Hey! Did you recently hear something about dropshipping but don't have a clue yet what it exactly means?
In that case, don't worry.
Here at Do Dropshipping, we do our best to teach you everything you need to become a dropshipper.
The best part? All the information we provide is available for FREE!
I'm Patryk, part of the Do Dropshipping team, and in this article, I will try to guide you in the right direction to become a dropshipper.
I have compiled a 5-step walkthrough that you can follow to become a dropshipper yourself.
Each step will link to other articles where you will be able to learn more about dropshipping. Awesome, right?
Without further ado, let's get started with becoming a dropshipper!
Tip: Make sure to stick around till the end, since I will be answering some questions that you will definitely have. For example, “How long does it take to become a successful dropshipper?”
Step 1: Understand the concept of dropshipping
The first step to becoming a dropshipper is understanding the concept of dropshipping.
After all, how would you become a dropshipper if you don't know what dropshipping is?
It would be pretty difficult, wouldn't it?
Well, to make it simpler, here is our explanation of dropshipping:
Dropshipping is a business model where you sell products on your online store without keeping them in stock. Once you get an order, you forward it to your dropshipping supplier, who will ship the product directly to your customer.
For the visual learners, take a look at our infographic below that explains how dropshipping works:
I hope it helped you to form an idea about dropshipping and how it works.
If not, click here to open an article that will explain the concept of dropshipping in further detail.
Step 2: Create an online store
To sell the products you've just chosen, you will need to create an online store.
Most people create their online store with Shopify since it looks great and is easy-to-use.
There are also plenty of Shopify dropshipping store examples available for you to check out.
If you're interested in Shopify and would like to try it out, sign up by clicking this link to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months.
A cheaper but less user-friendly option (if you're not familiar with WordPress) is to host a store yourself using a plugin like WooCommerce.
To read all about the pros & cons of each method, check out the following article:
How To Get Your Dropshipping Store Online in 5 Steps? 2023
Step 3: Find a dropshipping supplier
As you've probably noticed, a dropshipping supplier plays a significant role in your dropshipping business.
When taking another look at Shopify‘s image, you will even see the word “dropshipping supplier” appear in three out of the four steps!
Most beginners start dropshipping with a supplier you probably already know, AliExpress:
If you're interested in the way this works, check out this article!
AliExpress is a Chinese dropshipping supplier, which means you will have to deal with long shipping times.
Luckily, suppliers in the US and Europe exist as well.
For example, take a look at Spocket:
Once you have found an appealing supplier, make sure to ask them the 14 questions from this article.
Those will help you to find the best dropshipping suppliers out there!
Once you have picked a supplier, you can head on to the next step; choosing a product to sell!
Step 4: Choose your dropshipping product(s)
You become a dropshipper by selling products on your online store.
But what products should you sell?
This is a critical question, as picking the right products can make the difference between succeeding and failing.
First of all, you should know that there are three kinds of dropshipping stores:
- General stores. A general store can offer everything and anything! The products sold on general stores can range from coffee cups to swimwear. (Here's an example)
- Niche stores. These stores only sell products in a particular niche. For example, a pet product store.
- One-product stores. As you can probably guess, these are stores that only sell one single product. For example, this is a one-product store selling a fishing trap!
If you doubt which kind to choose, this article will help you out!
Knowing what kind of dropshipping store you will start is important as you will have to keep it in mind when choosing your products.
When starting a niche store, you will be limited to picking products within your niche.
If you're looking for some examples of niches you could choose for your dropshipping store, click here to view 25 niche ideas!
Spoiler: I will give you one already, the fitness niche!
When choosing products for your store, make sure to read the following article: What Is a Winning Dropshipping Product?
Using the criteria in that article, you will be able to choose the best dropshipping products.
If you're a beginner, I recommend starting with safe dropshipping products; here are 13 examples! (If you want to do product research yourself, check out these 15 methods)
Congratulations! You created an online store with dropshipping products and are partnered with a dropshipping supplier.
You have almost become a dropshipper!
There is just one step left:
Step 5: Advertise and sell your product(s) online
Unlike some people believe, your store won't magically become the number one search result on Google, and your products won't sell themselves.
You will have to advertise your products to sell them.
There are many ways in which you can get traffic to your store. These are separated into two categories:
- Paid traffic. In this case, you pay for advertisements that lead traffic to your store.
- Free traffic. With free traffic, people find your store organically.
Most beginners start advertising their store using Instagram influencers and Facebook Ads.
If you would like to learn more about those marketing methods and see if they could be the right fit for you, check out these articles:
- Using Instagram Influencers for Ecommerce: The Pros & Cons
- Should You Use Facebook Ads for Your Dropshipping Store?
But there's more!
Check out our amazing infographic below to find the correct marketing method for your dropshipping store:
Also, if your advertising budget is still relatively small, you could try marketing using free traffic.
For example, you could try using one of the 8 ways to get free traffic from this article, such as SEO, Youtube, and Pinterest.
And that's not all; there are so many more ways to advertise your online store!
After driving traffic to your store and getting your first sale, you've officially become a dropshipper, congratulations!
How profitable is dropshipping?
Of course, a dropshipping business's profitability heavily depends on the product you're selling and many other factors.
Most dropshippers price their products at a 200-300% markup, as you can read in our detailed pricing strategy guide.
For example, if the product you're selling costs $7 on AliExpress, you could try to sell it for $19.99.
That way, you will have a margin of roughly $13!
Be aware that this is not your profit since you will have other business expenses as well.
One thing is for sure though, dropshipping is profitable in 2023 and will probably still stay profitable in the coming years too.
How long does it take to become a successful dropshipper?
This is a question that some of you might have, and the answer really depends on what your definition of “successful” is.
If you are a beginner, don’t expect to be making money within six months.
People that try to sell you online courses about dropshipping, the so-called dropshipping “gurus”, often make it sound like you can start earning money within a few days.
However, there are a few things that these dropshipping gurus do not tell you.
Only a small minority of novice dropshippers will succeed to become profitable in the first few weeks.
If you're interested in this topic, click here to read an article that will go into this in much more detail.
Finally, you should be aware that the steps I've given above are heavily generalized.
In reality, there are many more steps involved before you become a dropshipper.
Here's an article that will guide you through the process in more detail (warning; it's a long article):
Shopify Dropshipping: A 20-Step Guide to Starting Your Store
Conclusion
I hope not to have disappointed you by saying that becoming a dropshipper actually takes much more than five steps.
But it can't be that easy, right?
Remember that if you want to become a dropshipper, you will have to put in a lot of effort and see it as a real business.
I repeat, this is not a way to get rich quickly!
Hopefully, this article was still valuable for you and gave you a good understanding of the concept of starting your own dropshipping store.
Since you're most likely new to this concept, I understand that you will probably have many more questions.
To get those answered, you can always contact us by sending an email or leaving a comment below.
Have a great day!
4 Comments
Okay so I am still confused as to how people will purchase and have it sent from the shipper. Do I need to contact these companies and tell them what I am doing or do I just list an item and then go in myself to aliexpress to buy the item and send to customer? I’m so confused
Hi Samantha,
We’re sorry to hear that you’re still confused about the concept of dropshipping. But we’re also glad that you’re reaching out! I will try to explain it below as simple as possible, but you’ve almost already said it yourself 😉
– You list a product that you want to sell on your online store (you can take the images from your supplier, for example)
– Once you get an order for that product on your online store, you go to your supplier’s website (in this case AliExpress), and order the product from them. While doing this, you enter your customer’s address in the shipping address.
– Some people leave a note for the AliExpress seller to make sure they don’t include any self-promotion in the package, but this isn’t mandatory as it’s usually just a blank package.
I also recommend to check out this article: Dropshipping for Beginners: What Is It & How to Start Today?
Hopefully, that cleared things up for you. Good luck with everything!
– Patryk
Is there any way to automate the transaction between the customer purchase and the actual dropship supplier or must that always be manually done?
Hi Amanda,
Great question! This is definitely possible, with some suppliers you can fulfill your orders with a single click or sometimes it’s even completely automated. You can check it out on platforms like DSers or Syncee. You can also check out our article about dropshipping automation software.
I hope that will help!
– Patryk