How to succeed in dropshipping: Tips and examples

Dropshipping is alive and kicking! The growth of e-commerce sales, which grew by 44% in 2020, tells us so. This means that the golden age of e-commerce entrepreneurs is beginning.

But in practice, using the dropshipping model is not so easy . Many aspiring entrepreneurs think that they just need to add products to their online store, and customers will come and buy them.

Dropshipping without a proper business plan can play a cruel joke on you. It’s like shouting in an empty room where no one can hear you. Anyone who has decided to do dropshipping knows this feeling. Yes, this is the part of the business development that most entrepreneurs want to get through as quickly as possible.

Luckily, there are easy and affordable ways to successfully create a dropshipping business, and this guide will give you the essential tips on the topic. Read on to learn from top dropshipping experts what real success is and how to achieve it.

What is the average success rate in dropshipping?

Leading dropshippers from around the world estimate that between 10% and 20% of dropshippers succeed. But success is determined only by the owner, that is, you.

If success to you means making $1 million a year with your dropshipping store, then it may take you a long time to become "successful." If success to you means making six figures (there are plenty of dropshippers making $100,000 a year), then you just need to find good dropshipping suppliers and build your brand.

The online dropshipping business model is often seen as a get rich quick scheme. But in reality, it is not. To succeed in dropshipping, you will have to put in a lot of effort and time to make your business profitable.

Examples of successful dropshipping business

The dropshipping business itself is very competitive, especially at the beginning. Dropshippers are constantly coming up with new and innovative ways to stay ahead and be better than their competitors. So what do they do that is so special to achieve their goals?

Let's take a look at some of the best Shopify store owners who are using the dropshipping model for their business.

Tze Hing Chan: $19,000 in profit in two months

The first example is Malaysian entrepreneur Tze Hing Chan, who runs a dropshipping store called Subtle Asian Treats on the Shopify platform. The store sells plush toys, tea, and other cute handmade goods. Started during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tze made $19,000 in profit in just two months of dropshipping plush toys and bubble tea.

But he didn't immediately start with dropshipping and make a ton of money. There were many failures and lessons along the way. Jie first started selling phone cases, then moved on to kitchenware and martial arts supplies. And only then did he find his perfect profitable niche - plush toys.

What lessons can be learned from this example:

• You need to choose a niche that is in demand for dropshipping. Jie knew that bubble tea was trending in Asian countries, so he searched AliExpress for products related to this tea. He started selling bubble tea-themed phone cases - they were fun to make and sell, but unfortunately, it did not bring in good profits.
• Create a professional store. Jie took care of his store. He edited every product photo and wrote a compelling product description. He accurately conveyed the appearance of the product and gave customers the atmosphere that can be felt in stores like Nike and Adidas .
• Communicate with your customers. Tse made the terms and conditions transparent so that the shopping experience was stress-free for customers. On his product pages, he listed shipping times and the country of origin so that customers had the right expectations. He also spent time communicating with his Facebook and Instagram followers, while also interacting with popular people’s pages and blogs. He ensured that his customer service responded as quickly as possible so that customers did not feel like they were dealing with a scam site.

There's a lot to learn from Tze's experience as a dropshipper. Learn more by reading "Luck and Learning from Failure Helped This Entrepreneur Make $100K From Plush Toys and Bubble Tea".

Cole Turner: Almost $2 million per year

When Cole Turner learned about dropshipping at the age of 18, he became obsessed with learning how to sell online. Within four years, the young entrepreneur had built an e-commerce store that earned more than $2 million between March 2019 and May 2020.

Cole initially created a standard dropshipping store to test out different products. Eventually, he found a piece of jewelry that caught the attention of customers. Turner quickly scaled up his Facebook ads and redesigned his store to become a "single-item store". The store made him over $75,000 before he sold it to another e-commerce entrepreneur.

After just his third dropshipping store, he generated over $2.1 million in sales in just over a year.

What lessons can be learned from this example:

• Scale up your Facebook ads. Cole typically uses Facebook ads as his primary sales channel. He starts by choosing two different groups interested in a product and then targets them with ads. He then collects analytics data to see which group the ads worked best for and increases his budget.
• Create a long-lasting brand. Unique selling propositions and your own brand are the only sure way for a store to be competitive today. Even if you deliver from AliExpress, you must maintain your brand and present yourself as a legitimate business. People must trust you.
  "If you want your site to look elegant and sleek and you want to sell real fine jewellery, just spend a little bit more time at the beginning to make it look aesthetically pleasing. People are very aware these days of what a cheap dropshipping store from China is and what a real store is," comments Col Turner.
• Provide good customer service. One way to build trust with customers is through good customer support. Cole always provides a phone number that customers can call or text with problems or questions, as well as a time to reach customer service. During business hours, all inquiries are answered within 30 minutes of receipt. This approach makes customers feel heard and valued.

Find out more by reading Meet the College Student Who's Trying to Graduate College While Building a Million Dollar Empire.

Andreas Koenig and Alexander Pechka: $10 million per year

When Andreas Koenig and Alexander Pechka first started dropshipping, their goal was to reach $1,000 a day in turnover. After a long year of trying, failing, and having no money, they found their niche in the pet industry and started making $500,000 a month in 2019.

Today, Andreas and Alexander's business in the pet products niche brings in more than $10 million a year.

What lessons can be learned from this example:

• Identify a niche based on people's emotional connections, such as pets or children.
• Andreas and Alexander's first attempts to make money failed due to their lack of experience in advertising and marketing. So learn Facebook advertising and organic marketing tactics.
• Remember that dropshipping is a real business that you invest time and energy into. It's not just about creating a website and selling random stuff online.
• You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Find out what works in your niche, make a better version, and become a market leader.
• Establish good relationships with your suppliers because they are critical to running a successful dropshipping business.
• Don't expect to make tons of money right away. But never give up either.

Learn more by reading How to Make $10 Million in One Year with Dropshipping.

Sarah and Audrey: $1 Million in Revenue Thanks to the Right Marketing

Sarah and Audrey are two French e-commerce entrepreneurs who were recently featured on Oberlo . They are two women, 25 and 26 years old. They started their dropshipping businesses separately and decided to join forces in 2019.

A common sales channel for successful dropshipping is Facebook advertising, but these two women saw the potential in influencer marketing that proved profitable in the long run.

Sarah and Audrey met at an entrepreneur event and have been working hard to get their brand out there in the US, working with Instagram agents and advertising their products.

This female duo found huge success when many stores in the US were closed due to the pandemic. Their business brought in over $1 million in just a few weeks thanks to dropshipping.

What lessons can be learned from this example:

• Create a beautiful website that attracts attention and interests your target audience.
• Work with a large number of influencers. Sarah and Audrey sent up to 200 emails a day to find the perfect candidate.
• Use Instagram Stories to post and promote your product.
• Establish direct, long-term partnerships with your marketing agents.

Find out more by reading How Two French Entrepreneurs Use Influencer Marketing to Build an Empire.

How to become a successful dropshipper?

So, are you ready to become an e-commerce entrepreneur yourself? Here are six key elements you must master to become a successful dropshipper.

1. Interesting presentation of the product

Having a clear plan for how you can add value to your customers is the single most important factor for success. This is essential for any business, but it is even more important in the world of dropshipping, where you will be competing with legions of other stores offering similar products.

At first glance, dropshipping may seem like you're just selling products to customers. But successful entrepreneurs understand that they're not just selling products - they're selling knowledge, information, and solutions. Even if you think of yourself as an e-commerce seller, you're also running an information business.

How are you going to add value to your products and help solve your customers’ problems? If you’re not sure, spend some time reading the dropshipping niches article to find the best ones. If after reading this you still have trouble answering this question, you might want to consider choosing a different market.

If you can’t offer a compelling product through quality information and recommendations, the only thing you have left to compete with is price. While this strategy has been successful for Walmart , it’s unlikely to help you build a successful dropshipping business in the long run.

2. Spend time on quality marketing and SEO

Second on the list as a key success factor is the ability to drive traffic to your new website. The #1 problem and frustration new eCommerce sellers face is the lack of traffic to their sites. Too many new business owners spend months creating the perfect site and then launch it into a world that doesn’t even know it exists.

Marketing and traffic generation are essential to the success of your business. These are difficult jobs to outsource, especially if you have a small budget and are bootstrapping. You must take the initiative to acquire your own SEO, marketing, audience generation, and guest posting skills.

This is especially important in the early days, when no one knows about you. Once you launch your site, you need to dedicate at least 75% of your time to marketing, SEO, and traffic generation for four to six months - that's right, a minimum of four to six months! Once you have a solid marketing foundation, you can scale back and take a break from all the work you've done. But in the early days, you need to dedicate the majority of your time and attention to marketing.

If you're not yet an expert in marketing or SEO, the following resources and blogs can help you get started:

Useful information on SEO

• Moz: One of the most popular SEO communities on the Internet, and their beginner's guide is an especially good resource for those who are completely new to SEO.
• Seach Engine Land: A useful SEO information blog with dozens of new posts daily.
• SEOBook. Popular SEO blog and paid private community for SEO professionals.
• Brainlabs: This is a marketing and SEO agency with a top-notch blog and a number of high-quality training courses and tutorials. Many of them are available for free.

Useful information about marketing

• HubSpot Blog: Advice on everything marketing, from driving traffic with email to social media tips.
• Seth Godin's Blog: Highly reliable marketing and audience building tips.
• Copyblogger. Content marketing tips with an emphasis on effective and persuasive copywriting.
• Mixergy. Interviews with successful entrepreneurs in tech and online businesses. There is a lot of useful information here that is not only related to marketing. You will learn the best strategies for aspiring entrepreneurs, including marketing tips.

Useful Information About E-Commerce Marketing

• Shopify Blog. A comprehensive e-commerce blog that contains articles on how to effectively market and advertise your online store.
• EcommerceFuel. Advice from an active e-commerce entrepreneur. Here you will learn how to create, develop and promote an online store. Aimed specifically at sole proprietors and small shops.

3. Focus on the chosen niche

Almost all successful dropshipping stores have one thing in common: they specialize in a specific product or niche . The more a store focuses on specialization, the more successful it becomes.

For example, you don't want to just sell backpacks. You want to sell backpacks designed for world travelers who are obsessed with lightweight gear. Or you don't want to just sell security camera equipment, but rather focus on gas station security systems.

Many people think that narrowing your focus will limit your potential customer base and reduce your sales. In fact, it’s the opposite. Specialization allows you to communicate with customers more effectively, stand out from the competition, and compete in a narrower field. Narrow specialization has never been a hindrance to successful dropshipping.

If you are opening a store in a new niche, you probably don’t know which customer segment to target, and that’s okay. But as you gain experience working with customers, you should be able to identify the segment that is most profitable and brings the most value. Once you have identified it, try positioning your business to focus solely on the needs and problems of potential customers , rather than the entire audience. You will be surprised at how quickly your sales increase, even if you set a high price.

Note: If everyone is your customer, then no one is your customer. Narrow specialization makes it easier to choose products, allows you to set a higher price, and more effectively distribute your marketing efforts.

More information on the topic: "Best Dropshipping Products to Sell in 2023" .

4. Create a business with a long-term perspective

Starting a dropshipping business is like starting any other business: it requires a significant amount of time and money invested over a long period of time. But most people somehow believe that they can earn a passive six-figure income through dropshipping after just a few months of working part-time. This is not true at all.

It will take at least a year to create a business that will bring in average income daily.

It’s also important to understand that the first few months are the hardest. You’ll struggle with doubts, face design challenges, and most likely, the launch won’t bring any results. Understand that this is normal. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a successful dropshipping business.

If you mentally prepare yourself for a tough start and don't expect to get rich overnight, you'll have a much better chance of keeping your business going until it becomes successful.

5. Offer quality service

The internet has always been a pretty safe place, but the recent rise of social media can now give your business a good reputation. And that's critical to online success. If you treat your customers poorly, you can be sure they'll tell the world, including many potential customers.

The biggest risk for dropshipping sellers is customer service. There are also additional costs that can arise if there are problems processing orders. As mentioned in the Amazon dropshipping guide, it is important to accept that there will be some problems. Sometimes you will have to spend money to fix the problems that arise, but you should not try to pass these problems on to your customers. If you are not willing to give up a percentage of the profit on some orders to make your customers happier, then you are probably not providing very good service.

Happy customers are the best form of marketing. As with all other areas of business, it is much easier to make a sale to a satisfied customer than to try to convince a new potential customer to buy. If you provide excellent customer service to your customers, they will talk about your store and refer others to you. With excellent service, you can build a business where the majority of your income comes from repeat customers.

Providing quality customer service is the key to making your dropshipping business successful, so make sure it's a priority from the start.

6. Don't get hung up on the little things

Don't get hung up on the details. Your company name, logo, or website theme (template) do not determine your success.

What makes a successful dropshipping business is the things we just talked about: interesting product presentation, marketing, excellent customer service, a narrow focus, and a long-term perspective. However, newbies to the business will spend weeks, sometimes months, trying to make the right decision when choosing between two website templates or the right suppliers. This is valuable time that could be better spent developing the core aspects of the business.

Study the information thoroughly and make an informed decision, do not let small details distract you and waste your time.

The Most Important Step to Successful Dropshipping

The most important step – the one most people never take – is to start building your e-commerce business. This is the hardest thing for many, usually due to fear and insecurity.

It is a common misconception that successful entrepreneurs have absolute confidence in their business from the start. If you dig a little deeper, you will find that most of them had fears and doubts about how things would turn out. And yet, despite these doubts, they forged ahead.

If you are serious about building your own dropshipping business, you need to do the same. Do your research, assess your capabilities, and then move forward despite all your fears and doubts. This is what real successful entrepreneurs do. Start now!