How to Find Dropshipping Products that Sell Like Crazy
Dropshipping is a double-edged sword; it comes with both pros and cons. The biggest upside is it allows starting an eCommerce store without any in-house inventory with the help from dropshipping suppliers.
Hence, you need not invest a fortune as your venture capital and you get the freedom to experiment with different products, too.
While on the other side as a con of dropshipping, you can’t have much control over the overall fulfillment process and quality of the products you sell.
Although it’s comprehensible, considering suppliers ship orders directly to your customers and save you the overhead of storage and logistics, product quality control is still a decisive factor of success in eCommerce.
It indeed is a fact that the dropshipping model does not limit you from trying out different products, but you don’t have all the time in the world to do this.
Since you would be selling third-party products under your own brand, you can risk hurting it with poor-quality products.
It would be in your interest to come up with viable product ideas in the early days of your business itself.
Of course, you don’t have to worry about unsold inventories, but being a little aware of the trends and useful product ideas won’t hurt either.
On this node, let’s find what to sell online for your venture and ensure you make a positive impression in your first attempt itself.
How you can find the best dropshipping products that sell well?
In short, it depends. For example, you might want to know if printed t-shirts sell better than women’s accessories.
The answer to this question is relative to the fact that both belong to two different niches.
While it is possible that both kinds of products are a bestseller in their respective segments, you can’t ignore certain aspects that are strictly applicable to the dropshipping model and products you sell under the same.
Sometimes, you might also come across the products that do not belong in your niche, but they show a promising demand.
1) Find a trending product and apply some USPs to it
Trending products are not easy to sell because of the competition from N numbers of small as well as giant retailers.
For example, you may analyze the bestsellers on popular marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.
However, since these products are popular on the big sites, you would face a ruthless competition to drive some customers from there to your site.
It may force you to sell the same items on a negligible margin. Trust me you don’t want to beat the competition like this.
Instead, you should try to make the same popular products unique to your store in some ways.
You may apply some competitive edge based on price, availability, variations, or delivery speed of the product.
For example, if printed t-shirts are trending on Amazon, you may add some USP in your printed t-shirts by using some unique prints, colors, or t-shirt designs.
2) Find unique products from micro-focused niches
If you can’t find a popular product that you can cover with your USPs, then just flip the coin to the about side.
Go for not so popular products, but within a micro-focused niche.
If done right, you can establish yourself as a preferred destination for specific products that are not very popular among the common audience but in great demand among some.
Such products might look like not-so-much-in-demand among a greater section, but they are highly sought after by the consumers in their segments. Hence, there is less competition.
For example, bulletproof vests, hiking equipment, diving gears, biking gears, etc.
Not everyone will want them, but for those you need them, they are non-negotiable and people pay very well to acquire them.
Be advised that conversions will depend strictly on your marketing and brand identity.
First, you must let your target customers know about the products you are selling.
Secondly, you have to establish your brand identity as a reliable destination to procure the products in the niche.
3) Find the right balance between price point and profit margin
The price point is associated with the category of the products that you sell. Be advised that it is easy to fall prey to the false positives of the correlation between price point and profit margin.
For example, let’s say that you are selling enamel pins at $1/pin. After paying off for all the overheads in shipping, storage, and taxes, you get 50 cents/pin.
Here, the income seems to be quite high with a 50% margin, but the actual price point of your sale per-product is just 50 cents, which is not an ideal income to become rich as an eCommerce entrepreneur.
The irony is you can’t even sell a product like this for a high price point, irrespective of the demand.
That’s why it’s crucial to find the right balance between price point and profit margin when you are picking a product to dropship.
Be advised that too expensive products are also not ideal. It’s best to go for a niche where you can sell the products for an ideal price point and yet secure a margin of not less than 30%.
If you are not able to make even a 30% profit on your products, consider re-considering it.
4) Analyze if you can trust your supplier for quality and supply chain
Since dropshipping works purely on a seamless supply chain and there is limited control on the quality of the products, it’s crucial to find a reliable supplier whom you can trust for both.
It’s crucial to know how to find a reliable dropshipping supplier. You must understand everything about the industry’s distribution channel:
» Avoid suppliers who ask for an extra monthly subscription fee
» Avoid suppliers who ask for any kind of advance payment
» Avoid suppliers who are also functioning as retailers
» Avoid suppliers who ask for minimum order sizes
» Prefer suppliers with APIs for listing synchronization
» Prefer suppliers who can send sample products
» Prefer manufacturers as your primary suppliers
You can also rely on popular supplier marketplaces like Salehoo, Oberlo, Spoket, AliDropship, Printful, and Dropship.me.
These sites are popular among global merchants with catalogs of hundreds of reliable suppliers in the market.
5) Use your personal experience as a consumer to choose some products
As a consumer, you might have used some products that you found quite useful. These products might have solved your pain points too.
You can use this experience to come up with not just valuable product ideas but also competitive marketing ideas as per a consumer’s perspective.
For example, you would have the idea of the pain points it addresses and its proper usage.
The experience will help you to devise appropriate campaigns for teaching your prospective customers about the benefits and usage of the products you are selling.
You can use the same in your marketing campaigns for storytelling and connecting with the customers.
This would give you an upper hand while selling even a highly competitive product, which you know very well.
Note: Be advised that not every product that you find useful is useful to everyone else either. You have to be very particular about the pain points it addresses to know if everyone is going through the same.
To conclude
Dropshipping is the ultimate door to the eCommerce industry.
You can own a full-fledged eCommerce business without investing a fortune in the stocks, inventory management, and shipping hassles.
You just need a good eCommerce software solution to build your dropshipping store. Moreover, the fact that what works for one might not work for others has a positive side too.
The same thing also limits others from copying your business idea.
To get your dropshipping business on track, you must focus on four major things: product selection, supplier, technology, and marketing.
If you have a profitable product idea and a reliable supplier for it, you can just build a competent eCommerce software to drive conversions via innovative marketing tactics.
About the Author:
Jessica Bruce is a professional blogger, guest writer, Influencer & an eCommerce expert. Currently associated with ShopyGen as a content marketing strategist.
She also reports on the latest happenings and trends associated with the eCommerce industry.
Follow me on Twitter @Jessicabruc (https://twitter.com/Jessicabruc)