Dropshipping is a low-risk business model that is perfect for people who want to start an online business but don’t have a lot of time or money. Dropshipping businesses are easy to start up and run, and you don’t need a lot of money to do it.
Now, if you want to start your own dropshipping business, you might be wondering how to do it for free. This article will explain what dropshipping is and how you can start a dropshipping business even if you don’t have any money.
How does the business model of dropshipping work?
Dropshipping is a way for online business owners to sell products without having to keep any stock on hand. When a customer buys something from a dropshipping store, the order is sent to the supplier, who then sends the product right to the customer’s door. With dropshipping apps like Spocket, you can add products from different sellers to your online store to increase the number of products you offer.
With the dropshipping business model, it’s easy to start an online business. With the dropshipping model, it’s easy to start and run your own online business with almost no money up front. You don’t have to quit your job to start a successful dropshipping store. You can run your business in your spare time.
You can also use a number of dropshipping tips to bring people to your store. In this article, we will talk about how you can use Shopify to start a dropshipping business. We’ll talk about how to find profitable things to sell, set up your store, and bring in customers who will buy from you. Let’s get started!
How to start free dropshipping
Now that you know what dropshipping is and how it works, you may be wondering how you can start your own free dropshipping business. Read on to find out how to start your own store for free in easy steps.
Pick the best e-commerce platform for dropshipping.
There are a lot of ecommerce platforms out there, but Shopify is the best one for dropshipping stores, in our opinion. It’s not only one of the most popular ecommerce website builders, but it’s also pretty cheap and offers 14-day free trials to new users, so you can start a dropshipping store for free.
Shopify is also one of the easiest platforms for building online stores, so you can build your free online store and get it up and running quickly and easily.
Trust us, if you want to start a dropshipping business, you’ll want to choose an ecommerce platform that makes it easy to add and manage products, process orders, and keep track of your inventory.
Now that you know why Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms for dropshipping stores, let’s look at how you can start your own dropshipping business for free.
Make your free dropshipping store.
Before we start, the first thing we need to do is sign up for a free trial of Shopify. With this guide, you’ll have more than enough time in the 14-day trial period to set up an online store that’s ready to go.
When you start your free trial, you will be asked to name your store. This name will become your store’s default URL (for example, storename.myshopify.com). Once you choose this name, you can’t change it. However, if you buy a custom domain (like youronlinestore.com), you can change it.
When you’re done with these steps, you’ll be in your Shopify account.
Here’s a quick list of what you need to get started and what I’ll be using to open my store:
Pick a name for your business.
When you first set up your Shopify store, a free domain ending in “myshopify.com” is given to you. But once your dropshipping store is up and running, you’ll want a more professional domain name. When you buy a custom domain, you can do this. Use the free business name generator to come up with some great ideas if you don’t know what name to choose.
Make a logo for your business.
It might seem hard to make a logo, but you can do it for free with a tool like Canva. Just type in your business name and (optional) tagline, and you’ll be able to choose the perfect logo for your store from a list. If you don’t like any of the options, you can hire a freelance designer on Fiverr for as little as $5 to make a logo for you.
Design Your Store
Now it’s time to design your dropshipping business’s store. If you’re not a web designer, don’t worry. Shopify stores have a lot of high-quality themes that you can use to make a site that looks professional.
Visit the Shopify Theme Store and look through all of the free themes to find the right one for your store. If you like a theme, just click the “Add theme to your store” button and it will be added to your site.
You can hire a Shopify Expert if you want more control over how your store looks or if you want to make a design that is unique to your store.
Find a good niche to drop-ship from.
You’ll need to choose a niche before you can set up your dropshipping store. The best way to do this is to find one that you are interested in or that sells products you already know. As long as people want your products, they will always be ready to buy them. Check out our list for some great dropshipping business ideas if you haven’t found a niche yet or need help finding one.
Think about your likes and dislikes.
One of the main reasons why dropshipping stores fail is that many dropshippers choose a niche they don’t care about. If you don’t care about the dropshipping products you’re selling, it will be hard to persuade your customers to buy them from you.
Think about the things you use every day or are really interested in. These could be niches that your store could fill. For instance, if you love taking pictures, you could sell cameras and camera parts. Or, if you’re a fitness enthusiast, you could sell fitness apparel and home gym equipment.
Passionate dropshippers are more likely to be successful because they know their products well and want to sell them more.
Look for a market niche with a lot of demand and not much competition.
Demand for the product is another important thing to think about when choosing a niche. You can find out if people are looking for the product you want to sell by using Google Trends. If the number of searches keeps going up over time, that’s a good sign that people want the product.
You’ll also want to make sure that the product doesn’t have too much competition. The best way to do this is to look up the product on Google Trends and see how many results come up. There is a lot of competition if there are a million or more results. But if there are only a few thousand results, you might have a chance to join in.
Choose products that are popular in your niche and solve a problem.
When people buy something, they are usually looking for a way to solve a problem. Look for products for your store that solve a problem or make your customers’ lives easier.
For example, if you sell kitchen appliances, you could choose items that save time, like a pressure cooker or slow cooker. Or, if you sell things for pets, you could choose things that make pet owners’ lives easier, like a litter box that cleans itself.
By making products that solve problems, you’ll be able to meet your customers’ needs better and stand out from the competition.
Your Unique Selling Proposition
Once you’ve chosen a niche, it’s time to think about your unique selling proposition (USP). This will make your store stand out from the rest and make people want to buy from you.
Some things to think about when making your USP are:
- How are your products better than those of your rivals?
- Do you ship your items for free or faster than your competitors?
- Do you have a rewards or loyalty program that encourages people to buy from you?
- By giving your customers something unique and useful, you can make your store stand out from the rest and make it more likely that people will buy from you.
Find Dropshipping Suppliers You Can Trust
Now that you’ve picked a niche and decided what products you want to sell, it’s time to find dropshipping suppliers for your store. A company that makes and ships products for you is called a dropshipping supplier.
How to find dropshipping suppliers
You can find dropshipping suppliers for your store in a few different ways. You can use Google or a site like AliExpress to look for suppliers.
To find suppliers on Google, just type in the product you want to sell, followed by “dropshipper” or “dropshipping.” For example, if you want to sell kitchen appliances, you could search for “kitchen appliance dropshipper” or “kitchen appliance dropshipping.”
To find suppliers on AliExpress, all you have to do is sign up for an account and use the search bar to look for products you want to sell. AliExpress is a great choice because you don’t have to pay to use it or become a member.
Once you’ve done good market research and found your suppliers, it’s time to start judging them. Read on to learn how to find the best dropshipping companies.
Look at the comments.
Read the reviews when you’re looking at possible suppliers. This will tell you a lot about the quality and customer service of the supplier.
To find reviews, just Google the supplier’s name followed by “reviews.” For example, if you were looking at a supplier called “ACME Suppliers,” you would search for “ACME Suppliers reviews.”
When you read reviews, keep an eye out for any warning signs. These could be things like late deliveries, bad products, or bad customer service. If you see any red flags, that means you should find a different supplier.
Compare prices
Price is another important thing to think about when choosing a supplier. To make money, you’ll need to make sure that the prices you charge are competitive. You should also make sure that the shipping costs are fair and not too high.
To compare prices, all you have to do is get quotes from different suppliers for the products you want to sell. Once you have the quotes, you can put them next to each other and see which supplier is the cheapest.
It’s important to keep in mind that the cheapest option isn’t always the best. You should also think about things like quality, shipping times, and customer service, in addition to the price.
Review Policies
Check out their policies when you’re looking at possible suppliers. This includes things like how to return an item, how long it takes to ship, and how to pay. You will want to make sure that the supplier’s policies work for your business.
For example, if you’re dropshipping products that need to be sent quickly, you’ll want to make sure the supplier can do that. If you take the time to look over a supplier’s policies, you can avoid problems in the future.
Order a sample and try it out for yourself.
Once you’ve found a possible supplier, it’s time to put in an order for a sample. This will give you a chance to try out the products and services of the provider.
Make sure to order a variety of products when you place a sample order. This will give you a good idea of how good the products are that the supplier sells. Also, it’s a good idea to stock your online store with popular items. You can find out how fast the supplier ships and how good their customer service is.
Take the time to try out the products once you get your sample order. This means trying out the products yourself and, if you can, having friends or family do the same. This will tell you a lot about the quality of the product and how well it works.
If you like the products and the service of the supplier, you can order products for your store. If you don’t like the products or the way the supplier treats you, you’ll have to keep looking for something better.
Integration of suppliers and automation
Dropshipping is a good way to make money because it’s easy to automate. This is because you can connect your store to the stock of your suppliers.
When you connect your store to your supplier’s inventory, your store will automatically update when the supplier’s inventory changes. This means you’ll never have to worry about selling items that are out of stock.
Some suppliers also offer automated tools that can help you run your store. For instance, some suppliers can automatically fill orders. When a customer places an order in your store, the supplier will send the goods right away. You can save a lot of time and trouble by doing this.
If you want to automate your dropshipping store, ask your potential suppliers what automation features they have.
Get people to visit your online store for free.
Now that you’ve set up your store and found a supplier for your dropshipping business, it’s time to start promoting your online store. You can get the word out about your dropshipping store for free with a number of different marketing strategies.
Here are ways to promote your dropshipping store that don’t cost you anything.
Ecommerce SEO
Ecommerce SEO is one of the best free ways to market your store. SEO, which stands for “Search Engine Optimization,” is the process of making changes to your store so that it shows up higher in search engine results. When a customer uses a search engine like Google to look for products like the ones you sell, your store could show up in the results.
You can do a number of things to make your ecommerce store better for SEO. This means doing things like optimizing your product pages and writing blog posts that are full of keywords.
By taking the time to make your store SEO-friendly, you can get more people to see it and visit it. This can lead to more customers and sales.
Social Media and YouTube
Social media is another great, free way to get the word out about your store. Content marketing on social media sites like YouTube and Facebook is a great way to reach the people you want to reach.
When you use social media to promote your store, make sure to post high-quality, relevant content. For example, if you sell dog food through dropshipping, you could make a YouTube video about how to choose the best food.
Also, make sure to post often and talk to the people who follow you. This will help you get to know your customers better and make them more likely to buy from your store.
Create a Blog
Making a blog is another great way to promote your store for free. A blog is a great way to tell people who might buy from you about your products and store.
When making a blog, be sure to write content that is full of keywords and is related to your store. If you sell products for dogs, for example, you could write a blog post about how to choose the best dog food.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great, free way to get the word out about your store. Email marketing lets you send promotional emails to people who might buy from you.
Include a strong “call to action” in your email marketing campaign. For instance, you could add a coupon code or an offer for free shipping. This will make it more likely that people will buy from your store.
In addition, be sure to segment your email list. This will let you send emails to groups of customers that are more likely to buy from you. You could, for example, divide your list into groups based on age, location, or gender.
Check out this article for more ideas on how to make an email marketing campaign.
Free Content & Lead Magnets
Lastly, making free content is a great way to get the word out about your store that doesn’t cost you anything. Free content is a great way to get new leads and customers.
When you make free content, make sure it has something to do with your store. For example, a company that sells products for dogs could make a free e-book about how to choose the best food for dogs.
Also, make sure that your free content has a call to action. This could be a coupon code or a link to your store. Customers are more likely to buy something from your store if you include a call to action.
Set up an affiliate program for your drop-shipping business.
You can also start an affiliate program for your store if you want to take things a step further. With an affiliate program, you can pay people who spread the word about your store a commission.
You can get the word out about your affiliate program in a number of ways. For example, you could set up an email marketing campaign or a landing page for affiliates.
Also, make sure to offer commissions that are appealing. Paying an affiliate a good fee for each sale will help you get more of them and make it more likely that they will promote your store.
By using these tips, you can start advertising your store without spending any money. You can get more people to visit your store and make more money if you take the time to advertise it.
Fulfill Dropshipping Orders
Fulfilling orders is the last step in setting up a dropshipping business. When a customer places an order in your store, you need to call the supplier and arrange for the products to be sent to the customer.
To get started, you’ll need to set up a way to fill orders. This system will make it easier for you to keep track of orders and make sure they are filled on time.
How to Fill Dropshipping Orders on Shopify
On Shopify, there are a few different ways to fill an order. The first way is to do things by hand. With this method of order fulfillment, you must contact the supplier and ask them to ship the products to the customer.
Using a fulfillment app is the second way. Fulfillment apps connect to your Shopify store and handle orders for you automatically. You won’t have to talk to the supplier yourself if you use this method. If you use a dropshipping supplier that works with Shopify, you’ll be able to choose to have your orders automatically shipped.
The third way is to use a service that does custom fulfillment. Shopify stores have their own fulfillment services made just for them. With this method, you will need to contact the supplier and ship the products to the customer yourself.
Conclusion
Dropshipping is a good way for new business owners to make money and start a business that costs nothing to get started. If you want to start a successful online business, we recommend that you use Shopify to start dropshipping for free.
When you start your own online store, make sure you have a good dropshipping business plan and use all the tips we’ve talked about. We hope this article has helped you understand what dropshipping is and how you can start a dropshipping business with no money.
