Shopify Dropshipping 101: How to Dropship on Shopify in 2024

Updated by March 18,2024

As with any business venture, starting a dropshipping business isn't easy. It's still an excellent first step into the world of entrepreneurship. Without any inventory, you can sell directly to customers. You don't have to pay upfront for products. And if you are serious about your new venture, you may be able to create a sustainable income stream in the future.

Right now, a Shopify dropshipping business is in high demand. There is no stock to store, no parcels to ship, so you can focus on marketing, making sales, and expanding your business instead of managing your warehouse. Doesn't that sound fantastic? However, it isn't a get-rich-quick scheme or a magic bullet.

What Is Shopify

Shopify is a fully-hosted, subscription-based platform for building eCommerce websites. This easy-to-use software allows anyone (even those with little experience in website development) to create a fully functioning store within minutes.

Along with the ability to post, sell, and fulfill orders, Shopify also allows you to monitor valuable metrics and analytics, track shipments, and make payments.

It also acts as a content management system (CMS). If you do this, you can use content marketing to boost the value you provide to your customers and elevate your business.

What Is Dropshipping

Small businesses can set up and manage a storage and fulfillment service with very little hassle. The main advantage is that you won't have to invest a large amount of capital upfront. The reason for this is that dropshipping allows you to sell products without having to store them yourself.

The products are stored in several locations by different suppliers. The process is as easy as taking an order from a customer in your store, contacting the suppliers you have chosen to work with, and asking them to ship the item to your customer.

You won't have to worry about overstocking or understocking, as you will only order the products needed to satisfy the needs of your customers. It's that easy.

It is vital to use a trusted supplier, however! Since you won't see the product until it is shipped to your customer, your reputation will be on the line.

Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Shopify Dropship Store

Creating a Shopify dropshipping store isn't as complicated as it sounds if you find Shopify's features to be suitable for you. Using the points outlined below as your guide, let's take the process step by step.

1. Sign up for a Shopify account

You are now prepared to open a Shopify account once you have established a business plan (including your niche, target market, etc.). Visit the Shopify website and click "Start free trial." A form will appear asking for your email address, password, and store name.

Taking your store name into account in advance is a good idea. Check to see if the name is unique or if it hasn't already been copied. A draft name can also be used for now and then changed in the future.

On Shopify's dashboard, you'll be prompted to choose a plan after creating an account. The call to action can be followed if you are ready. In the meantime, we recommend that you take advantage of the free trial.

For a detailed guide to start a Shopify dropshipping.

2. Upload your products

To start selling, you need to add products to your Shopify dropshipping store. However, where do you find products and how do you add them? You can add them manually or automatically. Let us introduce you to the automated method that will save you a lot of time and energy, followed by a step-by-step guide to explain how it's done.

To optimize your dropshipping business, use the top-rated dropshipping app on Shopify - DSers, which got 4700+ positive user reviews. Shopify stores are connected to vendors through the "Supplier Optimizer" feature, which finds the best supplier for you. Importing products from suppliers is as simple as clicking a button. After that, it allows you to push those products to your Shopify stores with just a click.

3. Select a theme for your store

Storefront designs are available for free and for a fee on Shopify. Make sure it's good enough to provide a seamless user experience before you start with a free one.

You might also want to explore themes that are a bit different from your competitors' sites. Be careful not to stray too far from the usual design of an online store as that might end up confusing your customers.

4. Configure your domain

Although Shopify provides you with a domain name, it appears as https://your-store-name.myshopify.com/. This doesn't seem very professional.

Your store name can be matched with a domain name, which can then be connected to Shopify. To check the process for your domain, use Shopify's help page. Each domain supplier has a different process.

5. Create a payment plan

Customers may be encouraged or discouraged to check out their orders based on the payment method you provide. Try to cater to the payment methods that are preferred by your target audience. Otherwise, you may end up with lots of abandoned carts that will have no chance of being converted into sales.

Go to Settings and then click Payments to set up your payment methods.

6. Create more pages and content

Your eCommerce website is more than just your home page and product pages. Here are some other pages you need to create:

• Contact page
• About page
• Return and refund policy
• Frequently asked questions
• Terms and conditions

Adding a navigational menu to your site will also make it more user-friendly. The design can be modeled after some established Shopify stores, but make sure that it's not confusing for customers.

You might consider adding more useful pages in the future, such as a Reviews page and Product Bundles page after your sales have taken off and you have more reviews and products to offer.

For a detailed guide about how to dropship on Shopify, you may also like to read this article.

How Much Money Is Needed to Begin a Dropshipping Business on Shopify?

Shopify's free trials and starter plans allow you to start a dropshipping business for literally nothing.

To get off the ground, your eCommerce business will need to absorb some essential costs:

• Basic Shopify subscription—$29 monthly
• DSers Advanced subscription—$19.90 monthly
• Domain through Shopify—$14 yearly

In the first year of operating a Shopify dropshipping business, that comes to about $60 a month.

Then, you can add more features to make it easier for users to navigate and operate your store. You can do that with paid apps on Shopify.

Conclusion

Dropshipping on Shopify seems simple, doesn't it? You only need a small investment upfront and you can set it up in minutes. To drive traffic to your store, increase your brand awareness, and ensure that you generate benefits, you will need to experiment with multiple marketing methods.

It is important to keep testing. By using your marketing efforts, your Shopify dropshipping business will likely become profitable and successful as quickly as possible. To achieve success, however, you must learn. Make sure to keep learning and making improvements after you get started.