Hands-free Profit: Create a Dropshipping Store in 6 Steps

Want to step into eCommerce without investing big? Here’s your chance!

The global dropshipping market is booming and is projected to reach a staggering $2.2 trillion by 2033!

The industry offers a unique opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to launch a successful online store without having to worry about inventory or delivery.

With WooCommerce dropshipping, you can build your dream store, focus on customer acquisition and brand building, while your supplier handles everything else.

Interested?

Here’s what we cover in this post:

• What does dropshipping mean in 2024?
• How to find the right niche and product
• How to build a WooCommerce dropshipping store from the ground up
• How to choose the right supplier
• How to optimize checkout to boost revenue

Let’s build a WooCommerce dropshipping store!

Dropshipping vs eCommerce vs Print on Demand

Before we get building, we think it’s important to understand the different types of eCommerce.

Let’s take a quick look at the key differences between dropshipping, traditional eCommerce, and Print on Demand (POD) in the table below.

Feature	Dropshipping	Ecommerce	Print on Demand
Inventory management	No inventory required	Requires managing your own inventory	No inventory required. Products are printed on demand.
Product selection	Wide variety of products	Full control over product selection and sourcing	Offer custom-designed or niche-specific products
Investment	Low upfront investment	High upfront investment for inventory and store	Low upfront investment
Order fulfillment	Supplier fulfills and ships orders	You fulfill and ship orders	Printer fulfills and ships orders
Profit margins	Can be lower due to competition and supplier costs	Potentially higher margins with more control over costs	Margins vary based on product type and customization
Marketing and branding	Requires strong marketing to stand out	Requires strong marketing. More control over brand identity and customer experience	Requires strong marketing to stand out
Scalability	Relatively easy to scale with minimal overhead	Scaling requires managing increased inventory and logistics	Relatively easy to scale with minimal overhead

How Dropshipping Works in 2024 and Beyond

There are over 26.5 million online stores around the world, and a big chunk of them are dropshipping businesses! That’s a lot of competition.

Dropshipping is a great way to get started selling online, but to truly succeed in today’s fast-changing market (especially in 2024!) you need a plan.

Here’s why just setting up a basic store isn’t enough:

Standing Out in a Crowded Market

To make your WooCommerce dropshipping store successful, you need to find a niche and make it clear why your store is different.

Imagine you want to sell shoes online. That’s a broad niche with a lot of competition!

If you focus on selling only athletic shoes for women with wide feet, that’s a much more specific niche.

Here’s how to make your store different:

• Sell high-quality products: People are more likely to come back if they love what they buy from you.
• Provide amazing customer service: Answer questions quickly, handle problems smoothly, and go the extra mile to keep customers happy.
• Build a strong brand: Create a memorable logo, use consistent colors and fonts across your store, and make sure your brand image reflects what you’re all about.

Marketing Beyond Products

Even though you have a great product, listing them on your dropshipping store and calling it a day won’t cut it.

Think about it like this: if everyone at a party is wearing the same outfit, you’ll only notice the person with a unique and stylish look, right?

That’s what you want for your store. You need to stand out from the crowd with a strong brand voice.

Here are some ways to do that:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): This is like putting up a big, bright sign online so people can easily find you when they’re searching for things you sell.
• Targeted social media campaigns: Imagine if you could show your cool shoes only to people who are interested in athletic shoes for women with wide feet (remember the example from before?). Social media lets you target your ads to exactly the right audience.
• Paid advertising to drive traffic: Sometimes, you need a little extra boost to attract people to your store. Paid advertising on platforms like Google or social media can help you reach a wider audience quickly.

Profitability Strategies

New dropshippers often pick super cheap products to sell, but that can be a trap.

Imagine selling phone cases for only $2 each. After you pay for marketing and everything else, there’s not much profit left.

You would have to sell many thousands of them to make a living, which isn’t always sustainable.

We recommend focusing on making more profit on each sale instead of just selling a lot of cheap stuff.

There are a few ways to do it (more on this later):

• Upselling: Let’s say someone buys a phone case from you. You can offer them a more expensive case with extra features in case they might be tempted to spend a little more.
• Cross-selling: If someone buys a pair of athletic shoes, you could recommend socks or workout clothes (cross-sells) that go well with their shoes.
• Curated product bundles: Put together bundles of products that people would naturally buy together, like a “beach day bundle” with a beach towel, sunscreen, and sunglasses. You can often charge a little more for a bundle than you would for the individual items.

Building for the Future

While dropshipping offers a great way to start a business, down the line you might explore:

• Holding some inventory of your best-selling products: This can help you improve shipping times, especially if your supplier is located overseas. Faster shipping can lead to happier customers and more repeat business.
• Partnering with a local fulfillment center: This can be a good option if you don’t have the space to store your own inventory. A fulfillment center can store, package, and ship products for you, allowing you to focus on running your online store.

Start WooCommerce Dropshipping in 6 Steps

Now you know how dropshipping works, it’s time to walk you through starting a WooCommerce dropshipping store.

If we were to build a dropshipping store for ourselves, we would follow the same path.

We’ll kick things off with the most important task, finding a niche.

Step 1: Finding a Niche and Selecting Products

Start with what excites you! Your hobbies and interests are a goldmine for niche ideas.

Are you a camping enthusiast? Maybe a techie or beauty aficionado?

A niche you’re passionate about makes building your store and marketing fun.

For instance, a love for camping could lead you to target the outdoor gear niche.

Don’t get carried away with your passion though, research is key!

Make sure there’s enough of a market and identify trending as well as less competitive products.

Tools like Google Trends can show you search trends over time.

Social listening tools reveal hot topics within your niche. They can help you analyze competitors and show you the products they have and how they position themselves.

By using specific queries with the insights you gather, you can easily identify what products have potential within your niche.

Next, it’s crucial to know your target audience. Who are you selling to? Demographics, needs, and buying habits are key factors to consider.

By building a buyer persona, you can tailor your product selection and marketing strategies to resonate directly with your ideal customer.

If you want start real quick, here are some popular dropshipping niches in the US:

• Bicycles
• Game room equipment
• Home bar supplies and equipment
• Home gym equipment
• Kids’ workspace furniture
• Kitchenware and supplies
• Outdoor furniture
• Outdoor kitchens
• Pet supplies
• Water recreation equipment
• Wine refrigerators

Of course, you don’t have to use any of these. If you have a hobby, passion, or particular expertise, that’s the niche you should choose!

Next, let’s dive into the technical aspects of setting up your dropshipping store.

Step 2: Set Up Your Online Store

With your niche and product ideas in mind, the next step is to create your online store.

Let’s begin with setting up your WooCommerce dropshipping store.

2.1 Buy Domain and Hosting

Registering a domain name and buying a web hosting service are the essential building blocks for your website.

Think of it like this:

• Domain registration: A unique address on the internet representing your business online (similar to our website address, www.wpastra.com).
• Web hosting: Web hosting provides the space to store website data, including images, code, and content.

A domain name typically costs around $10-$20 per year, while web hosting can range from $48 to $120 annually.

These are two of the upfront costs you’ll need to consider for setting up your WooCommerce dropshipping store.

The good news is, you’re not limited to one company. You can purchase your domain name from one place and your web hosting from another, or you can choose a service provider that offers both.

It’s entirely up to you!

Pro Tip: It’s usually easier to set up a website if you buy both the domain and hosting from them at the same time. But you don’t have to.

Here are some of the best web hosts and domain registrars you can explore for your dropshipping store:

If you ask us, SiteGround and Hostinger are popular choices, known for their performance and customer support.

Domain Registrars	Web hosts
– Google Domains – NameCheap – NameSilo	– BlueHost – SiteGround – Hostinger

2.2 Install WordPress and WooCommerce

Next, you need to install WordPress and WooCommerce to set up your online store.

There are a number of ways to install WordPress. The most common method is to use one-click installation offered by most web hosts.

For instance, if you use SiteGround, follow these steps:

1. Log into your SiteGround dashboard, click on Install & Manage.
2. Select WordPress and complete the easy step-by-step installation process.
3. You will be prompted to provide a username and password. Keep them safe, as you’ll need them to log in after installation.

Once the installation is done, you can access your WordPress dashboard by using the login credentials you just saved. If you prefer to use any other web host, the process is similar.

New to WordPress? Here’s a list of essential plugins to boost website performance and security.

You can choose to install plugins now or after installing WooCommerce.

Let’s install WooCommerce.

Inside your WordPress dashboard, head over to Plugins > Add New. Search for WooCommerce. Install and activate it.

One good thing about WooCommerce is its step-by-step installation wizard that makes setting it up a breeze.

If you need a little hand, here is a complete tutorial that explains how to install and set up WooCommerce.

Once installed, you’ll notice a set of new links on the left-hand side of your WordPress dashboard.

As setting up takes a little time, we’ll assume you followed the guide above before moving on.

Once done, it’s time to design your store!

Step 3: Design Your Store: Make It Shine

The success of your WooCommerce store depends on the user experience as much as products and pricing.

A positive user experience is crucial for converting visitors into customers and to keep them coming back.

When you install WordPress, it creates a website for you with a basic layout and limited features.

However, WordPress is extremely flexible and allows you to transform your website however you want.

All you need is a WordPress theme.

3.1 Select A Theme

Another thing we like about WordPress is that it offers plenty of free and premium themes.

Most popular themes come with free versions, often with premium upgrades offering additional features and customization options.

One fantastic example is Astra, a theme that shines in performance, features, and scalability. It ticks all the boxes you need from a WooCommerce compatible theme.

Here are some of its key features:

• Fully customizable
• Superfast and lightweight
• Boost WooCommerce with built-in features

Installing Astra is a breeze. Head over to Appearance > Themes and click on Add New.

Search for Astra, install and activate it.

You can customize the layout, header, footer, fonts, colors, and everything else you see on the page.

Or you can use a quick route by importing a professionally designed Starter Template. Many templates are designed for WooCommerce stores while all can be customized for them.

3.2 Choose a Starter Template

You can access Astra’s Starter Templates library from the Astra menu.

Click the Dashboard menu and the Starter Templates tab at the top.

An alternate method to activate Starter Templates is by going to Plugins > Add New and searching for Starter Templates.

Once activated, head over to Appearance > Starter Templates and make a few choices on the screen that appears next.

If you plan to use a page builder to customize your website, you can choose one here.

You’ll also have two primary options: AI Website Builder or Classic Starter Templates.

Classic templates include over 250 professional designs, including both free and premium options.

Premium templates are marked with a Premium tab and require the Astra Essential or Business Toolkit.

Since we’re setting up a WooCommerce dropshipping store, let’s search for the keyword ‘Store’ and choose a template.

Importing a template takes just a few seconds. You can preview it and see how different pages look before you actually import it.

You also have the option to change the color scheme, fonts, and add a logo.

Here’s a video that explains everything about customizing your design with Astra.

Note: Starter Templates allow you to change templates any number of times you like. Whenever you need to change it, follow the steps above and let the wizard manage everything for you.

Step 4: WooCommerce Dropshipping Essentials

By now, you should have a functioning WooCommerce store. The next steps involve finding a dropshipping supplier and adding a dropshipping plugin to make everything work seamlessly.

Let’s walk you through each step so you can start taking orders!

4.1: Find A Reliable Dropshipper

Remember we discussed finding your niche and products? Now is the time to find suppliers for those products.

As you depend on their inventory, product quality, and supply chain, it’s crucial to work with reputable vendors.

We’ll provide a list of recommended suppliers, but we’ll also equip you with techniques to find suppliers on your own.

This will be helpful if you need to expand your supplier network in the future.

Here are some platforms you can use to hunt for the suppliers:

• Online directories: Explore directories like SaleHoo, Doba, or Worldwide Brands. They list verified dropshipping suppliers across various niches.
• Industry publications and events: Look for industry publications or attend trade shows relevant to your niche.
• Supplier websites: Research individual supplier websites. Look for information on product quality, minimum order quantities (MOQs), shipping options, pricing structures, and customer support policies.

Once you’ve looked through these resources, make a list of the potential suppliers you want to work with and evaluate them before making a final decision.

Here’s how you can evaluate suppliers:

• Product quality: Request product samples (if possible) to assess quality and ensure they align with your brand image.
• Shipping and delivery times: Consider shipping costs, delivery times, and whether they meet your target market’s expectations.
• Minimum order quantities (MOQs): Can you meet their minimum order requirements without getting stuck with excess inventory?
• Pricing and profit margins: Compare pricing structures and calculate potential profit margins to ensure your store’s viability.
• Customer support: Evaluate customer support responsiveness and how they handle returns or product issues.
• Payment methods and terms: Make sure their payment methods are secure and the terms are favorable.

Now you know how to evaluate suppliers, here’s a list of suppliers to consider:

• AliExpress: We put AliExpress at number one because it’s the perfect platform for beginners due to its low entry barriers. No membership fee or minimum order quantity means less financial risk and more freedom to experiment. As the world’s largest online marketplace, AliExpress offers millions of products at competitive prices, making it a goldmine for finding diverse dropshippable items. However, be aware that shipping times can be longer compared to domestic suppliers due to overseas locations.
• DHGate: Another Chinese eCommerce platform offering products to small and medium retailers. It’s a good option for finding a broad product selection, but similar to AliExpress, factor in potentially longer shipping times.
• Doba: Connects retailers and dropshippers quickly, but operates on a subscription-based model (starting at $24.99/month). They offer a 30-day trial period.
• SaleHoo: A robust online community for dropshippers with over 8,000+ trusted suppliers (subscription-based model).
• Sunrise Wholesale Merchandise: Wholesaler partnered with leading dropshippers, offering over 20,000 products. There’s a 7-day trial before having to pay.
• Wholesale2B: Integrates products from various dropshipping suppliers into one account. They handle order fulfillment and returns for you (membership required).
• Worldwide Brands: One of the oldest platforms connecting wholesalers and dropshippers with retailers.
• Wholesale Central: Directory that connects wholesale buyers with suppliers and products (facilitates direct communication with suppliers).

This list provides a starting point for your dropshipping supplier research. We’re sure you can find others.

4.2: Add a Dropshipping Plugin

Now you’ve identified your ideal dropshipper, it’s time to find the plugin that connects your WooCommerce store to their platform.

Here’s what to consider when choosing a WooCommerce dropshipping plugin:

• Supplier compatibility: Ensure the plugin integrates effortlessly with your chosen supplier.
• Automation features: Prioritize plugins that automate tasks like product import, inventory updates, and order fulfillment.
• Ease of use: Consider your technical experience. If you’re a beginner, choose a user-friendly plugin with clear instructions and tutorials.
• Features: Evaluate the plugin’s functions. Does it offer features you need (e.g., bulk editing, currency conversion)?
• Cost: Compare pricing models (freemium vs. paid) and choose the option that aligns with your budget and needs.

Here are 5 popular WooCommerce dropshipping plugins to consider:

• Spocket (Freemium): Spocket is our top choice for WooCommerce dropshipping stores. It stands out with its focus on high-quality products sourced from the US and EU, offering faster shipping times. The user-friendly platform simplifies product imports and management. Its competitive pricing, reliable shipping, and helpful customer support make it a strong option for dropshippers seeking a seamless experience. Plus it also works with AliExpress.
• AliDropship Woo (Free with paid plans): Ideal for AliExpress dropshipping with automation features.
• WooDropship (Freemium): Easy to use, works with multiple suppliers (not just AliExpress).
• DSers – Dropshipping automation plugin ($49): Feature-rich for established dropshippers.
• Easync – Auto order fulfill dropshipping plugin ($47): Streamlines order fulfillment.

Remember, this is just a starting point. Research each plugin thoroughly to ensure it aligns with your specific needs.

Want to explore even more options?

We’ve created a comprehensive list of 15 WooCommerce dropshipping plugins to help you find the perfect fit.

Step 5: Set Up Payment Methods

To accept payments, online stores need a payment gateway. Some popular payment gateway providers include PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, Skrill, 2Checkout, CC Avenues, and Authorize.Net.

Setting up a payment gateway is part of configuring WooCommerce, but it’s important enough to cover here.

When you choose a payment gateway, consider:

• Secure payments: This builds trust and encourages repeat business.
• Payout time frame: How quickly will you receive your earnings?
• Ease of integration: How easily can you set up the payment gateway with your store?

To set up a payment method in WooCommerce, you need addons specific for payments. Two popular methods are PayPal and Stripe.

It’s easy to set up both with Stripe Payments For WooCommerce and PayPal Payments For WooCommerce.

We’ve also created step by step guides to help you set up PayPal and Stripe on your store:

Step 6: IMPORTANT! Optimize Checkout

Imagine this: a customer excitedly fills their cart with amazing products from your dropshipping store.

They’re ready to buy, but then… they’re confused by your checkout page. Frustrated, they abandon their cart, leaving you with a lost sale.

This scenario is all too common, but the good news is, it’s preventable!

Checkout optimization can significantly improve your conversion rates and boost your dropshipping business.

Which is where CartFlows comes in.

It’s a powerful sales funnel builder designed specifically for WooCommerce stores. It goes beyond just a basic checkout page by allowing you to create a streamlined conversion experience.

Think of it like a smooth journey that guides customers effortlessly towards completing their purchase.

CartFlows offers several features to help you achieve this:

• One-click upsells and downsells: Increase average order value by offering tempting one-click upgrades or suggesting relevant addon products during checkout.
• Order bumps: Make the most of last-minute buying decisions by strategically showcasing complementary items customers can add with a click.
• A/B Split testing: Not sure which checkout design or offer resonates best with your audience? CartFlows lets you test different variations and identify the winning formula for maximum conversions.
• Conversion templates and checkout editor: Save time with pre-built, customizable templates for your checkout page. You can also fine-tune the checkout form itself, remove unnecessary fields and optimize for a frictionless experience.
• Dynamic offers: Take order bumps and upsells to the next level. CartFlows lets you personalize offers based on cart contents, making them even more relevant and tempting.
• Cart abandonment recovery: Don’t let abandoned carts become lost sales. CartFlows helps you identify customers who leave carts behind and provides tools to win them back with targeted recovery campaigns.

By implementing these features and creating a smooth checkout experience, you’ll see more customers completing their purchases.

Check out this CartFlows video tutorial:

Want to learn more about CartFlows? Here’s a deep-dive review to help you decide if it’s the right tool.

Conclusion

Want to skip the hassle of inventory and shipping for your online store?

Dropshipping lets you focus on building a brand and attracting customers, while a supplier handles the rest.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Find a niche you’re passionate about and research trending products.
2. Set up your WooCommerce dropshipping store.
3. Partner with a reliable supplier who offers quality products and fast shipping.
4. Make checkout a breeze to avoid losing customers at the last minute.

With dropshipping, you can turn your online store dream into reality.

Remember, focus on building trust and providing a great customer experience for success!

Which type of dropshipping store do you want to start? Tell us in the comments!