Shopify dropshipping is a top choice for entering dropshipping and ecommerce business. 23% of top-performing e-commerce websites use Shopify. It’s famous for being intuitive, having lots of different themes, and tons of apps you can use.
In this guide, we’ll explain:
- what Shopify dropshipping is
- how to start your own dropshipping business on Shopify
- some promising strategies to market your business.
Let’s get started!
What Is Shopify Dropshipping?
Shopify dropshipping is creating an online store on Shopify for your dropshipping business. Unlike traditional retail, you don’t keep inventory on hand. Instead, when a customer buys from your store, you purchase the product from a third-party supplier who ships it directly to the customer.
The main difference of dropshipping on Shopify compared to other platforms is Shopify’s comprehensive set of tools and features tailored specifically for E-commerce.
Shopify offers a user-friendly interface, a wide range of customizable themes and plugins, and extensive support for marketing and managing your store.
This makes it easier for beginners to start and grow their dropshipping business compared to other platforms.
Some Basic Store Examples
Here are examples of Shopify dropshipping stores.
1) Home decor – Warmly Decor
2) Stationery – Notebook therapy
3) Fashion – Annie Cloth
How To Start a Shopify Dropshipping Business?
Before you jump into Shopify to create your store, there are a few important things you need to do first. These steps are super important to make sure your business gets off to a good start.
We’ll walk you through each one so you can get your Shopify dropshipping business up and running smoothly.
1. Find A Niche and Products
Selecting the right niche is key to a successful dropshipping business. You need to find a market that’s not too crowded but still in demand. Think of it like finding your spot in a busy market. Look for something unique, where you can stand out from the competition.
Start with a broad niche like a pet shop and narrow it down through research.
Start with these tools to find a niche:
- Facebook audience insights
- Google Trends
- Google keyword planner
- Ahrefs
After deciding on a niche, start by finding products.
You can also watch this video on how to search for winning products for your dropshipping business.
Pro Tip: Never select only one product in the niching process. Maybe you won’t be able to find a reliable supplier for that product or might dislike this product in the future.
2. Find Supplier
Finding a reliable supplier that provides high-quality products at a time is the foundation of your successful dropshipping business.
Here’s where you can start your search:
- Marketplaces. Platforms like Amazon and Alibaba offer a wide range of suppliers.
- Tradeshows. Attend industry events to connect with potential suppliers and explore new products.
- Directories. Supplier directories provide lists of verified wholesalers and manufacturers.
- Shopify Apps. Use Shopify dropshipping apps to find suppliers.
Top Supplier Sources
Moreover, consider these top 10 sources to find suppliers for Shopify dropshipping buisness.
- AliExpress: International wholesale and dropshipping site with a vast product range, particularly popular for beginners and veterans alike.
- Alibaba: B2B marketplace connecting buyers and sellers, ideal for advanced drop shippers looking for private label manufacturing.
- SaleHoo: Supplier directory listing over 8,000 wholesalers, offering pre-vetted drop shipping providers from various niches.
- Worldwide Brands: Established supplier directory featuring over 16 million certified wholesale products, ideal for lifetime access to quality wholesale suppliers.
- Doba: Integrated dropshipping platform with centralized interface, offering over two million products and automated order fulfillment.
- Sunrise Wholesale: Supplier offering over 10,000 dropshipping products with fast shipping times in the US and Canada.
- Wholesale2b: Real-time inventory automation platform with over a million dropship-ready products, suitable for quick shipping in North America.
- Megagoods: Wholesale distributor specializing in consumer electronics, offering drop shipping without minimum purchase requirements.
- Wholesale Central: Free directory listing over 1,400 drop-shippers, suitable for browsing and finding genuine wholesale opportunities.
- CROV: Supplier connecting retailers to a wide range of products with a product request feature, ideal for e-commerce sellers looking for unique items.
Tip: Order products from different suppliers to check the quality, speed, and reliability.
Supplier Search Apps
One major reason dropshippers love Shopify is its comprehensive support for dropshipping. If manually tracking down suppliers feels daunting, Shopify offers apps to simplify the process.
You can explore these apps on the Shopify app store by searching for “dropshipping apps.”
Here are some Shopify dropshipping apps for finding suppliers:
- DSers
- Syncee
- Dropshipman
- CJdropshipping
- Zendrop
- Spocket
- Modalyst
Once you’ve completed all the preliminary steps, you can move forward to create a Shopify store.
How To Set Up a Shopify Dropshipping Store
1. Create A Shopify Store Account
You need to sign up to Shopify to create a store account.
Go to the Shopify homepage and start your free trial with button at the top of the page.
It opens up a dialogue box. Fill in all necessary details to create an account.
2. Select A Name For The Shopify Dropshipping Store
When starting your Shopify dropshipping store, choosing a catchy and original name is important. Keep it short, and unique, and check if the domain is available. Shopify offers you free tools to brainstorm names:
- The AI generator tool provides 24 name suggestions based on a brief description of your business.
- Simple business name ideas generator offers 100 name suggestions based on your business description.
For example, if you’re selling kid’s shoes, write kid’s shoe store in the AI generator search bar and it will suggest store names.
3. Decide A Pricing Plan
After creating your dropshipping store, you can get a free 3-day trial with Shopify today and then 1 month for $1.
After that, you‘ve to select a plan according to your needs. Following is the Shopify pricing plans.
4. Build The Brand Identity Of The Store
Building the brand identity of your store involves creating a logo and setting font colors and themes. First, start by creating a store logo.
These are worth considering Shopify apps to create a logo:
Alternatively, you can design a logo using Canva or hire a graphic designer. Once you have your logo, it’s time to choose a theme for your Shopify dropshipping store.
Shopify offers both free and paid themes, with over 100 paid themes ranging from $140 to $400.
Browse the Shopify theme store to find themes that fit your product and budget.
Use Shopify’s theme editor tool to experiment with different fonts, colors, and buttons for your online store.
5. Add Products
After customizing the store, start adding products to your Shopify dropshipping store.
First, take clear photos in good lighting and against a simple background to accurately show your product’s true colors and features.
Snap multiple angles of the product so customers understand your products easily. Prepare a product listing after taking photos. Create product categories to simplify product navigation.
For example, if you have a shoe store you can make categories like
- Men’s Shoes
- Women’s Shoes
- Kids’ Shoes
- Sneakers
- Boots
- Sandals
- Athletic Shoes
Write clear product descriptions that include materials, sizes, colors, and use of products.
6. Launch Dropshipping Store
You’re close to launching your dropshipping store.
But before opening a store, set your payment and shipping options in Shopify settings for smooth business operations. Add a return policy page for customers who need to return, refund, or exchange products from your store.
Congratulations! You’re ready to launch your store.
7. Manage Shopify Dropshipping Store
After launching your store, work on setting up great customer service. If there are problems with products or shipping, your team should fix them fast.
Regularly check your dashboard to analyze your business performance. Monitor metrics like conversion rate, sales revenue, average order value, and customer lifetime value.
Use this information to identify areas where your store can improve.
How To Market The Shopify Dropshipping Business?
Marketing your store is crucial for running a successful dropshipping business. It’s not only profit margins: allocate sufficient time to develop a marketing strategy that stands out in this competitive business model.
Here are some Shopify dropshipping marketing strategies to start with.
1. Social Media
Social media is like your best friend when it comes to promoting your dropshipping products. It helps you build trust, spread the word about your products, and finally bring in customers.
You don’t need to be on all social media platforms. Choose the platforms according to your audience. For instance, use Instagram and Pinterest for fashion products.
Be real and helpful, not spammy. Use hashtags and tags wisely to get noticed. Keep an eye on what’s working with analytics, and don’t forget to hype up your new stuff and user-generated content.
You can use the following Shopify apps for social media:
- Instafeed
- Outfy
- Recart: SMS Marketing +AI
Running Multiple Accounts & Bypassing Country Restrictions
Social media is great for marketing, but it has some limits. One big problem is geo-restrictions. For example, Instagram is banned in China, Iran, and Russia, and TikTok is banned in India.
Also, if you run multiple ecommerce stores, you need multiple social media accounts, but many platforms don’t allow that. Check the image below for more details on these limitations from GoLogin’s blog: Manage Multiple Social Media Accounts | New 2024 Methods
Here is where GoLogin can save you.
GoLogin is a multiple account browser that allows you to bypass geo restrictions and create multiple social media accounts without getting banned.
It is a more reliable option than VPNs and proxies because it protects your entire digital fingerprint, not just your IP address. Simply hiding your IP is no longer sufficient as advanced websites like Facebook can easily track and identify your location and account association.
Each GoLogin browser profile appears to websites as a separate user. Despite its advanced technology, the tool is very easy to use and had great online reputation. Here’s a quick guide to the web version.
Download GoLogin for free and manage multiple accounts without bans!
2. Blog
One of the advantages of Shopify is that you don’t require a separate website specifically for a blog. Shopify has a built-in blogging functionality.
Here are some useful tips to create a valuable blog for your Shopify dropshipping business.
- Find low-difficulty and high-volume keywords with Google Trends and Ahrefs so your blogging efforts pay off at this early stage.
- Create educational guides and tutorials to address common customer questions.
- Optimize content with relevant keywords.
- Showcase dropshipping products through detailed spotlights and reviews.
- Share insights on industry trends and updates to establish thought leadership.
- Grow audience engagement through comments and social shares.
- Repurpose user-generated content to enrich blog posts.
Guest blogging
Blogging takes time to generate traffic and as a newbie dropshipper, you need an audience to promote your business.
Therefore find websites within your niche and ask them about a guest blog. This way you will show their audience your products and backlinks will help you improve your SEO.
3. Google Ads
You can drive millions of sales for your Shopify dropshipping store with Google Ads.
For example, Caomhan Daly a Shopify dropshipper earned millions via Google Ads.
Google Ads offers direct advertising to your target audience on Google and YouTube, with customizable budgets and pay-per-click options.
Google ads stand out with search ads, Google Display Network, and YouTube ads, allowing precise audience targeting based on behavior, demographics, and interests.
Using these features, you can retarget potential customers who have shown interest in your products, increasing conversion opportunities.
4. Influencer Marketing
Don’t sleep on influencer marketing as this market will grow to about $24 Billion by the end of 2024.
As a new business with a limited budget, influencer marketing offers a cost-effective way to attract customers to your store. Influencers also help increase brand awareness and store traffic.
The key to successful influencer marketing depends upon collaborating with the right influencers. Look for reputable influencers who align with your niche and audience. Micro-influencers often have more engaged audiences, but evaluate each influencer individually.
Use the following tools to find influencers:
- Shopify Collabs
- Creator. Co
- Grin
- BuzzGuru
- UpFluence
- Influencer Marketing Hub
Check this video to learn more about influencer marketing for dropshipping businesses:
Protect Your Shopify Dropshipping Business
Shopify sometimes bans accounts, and to avoid having all your revenue frozen suddenly, we recommend setting up several Shopify accounts with different brands and products.
Having multiple accounts allows you to keep your business running if one account is banned.
If you’re thinking about opening multiple dropshipping Shopify stores, GoLogin can help you safely create and manage these accounts.
Here is how GoLogin works well for Shopify multiple accounts:
- Continued sessions – no need to enter credentials to login every day.
- Customizable profile table with notes and tags.
- Custom employee access: granular access levels for every worker.
- Teamwork: any amount of remote managers can work in accounts with no 2FAs
- 10 free built-in proxies + paid proxies right in the app
- Mass actions with profiles, e.g. share, edit, delete, group
Download Gologin for free and manage multiple accounts without bans!
Download GoLogin for free and manage multiple accounts without bans!
A Successful Shopify Dropshipping Store For Your Inspiration
Matt Uebergang, owner of Cat Water Fountains, shares their success story.
“I’ve achieved growth entirely with SEO.
Top-notch cat fountains, amazing customer service, and SEO magic that attracts cat lovers searching online – that’s my recipe! Here are some facts about my biz:
- Founded in May 2023
- 120+ customer orders per year
- Profitable since day one, with zero ad spend.
- Ranked #1 on Google for my most important keyword ‘cat water fountain’ within 6 months of launch.
- A killer Instagram reel (1.5M views!) helped build a 2K follower base”.
We’ve asked him about the strategy behind his success.
He shares that “Niching down is crucial. Targeting a broad market makes understanding customer needs and crafting solutions difficult. By focusing on a niche, you become an expert, tailoring offerings to perfectly address their challenges.
Secondly, niching down reduces competition significantly. Instead of battling numerous competitors for a slice of the general market pie, you become the dominant player within your niche. This allows you to stand out and attract customers who are specifically looking for what you offer.”
Final Words On Shopify Dropshipping
Shopify is an excellent option for dropshipping, offering all the necessary tools to start a business from scratch.
This article will guide you through every step covering the entire process of launching and setting up your Shopify store. We have also shared marketing tips and a case study for inspiration.
As you scale your dropshipping business, one effective strategy is to create multiple seller accounts to segment products, diversify risks, and expand your reach on platforms like Ebay, Amazon, Shopify, and Etsy.
GoLogin offers invaluable support for managing multiple accounts seamlessly with features such as built-in proxies, safe employee management and continued sessions without entering credentials every day.
Follow these steps to start your online business today and grow your Shopify store!
Download GoLogin for free and manage multiple accounts without bans!
Frequently Asked Questions: Shopify Dropshipping FAQ
What Is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a business model where you sell products without holding inventory. When a customer places an order, the dropshipping supplier fulfills it directly to the customer.
Is Shopify Good for Dropshipping?
Yes. Shopify is a popular platform for dropshipping due to its user-friendly interface, extensive app ecosystem, and robust features tailored for e-commerce.
What Do I Need To Start A Dropshipping Store On Shopify?
To start a dropshipping store on Shopify, you’ll need a Shopify account, products to sell, a supplier or suppliers, a website domain, and a marketing strategy.
What Is The Minimum Cost To Start A Dropshipping Store On Shopify?
Starting a dropshipping store on Shopify involves a minimum cost, including a subscription starting at $29/month and domain fees of $10 to $20/year. Premium themes and optional marketing expenses may add to the initial investment.
