How To Start A Shopify Dropshipping Business [A Complete Beginners Guide]

This video is a complete beginner's guide on how to start a Shopify dropshipping business, covering topics such as what dropshipping is, how it works, upfront costs, customer service, finding products, and achieving success.

This video by Austin Rabin was published on Jun 8, 2023.
Video length: 15:39.

This YouTube video titled "How To Start A Shopify Dropshipping Business [A Complete Beginners Guide]" is a comprehensive guide for beginners who want to start a dropshipping business using Shopify.

The video covers topics such as what dropshipping is, how it works, upfront costs, dealing with customer service, finding products, and finding success.

The video also provides tips and recommendations for starting a successful dropshipping business.

• Dropshipping is a logistics model, not a business model.
• You build a Shopify store, upload products, create ad creatives, and run traffic to your store.
• When customers check out, you send the order to your supplier who directly ships the product to the customer.
• You don't hold any inventory, allowing you to run an e-commerce business without inventory costs.
• Dropshipping is attractive for beginners due to low upfront costs and the ability to start an online business.
• Must-haves include a Shopify plan, which starts at $39/month, and transaction fees of 2.4% to 3.9%.
• Use a special discount code to get Shopify for $1/month for the first three months.
• Nice to haves include tools, education, and certain apps that can increase your chances of success.
• Use the product you ordered for content purposes.

How To Start A Shopify Dropshipping Business [A Complete Beginners Guide] - YouTube

Section 1: What is Drop Shipping and How Does it Work?

• Dropshipping is a logistics model, not a business model.
• You build a Shopify store, upload products, create ad creatives, and run traffic to your store.
• When customers check out, you send the order to your supplier who directly ships the product to the customer.
• You don't hold any inventory, allowing you to run an e-commerce business without inventory costs.
• Dropshipping is attractive for beginners due to low upfront costs and the ability to start an online business.

Section 2: Upfront Costs and Must-Haves

• Must-haves include a Shopify plan, which starts at $39/month, and transaction fees of 2.4% to 3.9%.
• Use a special discount code to get Shopify for $1/month for the first three months.
• Shopify offers free themes for website customization.
• There are over 7,000 free Shopify apps available for customization and optimization.
• Some recommended free apps include Booster discounted upsells and Post Purchase Checkout Upsell.

Section 3: Nice to Haves and Additional Costs

• Nice to haves include tools, education, and certain apps that can increase your chances of success.
• Paid apps on Shopify usually have better functionality and appearance.
• Recommended paid apps include Booster discounted upsells and Core Web Vitals Booster.
• Expect to spend around $100/month on apps.
• Product cost is a variable cost and it's recommended to order the product you want to sell to test reliability, quality, and shipping time.

How To Start A Shopify Dropshipping Business [A Complete Beginners Guide] - YouTube

Section 4: Finding Success in Drop Shipping

• Use the product you ordered for content purposes.
• Focus on marketing and driving traffic to your store.
• Utilize social media platforms and influencer marketing.
• Optimize your website for conversions and average order value.
• Continuously test and improve your strategies.

Upfront Costs

• The startup cost for a Shopify dropshipping business is around $26 to $124.
• Must-haves include a Shopify subscription, a domain name, and a payment gateway.
• Nice-to-haves include product research tools, an LLC, and education/mentorship.

Product Research Tools

• Mendea is a recommended product research tool for finding winning products.
• Mendea offers a dashboard that cycles through 10 winning products of the day.
• Features include data information about ads, competitor research, and shop analysis.
• Mendea also offers a business plan and success radar for tracking shops.
• An affiliate link is provided in the video description for a free trial of Mendea.

LLC and Education/Mentorship

• An LLC is not required to start a Shopify store, but it has benefits such as separating taxes and opening business bank accounts.
• Education and mentorship can cut down on time to success.
• Ecom Remastered is a recommended mentorship program for dropshipping and ecommerce.
• The program includes custom websites, UGC content, meetings, and a community.
• A link to learn more about Ecom Remastered is provided in the video description.

Advertising Methods

• Organic traffic and paid traffic are two advertising methods for driving traffic to your store.
• Organic traffic involves posting on short-form platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok.
• UGC (user-generated content) is powerful for building your brand's social media presence.
• Paid traffic involves running advertisements on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
• Paid traffic is more sustainable and scalable compared to organic traffic.

Scaling Up Your Business

• Paid and organic traffic are both viable options for beginners.
• Organic traffic can have profit margins of 50-75%, while paid traffic is typically 15-35%.
• Scaling up your business involves adding more money and increasing your budget for advertising.
• With paid traffic, you can scale up faster by investing more money.
• Profit margins may vary depending on the type of traffic you use.

Fulfilling Orders

• Before running any advertisements, make sure you have a reliable supplier.
• Use apps like De-essers on Shopify to link the supplier to the product and order them manually.
• De-essers is free on Shopify and allows you to place 100 orders at a time.
• Orders placed through De-essers are sent to the supplier on AliExpress, and tracking information is automatically updated on Shopify.
• Consider using a virtual mailing address for returns and business documents.

Customer Service

• Communicate with customers to avoid returns by providing accurate shipping times and product information.
• Create a frequently asked questions section and use automated email replies to answer common questions.
• If returns occur, consider having them sent to a virtual mailing address to avoid high postage costs and negative reviews.
• For general customer service, you can handle emails yourself or hire a virtual assistant.
• Virtual assistants can be found on freelancing websites and can help with email replies and flagging important messages.

Taxes and Expectations

• Pay taxes on your dropshipping income, but consult a tax professional for specific advice.
• Consider hiring a tax accountant once your store takes off to handle your taxes.
• Expectations for dropshipping should be realistic, as it takes time to learn marketing and achieve profitability.
• Short-form content platforms may give the impression of quick success, but it requires hard work and trial and error.
• Success can vary, with some seeing results in their first week and others taking longer to become profitable.

Watch the video on YouTube:
How To Start A Shopify Dropshipping Business [A Complete Beginners Guide] - YouTube