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
Your dropshipping business name must be impactful. It has to be easy to remember, as it is the only way you can build a brand. The ultimate question, of course, is, how do you even come up with a cool and catchy dropshipping business name?
It all begins with understanding who your business represents and who your target market is. In this article, you will learn all the tricks of the trade in creating a dropshipping business name that resonates with the people.
Get your pen and paper ready. As you go along, you must write down some ideas that will get you started in creating your ultimate dropshipping business name
Your dropshipping business name stands for what your company or business represents. It is your brand—the very thing that the consumers will remember and associate with a feeling or emotion.
Here are some reasons why you need to pay attention to your dropshipping business name:
Your brand name is the foundation of how people see you. You have to choose carefully, as a brand name is difficult to change later on.
Business names must be easy to remember and spell. Just imagine if your business name is “Onomatopoeia Shirts.” Do you think most people would remember that?
While the name sounds novel and unique, it will not resonate with people. The harder it is to spell and pronounce, the more likely you are to turn your consumers away.
Here are some more reasons why a dropshipping business name must be easy to spell:
In our example earlier, the name “Onomatopoeia” sounds cool and intelligent, but it is hard to understand. While a person may search for what it means, it is the kind of word whose meaning people will eventually forget.
And if they do forget, they are not likely to share the business with their friend. In addition, a name like that makes people exert more effort than they need to. In the consumer world, the less effort, the better it is for the business.
What do these things have in common?
They are all short and simple. Even if some of them are not real words, they are easy to remember. Your dropshipping name must be the same.
It can take a while to think of a good business name that will also serve as your brand name, but it is worth all the effort.
Short and simple business names are not just easy to remember. They are also catchy and unique. The main benefit is that your business name has a good recall.
The name you are looking for has to be snappy. Ideally, your brand name should not exceed more than four syllables. As you can see from the examples above, none of them have more than three syllables.
The challenge here is that the domain name for most short words has already been taken. They are also expensive. For example, if the business name you want for a cat or pet dropshipping store is “Catify,” you can see from the screenshot below that it is already owned by somebody.
In addition, you must make an offer for it for at least $199. This price is not a guarantee that you will get it. If the owner wants a higher price, you will have no other choice but to use another domain name.
Here are some more domains with the name “Catify” in them. However, they are not .COM domains. To help you solve this issue, you must move on to the next tip.
When planning for a business name, it is strongly suggested that you list down as many as you can. You must create at least 20 names.
Here are some reasons why you must do this:
The domain name availability is another consideration. As shown earlier, catchy business names are not likely to be available. If they are, they would be very expensive.
There is also the possibility that you’ll change your mind as far as the dropshipping niche goes. For example, you may be thinking of dropshipping cat products for now. In a matter of days or weeks, you may realize that this market is too limiting.
Because of this, you will want to expand your product lines to include dog pet products. But what if you already bought the “Catify” business name?
Listing as many business names as you can is a good practice. Once you begin this exercise, you must also take into account the possibility of expanding your niche. This way, you can choose the best brand name that can represent your business even if you change niches or expand.
Brand voice refers to personality. This voice is what people connect to. It makes your consumers identify with you.
The best example you can look into is Dollar Shave Club. It is a personal grooming subscription service for men. The brand was catapulted into the limelight because of its quirky ad.
They have been in business for over a decade. To understand their voice, you must go to YouTube and just type Dollar Shave Club. Watch their videos and you will have a good idea of what brand voice means.
Here are some examples of brand voices:
There are many brand voices—all of them are reflections of human emotions and intellect. List a few of them and imagine how your dropshipping business will appear if you use that voice. Then, once you have selected a final voice, make sure that everything you do is consistent with that voice.
What will people think after seeing your business name? Will they immediately know what the business stands for?
While some brand names do not really focus on the “purpose” too much, you must think of how consumers will react—will they find your name offensive, catchy, annoying, or endearing?
Here are some successful dropshipping brands and what they do:
All these brands began their journey as dropshippers. As they progressed, they eventually became known brands, working with manufacturers and suppliers from different parts of the world.
As you may have observed, most of these have something in their names that immediately tells a person what their business is about. The only exception here is Subtle Asian Treats. One would think that they sell candies, but then they actually sell plushies.
Please pay particular attention to Indestructible Shoes. This brand name is a prime example of how you must name your business. The name itself tells the consumer that the product is shoes, and not just a pair of shoes, but a really tough one—so tough that it is indestructible.
Creativity has no bounds. Sadly, it can go overboard sometimes. Here are some of the worst business names:
This is not to say that your business will not succeed. It can.
However, make sure your creativity matches the dropshipping products you offer.
What you need to avoid are names that do not make sense. There are many ways to put letters together, and they may sound cute to you but meaningless to other people.
Your dropshipping business name must be catchy, provocative, and, to some extent, humorous. Of course, you can do that if you want to sound funny. Or, you can opt for a serious name that entails “you mean business.”
It would make sense to consult your friends and family for feedback. This should give you an idea of whether or not your creativity is overreaching.
Although you are a small business, you are not absolved from trademark infringement. Your business name must not use anything that other businesses already use.
Here are some examples:
Even if you dropship real Nike shoes (there are suppliers out there that can let you do this), you do not have the right to use Nike’s name.
You may be thinking that you can get away with it because, after all, you are dropshipping branded goods. The brand owners may take a long while before finding out, but if they do, you will surely receive a cease-and-desist letter from their lawyers.
It is not only the brand owners that you should worry about but also your customers. Business names that carry a known brand name sound fishy—they reek of scams and can push consumers away.
The only thing you must do is create a unique business. This can take some time, and you may find yourself struggling to make the creative juices flow. If so, you can always use name generators, which will be covered later on.
Similar to the previous point, do not use a business name that associates you with known brands. Not because of trademark infringement but because you are labeling your store as something exclusive.
Surely, you do not want to sell items from only one brand. One day, your dropshipping business will grow and there is going to be a need to expand.
Instead of using known names as your business name, do the following things:
For the first bullet, an example would be Adidas. This name came from the names Adi (short for Adolf), and Dassler. These are the names of the two founders.
For the third bullet, a good example is to use statements like “Dealer of Nike, Adidas, and other branded sporting goods.” Use that sentence as your meta-description, and people will immediately see that in Google search page results, right under the link to your dropshipping store.
Finally, do not use dropshipping business names that can be limiting. Here are some examples:
Names like these do not give you a lot of room for expansion. Once people associate your name with a particular product, it would be difficult to build credibility for other products.
How so? If your business name is Karen’s Blenders, people would think that your specialization is just blenders. What if you now want to sell coffee brewers and food processors? It would have been better if the business was named Karen’s Kitchen Gadgets.
There are so many tools you can use to generate business names. Most are free and some are paid. Never use a paid program to do this. The free ones should suffice.
The top three options are:
When using both ChatGPT and Google Gemini, take the time to write prompts that tell the AI what your business is about. It is also highly recommended that you tell the AI some words that describe your business character.
Here is an example:
If you are unsatisfied, you can add more prompts or instructions to the tool and let it generate a new set of names.
Shopify looks like this:
Since the tool also uses artificial intelligence, the prompting method is the same. After typing your prompt in the purple box, click on the arrow and wait for the results.
The next step is to list down or copy the ones that you like and then check if these names have already been taken.
The first one is Tiny Tots Treasures, and if you check that on Google, you will see this:
The name is already taken, so you have to keep doing this for the names you like until you find a name that is not yet in use. Take the liberty to edit the names to your liking. Doing that will increase the likelihood that the business name you want is available.
Once you have selected a final name, check if the domain name is still available. You can buy domain names from Shopify or other domain name registrants like Namecheap or GoDaddy.
A dropshipping brand name is what you need to worry about. As far as official business names go, they do not matter. What is the difference?
A business name is one that you use in all documents, transactions, etc. For example, the official business name of Disney is The Walt Disney Company. The brand name, the one we see in the logos and all merchandise, is just Disney.
Another example is FedEx. The official business name of the company is FedEx Corporation, not just FedEx.
To clarify:
Your business name is of no significance to your brand and your consumer. It is how the government identifies you as an entity. When naming your dropshipping store, put all your effort into your brand name because this is what the public will see.
Your brand name is the very thing you will print on your packing boxes. It is the name you will use in your marketing campaigns, your domain name, and your store banners.
There are a few things you must do before you make a decision. First of all, you need to consider your niche and your potential to expand.
If you dropship baking products, should you settle for a name like “So Good Baking” or “Baker’s Galore”? Your skills and knowledge will dictate how you will name your dropshipping store. In the future, you may probably expand your business into kitchen products, not just baking.
In this case, you may probably name your store “Everyone’s Kitchen” or something like that. Should you change your mind, your dropshipping business name will still be a reflection of what you sell.
Another thing you have to consider is legality. If someone is already using the name, avoid it at all costs. It does not matter if you are not in the US. There are international laws that govern trademarks and copyrights.
Relatability is also a consideration. While it is easy to create business names, will the name represent your goods? How do you think people will react to it? More importantly, is the name easy to remember, and is it shareable?
Uniqueness is also important. Most brand names are unique, and yours must also have this characteristic. It is not that high of a priority unless you are really focused on creating a brand. Most of the time, this uniqueness is only absolutely necessary if you do private-label or white-label dropshipping.
Once you have finalized your dropshipping business name, it is time to design your dropshipping store. You can do this yourself, but you will face new challenges.
One of the many reasons why people fail in dropshipping is their store design. They slap together some images and texts and then call it a day. The big issue is that their store looks unprofessional, and although they may get site traffic, they do not make a sale.
You need to consider working with the pros to get your store done. If you do not know it yet, Tradelle can do this for you at an unbelievable price of $49.
For that amount, here are the things you get:
The store you get is also mobile-optimized, which means it will work well on phones and tablets. In addition, you also get bonuses such as:
Finally, your store will not look empty. Tradelle will pack it with content—not so much that it becomes difficult to use, but just enough to make it enticing for customers.
All you have to pay is $49. There are no hidden fees in this offer. If you do not like it, you can ask for a refund within 30 days—no questions asked!
Pick a dropshipping name that is catchy. It has to tell people what your brand is about.
Use business name generators to help you create business names.
Shopify names are automatically created. If you want to change your Shopify name or URL, you must buy a domain name and point your Shopify DNS servers to it.
Yes, you can dropship brand names if you want. There are dealers of branded goods out there that work with dropshippers.
The ideal way to start with business names is to list down your company’s characteristics and target market or audience. Of course, you must also list down your product types or niche. Once done, you can go to ChatGPT or Google Gemini and use all these words in your prompt.
Do not forget to check if the name is already used by others. If it is, do not be discouraged. Try your best to tweak the names to your liking until you find one that is available.
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