Drop shipping is an order fulfillment method where a business doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. You do not have to store inventory or manage orders and shipments with drop shipping. Instead, you take orders and send them to the wholesaler or manufacturer who will fulfill the order for you. Drop shipping may be a perfect fit if your company sells electronics, books, apparel, or jewelry.

Setting up a drop-ship business can be expensive (we’re talking anywhere from $100 to $5,000+). Therefore, analyzing your product’s market before jumping in headfirst and creating listings just because you can afford it financially (especially if this is your first time building out a drop-ship business) is essential.

We have compiled a few steps to guide you through finding profitable products to sell online through retail arbitrage and wholesale sourcing through dropshipping.

In addition, if you want a list of eCommerce stores, you can “reverse engineer” to get ideas for your store.

Examine the Competition (and Know Your Competitors)

Successfully buying profitably from online retailers like Amazon or eBay and reselling those products on your website has become such a massive trend over the past decade that an entire industry is built around helping people do it well.

When researching opportunities for wholesale dropshipping, most experienced business owners will turn to websites like Wholesale Central, AliDropship, or The Wholesaler List (to name a few) to search for new suppliers. On those websites and many others like them, you can find the names of suppliers that offer drop-ship wholesale accounts.

Quickly determine who your competitors are by searching for businesses similar to yours in Google or any other preferred search engine (it’s important not to underestimate the value of keyword research ), and note down their web addresses.

Searching on Google is best because if an Internet business has been around long enough and doing well, it will rank highly on Google for relevant keywords related to its business niche.

If your competition ranks well on Google, the chances are good that they have strong SEO and social media marketing strategy in place – meaning that it will be for advanced eCommerce entrepreneurs.

Once you have a list of the top-ranking players in your market, check out their websites and engage with them (in a way that won’t be creepy or break any laws). It’s important to see what they do right and wrong to avoid making those mistakes yourself. Not only will it make you a better trader, but it’ll also help lower your risk because if you’re doing something different from another business owner in your niche. In addition, there is less chance of confusion among shoppers who think they are purchasing from the same company.

From an SEO perspective, many competitors might have products for sale on Amazon through Fulfillment by Amazon. If this is true, then first find out which products they are selling, then go to the Amazon product listing and see if they’re listed as an affiliate for that product.

If they are, you can join the program yourself – helping you gain more trust from your customers because you can offer a “verified purchase” badge on your website (this is something Google loves).

When conducting a competitive analysis of companies in your eCommerce niche, verify their contact information. You don’t want to accidentally send an email or make a phone call to someone who doesn’t know what you’re talking about.

Find Products That Will Sell

Now that we’ve gone over how easy it is for competitors (even those with inferior products) to rank well on search engines like Google, we’re left with the question, “how do I find products that will sell?” This can be accomplished by following these simple steps:

Find keywords related to your niche and research how much competition you’ll have for those keywords. Narrow down your keyword list based on the difficulty of ranking for, relevancy to your target market, and demand (the number of conversions each keyword is likely to get).

Find potential suppliers/manufacturers using Google or other online tools (such as CoolShip), contact them, and determine who their drop shippers are. Then, contact multiple drop shippers to request a quote for your business. Accept the best price from one supplier, ask about add-ons that may increase conversion (for example, gift-wrapping services), and ask for more promo codes to give away on your website.

Step #2 is the most crucial step in ensuring the success of your wholesale dropshipping business. Without knowing what each potential supplier/manufacturer can offer you, it’s impossible to know whether or not a company will be a good fit. In addition, there are likely suppliers who you could have partnered with but didn’t know because you didn’t conduct enough research into the options available to you.

Remember: Not all sellers are created equal. Many people think they need to find someone (a drop shipper) with an existing account, provide them with their customers’ shipping information, and send them product orders each month. But that’s not how things work. A professional drop shipper has established relationships with suppliers to be able to offer exclusive deals on shipping rates, add-on services, and promo codes – giving your online business a competitive advantage over other companies in your niche!

Find Wholesale Suppliers/Manufacturers for Your Product Ideas

The best way to find them is to use Google to search for any keywords related to my niche. You can also use tools like Ubersuggest or Keyword Tool. If you’re interested in a comprehensive keyword and want to see ideas about what people are searching for, then use Google’s autocomplete function by typing in a few letters and pressing “enter .”This will show you billions of suggested searches (with no exact matches.)

Leading Platforms You Can Use for Dropshipping

You can drop ship using local sites and global e-commerce platforms. For local sites, you can try on platforms like:

• Jiji
• Jumia
• Kilimall

You can also drop ship on global platforms like:

• eBay
• Amazon
• Alibaba
• Wholesale Central
• AliExpress
• Doba
• Modalyst
• Wholesale2b
• Inventory Source
• SaleHoo
• Megagoods
• Walmart
• Oberlo
• Worldwide Brands
• Spocket
• Shopify sites

While it is okay if some of your products are not directly relevant, please avoid them when starting – as this could cause problems with your conversion rates & reviews (which are necessary for future sales). For example: Instead of selling generic soccer jerseys that are only sold during the World Cup season, try selling custom jerseys that players can wear during games, and fans can buy year-round. Likewise, instead of selling a general, all-purpose set of dumbbells, sell custom dumbbells (different handle sizes, weights, etc.) for specific exercise routines – such as a “wide grip” set designed to be held in the palms when doing curls.

Surprisingly Simple Tip: Always try to find products with FREE or low-cost shipping. Many online shoppers are more likely to purchase something if they don’t have to pay for shipping. So even though there’s always some risk involved in dropping your shipping prices because you’re letting customers choose their shipping option, free shipping can be a great way to create additional value for your customers. The sales can often make up for all of the extra costs.

If you want to sell more than one product, find at least three suppliers/manufacturers relevant to your niche.

Once You Have The Suppliers/Manufacturers Listed

Once your initial order arrives from each supplier, open up every single box and thoroughly inspect every item! While dropshipping is a lot of work, you need to remember that this process is supposed to be profitable. So if the suppliers/manufacturers are not putting in the same effort (and money) as you, they’re essentially stealing your profits.

Don’t be afraid to order a few more items than you need at first (especially if your suppliers/manufacturers offer free shipping) because they shouldn’t mind sending a few different samples. This will make your life much easier and reduce some risks in case something happens.

Also, remember that it’s okay to order different sizes or colors from each supplier! While this is not recommended for all products, it can work out well when selling clothes – especially t-shirts. Customers will likely want multiple items of the same shirt for different occasions (or perhaps just because they like the design better in a different color).

Try getting 100% Cotton shirts for this niche because of the higher likelihood of selling multiples. This will make your life easier in the future (as all you have to do is find more suppliers instead of searching for new suppliers each time you run out) – and it also increases the overall number of sales that a customer can make with each shirt. Some customers might buy two shirts at once or return one after wearing it. To give you an example using a t-shirt business from earlier: After posting about my website on Reddit, I was overwhelmed with people asking where they could buy the shirt! One customer even wanted four shirts in total because they had just bought one for each family member.

Once you’ve Made Your Order Decisions

While all of the above is super important (and will help you save money in the long run), it’s also essential that you set up your business now so that your first orders can be processed as quickly and efficiently as possible. Once your order arrives, sort through each box carefully to ensure that there are no damaged items – especially if they’re clothing. You want to look out for ripped seams, poorly stitched areas, or any holes/tears from being worn before.

For example, if all the t-shirts are damaged somehow, send them back and request a refund or replacement. This could happen in shipping or due to poor packaging on the supplier/manufacturer’s end. This is one of the most significant risks of dropshipping with clothing products – so it’s best to be prepared early on! If you’re working with a smaller supplier that doesn’t have great shipping rates, they’ll often use simple packaging materials and may not ship everything in a box (which can be dangerous if the product is fragile). Even if they send them all together, there is a huge risk that one or more items will get damaged or lost.

Once you’ve checked out your inventory for problems like this, go ahead and categorize each item into groups, such as New arrivals on sale Items that need to be updated. Exact sizes needed.

How Profitable is Dropshipping?

If done right, dropshipping tends to be very profitable, considering that your costs are lower and you don’t need to purchase stock or a store for the products before selling them. Bestsellers will be listed at the top of the e-commerce site, if you are looking for the best dropshipping products. However, please note that for you to sell more, you will need a proper business and marketing plan.