Dropshipping seemed to be a great business model a few years ago when not a lot of people were doing it. Nowadays consumers seem to be more aware of Aliexpress and the concept of dropshipping in general.
So, naturally, you may be wondering whether or not dropshipping will ever die or not?
In this article, I will answer it all so, continue reading!
Is dropshipping dying?
Dropshipping is far from dead, if you take a look at Google trends below, you can see a lot of people are searching for dropshipping.
If the business model didn’t work one bit, you wouldn’t see so much traffic going to the search term. I would say the opposite, dropshipping is growing not dying.
The trend clearly state this, not only that, you see the rise of many more dropshipping companies such as product research companies, a lot more dropshipping suppliers and other companies like BandsOffAds which provide video ads for dropshipping products.
In fact, dropshipping is said to increase by 23.4% from 2023 to 2030 according to Grand View Research.
So, will dropshipping ever die?
Dropshipping will never die, the market will just keep getting harder and harder as time goes on. But that goes with most businesses as time goes on. There will be a time where for you to compete, you’ll have to stand out pretty hard.
With dropshipping there’s a lot of hype nowadays, people from various places are promoting dropshipping. There are people promoting the business model on Youtube, Tiktok, and various other social media platforms.
Partly because it’s a decent business model for beginners but, many people also make money through getting views, selling courses, and offering dropshipping mentorship.
Not only that, Shopify and other ecommerce platforms themselves try to push dropshipping so, all of this combined you can continue to expect dropshipping to grow.
Most people who get into dropshipping won’t stick with it because they either fail or succeed so much that they move on to wholesaling or private labeling.
What Do Other Dropshippers Think About Dropshipping Dying In Future?
I conducted a survey and asked 312 dropshippers whether they think dropshipping will ever be dead or not from various places like Facebook Groups, Discord Communities and Twitter.
75% of them said, dropshipping will continue growing and still continue being a viable business model. And 20% said, it will keep getting harder but it would be worth it still. And the rest said it wouldn’t be dead but, there would be other business models that would be worth it.
Of course, this survey had both veterans who have been doing this for years and beginners. Although in my survey, I didn’t have a way to find out which ones picked which, however, it’s fair to say that most veterans are rather optimistic about the future of dropshipping since they have had the most experience.
But, has Dropshipping Gotten Harder Over The Years?
Absolutely, as more and more people know about the business model, the more competition you have.
That being said, there are also way more people buying online products than they were before.
According to a few studies, 33.3% of the worldwide population is an online shopper. That’s 1 in 3 people you see, and it’s worldwide so, that’s 2.6 billion people.
Not only that, the number of people who have access to the Internet is increasing as well. 5.18 billion people now are using the internet according to Statista.
Dropshippers will need to continuously adapt and stay on top of their game in order to see the same level of success they would see if they had it a few years ago. (But, this is the case with any low-cost business.)
Ways Dropshippers Will Need To Do To Stay Competitive
Below are 6 ways dropshippers will need to do in order to stay competitive:
1. Build A Brand
You will be forced to build a brand. Sure, you can test out products on a general store however, as the ad costs rise, you will need to improve your conversion rate. Not only that, as time goes on many people are becoming more aware of dropshippers.
And as you know, dropshippers don’t exactly have the best reputation, this is why building a brand is crucial. Branding just gives your business an identity that consumers can connect/relate with beyond just the product/service that they buy.
This makes ecommerce and dropshipping super easy but, it’s hard to become a brand.
2. Move away from Aliexpress
You can still make a profit from Aliexpress dropshipping but, we know it has gotten harder since many people know about Aliexpress.
With quality suppliers popping up like Spocket, you will need to compete with dropshippers who offer faster shipping along with a more quality product.
How are you gonna compete when your competitor is offering 3 day shipping and you are asking your customers to wait 2-4 weeks for Aliexpress shipping? Sure you can lower it with ePacket but it’s still a long time compared to 3 day shipping.
You also have to provide a quality product, and as far as Aliexpress is concerned their quality is not necessarily that good.
3. Offering Sustainable and Ethical practices
There is a large shift nowadays on the whole sustainable and environmentally friendly movement. Millennials spend about $600 billion per year and they have said in a survey that they are 70% more likely to buy from a company that focuses on environmental impact.
This is an easy way dropshippers can take advantage to set themselves as more of a brand rather than a random store.
4. Using AI and Automation Tools
We are in the age of AI, if you’re not taking advantage of automation tools, you’re missing out. You can use Jasper to save so much time creating product descriptions.
There are many other things you can use AI to really scale your business up. This is possible in many other businesses not just dropshipping.
5. Personalize and Customize
Personalization goes beyond just using your customer’s first name in their email. It goes into the product selection process, the product variants, and re-targeting, it can also be on customer support.
And as for customization, dropshippers who offer greater customization and tailoring to the customer’s needs will have a competitive edge over those who don’t.
Example: Let’s say you are a jewelry store and you offer an option to “Create Your Own Jewelry” feature, which allows customers to pick the metal and gemstone of it. You can even allow them to have a personalized engraving of their name or a message.
6. Tapping Into Niche Markets
As a dropshipper your job is not to compete with prices. This is why you want to tap into Niche markets.
Let me explain.
You have to take a solution that’s not specific and market it to a specific group of people and their particular problems.
For example, you have shoes with good grip that you can sell for a good amount of $.
However, imagine renaming that product to “Swing Stabilizing” Shoes To Add Distance and Control Of Your Swing. By doing this, you can charge a lot more for those. Of course, you would need to make it specific to the golfers like in the image above.
FAQs
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is essentially where a customer buys a product from your store and you don’t have any inventory, so you purchase that inventory for the customer right after they purchased from a supplier and the supplier will then ship it to your customer on your behalf.
What are the benefits of dropshipping?
You can easily start a store today for very cheap and start getting sales. It’s a low cost business model with lower risk that can scale to a solid amount if you’re consistent with it. (Again results are not typical since there’s also competition.)
What are the challenges of dropshipping?
Main challenge many dropshippers face is finding quality and affordable suppliers that can ship their products in a fast and timely manner. There are also other things like running out of stock and having low profit margins.
Final Thoughts
As you can see dropshipping is not dying any time soon. There’s a clear upward trend. However, it’s more crucial now more than ever to stand out as a dropshipper. I have discussed many ways of doing this but, if you are a beginner dropshipper or intermediate dropshipper looking to scale your store, I highly recommend you take a quality course.
I have personally reviewed over 80+ dropshipping courses on my site here, and I have found only one to be the #1 winner. You can check out eCom Elites by Franklin Hatchett. Now, the reason why I love this course is that it’s one of the most affordable dropshipping courses out there and it has literally over 150+ videos. Franklin’s been doing dropshipping for many many years even before it was made famous by a lot of the gurus.
Now if you are still wondering whether you should try it out or not, you should read my eCom Elites Review to make an informed decision on whether or not you should get it or not.
