Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment business model where you promote products through an online store. Dropshipping is the most convenient way to jump into the e-commerce industry. It requires a very low overhead cost to get started as an online entrepreneur.
Although, dropshipping is an easy-to-understand, easy-to-set-up, and low-risk-oriented model, it’s equally hard to scale like any other business. But, if you approach it with the right mindset and right techniques, it can make you a huge lump sum of money.
But keep in mind that creating a lucrative online store is the nitty-gritty of a dropshipping business. Shopify is a leading commerce design platform suitable for both beginners and advanced sellers. In the post, we will discuss how to start a Shopify dropshipping business in 2022.
How Does Shopify Work?
Basically, Shopify acts as the foundation of your e-commerce. It's an e-commerce platform that gives entrepreneurs the framework they need to start and design their store, and its backend lets you run your business without hosting fees.
You'll pay a monthly fee for Shopify's reasonable price, and then your ecommerce store will run flawlessly, allowing you to trust Shopify to keep your store running while you focus on selling and growing your business. These are all real Shopify dropshipping stores and will follow the same rules as your average Shopify store, you just need to install the ders app to get products.
Why Consider Dropshipping on Shopify?
Shopify is a software-as-a-service model created to help merchants to sell their products online. It is the fastest-growing commerce platform spread over 175 countries. Also, In 2020, over 44 million customers purchased from Shopify.
While selling online, the most important factor a seller should consider is- “Grabbing Attention”. According to the recent Microsoft studies, the average attention span of consumers has dropped to 8 seconds in 2022.
Platforms like Shopify provides a suave and simple user interface excluding cluttered information and designs. The way items are represented and described on Shopify makes it easier for a customer to traverse and check each item available in the store.
In times where attention span has reduced to 8 seconds, the average Shopify visit lasts for 3 minutes and 27 seconds. Isn’t it mind-blowing? Moreover, it offers a 14-day free trial which is suitable for a beginner.
Wanna use Shopify to skyrocket your dropshipping business? Read below to know how you can do so.
How To Start Shopify Dropshipping
With the boom in the e-commerce sector, the demand for using high-performing platforms like Shopify is also increasing. There are simple six steps to start dropshipping with Shopify.
Step1 - Choose a store name
This is the first step you will take towards opening up your Shopify dropshipping store. Follow these tips to come up with a name for your online store:
- keep it simple
- be creative
- make it memorable
Shopify makes it easy to come up with creative name ideas for your dropshipping store. All you have to do is use Shopify's online business name generator, enter whatever you want your business name to include, and click "Generate Name".
You'll be presented with a list of business names from which you can choose your favorite Shopify dropshipping store name. Not only does it save you a lot of time, but it's completely free.
Once you've come up with some ideas for the name of your Shopify dropshipping store, you need to check what's available. If you came up with a name like "American Clothing Store," it's probably already in use. You can check by googling to see if there is already one. com domain name is connected to that name.
Step 2 - Create a Shopify Account
On the official Shopify website, register an account. Enter your store name. Then, Shopify will ask you a series of questions. After answering each one of them Shopify will take you to the backend of the store.
Your Shopify account is ready. Now, you’ll optimize the settings to launch your Shopify store.
Step 3 - Optimize Setting
Configuring the setting of your Shopify store is the most crucial step. It includes information like payment details, shipping rates, and privacy policy. Let’s delve into the details of each one of them.
Payment Details
To set up the payment details, log in to your Shopify store to enter the admin’s page. Navigate to the bottom left corner and click on the gear icon. It’ll redirect you to the settings page. Here, you’ll see a list of tabs like Store Details, Plan, Billing, etc.
Click on the Payments tab. Before moving ahead, it is advisable to use PayPal as a payment provider because of its popularity among online vendors. It’ll make your transaction process a lot easier and more secure.
So, click on Payment providers and select PayPal among the listed options. If you don’t have an account, it will take only a few clicks to create one. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a technocrat to use Paypal. It is simple to use.
Shipping Rates
For different regions across the world, shipping rates may vary. It can confuse your customers too. But there’s a marketing hack to overcome this problem: Offer “Free Shipping” but not at a cost of your own pocket.
What you’ve to do is merge the shipping rate into the product rate and offer the items to ship for free. For example, if your product costs $50 and $5 are the shipping charges. You’ll reset the product rate to $55 and offer free shipping. That’s it.
To do so click on the setting tab on the admin’s page and then select the “Shipping and Delivery“ tab. Under the General Shipping Rates, click on manage rates and set the domestic and rest of the world rates to Free.
Policies
It is important to create various store policies while setting up your Shopify account. There comes a time when you want to market your store through Google Ads. With proper store policies in place, you can save your marketing campaigns from getting banned by Google.
Shopify has an inbuilt tool with the help of which you can automatically generate a refund policy, privacy policy, and terms and conditions.
Click on the settings on the admin’s page, select the Policies tab and create various policies. Use the default templates or write it in your own words. It is all up to you.
Step 4 - Launch Your Online Store
Till now, you’ve added all the necessary information required to launch a Shopify store. On your Shopify admin’s page, click on the Sales Channel tab and then select the “Online Store” option.
Your store will be online.
Step 5 - Design Your Store
The aesthetics of your store plays a vital role in increasing the average time visit and decreasing the bounce rate. How you design your store will be a direct representation of your brand. While designing the storefront, there are two key features you should be looking forward to:
1. Theme
Shopify has an inventory of themes packed inside the Theme store. You can select any type of theme from a wide range of unique theme which comforts your eyes. Shopify provides you with free and premium theme options. It depends on your pocket which option you can choose. As a beginner, it is recommended to use free themes always.
Logo
A logo is the identity of a brand. If you’ve never designed a logo before, using Shopify's free logo maker can take this stress off your head. It’s a very playful activity. You just need to dabble through various colors, icons, fonts, etc. to create a brand logo. If your pocket allows, you can outsource the Logo design to a freelance logo designer too.
Step 6 - Market Your Store
The final step to taking your dropshipping business to incredible heights is marketing. Creating good marketing campaigns will drive customers to your store and boost sales. Please keep in mind that you don’t jump into the arena of marketing with the mindset of making sales from Day1. It rarely happens. The mindset should be “I’m gonna test everything I can”. What it means is- you should try and run campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok, YouTube, etc. and see what platform is generating the best returns. Then, test more. Marketing is a game of testing. You’ll find your groove if you test enough.
In case, you’re a beginner, try using organic marketing methods like SEO, Social Media, Influencer Marketing, etc. When the organic ways start generating money, you can always shift to inorganic or paid media.
Is Shopify Worth it?
In the e-commerce industry, Shopify is the pioneer of online commerce platforms that newborn startups and ages-old brands still prefer. The easy-to-understand interface, sleek design, integrated tools, etc. makes it a remarkable online store. It is beginner friendly too as it offers a starting low price cost of $29/month and a 14-day free trial.
In 2022, Shopify launched its summer update adding more than 100 new features like tap-to-pay on iPhone, Twitter Shopping, Tockengated Commerce, Local Inventory Sync, etc.
The ability to use these features to their prime potential can eliminate most of the roadblocks faced by sellers in a dropshipping business. Hence, making Shopify worth it for dropshipping.
