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Dropshipping provides an easy way to start selling product online, along with the ability to leverage other people’s capital without having to invest thousands of your own. When managed correctly, it can form the foundation of your own successful online store.
Start your online business today.
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Dropshipping is a profitable business model for new entrepreneurs to make money on the side.
It isn’t free to start a dropshipping business (there are non-inventory costs), but it’s much lower risk and less complex, since you don’t need to stock products or handle order fulfillment.
Finding a dropshipping business idea is as simple as finding a product to sell. Yet with so many dropshipping businesses out there, the hardest part is finding the right product—one that’ll set you apart.
Here’s how to find and validate a dropshipping business idea, with 100+ trending products to look into. We’ll cover:
Social media platforms are a major shopping channel of young consumers. Discover your next dropshipping idea by scanning hashtags, accounts, and trends pages that appeal to your target demographic.
The biggest online marketplaces sell millions of SKUs from thousands of brands. By 2027, they’ll play a role in 59% of purchasing journeys, making them a great source of data to uncover trending products and dropshipping ideas.
Start by looking at “top product” pages on Amazon, Etsy, and Walmart. Pay close attention to top products in any given category, or those with a “selling fast” icon.
Continue your search on wholesale marketplaces like AliExpress, Alibaba, and SaleHoo. Because most of these marketplaces double up as a dropshipping website, top products are also available for dropshipping (versus something you find on eBay that may not be dropshipable).
Pinterest is a social media/search engine hybrid that allows users to save pins to a virtual moodboard. Use Pinterest Trends to see what users have saved the most during the previous week/month, and dropship similar products through your own online store.
Trendhunter uses page view data, artificial intelligence, and research teams to discover trending products. Recent examples include compostable menswear and muted pink sneakers, though you can browse its website to find online business ideas before they become saturated.
The global beauty and personal care industry is set to be worth $679.79 billion by 2025. People spend big bucks managing their appearance and solving cosmetic-related health issues. Claim your stake by working with a dropshipping supplier to source cosmetics, skin care, and beauty products. Sell them at a higher price through your own online store.
Popular dropshipping business ideas in the beauty and skin care industry include:
The global apparel industry is one of the biggest markets in the world, valued at $1.5 trillion. Fashion niche markets come within the clothing and accessories umbrella—products you can dropship and make money from online.
Since a few years ago, tank tops, sports bras, and leggings have all become popular athleisure items. Even among those who simply want a comfy suit for sitting and are hoping to participate in a little more leisure than athleticism.
Popular items to dropship in this category include:
Read more: The 19 Best Dropshipping Clothing Suppliers to Grow Your Business in 2022
Consumers spend $28.68 billion on jewelry each year. If you want to start a jewelry business but don’t have the time or skill to handcraft your own products, consider dropshipping those another manufacturer has already made.
The chunky gold jewelry trend, in particular, is one worth considering if you’re looking to use this online business idea. Block gold rings, necklaces, and earrings are back in fashion, with searches for “gold hoop earrings” steadily increasing.
Other notable jewelry products to dropship include:
Reading is still one of the most popular activities, with almost two-thirds of US consumers having read at least one print book in the past year, spending an annual total of $25.71 billion
Instead of dropshipping any book you can find, the key is to specialize in one specific type of book. Take academic course materials, for example. Consumers spend $339 per year on higher education books (compared to the global population’s $113.87 average).
Other types of books to dropship include:
Online sales in the art market top $13.3 billion each year. The industry experienced a 7.3% annual growth rate in 2021.
The best thing about dropshipping art is that it’s accessible to anyone, regardless of how knowledgeable you are of the field. You’ve got the option to dropship fine art, which can fetch thousands of dollars per piece, or handcrafted drawings that are printed and sold at scale for a lower cost.
Find your next dropshipping business idea with products like:
Dropshipping coffee is a great way to take your slice of this spend. Find a coffee dropshipping supplier like Dripshipper or Aroma Ridge. Add custom labels to coffee-related products and list them on your ecommerce website for a higher price.
Popular items to sell on your coffee business’s online store include:
Parents and caregivers spend $67.35 billion on baby care products each year—a figure set to hit $88.72 billion by 2026.
Niche markets are emerging in the baby space. Take the gender reveal industry as an example. An increasing number of soon-to-be parents are hosting parties to announce the gender of their baby. According to Google Trends, searches for “gender reveal balloons” have steadily been increasing since 2016.
Here are some other baby products you can use to spark a dropshipping business idea:
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from home, exercise levels increased. House-bound consumers had no choice but to exercise at home. To do that, they needed fitness equipment.
Fitness trackers are one dropshipping niche that’s exploded in popularity. Some 553.6 million fitness trackers were shipped last year, with global consumers predicted to spend $93.86 billion on wrist-wearing activity trackers in 2022.
Aside from fitness technology, consider dropshipping the following exercise products:
More than half of American households own a pet, contributing to a $123.6 billion industry.
To capitalize on our love for furry friends, find a lucrative business idea in the pet industry. Dog vitamins, for example, are just one huge area of spend. Owners splash $81 per year on supplements to keep their dogs healthy.
Other pet-related items to dropship include:
More than 65 million cars are sold each year. Give the millions of consumers who own one the chance to make their driving experiences more enjoyable by dropshipping car accessories.
Product you might consider selling could be:
Home improvement sales are predicted to reach $621.3 billion by 2025, making it one of the largest consumer markets. Dropship home gadgets, hardware, and decorating accessories to build a profitable business in this niche.
I believe the best dropshipping products in 2023 will be anything in the off-the-grid living and homesteading space. These niches are continuing their upward trajectory trend and there are a ton of different supplies in these niches that can be targeted with high or low-ticket dropshipping.
Popular home-related items to dropship include:
If you’re looking for a high-ticket dropshipping business idea in the home improvement market, consider dropshipping furniture. Products are often priced higher than small home improvement gadgets. The average hybrid queen size mattress, for example, sells for $2,050.
The hardest thing about dropshipping furniture is the fact customers can’t always see the product they’re thinking of buying. Solve any pre-purchase anxiety and build consumer trust with extensive product photography, reviews from happy customers, and size charts to scale.
Furniture-related items to dropship include:
From computers to cameras, global consumers spend $376 billion on electronics each year. This type of product isn’t in short supply—you’ll find manufacturers offering dropship electronics across all major dropshipping platforms.
However, the electronics industry is another highly regulated niche. Reputable suppliers will be happy to supply a portable appliance test (PAT) certificate that confirms their electronics have been rigorously tested and meet safety standards.
To turn this niche into a profitable dropshipping business, source trending products like:
Dropshipping is notoriously known for being a low-risk business model. However, you can increase the odds of ecommerce success by validating an idea before running with it.
Before running with your next idea, see whether people are already talking about the product you’re thinking of selling.
Do your own research with online tools like Google Trends. The platform shows historical data for how many people search for that dropshipping business idea. Pay especially close attention to keywords on an upward trend. This indicates the product is becoming more popular and demand is increasing. Try to get there before competitors cotton on.
I always use Google Trends to see how the product is trending in various countries over the last five years and then use a keyword tool to check the monthly search volume.
If you’re torn between two dropshipping business ideas, use Google Trends’ comparison tool to evaluate demand for each term. Knowing one keyword is much more popular than the other can sway you in that direction.
If you go into a niche that’s already popular, it’s going to be super competitive. Dropshipping requires a successful marketing strategy—and paid ads will cost more and keywords will be more competitive for top products.
Yet go the other way and there’s a risk of nobody wanting to buy the products you’re dropshipping. It’ll be an uphill struggle to build a profitable business.
Ultimately, there is no “ideal” demand when selecting the best dropshipping product. There are pros and cons when going niche versus hyper-competitive. The ideal competition level depends on the type of business you want to build.
If you’re struggling to find retailers selling similar products to the one you want to dropship, it’s not a bad sign. Going after a niche market can be a smart business move.
Pros
Cons
Hundreds of other dropshippers selling comparable products might make it harder to stand out, but it proves demand is there. Look at their product pricing strategy and see whether it’s worth competing.
Pros
Cons
Dropshipping suppliers make or break your new business. They’re the ones responsible for manufacturing, packing, and shipping orders to your customers. Check that for whatever dropshipping business idea you choose there are suppliers to work with.
Most importantly, recruit a reliable supplier you can trust. Any customer complaints will fall in your hands since the dropshipping supplier acts as a silent partner. Ask for their order accuracy rate, previous customer reviews, and minimum order quantity upfront. It’ll minimize the chances of a supplier’s problems ruining your own brand’s reputation.
Dropshipping isn’t a business you can start with no money—people pay a premium for higher quality products. Figure out whether it’s worth paying more for quality from your suppliers by ordering samples.
Let’s say your supplier stocks three different varieties of the resistance bands you want to dropship:
If you’re looking for a dropshipping business idea that’ll make the most money, you might think Product A stands you in better ground to do that. Lower cost price means higher margins, right?
However, people pay premiums for sustainability. After ordering all three products to sample, you survey your target market and discover they’d pay $28 for Product C—a 79.68% profit margin (compared to 25% for A and 43% for B).
Ordering samples in advance also gives you first-hand experience dealing with a supplier before your customers are involved. You’ll have the delivery communication emails, unboxing experience, and first impressions your customers get.
Your target market is the group of people who will buy your products. Instead of finding a dropshipping product idea and hoping there’s a market for it, survey your target audience to see:
There are two ways this process tends to go AWOL. First, people are notoriously awful at telling you what they would do or would buy. It’s difficult to get honest opinions when no real money is at stake.
Secondly, small business owners often turn toward their family and friends for market research. They ask if they’d buy a product, only to hear everyone say yes because they didn’t want to hurt a budding entrepreneurs’ feelings.
Solve these issues and ask hard-hitting questions that allow you to verify whether what you think is a great business idea would make money. That includes:
Once you subtract the wholesale price of a product and your overheads, are you left with any profit? Good business ideas are those where products are sourced at a low price and resold higher.
Use Shopify’s free profit margin calculator to see how much money you’re left with after buying the product from a supplier and paying their fee for picking, packing, and shipping.
One route is to find the absolute cheapest product and sell it at as high of a price possible. But that strategy comes with risk. You often have to sell as many products as you can, rather than focusing on high-quality customers and building sustainable business.
Invest in brand-building if increasing your profit margin is the ultimate goal. Consumers pay a premium to shop with brands that:
Even if cost prices and competitor RRPs are low, make your dropshipping brand the go-to ecommerce website for consumers who want more than the ordinary.
The success of your dropshipping store depends on the product you choose.
Build a small, low maintenance (and low cost) online store with Shopify to validate your dropshipping business idea and test a marketing strategy. Choose three to five products in the same niche. Invest more time and effort into products proven to sell for the best chance of success.
Data from Google Trends’ Shopping Report Aug 14 – Aug 21.
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