Do you see the image there in the top left corner? It's the image that we were searching for!

I hope you see now why it's important to create unique product images, and if not, then I hope this will help you:

If you don't have unique product images, then what sets you apart from those tens or hundreds of other stores selling the exact same product with the exact same product image(s)?

One thing to note, if you're just beginning, then getting images from your dropshipping supplier is still great. Just make sure that they are looking good (no logo from your supplier or weird backgrounds).

Just keep the whole getting unique product images in mind when you're trying to get more sales or when you're looking for a way to beat your competition.

If you're interested in learning more about how to get awesome product images for your dropshipping store or how to make the product images from your dropshipping suppliers perfect, then I suggest reading my other article that I linked to below:

• How to Get Awesome Product Images When Dropshipping?

And if you want to learn more about product photography, then I suggest reading these articles below:

• The Beginner's Guide to Product Photography [Tutorial + Examples] by HubSpot
• The Ultimate DIY Guide to Beautiful Product Photography by Shopify

Or you can watch this free course by Shopify on the Shopify Learn platform:

4. Designing an awesome dropshipping store

This step is going to be important to win the trust of your visitors! Because how high do you think the chance is that a dropshipping store looking like the one below will be remembered by a lot of people?

Do you want your store to look like a child designed it, or do you want it to look like a professional put hours of work into it?

If you want the second one, then follow me bellow.

First off, is deciding what theme you’re going to use for your store. I suggest reading my other article here. It contains the ten best Shopify dropshipping themes in 2023 that will boost your sales!

Here is one example of one of the Shopify themes in the list called the Universe Theme:

But keep in mind that you don’t need a paid theme when you’re just beginning with dropshipping. That’s why I also included the best free Shopify dropshipping theme.

That theme is perfect if you’re on a budget, and you don’t have much money (yet) to spend on a theme.

Secondly, you will need to think about your design. What colors fit your niche? What colors do you like? And which font(s) are you going to use? (More information about these things here)

After that (or before that), you will need a logo for your store.

I suggest you check out Fiverr. You can get a logo there for around $5-$20. Another option is to create something yourself (for example, with Canva), or you could choose not to have a logo yet.

You can learn more here about getting a logo for your dropshipping store.

Don’t forget about other design stuff, like your Facebook cover photo on your Facebook profile (if you have one).

Also, don’t forget about your homepage!

This might not be the most important thing yet, but I still suggest to take a look at this article here.

That article contains a lot of Shopify homepage examples!

Also, don't forget to create all your standard pages like your refund policy, privacy policy, contact page, about page, and so on.

The funny thing about these standard pages is that most dropshipping store owners don’t even bother creating even one of these pages.

Yes, some have a few, but I rarely see all of these pages on one dropshipping store. (And trust me; I saw a lot of dropshipping stores)

If you want to learn more about these standard pages, then you can click here!

Plus, don't forget to pick a unique name for your dropshipping store to stand out from the crowd. Don't just name your store almost the same as one of your competitors…

5. Getting real customer feedback for social proof

Most people that are dropshipping are importing reviews from their AliExpress supplier, or some even import them from Amazon.

This is your chance to stand out! Although don't get me wrong, if you're starting with dropshipping and you don't have any previous customers yet, then it could be a great way for you to boost your social proof.

Just keep in mind to not fake it; only use reviews that are placed on the exact same product from the exact same supplier that you're using.

The great thing now is that if you want a way to be more unique than the rest, that you get real reviews from real customers. Plus, getting reviews that show your customer as well instead of just their hand is also great!

I'll show you an example below of a review page that is made with Loox, but just note that these reviews could still be copied from AliExpress. (You can click here to learn how to know that) I just wanted to give you an example of how great reviews with customer pictures look like:

If you're interested in seeing more review page examples and learning how to create one for yourself, then you can check out this article here.

If you want to learn more about this, then I suggest reading User Generated Reviews: Do They Affect Conversions? by CXL.

And if you’re interested in learning more about how to get reviews on your dropshipping store (even when you don’t have any customers yet), then you can click here!

Alternatively, you can use a service like Billo to buy some user-generated content (UGC) videos from one of their thousands of vetted video creators working from their home studios all over the United States!

It's the most accessible and affordable way to get UGC videos for your ecommerce business!

Interested? You can learn more about Billo's services and pricing on their website.

6. Sell something different

Look, it isn't bad to sell the same products. I think it's even pretty rare to find a product that nobody is selling yet. (But let me know if you think differently)

But the reason I added this is that a lot of dropshippers use product research tools. Which on its own isn't a bad thing, but the way most people use it is…let's just say they copy…and…paste…

There are a few product research tools out there that post a few winning products per day like Ecomhunt and Dropship Spy, to name a few. (You can click here to learn what a winning product is)

I’m sure that these tools got a lot of subscribers. So what do you think happens with these few products that are added each day?

Exactly! They get “saturated” so fast.

Keep in mind with “saturated”, I don’t mean the product itself, but the combination of the product + the information that they provide (for example, the Facebook targeting, video ad, description, and so on).

Why?

Well, because a lot of dropshippers out there are lazy and came into this space to earn some “easy money”, or “to get rich next week”.

This is sadly the truth because a lot of so-called “gurus” advertise dropshipping like this. (You can find more information about these “gurus” here)

Here is an example what Dropship Spy will give you with each product that they add (it’s so much that it will be hard to read):

Even though the products might be seen by a lot of people, these tools are still great to get some inspiration for the next product that you want to sell on your dropshipping store!

Or inspiration on what kind of people you should target, what Instagram Influencers to use, and so on.

But the bottom line is, don't just copy all the products you see and expect them to be “winning products” for you as well…

7. Creating your own ads

This one flows in well with the one above about not copying everything that those product research tools give you.

Look, do you know what happens when everyone sells the same product but also uses the same ad images or videos on Facebook or wherever you want to advertise your products? (More information about advertising here)

Do you think your target audience (the people that will see your advertisements) will respond better when they see an ad that they have seen a lot of times before or if they see an ad that they have never seen before and that sparks their interests?

Once again, these things are great for inspiration! Not for just copying it all. Because that's what most people do… And you don't want to be like most people, right?

Look here is the deal; this kind of information is great if you're just beginning, and you're not sure what to target on Facebook or what you can put in your video advertisements, but don't just copy it all!

So what can you do then?

As I said above, use it as inspiration, and the other thing is to try and create your own unique advertisements. Make the ad fit with YOUR store and don't use the same ones as all those “I want to be rich next week” stores.

If you're interested in learning how to create great advertisements for your dropshipping store, then I suggest reading the articles I linked to below:

• 23 Creative Advertising Ideas That Actually Work by WordStream
• Facebook Creative That Converts: How (and When) to Use Different Ad Types by Shopify
• Video Marketing: Your Guide to Creating High Quality Video Ads by Disruptive Advertising

Plus, if you're interested in some more inspiration for your Facebook Ads, then you can take a look at these Facebook Ad examples from other dropshipping stores.

8. Be good for your customers

Here's the thing, dropshipping stores aren't famous for their customer service… So what do you do when you want to be more unique than your competition?

Well, you treat your customers like a true king or queen!

Wait.

I will start by showing you some screenshots of what will happen to your dropshipping store if you don’t treat your customers right:

And here is another dropshipping store named SmileyHomey:

And this one is from a dropshipping store called HYGO Shop:

Alright, now you know that your customers can make or break your dropshipping business, and you see that dropshipping stores aren't famous for their customer service, but how to make your customers happy?

So, how to make your customers happy?

Firstly, always try to be as polite and understanding as possible when you reply to a customer with questions or demands.

Secondly, spend your time building a store where you look first at what the customer wants and not what your pockets want. (As I said at the beginning)

Sounds easy, right?

Well…

It could be, but a lot of people just don’t care about their customers, and then you will see more of these 1-star review pages appear.

If you understand now that customer service is important, then I suggest reading the articles I linked to below:

• Customer Service for Dropshipping Stores – Complete Guide!
• Dropshipping Returns & Refunds: Everything You Need to Know

Keep in mind that these articles above are big articles, but they contain everything that you need to know about that topic!

9. Creating a brand to stand out from the crowd

Another great tip after taking good care of your customers is to start creating a brand from the beginning.

Yes, creating a brand is hard and takes time; that's why it's great to start as early with it as possible!

But branding doesn't only mean having branded packaging. It could also mean having a memorable name and logo, having some great content marketing, or having a story or cause.

A great start is by creating a branded email address for your support emails instead of using Gmail or Outlook. You can learn here how to set it up for free.

I want to give you a great example for the last one; having a cause. It's from the store Cats on Catnip. For example, this is what you will find at the end of their product pages:

Their cause is to help shelter cats in need. Isn't that a great cause if you're a cat lover and you're purchasing products for your cat?

Here is some more information about their cause:

That's awesome, right?

If you're interested in learning more about branding a dropshipping store, then I suggest reading these articles of mine below:

• 7+ Amazing Tips to Brand your Dropshipping Store in 2023!
• Dropshipping Branding: What Is It & Why Should You Care?

And here are some more great articles to learn more about branding an ecommerce store:

• A Better Brand: Ecommerce Branding Guide by A Better Lemonade Stand
• Ecommerce Branding: 11 Examples and 27 Expert Tips by BigCommerce

10. Have a unique selling proposition

This one flows in well with creating a brand, having a unique selling proposition.

But do you know what a unique selling proposition (USP) is? This is what makes your dropshipping store better than your competitors. It’s something that makes your store stand out, and the reason why people should choose you over all the other stores selling the exact same products.

For example, there are thousands of stores selling makeup, but why would they shop at your store?

If you're interested in learning more about the unique selling proposition, then I suggest reading the articles I linked to below:

• What a Unique Selling Proposition Is (And Isn't) Plus 10 Examples by Shopify
• Why Your E-Commerce Store Needs a Unique Selling Proposition by Elkfox
• How to Write a Ferocious Unique Selling Proposition by WordStream

Or you can watch this great video below:

How To Make Your Unique Selling Proposition Unique

11. Getting more exposure

The last tip that I will give you is one for if you're building a brand and if you got some knowledge to put out there. For example, if you know a lot about parrots, then why not become a great source on the internet that people go to when they want to know more about parrots?

Of course, this more long-term vision, but it's still great to think about it! Plus, not many dropshipping stores do this. Entrepreneur puts it like this:

If you’re in the ecommerce business, it stands to reason that you have your own site, which is a valuable marketing tool unto itself. But you can’t forget the value of showing up on other people’s platforms, too. Getting links from authority sites will help not only with your SEO, but with your credibility.

One way to take advantage of third-party channels is by guest-posting for them. When you deliver value-adding content to their audiences, you can boost your online profile and gain new customers in the process.

If your business is particularly successful or outstanding in some way, also try responding to Help a Reporter Out (HARO) queries to get featured on news sites and industry blogs.

And, don’t forget: When you get featured on another site, you can use badges on your site to showcase the notable publishers that have mentioned your business.

Source: 5 Ways to Make Your Ecommerce Business Stand Out

You can find the site that they mentioned here.

Do you need to make everything unique before launching your dropshipping store?

I understand that this could take some time if you want to do all these things for your dropshipping store.

But do you need to do all of these things before starting with advertising?

Preferably, yes! You should at least think about it and make some sort of plan for how you're going to stand out from your competition. (Click here for more things to do before launching your dropshipping store)

But it's a bit different for your products. I understand that if you got a lot of products, that it might take some time to make them all perfect (creating unique images, product descriptions, and so on).

That’s why I recommended making only 1-3 products perfect.

These products are going to be the first products that you’re going to start advertising with.

The rest of the products are there to make your store look alive and real!

If you want to learn more about this, then I suggest reading How Many Products Should You Have to Start Dropshipping?

In that article, I will explain everything to you about this topic.

From why focusing on a few products is the best, and what to do with the rest of your products in the meantime. (Hint: you’re not going to leave them with the default information that your supplier gave to you!)

Conclusion

So, there you have it! 11 amazing tips to create a unique dropshipping store in 2023.

I hope you understand now that you should not open your store in a few hours, but if you still want to do that, then please don't do it with the expectation to be rich the next week…

Go create the best dropshipping store your competition and customers have ever seen!

Also, if you're looking for inspiration for what products to sell, check out these 13 unique dropshipping products!

If you know any more ways to create a unique dropshipping store or if you have any questions regarding dropshipping, then let me know by commenting below or contacting me directly by pressing the “Contact Us” button at the top!

Good luck with your dropshipping journey. I believe in you!

Do you want to learn more? Here are my recommendations!

Are you currently dropshipping? Or do you want to start dropshipping?

Awesome! I’ll link to the articles below that I recommend you read next.

This way, you will be fully prepared to take your dropshipping store to the next level in 2023!

I just want to say one thing; my blog doesn’t endorse any paid dropshipping courses. (I hate them, they are the reason I created this blog)

If you’re interested in learning more about these dropshipping “gurus”, then I suggest reading the article I linked to below:

• 6 Things That Dropshipping Gurus Do Not Tell You As Beginner

And if you’re interested in learning more about dropshipping, then I suggest reading one of the articles below:

• 23 Most Successful Shopify Dropshipping Store Examples
• Shopify Dropshipping: A 20-Step Guide to Starting Your Store
• Dropshipping Startup Checklist: 10 Things to Do Before Starting
• Why Is No One Buying From My Online Store? (14 Things To Check)

And also, if you didn’t create a Shopify account yet (to get your dropshipping store online), then you can click here to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months!