How to Start a Dropshipping Business in 2022

Dropshipping is a contemporary and innovative business model. It is for anyone who wants to start their own business without having to stress over inventory and shipping. This business model is for those entrepreneurs looking for a successful step into the eCommerce world. It’s an easy transition, without having to invest as much as one would in a large stock and sales business. This method is becoming a popular solution for many who are searching for great success in the booming eCommerce industry. It consists of relatively simple retail strategies for anyone to create their own online store.

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What You’re About to Learn

In this article, we will have a look at the challenges of starting a dropshipping business and how long it takes to kick it off. We will also develop an understanding of how a beginner can start a dropshipping eCommerce website with our simple steps. Finally, we will have a look at some of the most successful entrepreneurs in dropshipping. Then we’re sure you’ll get an understanding of why it’s worth it to consider starting your very own dropshipping website in 2022.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Is it Hard to Start a Dropshipping Business?

One of the most popular questions when it comes to dropshipping is: ‘is it hard to start a dropshipping business?’ The answer to that is a relatively simple one. Our team of experts’ answer to that is no, it is not difficult to start a dropshipping business. However, what we really should be asking is, ‘is it hard to create a successful dropshipping business?’ That’s really what we all want to know, is it not?

When Did Dropshipping Actually Begin?

The truth is, that dropshipping has been around for hundreds of years. It didn’t start with the digital age as many of us would have thought. Mail orders from catalogs and television ads have been successful since the 1950s actually. Furthermore, they did really well in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. Fulfillment warehouses were then created so that those shops that were offering mail orders, would be able to keep their shelves full in their shops. These fulfillment centers also made it easier to deliver the items quickly and efficiently.

So, What Changed?

Years later, the market and the internet began to develop, and by 2004 Shopify launched their platform. By this time dropshipping was no longer just for large retail businesses, but opened itself up to just about anyone with a computer. Then, in 2015, Oberlo, a Shopify app, made it possible for entrepreneurs to create their own Shopify dropshipping websites. They didn’t only make it possible, but they also made it easy and simple.

A Major Advantage of Dropshipping

So, is it hard to start a dropshipping business in 2022 and beyond? No, we think not. Not only is it easy to begin your own dropshipping business, but you can also start selling quickly. You also won’t need to invest as much as you would for starting a new brick-and-mortar shop. With dropshipping, you’ll only need to purchase the products as soon as a customer does. This way you’re not putting down a large sum for stock and paying for storage. Can you just take a moment to imagine just how much you’ll be saving? Now let’s have a look at how long it takes to launch a dropshipping business now that we’re excited to make some business.

How Long Does it Take to Start a Dropshipping Business?

Did you know that dropshipping is so simple at this stage? You can even start your dropshipping business from home if you’d like! Whether you’re choosing to go for a Shopify eCommerce design or WooCommerce dropshipping website, you’ll be able to start ranking up those sales rather quickly. That’s because designing your own dropshipping website is easy to build, flexible, and can be quite inexpensive. Even if you have no former experience in eCommerce, sales, or website design, you still shouldn’t have much trouble getting things rolling.

How to Start Dropshipping in 3 Weeks’ Time:

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It’s Time to Brainstorm

You’ll want to spend your first day or two, putting in some hours to explore what it is exactly you want to sell. Now’s the time to establish your market and your niche. At this point, it’s just you and that list. Get to know your price point, your demographic, and your competition, as you develop your list. You can really choose just about any niche, item, or group of products, and this can be quite overwhelming. What we would suggest is heading over to your favorite shops, supermarkets, and websites to have a look around.

Best places to look:

Check out Amazon and AliExpress for what sells, and what people are saying about those items. You can draw up your list on either what you feel these locations are lacking, or what seems to be doing really well. Put together a list of the products that seem indispensable to you and, what you would imagine, to a majority of consumers. By the end of this step, you should have at least 25 options to choose from, before moving on to the next step.

Research, Research, Research

Next up, you’ll need to put in a lot of hours doing comprehensive research on any products or niche you’ve selected and written down on your list. At this point, you should be putting in anywhere from 5-8 hours for the next 2-3 days researching the demand, suppliers, and competition for each niche on your list. This part is essential for understanding how well your dropshipping business will do both initially and long term. Once you’ve done some real thorough research, you’re ready to start crossing some ideas off your list. By the end of this step, you should have narrowed it down to a maximum of three remaining options.

Where to begin your research?

Start by doing your research on popular market places such as Amazon, Walmart, and eBay. Then look into how much competition there is for your niche. If it is too much, you’ll probably want to select something else. When it is too little, you may need to spend some time making sure this is the right choice. There is little to no competition, either you’re way ahead of the trends, or there isn’t much profit in that niche.

Designing and Building your Website

When it comes to designing and building your store you’re going to need anywhere from 5-7 days. This should take up a good chunk of your time. Creating the right design and flow for your online eCommerce shop is as important as your excellent niche selection. Depending on how much experience and skill you have when it comes to developing and designing your store, you’re either going to go for building your WooCommerce website design, or Shopify eCommerce website design. Many platforms like Shopify offer simple, easy-to-follow steps for building a website for beginners.

A friendly word of warning…

However, you’ll need to do a little more research to really make sure you design your store professionally, without any issues. More than 500,000 websites are created globally every day, so you’ll want to be one that not only stands out from the crowd but runs efficiently without any delays.

Getting Approval

Once your website is up and running you are then going to have to reach out to suppliers. No supplier is going to take you seriously if you don’t already have a store. This is why you have to build the website first. Furthermore, if they are impressed with your website, then you are more likely to earn the trust of the suppliers you’re interested in working with. When you reach out to them you should explain who you are. Then tell them why you want to sell their products and what you know about their company. This step will take a few days. Apply to a number of suppliers until you have the number of suppliers needed to start selling without delay.

Set Up Your Store for Active Selling

Here is when you start uploading the products from the suppliers which you’ll be selling. Every page at this point should be ready for viewing by your consumers. Your website shouldn’t have any flaws or mistakes on both the mobile and desktop versions of your shop. Once you’re ready to sell, you can set up Google Analytics to understand how you’re selling and where you can improve. Most businesses at this point will invest in Google Ads, and Facebook ads to increase visibility, but we’ll get more into that later on.

Hint: Most successful Dropshipping entrepreneurs claim their businesses couldn’t have been where they are today without Facebook ads.

How a Beginner Can Start Dropshipping

In the previous section, you’ve learned the basics for setting yourself up for drop shipping success. Now we are going to delve a little deeper into some business tactics all beginners should implement.

Pick Your Platform

After you’ve established your niche and know what it is you want to sell, you’re going to have to decide which platform you want to build your website on. If you want an open-source website, you’d go for a platform like Magento website design. However, if you want something more simple and straightforward you may go for Shopify website design for your eCommerce business. There’s certainly a reason why Shopify in the last two years has grown by 201.53%! You can sign up with Shopify for as low as $29 a month and start your dropshipping business from there.

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Set Up Shop

Once you sign up for your platform of choice you’ll have a dashboard that will provide you with analytics, orders, sales, and all things related to your shop. Most platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce will have the settings laid out for you already. You’ll want to look into the tabs that show you how customers can make payments, and any other settings you want to control.

Your Theme

There will be several free and premium themes to choose from. Some platforms have more than others. Your theme is how you stand out from your competitors. It should align with your brand and your niche. Customize your store with your desired theme, colors, images, logo, and layout.

Product Categories

At this stage, you’ll create collections for your products so that they are easy to manage. Depending on what you’re selling, it’s best if you create separate collections for varying products. For instance, if you’re selling home appliances, you’ll want a Kitchen Category, a Bathroom Category, and so forth.

Your Domain Name

You won’t need a domain name to start selling, but it will look more professional if you do. Without a domain name, customers may be turned off from purchasing items from your shop. It may appear cheap and unprofessional when your shop has a shopname.shopify.com. Again, it’s not necessary, but comes highly recommended.

Upload Products to Your Store

AliExpress is one way popular you’ll be able to add products to your eCommerce shop. They provide retail products at a wholesale price, which is something all of us dropshippers are interested in. If you’ve decided to go with Shopify as your online platform, then we recommend downloading the Oberlo app. Oberlo will help you quickly upload products to your site with the descriptions and tags necessary for selling.

Shipping and Shopping Cart

You can either include shipping costs in your price and offer free shipping, or set up a flat rate for your products. It’s also important to make sure your customers can seamlessly move to their shopping cart and check out easily. If not you’ll lose out on an incredible amount of sales. You’ll have to set up shipping and your customer’s shopping cart before you’re ready to launch your dropshipping business.

Promote Your Brand

Promote your brand through your social media pages, newsletters, and by generating blogs each week. You may also want to pay for ads at the beginning like Google and Facebook Ads until you’ve created more brand awareness. This will also help you get a feel for what is selling, what is being viewed but not selling, and what customers aren’t interested in buying. Do not underestimate the power of social media my friend.

Who are the Most Successful Dropshippers?

Irwin Dominguez

Irwin Dominguez earned over $ 1 million dollars in less than a year with his dropshipping business. Dominguez started his dropshipping business without much experience in the dropshipping world. He used Shopify and Oberloo to start his site and relied on Facebook ads to spread the word. Though Facebook ads can get quite pricey, he used this technique to jump-start his business until he was able to lay off the ads’ expense.

Aloysius Chay and Galvin Bay

These two started earning $60k a day within their first year of launching their dropshipping business. They didn’t settle on one niche but started selling different products like jewelry and observed how they sold on the market. They were able to carefully craft their dropshipping products to make sure they were left with products that sold and not ones that weren’t getting much headway. Chay and Bay recommend adding new products as you go. This way you can always stay on top of the game and sell more each year.

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Is Dropshipping Worth it in 2022?

Believe it or not, Dropshipping businesses are becoming more and more popular. It’s estimated that the dropshipping industry in 2025 will reach $557.9 billion. If you want to be a part of those numbers, then yes, we definitely believe it’s worth it to start your own dropshipping business this year. We know some entrepreneurs who earn over $32k a month, and others who earn 5 figures in one day!

Takeaway:

Will this year be your year to finally earn the income of your dreams? As the famous quote goes, ‘if not now, then when?’ If you’re interested in starting your own successful dropshipping business, then reach out to us. You’ll be rewarded with a team of experts in the field who have mastered the strategies of running a successful website from both the front and backend.

If you have any questions about how to launch your eCommerce dropshipping business, we’re here to help, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day! Give us a call, will you?