In this article, I will the most accurate estimate of the number of dropshippers worldwide using data, industry reports, and more.
So, How Many Dropshippers Are There In The World?
There’s no way of knowing the exact precise number since no one can really track that, people start up stores that don’t dropship. That being said, there was a report done by Shopify (ecommerce platform) saying that there are more than 1 million dropshippers out there!
That being said, I have tried to find my own data to get a more accurate number since Shopify is one of many ecommerce platforms.
And from my own research, I’d say there are at least more than 2,532,229 dropshippers out there.
Estimating the number of dropshippers worldwide
Since there is no official data on the number of dropshippers worldwide, we only have to estimate.
My Research
We have to take a look at all the other popular ecommerce platforms since Shopify isn’t the only platform.
Such as:
- Shopify – 4,557,961 Website available at the time. (BuiltWith Data)
- WooCommerce – 3,489,570 Website available at the time. (BuiltWith Data)
- Magento – 142,852 Websites available at the time. (BuiltWith Data)
- PrestaShop – 250,380 Websites available at the time. (BuiltWith Data)
There were more platforms I didn’t include but they all had under 100k users.
If we were to assume that out of those 4.5 million websites that Shopify has about 30% are dropshipping we get around 1,367,388 people which is closer to the report by Shopify.
So, if we assume that 30% of all the users on the above are dropshippers we get a grand total of 2,532,229 dropshippers. (This excludes other smaller ecommerce platforms that seem to have less than 100k websites available.)
3 Factors That Influence the Number Of Dropshippers Worldwide
1. Ease of Creating A Store
Before Shopify came into the market, you had to be a tech-savvy person to set up a store and have a bunch of different applications work together in order to create a store.
But, now with Shopify, you can easily create a store with a ton of features built in that anyone can use.
In fact, you get access to the same technology as big ecommerce brands such as Kylie Cosmetics and Fashion Nova.
2. Finding Dropshipping Suppliers
Finding suppliers is probably one of the most important things when you are dropshipping. Before Aliexpress was famous, there were a lot fewer dropshippers. Nowadays you have many suppliers that you can easily get in touch with.
Some of these suppliers:
Before you used to have to hit up various companies on forums, view directory sites, or contact companies directly.
3. Entrepreneurial Culture
Most people nowadays are wanting to escape the 9-5 rat race. You also see many people online promoting dropshipping and entrepreneurial pursuits a lot more than before.
This coupled with the low startup costs associated with dropshipping, there’s a no-brainer you will see a rise in dropshippers.
Long ago most people didn’t even know much about dropshipping since people weren’t pushing it on YouTube and social media to sell their courses.
Above you can see the Google Trends chart for dropshipping growing through recent years. Don’t expect it to go down as it will continue rising for at least 5 years from now.
Regional Breakdown Of Dropshippers
Above are the countries that have the most interest in dropshipping from 2004 – current date:
- Pakistan – 100
- Sri Lanka – 92
- Morocco – 78
- Nigeria – 64
- Nepal – 58
The pattern seems pretty clear, you see many developing nations being interested in dropshipping. It makes sense since, these nations can dropship and sell their products to those living in tier 1 countries. (USA, Canada, UK, Australi, etc.)
Let’s take a look at the US, UK, Australia, and Canada:
US:
Canada:
Australia:
United Kingdom:
How Many Dropshipping Stores Are There in the World?
Dropshipping stores will always be more than the number of dropshippers out there. This is because many dropshippers they fail and try to create multiple different stores. And it’s not just ones that fail, there are many who succeed and own multiple stores.
To answer it shortly there are 3.2 – 6.4 million dropshipping stores out there. Keep in mind that while dropshipping is popular the vast majority of stores are actually fulfilling orders manually and are not dropshipping according to Statista.
Where Can You Find Dropshippers?
There are many ways of finding dropshippers. Many of them hang out in various Facebook groups, Discord, and Reddit communities.
Here are some Facebook groups where you can find dropshippers:
Here are some Discord Communities to find dropshippers:
Here are some Reddit Communities to find dropshippers:
Final Thoughts
I hope you guys liked the article, while dropshipping is a great business model, it seems to be getting harder and harder over time.
That being said, it is probably much easier to get started dropshipping now than it ever was in history.
