If you are seeking to know how to start dropshipping with Shopify, know that you are not alone. Since first launched in 2004, Shopify has grown to become one of the most iconic eCommerce platforms in the digital market today. The site has made it incredibly easy for aspiring entrepreneurs to get started. Between free themes and free apps to choose from, the POS system, affordability, and dropshipping prosperity, Shopify is projected to make $4.97 trillion, a 400% increase over the last seven years.
Because of the growing market and the ever-evolving technological age, dropshipping on Shopify is the easiest way to get started on building your own empire. With that being said, if you are ready to take your eCommerce blueprint ideas and execute them, here is a Shopify dropshipping guide to get you started on the fast track to monetized branding success.
1. Decide Your Niche and Target Markets
Though dropshipping with Shopify is much more seamless than the traditional route, there are still some basic principles you need to incorporate to reach success. One of those universal aspects is figuring out your niche and who you are going to be targeting. If you desire to run a clothing store, what type of branding image are you aiming to reach? Are you looking to attract women, men, older, younger? Nail down exactly what you want to be selling, ensure it reflects your image and values, and alter it to grab the attention of your target audience through target marketing efforts.
Example: You want to sell newborn clothing. The target market would be new parents and pregnant mothers.
2. Choose a Name and Domain
This one might sound simple to do on paper, but discovering the perfect name and domain for your business should not be taken lightly. This is how people are going to remember you, perceive your brand, and what you will be advertising. Since you want it to reflect what you are selling and be memorable, make it short, sweet, catchy, and relevant to what you are selling. Keep in mind that even if you come up with something perfect, it might not be available, so be prepared to brainstorm or use online name generators during this leg of the business.
3. Sign Up for Shopify and Choose the Right Plan
Once you have accomplished the first two steps, next is to actually sign up for Shopify and get your account started. Here you will need to go through the necessary steps prompted by the site to establish your profile, and you will need to figure out which plan is right for you. For reference, the cheapest plan is the basic one, costing $29 a month. It comes with all the needed features to get started as a new online business, such as two staff accounts, 24/7 customer support, unlimited product listing, a blog, and sales channels. This one might be the best option for you if you are a beginner, as you can always upgrade later if you need to.
Their ‘Shopify Lite’ plan costs only $9/month, while it is just as simple as a buy button and doesn’t come with the turnkey solution.
4. Import Products and Edit Details
Once you know what you want to sell, you can begin adding those products to your store through your dropshipping company. Here you can add detailed, captivating product descriptions, photos, shipping information, and import them all into your store. Remember, even with the basic Shopify package, you can still upload as many products as you wish. In addition, some products may have dozens of variants (just think about a pair of flip flops with 5 colors and 10 sizes), and you have the ability to only sell a few if you want to.
5. Get Store Design Done
Next, make sure your store design is perfect to begin promoting and marketing. Make it aesthetically appealing, clean, user-friendly, and as optimized as possible to search in SEO rankings. You can either choose one of the free themes available on Shopify or purchase an outside template to build from. Again, keep it relevant to your brand and allow the entire message and shopping experience to flow nicely.
6. Get Suppliers
Even if you have the best-looking site and the most amazing products for sale, if you do not choose reliable, quality-driven suppliers, it can destroy your business in the long run. This is why you want to choose suppliers such as HyperSKU who are known for fast, efficient, and quality delivery to help build your reputation.
7. Set Up Payments
To set up payments on your new store, navigate to the Shopify payments section under Payment Providers. This is where you can set up your credit card payment provider on your account. Sellers typically choose to provide PayPal and credit card payments for shoppers’ maximum flexibility.
8. Open an Advertising Account
Majority of the SMB sellers on Shopify drive their traffic from paid ads. Facebook is definitely the ‘go-to’ place (Facebook made 69.7 billion US dollars from advertisement in 2019). Many sellers are looking to diversify the traffic source, and luckily, Shopify is the first eCommerce platform that has integrated Google’s new smart shopping campaigns.
9. Test and Fine-Tune
Testing is a vital part of any business. Take some time to go through your entire store, and even order a few products to track how long it takes to arrive and the condition it is in upon arrival. You can even take it a step further and ask some family members and close friends to do the same and get their feedback on any improvements that need to be addressed. In the end, it is much better that you noticed any errors before your customers do.
10. Make Final Adjustments, Launch, and Monitor
Once you have conducted a dry run of your business, from ordering to delivery, make any adjustments as needed so you can get ready for launch day. When you finally do get your store up and running, monitor it closely, and track how well you are doing. Look at how much traffic is coming in, what your conversion rate is, and the demographics of those who are organically arriving at your store. Based on the information you get, make changes as you go to improve operations, and really find the sweet spot to obtain success.
Example: After you launch, you found that more people like a particular style of baby clothes over the other. Here you can advertise those items to gain more traffic and offer more selections to fulfill that demand. Or maybe people love something, but the price is too high and needs to be lowered a bit.
Conclusion
There are over a million entrepreneurs right now leveraging the power and low risk of dropshipping on Shopify to grow their eCommerce business, and you can do it too. As long as you are strategic about your business plan and operations, do your research and stay innovative as this Shopify dropshipping guide suggests, you will be able to launch yourself to new levels within this platform. In addition, you are never stuck in one place. Once you begin growing, you have the freedom to expand and take advantage of other resources to thrive even more in your business if you wish. But it all begins somewhere, and understanding how to start dropshipping with Shopify is the most hassle-free way for entrepreneurs to get started.
Remember, there is always room for more on Shopify. So, go through this guide again step by step, implement your own business ideas into the equation, sign up for Shopify dropshipping, and watch as your business begins to take off.
