Dropshipping is a popular way to start your own business with little upfront investment. There are lots of eCommerce platforms for dropshipping, such as Woocommerce and Magento. Many people don’t know that you can start your own online business with Shopify. All you need is a product to sell and a website to sell it on. Shopify provides the platform, hosting, and all the tools necessary for success in eCommerce. You will learn how to create an account, add products, build pages, and even market your brand so that consumers find out about what you offer them! In this article, we will explore more on Shopify dropshipping.
What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a marketing method where you sell items directly from the Shopify shop. Although dropshipping and traditional in-person retail sales might seem different, both Shopify dropshippers and their customers benefit when they use excellent selling strategies.
In dropshipping, Shopify sellers can markup items from Shopify’s broad inventory range with markup and then offer them directly to their customers through Shopify. Most dropshippers often combine dropshipping with traditional marketing strategies, such as word-of-mouth referrals and social media advertising, to attract new customers.
The Benefits of Shopify Dropshipping
Becoming a Shopify dropshipper has lots of advantages. This investment saves Shopify entrepreneurs from having to spend large amounts of money on warehousing, inventory management, and shipping. As a drop shipper, you can concentrate on choosing your products and promoting your Shopify store rather than handling the tedious tasks necessary for in-person sales. Shopify also handles your hosting, payments, and orders; Shopify even provides 24/7 customer support!
More so, Shopify stores that use Shopify entrepreneurship do not have to deal with the hassle of shipping and delivery. Shopify entrepreneurs who use dropshipping can also avoid spending too much time on customer service issues because Shopify handles all order processing and shipping. It also has a range of themes that give you full control over the look and feel of your Shopify entrepreneurship store. Shopify provides you with all the knowledge and tools necessary to start this online business.
How to Start Dropshipping with a Shopify Store
If you’re looking to start operating as a Shopify dropshipper, you can whether you are a newbie or got little knowledge. As you plan for this business, there are essential things you need, including:
- Shopify account (free or paid)
- Shopify theme to customize the look and feel of your store (free or paid)
- Product images, descriptions, and categories (that can easily create using Shopify’s drag-and-drop feature)
- A unique Shopify dropshipping idea (the ‘secret sauce’ of Shopify dropshipping)
- Shopify dropship app (optional; recommended for more complex Shopify stores).
After you have all of this prepared, it is time to follow these 7 simple steps to start a Shopify entrepreneurship store:
1. Create a Shopify Account
Creating a Shopify account is FREE! They even give you a 14-day free trial on the Shopify Lite plan. Shopify Lite plan will not bill you at all. There are some limitations, though. You can consider Shopify Basic plan which costs $29 /month with no transaction limit.
2. Find Shopify Products You Want to Sell
Browse Shopify’s product directory and find a product you want to sell. Shopify has a variety of product categories that you can filter by price, category, brand, and more.
Be sure to analyze competition as well so your site doesn’t look like an inferior quality drop shipper site full of affiliate links and ad placements. Shopify’s app store has plenty of applications that can help you analyze your competition.
3. Identify the Best Shopify Theme
Shopify theme Shopify offers hundreds of free and paid themes to choose from. Shopify even gives you access to the theme store from Shopify Dashboard, so no need to login/log out just to access Shopify’s Theme Store like in Bigcommerce. Shopify’s App Store has many useful Shopify apps to choose from.
The store even has a Shopify app for new dropshippers which automatically sets up your product pages with SEO optimization and proper meta tags. You can even have the Shopify theme installed within a minute!
4. Shopify Shipping
Do Shopify shipping once you have selected the products you will be dropshipping, Shopify has a free Shopify app that can help you select the shipping method for your Shopify shipping Store. Shopify also offers Shopify Shipping, which currently costs around $14/month, and ships your products from several warehouses around the world.
5. Payment Gateways
Shopify has Shopify Payments for accepting Credit cards and Shopify Payments PRO, which further adds PayPal, Apple Pay, and Android Pay. It also offers Shopify Capital Advance which allows you to get paid within 24 – 48 hours instead of waiting 45 days for your Shopify Settlement (which is when Shopify receives money from your customers).
The friendly Shopify App Store makes it super easy for you to integrate Shopify Payment Gateways to your Shopify drop shipper’s store. The store also has Shopify Auto-enrollment, Shopify Save, and Shopify Affiliates apps that will help you run your Shopify store even smoother.
6. Create Shopify Shipping Labels
You will use Shopify Shipping for dropshipping and Shopify has an official Shopify app for this too. Shopify FedEx and DHL apps for Shopify shipping allow you to print shipping labels from your Shopify store without even leaving Shopify Dashboard! This makes it super easy for Shopify store owners with no shipping experience to easily Shopify Dropship.
7. Consider Shopify Accounting
Once you have Shopify Shipping Labels for your Shopify Dropshipping Store setup, Shopify has an official Shopify app that seamlessly connects your Shopify account with Xero’s online accounting software. This allows Shopify Dropshippers to seamlessly Shopify Dropship and manage their Shopify accounting too.
What’s More!
Your full-featured eCommerce platform should include Shopify dropshipping apps that help you easily Shopify Dropship on Shopify. Shopify has now developed into an excellent Shopify Dropshipping platform with all the Shopify apps mentioned above, which can really take your Shopify store to the next level.
If you’re interested in starting your own Shopify drop-shipping business, Shopify has a 14 days Shopify free trial where you can easily Shopify dropship with Shopify’s Shopify Dropshipping feature without risking your hard-earned money.
Now that you have all the knowledge, it’s time to take action! Get started with Shopify dropshipping Shopify free trial and Shopify dropship today!