General
What Is Dropshipping & How Do You Get Started?
Understanding dropshipping and steps to launch your own online business
May 2, 2024
16 min read
Are you confused about which product to dropship? You are not alone. There are thousands of products to choose from, so it can be overwhelming which one to put in your store.
It is always a good idea to start with a list of products that you want to sell. These ideas will come from your passion, or from what you are interested in. In this article, you will learn not only how to get ideas for products to dropship, but also how to validate these ideas.
Below, you will find details on how to get product ideas. More importantly, there are sections in this article that will show you how to do a feasibility study for your selected products.
Social media is where you will find new products and trending products. It is not only the novelty that you are looking for but also the reaction of people. Software tools are not enough; you have to see the product posts yourself.
The best social media to use are:
Once you find a product that you want to sell or a product that belongs to your niche, check the poster’s page. Get ideas from this seller, like the videos published, the words they use, the communities they have built, etc.
The next place where you can find ideas to dropship is Amazon. However, do not pick random items to sell. Instead, check if the product is doing well, and the best area to check this out is the Amazon best-seller list.
Search for “Amazon bestseller” on Google like this:
Once you get to the bestseller page, take a look on the left and click on the niche you want.
For beauty and personal care, you will see something like this.
The best sellers in this niche are already numbered. You can also check the number of reviews that these products have. A good example is number 6. It Is a mascara, which has about 400,000 reviews and a score of about 4.25.
This tells you that there is a huge demand for this product. Since it has a good demand, it is also a good idea to dropship.
Etsy is a great place to find good ideas for products to dropship. It is best for print-on-demand products. It is where you can find designs that resonate with people.
The first thing to do on Etsy is to view the number of reviews just beside the star symbols. The prices will also give you a good idea of what your competitors are doing.
The shirt with the text “hands off” has a total of 3,200 reviews and a score of 4.8 stars. If you click on it, you will see more details like:
The shirt is political. Below the big text are smaller ones. The message that this sends across is that people, likely politicians, should not meddle with people’s rights and benefits.
Etsy itself tags this product as in-demand. There is a red text on the upper right side of the product page, and it says that over 90 people bought this item in the last 24 hours.
The issue is that the product is very cheap, so the next challenge here is to find a print-on-demand supplier that can match this price.
The best method to find ideas for dropship is to use a software program like Tradelle. This system will show you information that you will never see as a casual consumer.
After logging in, click on the Current Trends tab on the left.
Next, click on any product (Show Details).
As you scroll down, you will see more details about the product such as:
All the products you see here are in demand right now—the system gathers data about sales performance. Some buttons will take you to Amazon, Facebook, and AliExpress. These pages will show you where to find suppliers and what your competitors are doing.
Now that you know how to find dropshipping product ideas, you need to validate if this idea will work or not. Taking a risk is normal in any business, but it is always better to do a feasibility study before jumping into the water.
Tradelle is the tool you need to perform such validation. The product research tool in the platform will show you statistics about your idea.
Let us say you want to dropship a Reflexology Acupressure Foot Massage Mat. In Tradelle, you can paste that keyword, and the system will show you products similar to it.
Click on the product image and you will see the product stats, sales info, and marketing details.
The top part looks like this:
In this area, you will see an overview of the product’s cost, ideal selling price, and profit margin. The buttons below these numbers will take you to product pages from other sites. Use this to find suppliers or see how the product is doing in other markets.
Scroll down and you will see this:
This area is where you will find product demand and saturation. This product is in peak demand in 2020. Although the demand went down in 2021, it has recovered and now has consistent peaks and valleys.
The meter to the right is important, as it tells you how many stores are selling the same thing. These are dropshipping stores that sell the same product. You want that meter pointer to be at the green and yellow zones, not red.
The chart on the right is a map that shows interest. You want to pay attention to the dark blue regions. In this particular example, India has the highest interest.
Keep scrolling and you will see a calculator area:
Play around the numbers so you can make financial projections. An important thing to consider here is your ad spend. Use it to see how much profit you will make after taking into account the cost of advertising.
Keep scrolling and you will see this:
This area is where you will find audience groups, interests, and competition. The total audience size for this product is 60 million. The target demographic is aged 21 to 55.
If you plan to spend money on ads, you must target the interest groups listed above. If not, you can instead post your product images to Facebook groups of the same interest.
You will also see the URLs of your competitors. Go to each one and see what they are doing well. See how much they are selling this product for, and price yours competitively.
The revenue to the right is what will help you decide whether your dropshipping idea is viable. Based on actual data, sellers in AliExpress have sold 15,000 units of the product.
Overall revenue in a month is about $30,000 with a monthly sales unit of 1,000 units. The ROI is 114%. This tells you that this product is a good addition to your store, provided that it belongs to your niche.
If you need ideas about what to dropship, you can start using Tradelle now for free. Below are some samples based on the tools’ analysis of what products are trending right now.
This product is easy to sell because parents need as much convenience as possible. It only costs $10.99 from the supplier, but you can sell it for as much as $44.
Product Stats
This product is currently at its peak as it is new. There are products similar to this released four years ago, but it is only now that it has become a trendy item for parents.
You will love this product because it has a high margin. You can make at least $30 in profit per unit. The selling point for this product is that it has a vacuum that compresses the clothes, making it possible to fit more clothes in it.
Product Stats
Only seven dropshippers are selling this item, even if the interest is peaking at this time of year. What you can do is jump on it before other dropshippers get wind of the product. Right now, some Amazon sellers price it at $108, which means you can compete at a lower price and still make huge profits.
This product is a duster used for cleaning. It is similar to one of those that you see on TV. It does not have a high-profit margin like the previous product, but it is easy to sell.
Product Stats
This product is currently trending in the USA, Australia, and Canada. There is also a small demand in the UK and South Africa.
Before you sell this item, think of the best possible way to demonstrate it and shoot a video. It is not a good idea to spend so much money on ads for a product like this because the margins are low. The key here is to use one video and let it go viral.
The product looks like a nose trimmer, but it isn’t. It is an inhaler that has essential oil in it. It makes people feel refreshed.
Product Stats
The only downside for this product is its fluctuating demand. Although there are 662 million potential customers here, it typically peaks in April and May. As of the moment, only two dropshippers sell this item.
A car gap filler fills up the hole in the buckle belt area. This prevents stuff from falling to the floor, like coins and food crumbs.
Product Stats
The product sells mostly in the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia. This is good, as these are high-economy countries where people can pay more.
Based on Tradelle’s projections, there are over one billion people interested in this product. This does not mean that there are one billion people who have cars. It is merely a summary of the various audiences waiting for products like this. Like people interested in sedans, cars, car tuning, etc.
This product is what you use to fill in the gap between the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat. Most cars do not have organizers, so people must buy one.
Product Stats
This product costs only $19 but you can sell it for as much as $30. The trend fluctuates, and it is noticeable that it sells the most in June and July.
Based on data gathered by Tradelle, there is a huge interest in this product in the USA, the UK, and Australia.
You might think that this product is very niche. However, keep in mind that many people nowadays own a home gym. They need something like this to hold the gym equipment in place.
Product Stats
There is a big demand for this product in Australia, the US, and Canada. Checking AliExpress, there have only been 250 sales of the product, but that is because dropshippers do not sell it. What many do not realize is that this product is compatible with many gym sets.
Repairing car dents is expensive. There is a device that can help people repair themselves, and this is the car dent puller. There is no need to repaint the metal, and it takes only a few seconds to fix the damaged part.
Product Stats
The profit margin for this is only about $5. Despite that, you can sell thousands of these products if you reach the right market. Even those who have no car dents will buy it. They would think that it is a handy tool that is useful should they need it.
Pets can mess up the floor after a bath. A towel rub is not enough, so this pet drying brush is a handy solution.
Product Stats
Similar to the other products mentioned earlier, there is a demand for the pet drying brush in the US, Canada, and Australia.
Tradelle is both a supplier database and a supplier company. With this tool, you can:
Most dropship supplier tools will only show you where to find the supplier. You either need to contact the supplier or import the product through the tool.
What makes Tradelle different is that they are suppliers. Tradelle is not a manufacturer—they source products from all over the world, bring the products to their warehouse, and ship the items themselves.
The best benefit you get out of this is that Tradelle becomes your partner. Since they are the ones that pack and ship the items, they have a shared accountability with you. Because of this, you have an assurance that they will treat your dropshipping business as if it were theirs.
AppScenic is an e-commerce AI built for dropshipping. They began their operations like Spocket and other dropship supplier databases but eventually concentrated on automation and AI processes.
AppScenic does not only automate sales. The program will also update product details on its own, like product prices, stock volume, and others.
The one thing you will notice about AppScenic is the cost of the products. Many of these are expensive, especially those located in the USA. These products are likely made in the US, and that is why they are costly.
The AI tool is one thing you want to check. With this tool, you can write better product titles and descriptions. The AI can also give you recommendations on how you can boost your SEO, making your products searchable in Google.
Spocket is a product importation tool that integrates with several platforms. Over the years, they have also partnered with several expert dropshippers who can help you make our dropshipping store a success.
Like AppScenic, you can browse products to dropship based on the seller’s location. There is a filter function that allows you to do this.
This function helps a lot if you want to market a specific location only. If your supplier’s products are in the same country as the shipping destination, chances are that the shipping costs are cheaper, and the shipping speed is faster.
Spocket also has a Winning Products list. These are products that they curated based on performance in sales. You can use this list to get an idea of what products to dropship.
Printify is a print-on-demand platform where you can find products that have no design. You will upload the design and then import the product to your store.
Print-on-demand is a good dropshipping business idea. There are many products you can sell, and no one else sells this product but you. What this means is that you own your designs, and customers will never find them anywhere but your store.
This, of course, works if you are a graphic artist. If you do not know how to draw or make signs, you can always buy them from providers. Doing this is expensive, but there is a cheaper alternative. You can use AI to make designs. Many AI image-creator programs are free, like Midjourney.
All ideas start from you. You are the entrepreneur, so you have to think of the products you want to sell. Start with products that you are passionate about.
First, list down all the ideas you have and then check Amazon’s bestseller list.
You can find the best products to sell in a system or tool like Tradelle. This tool gives you actual sales figures. You will know if a product is a success or a failure.
You will only know if a product is profitable if you have access to sales data. Use Tradelle to see product capital, selling price, and profit margins.
Do not dropship any product unless you have done a feasibility study on it. Sign up for a free Tradelle account now! Do your research before you even order a product sample. This way, you do not lose money ordering and selling products that have little to no market.
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