Are you wondering how to beat the competition of your dropshipping store in 2023? Well, stop wondering! Follow me step-by-step in this guide on how to be better than your competition! Let's bring your dropshipping store to the next level together!
How do you figure out who the competition is of your dropshipping store?
Before learning how to beat your competition, it's important to know who your competition is or will be.
I said ‘will be' because it's important to know who else is selling inside your niche, or if you have a general store, who's selling the same products that you plan on selling.
Even if your dropshipping store is not yet online.
This step is called competitor research.
If you're unsure about how to do competitor research, I suggest reading one of the blog posts below.
- How to Do a Competitive Analysis in 5 Easy Steps (+ Competitive Analysis Definition) by Impact
- How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis for Your Business (Plus a Free Template) by Shopify
- How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis for Your Online Business by BigCommerce
Some extra steps you can take to find the competitors of your dropshipping store:
- Do a reverse image search on Google. This way you can see all the other stores with the same product images (don't forget to use the images from your supplier and not your custom made images which we're going to talk about below).
- Search the name of the product or niche in Google. This is another great way to find people selling the same product. You can even add something like myshopify or Shopify at the end. Another option with this is to search broader, for example, only searching for your niche (pets, cooking, and so on).
If you can't find any direct competitors, search a bit broader, for example, pets instead of dogs.
This way you can still see what others are doing in almost the same space and what you can do to be better than them!
How do you beat the competition of your dropshipping store?
As more and more people jump into the e-commerce world to get a slice of the global $23.445 trillion dollar pie, it’s going to become incredibly important to learn how to stay relevant and ahead of your competition
From Smart Insights
Now that you know who your competition is, it's time to learn how to beat them!
In case you don't know, with the beating I mean being better than the other dropshipping store.
For example, Coca-Cola vs Pepsi, or Apple vs Samsung!
You probably won't compete with big brands, but it's just an example so you know what I'm talking about.
For you, this could be petsandtoys.com vs pets24.com (just an example).
Are you ready to see what things you can do to be better than your dropshipping competition?
Then let's go!
1) Be unique
Most people fail with their dropshipping store because they are not unique.
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, but to also have the same images, descriptions, and so on will definitely not help you!
So, how do you be more unique than other dropshipping stores out there?
Don’t try to copy everything to save some time!
Here are some great tips to be more unique (I will link you to the article that will teach you to do that):
- Having your own product images. Most dropshipping stores use the same product images everyone else is using to sell that product. Beat them by having unique product images. There are a lot of ways to do this, for example, by using the new Glorify app! (Click here to learn more about Glorify.)
- Having your own product descriptions. Same as with your product image, most people just copy the descriptions that their suppliers provide. These won’t help you sell your product! You can also take a look at learning more about copywriting.
- Site design. Look more professional and more trustworthy than your competitors. You can click here to see the 10 best Shopify dropshipping themes in 2023. Also, don't forget to create all your basic pages like a refund policy.
- Add a video to the product page. Another way to be unique is to add a video to your product page. Not all dropshipping stores do that! Just take a look at this article about why video marketing is important for dropshippers and the quote below:
Including videos in product listings is still a rare practice. But seeing as videos can rocket organic traffic up to 157%, adding product showcases is a no-brainer to get ahead of the competition.
From A Better Lemonade Stand
If you’re interested in learning more tips on how to be unique, I suggest reading the article I've linked below:
Also, I understand that this could take some time if you want to do it for all your products in your dropshipping store.
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 more alive and real!
If you want to learn more about this, I suggest reading How Many Products Should You Have to Start Dropshipping? by me!
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 your supplier gave you!).
2) Make your prices the best
A great way to beat the competition is to have a lower price than them.
For example, selling your product for $19.99 instead of their $21.
If you want to learn how to correctly price your products, then I suggest reading this complete guide here.
Do keep in mind that undercutting in price is not always the answer.
That's why I suggest you also read Why You Shouldn't Compete on Price in ecommerce by SaleHoo.
3) Add product ratings and reviews
One study found that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 72% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust businesses more.
Millennials, in particular, trust user-generated content 50% more than other media.
The problem is that customers are more likely to share bad experiences than good ones.
If you want to learn more about this, 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!
4) Go further than your competition
This tip is about making sure that you go one step further than your competition.
For example:
Whatever your competition is doing, up the ante. If they’re selling cotton t-shirts, offer up 100% cotton t-shirts made from local manufacturers that don’t rely on sweatshops.
If they’re selling black t-shirts, add red and green and blue t-shirts to your inventory.
The basic message is this: increase the superiority and quality of your market so shoppers have no reason to look elsewhere.
From RepricerExpress
Here are a few other examples regarding dropshipping:
- If your competitor doesn't offer PayPal for checking out, then offer PayPal.
- If your competitor doesn't have trust badges, then add trust badges.
- If your competitor doesn't have the basic pages like a refund policy, then add those pages (note: you should always have these pages).
And there are many more examples!
5) Go global
This is in case your competitor is not dropshipping or is only focusing on a specific country.
One great advance of dropshipping is that you can sell to the whole world.
Your supplier can send your package to almost anywhere.
If you see that your competitor is only selling in a certain country, then a great way to beat them is to sell in other countries as well.
This way you have a chance of getting more customers than them because you're targeting way more people!
If you're wondering now which countries to target and which to avoid, then take a look at the article I linked to below:
15 Best & Worst Countries to Target in 2023 as a Dropshipper
6) Be the best for your customers
Customer service is one of the most important things that you need to do for your dropshipping store.
And more importantly, you need to do it right!
Start thinking about your customers first instead of your own pockets. This will definitely help you kickstart your dropshipping store and will help you keep it alive as well!
You don’t want any bad reviews, trust me.
But I know you’re probably skeptical.
That’s why I've got some examples below for you. You will see what will happen with your review or Facebook page after giving bad customer service to your customers.
Status dropshipping store: Offline
Status dropshipping store: Offline
Do you see the trend?
Well, if you’re worried now or if you want to see some more examples of dropshipping stores who have bad customer service (or not at all), then I suggest reading the articles that I linked to below:
- Customer Service for Dropshipping Stores – Complete Guide!
- Dropshipping Returns & Refunds: Everything You Need to Know
I've also included a link on how to handle refunds and returns when dropshipping because that is a topic that most dropshipping beginners don't understand, and if you don't understand something, you can't be the best for your customers!
Rewarding loyal customers
Another way to be the best for your customers is to reward loyal customers.
This way you have more chance that your current customers keep coming back to your store.
How awesome is that?
Awesome, right?
If you want to learn more about how to reward loyal customers, I suggest reading the articles I've linked below:
- 7 Proven Customer Loyalty Programs That Work by Sleeknot
- How to Set Up an Ecommerce Loyalty Program to Improve Retention, Build Community and Drive 5X in Sales by BigCommerce
- Ecommerce Loyalty Programs: 25 Strategies Backed by 36 Examples and Over 100 Results & Stats by Shopify
7) Faster delivery times
And the last tip is having faster delivery times than your competitor.
For example, if your competitor is dropshipping with AliExpress and has a delivery time of 2-4 weeks, you can beat them by finding a local dropshipping supplier and having a way lower delivery time of a few days!
Don't forget to make it clear to your visitors then that the shipping time only takes a few days.
If you want to learn more about this, I suggest reading How to Have a Fast Delivery Time When Dropshipping in 2023? by me!
Conclusion
So, there you have it! 7 tips to beat the competition of your dropshipping store.
Hopefully, these tips will be helpful for you to bring your store to the next level!
If you've got any other tactics to beat the competition or if you have any questions regarding dropshipping, let me know by commenting below or contacting me directly by pressing the “Contact Us” button at the top!
Good luck with being the best of the best!
Getting started with dropshipping in 2023
So, are you ready to get started with dropshipping? Or maybe you have already started, but you’re looking to get some inspiration?
If so, then I suggest reading our complete Shopify dropshipping guide!
It’s a huge article, but it contains everything that you need to know to create your own Shopify dropshipping store in 2023. It’s like a dropshipping course, but for free!
Reading this article will surely help you to get started and to stay motivated while beginning and continuing your dropshipping journey!
Just don’t forget that success takes time. Keep improving each and every day!
Shopify Dropshipping: A 20-Step Guide to Starting Your Store
And here are some of our best articles:
- How to Find Gaps in the Ecommerce Market (7 Tips)
- The Complete Guide: Can You Start Dropshipping Without Money in 2023?
- 12 Reasons Why Most People Fail With Dropshipping in 2023 | Beat Them!
Also, if you don’t have a Shopify store yet, then you can click here to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months!
2 Comments
Great post! Never had much luck with dropshipping, might have to give it another try.
Keep up the great content! 🙂
Hi Ryan, thank you for your comment! Good luck if you’re going to try dropshipping again!