Shopify Dropshipping 101: The Simple 4-Step Guide

Do you want to start an eCommerce store with fewer hassles?

With Shopify Dropshipping, you can sell products to a vast audience. It’s a modified way of starting an eCommerce store.

You can partner with suppliers and make a storefront to connect with the audience. When you receive an order, pass the details to suppliers for order fulfillment.

Keep track of the order fulfillment stages and once it’s done, receive profit.

In this blog post, you will learn

Let’s get started.

What Is Shopify Dropshipping?

Shopify Dropshipping is a smart way of starting an eCommerce business. You create a store to connect with the audience and partner with product suppliers.

Whenever you receive an order, the supplier will fulfill it on your behalf. After successful product delivery, you will receive your profit.

This way, you can save yourself from 

Which you can utilize in other important tasks, such as

These fundamental elements make dropshipping a worthy business idea that requires less cost with less effort – comparatively easier than selling your products.

Statistics on Dropshipping

Dropshipping is changing the world of eCommerce. In 2020, Statista reported that the estimated market size of dropshipping eCommerce industry was 128.6 billion U.S. dollars, globally. 

Image Source: Statista

It has also been predicted that the market size is subjected to increase over a six-year period between 2021 and 2026, with a value of 476.1 billion U.S. dollars. 

With the ease of dropshipping in the eCommerce industry, 27% of online retailers are now using this business model.

Why Start Dropshipping Business on Shopify?

In this competitive dropshipping market, there are several platforms to get started. However, Shopify dropshipping is considered to be the most popular.

According to data gathered in 2021 by Statista, Shopify was the leading eCommerce platform. It outdid the other platforms, i.e., Sprocket and Oberlo.

In America alone, Shopify dropshipped almost 1.9 million products – making it a must-try platform to start a dropshipping business.

Moreover, Shopify offers a convenient and risk-free way to start a dropshipping store. These are enough reasons to start with Shopify.

How Can A Beginner Get Started With Shopify Dropshipping?

There are four simple steps for a beginner to start Shopify Dropshipping.

1. Find the market fit

2. Look for suppliers

3. Plan product fulfillment

4. Learn and implement marketing techniques

Find The Right Market Fit Before Dropshipping Products On Shopify

Your niche and product should have a fair market share for a successful dropshipping business. Whether selling daily life essentials or trendy products, you should consider if the product is the right market fit.

According to Marc Andreesen, product-market fit means finding a good market with a product that satisfies that market.

So, you have to keep an eagle eye during the research phase. If you solve the puzzle of finding a product people want to pay for, you can dedicate the rest of your hours to essential strategies.

Some dropshipping stores have already found this secret, and now they are enjoying their profits.

For example, Meowingtons is a famous dropshipping store.

This store is a perfect example of a niche product dropshipping store where you’d find only cat-related products.

Image Source: meowingtons.com

Shopify Dropship Suppliers & Sourcing

People now expect fast deliveries of their products.

According to a survey by Statista, 46% of global shoppers said they hoped to receive it within two to three days. Meanwhile, 30% of buyers said they expect the delivery within 24 hours.  

So, even if you have found a product-market fit and a high-quality product, you still have to meet the delivery expectations of buyers.

Though, dropshipping doesn’t give you authority over the product delivery process. But you can still ensure a better delivery experience by finding a better product supplier.

A better dropshipping supplier will offer better quality product sourcing, quick shipping solution, and exemplary customer support. 

Fulfillment For Your Dropshipping Shopify Store

All orders you receive at your dropshipping store are being fulfilled by the product suppliers. Product fulfillment is the most significant advantage of the dropshipping model. 

As a dropshipper, you don’t have to be worried about the product supply chain. You can offer a wide range of products to sell, and the supplier will do all the fulfillment.

Though it is easy, suppliers make some mistakes while fulfilling orders. For example, low-quality fulfillment, mishandled shipments, packaging defects, etc.

These are some common mistakes that would require you to apologize to your customers. However, you can minimize them. An upstream approach would be partnering up with a trusted supplier with a high work ethic. 

A better supplier will ensure better product fulfillment and help you deliver a better shopping experience.

Learn Shopify Dropshipping Marketing

Dropshipping is an eCommerce business model but entirely different from conventional online selling. On marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, you would get traffic driven to the marketplaces.

However, in dropshipping, you would need to generate your traffic. You can generate traffic from social media platforms, including Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. Also, you can run paid ad campaigns on Google. 

Strong marketing activities can give you a competitive edge over competitors selling the same products. You can secure your fair market share by making it easy for your target audience to find your store.

Testing marketing trends can help you discover what works best for your business. For example, you can use TikTok and Instagram for marketing activities, but both platforms cater to different audiences. 

Figuring out what works for you and giving your most can help you generate remarkable results.

Facebook was the primary traffic source for dropshippers up until 2021 before the iOS 14.5 update hit. After this, many dropshippers transitioned to TikTok and noticed giant success. 

Pros & Cons Of Starting a Dropshipping Store

Pros

1. Fully Controlled Storefront

As a dropshipper, when you create your store, you get complete control over how you design your store, product listing, sidebars, navigational menu, and other features. You can also work on the site’s loading speed and theme and optimize product images for better search rankings. 

2. Acquire a Different Audience than on eCommerce Platforms

On online shopping sites, buyers usually try to find the best products at cheap pricing. They compare two different products based on several factors.

However, in dropshipping, people buy from you because of their interests – influenced by your marketing activities.

3. No Hassle of Inventory and Third-Party Logistics

You are saved from inventory and third-party logistics hassles as you do not own the product inventory. All of these are on suppliers. 

4. Less Starting Cost

Product sourcing saves you from the outrageous cost of warehousing and inventory. This is the primary reason why starting cost of dropshipping is low compared to starting an online eCommerce store.

Cons

1. Techniques-Spy

As almost anyone can start dropshipping, it is not like only you can find a unique product. Your competitors in the dropshipping arena would see you, and they probably start spying on your techniques.

But it is not that much of a big problem. There’s always a margin for newcomers or competitors in a business niche. Just make sure you are targeting an unsaturated niche.

2. Out-of-Hand Supply Chain & fulfillment

Product supply chain and order fulfillment are indeed challenging steps. Both of these steps greatly impact customer experience. While it is an advantage, it also takes away most things from your hand.

3. High marketing cost

Dropshipping stores rarely get audience traction without marketing activities. As a dropshipper, you need to constantly rely on marketing and promotional activities, which requires a significant budget.

4. Not many Options for Payment processing

Dropshippers are considered to be associated with scammers. Many payment processing solutions do not offer services to dropshippers because of their risk.

Is A Shopify Dropshipping Business Worth It In 2023?

Dropshipping comes with its flaws and perks, but it is still worth it. It is a good enough low-cost business idea to have an additional income stream. You can maintain a good profit margin by giving more attention in the research phase for both the product and the supplier. 

Maintaining a great customer experience could be a challenge in dropshipping. Always keep the lines of communication open. Make sure customers know the expected delivery times and keep them updated with tracking information when possible. Offer top-notch, responsive customer service to handle queries, complaints, and issues as swiftly as possible.

But there are tools and apps like Rush to help you with everything.

With Rush, you can create a custom order tracking page, offer to upsell, and offer order updates in multi-languages.

Here is how you can use Rush to elevate your customer experience.

Shopify Dropshipping Order Tracking Page | Rush App Full Tutorial

Start 14-day Free Trial.

Here is how you can use Rush to elevate your customer experience. 

Shopify Dropshipping FAQs

How Much Money Can You Make Dropshipping On Shopify?

Dropshipping on Shopify is easily scalable. Dropshippers are likely to make anywhere between $100 to $100,000. According to a survey carried out by Statista in France at the end of 2019, 73% of dropshipping stores make 100 to 500 euros.

Which Platform Is Best For Dropshipping?

Shopify is the best dropshipping platform. It has every feature you need to start and grow your dropshipping business. However, you can also start dropshipping on WooCommerce and Magento. 

Is Shopify Dropshipping Free?

Shopify dropshipping is free. But you would need to pay for creating a dropshipping store on Shopify which costs $29 per month. You can start with a 14-day risk-free free trial.