Dropshipping 6 min read
16 Jul 2024

What Makes A Good Dropshipping Product?

What Makes A Good Dropshipping Product?

At one point, while building your dropshipping online store and looking for business ideas, you must have asked yourself...

What are the best dropshipping products to sell today? What makes a good dropshipping product?

And you might have easily answered...

"Well, the one that makes you the most money, of course!"

And that's a good point to start with. It's where your product ideas start to grow.

But for your online store to succeed, you need to expand more on the products you can dropship and learn how to find the best dropshipping source.

Sometimes, it can be hard to identify the best products to dropship for you precisely. The best dropshipping products go beyond their physical appearance.

It's not just yoga mats, fashion accessories, and ring lights.

You also need to be aware of various aspects, such as customer demand, value proposition, Google trends, and exposure to social media channels, for your dropshipping store.

Sounds overwhelming, eh?

Take a deep breath, and don't worry! In this blog post, you'll learn the qualities you need to look out for to boost your dropshipping business. And have a successful dropshipping store!

Before we go deeper, let's clear out one thing...

Why Choose A Dropshipping Business?

Why Choose A Dropshipping Business?

News flash: Dropshipping is one of the most lucrative and easiest ways to enter ecommerce.

It's a business model allowing you to find and sell products without worrying about carrying inventory.

And it's so different from the traditional ecommerce model. The traditional one requires you to source products you sell in bulk. Then spend even more on storage until a customer places an order.

Dropshipping does it differently. You only order from your supplier after you actually secure a customer's order.

Plus, the startup costs of a drop shipping business are affordable, and the barriers to entry are comfortably low for aspiring e-commerce entrepreneurs.

But that also means that competition can be very stiff. And sometimes, the margins are low.

Starting a dropshipping business is easy. Making it successful is difficult. (Especially how to find dropshipping products that sell!)

To help you further, let's move on to...

The Important Elements Of Dropshipping Products

The Important Elements Of Dropshipping Products

Most dropshipping business owners have a glaring problem. It's that they don't know what category of products to focus on.

And this is understandable! There's a wide range of available products to sell online. It's tempting to pick a product based on personal interest or passion. And sometimes, its business potential is set aside.

However, finding the best dropshipping products comes down to two core elements:

  1. Knowing the attributes to look for in a dropshipping product.
  2. Knowing how to assess how much demand a product carries.

Keep reading on to find out more about these!

Dig deeper and check out...

So what makes a good dropshipping product?

1. Not Too Expensive

Not Too Expensive

This is not exactly a secret... You need to sell as many dropshipping products as you can with minimal effort. That makes your online store as profitable as possible.

So, it's important to thoroughly consider how much pre-sale support you need to offer—just enough to entice potential customers to make a purchase.

Here's how it works... The higher the price, the more likely your customer will want to speak to a sales representative. They want to make sure that the product is exactly what they want. And of course, to also ensure you're the real deal.

For instance, most consumers have no qualms about ordering a $200 product online without talking to someone.

But prices that have a coma in them ($1,000 and above)... most of us will want to hear a reassuring human voice first.

Bottom line? If you want to sell high-value products, make sure of one thing. That you are able to offer high-quality pre-sale support. Preferably through the phone, too. And make sure that your margins are wide enough to cover this cost.

That's what makes something one of the best dropshipping products.

Speaking of cost...

2. Comes With A Solid MAP Policy

Remember what I told you about dropshipping having low barriers to entry?

That means it's usually riddled with stiff, crazy competition. That often breaks into price wars. Retailers try to undercut each other out of the market.

To combat this, dropshipping suppliers imposed a MAP Policy. It stands for Minimum Advertised Price policy for their products.

What does that entail?

It requires all retailers to resell their products at or above certain price points. It's to guarantee a certain minimum markup. And of course, to ensure that merchants can make a reasonable profit on their products.

That sounds like a good idea, right?

Here's what you need to do.

Seek out a niche where suppliers enforce MAP pricing. 

Ideally, at a 100% minimum markup. You'll be able to compete on factors beyond just prices. You can now include added value and marketing strength.

Added value, you say?

Make sure that your dropshipping products also...

3. Has Room For You To Add Unique Value

I'll tell you what you need to seriously consider when choosing a product for your ecommerce store...

Consider a product that you have actual experience using. A product that's known to have many confusing components. Or requires technical setup or installation. Or is highly customizable?

Why?

Because this provides an opportunity for you. You can leverage this information gap as a competitive advantage.

This way, you can set yourself apart from the competition. And you can also charge a premium price for your product. Carefully explain the technical aspects of your product. As well as how prospective customers can make the most of it.

Keep this in mind...

Entrepreneurship is all about solving people's problems, and that applies to e-commerce as much as it does to brick-and-mortar.

And you know what's one of the most effective ways to build a successful dropshipping business?

It's providing expert advice, tips, and guidance within your niche.

Take this for an example. You're a professional photographer/videographer. You can sell various types of cameras online. How?

Professional Photographer/Videographer

Teach people how to shoot with the cameras you sell and help them choose the most appropriate camera for their needs. Your experience and expertise will be your products' key selling points.

It all boils down to this...

There are two forms of content for adding value to complex and confusing product categories. These are:

  • In-depth, comprehensive buyers' guides packed with thorough product descriptions
  • Well-detailed installation and setup guides. Specifically covering common user mistakes

You can deliver these through either text or video format. Or even using a combination of both.

Another quality to look for is that it should be...

4. Locally Hard To Find

When people can't find what they need at their location, do you know where they go? That's right... online.

The point? Sell products that are hard to find locally.

For instance, most consumers usually go to their local hardware store for tools such as hoses or gardening tools. However, uncommon things such as CBD-infused dog food or bouncy house castles are not found on any corner.

Customers usually search online for these kinds of things. As long as you don't get too particular, then your sales will highly likely increase.

Lastly...

5. Add Accessories That Sell

Let's go back to quality #1. Low-cost items usually are the most common products that sell. And accessories also usually range at lower prices.

Get this... Have you ever shopped for something online that costs a lot? And then on the suggested products, do you see an accessory for your purchase? You hit "Add To Checkout" immediately. It doesn't cost that much, anyway.

Do you see how that all worked out?

Let me give you an example to make it clearer. I needed a new phone, so I headed straight to Apple's website. The new model is extremely expensive, but then I saw the iPhone case among the suggested products. I said to myself, why not?

It's easier to get one now than to search for it in other online stores.

The lesson? Add accessories as recommended products to add value to your ecommerce business. And in turn, it can increase your sales!

And those are the 5 Must-Have Qualities you should look for in your dropshipping products!

Worried about demand? Keep reading to find out...

How To Measure Demand For Dropshipping Products?

How To Measure Demand For Dropshipping Products?

Without enough demand, it doesn't matter if your product has all the above attributes. It won't sell!

Google trends are always changing, after all.

So, here are the top three criteria to consider besides Google trends. It can help assess the demand levels of your dropshipping products:

Ranked Among Amazon’s Top 5,000

Let's not forget...

You need to choose a product that can generate year-round sales.

Yes, seasonal products are great for making extra income. But they shouldn't be the backbone of your ecommerce business.

Amazon's sales data, as the world's e-commerce giant, is a great resource. You can figure out which products are in high demand throughout the year.

So, aim to resell a product similar to items in Amazon's top 5,000 Best Seller Rank.

Up next...

Searched For At Least 100,000 Times Per Month

One of the most reliable ways to measure how interested people are in a dropshipping product? Search engine traffic.

This is where common SEO tools come in handy. Think of Google Adwords and Google Trends.

Use Google Trends to find out the total of the searches for your dropshipping products. Then, Google Adwords to find the top three keywords for your product.

The sweet spot you should be looking out for in Google Trends? A search volume of 100,000 searches. Below that? There's simply not enough demand to make any meaningful profits. And beyond that number on Google Trends, there's too much competition to survive.

After Google Trends, the last criterion is...

Trending On Social Shopping Sites

Albeit not as exact as Google trends, this is still a great way to assess demand. Searching social shopping sites such as Pinterest, Wanelo, and Etsy is still helpful for product research.

These sites combine the power of both ecommerce and social media. They create vibrant communities of online shoppers. And these customers are the ones who constantly review, recommend, and share trending products.

It's basically word-of-mouth marketing on steroids!

You should also consider crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter. They're a good way to find out which dropshipping products are likely to be popular in the future.

You can quickly identify products that customers have started raving about. Then, orient your ecommerce business towards fulfilling that growing demand.

 

Now that you've learned a lot, it's high time to...

Keep Building Your Own Successful Dropshipping Business!

Overall, dropshipping offers great potential for success.

The key ingredient? Choosing the best items to dropship from the right dropshipping suppliers.

Another important thing to keep in mind... What works for others may not necessarily work for you. So, you should focus on figuring out which path is best for your particular ecommerce store. And look to others for inspiration.

Here's the kicker: It's not only dropshipping products that you should focus on.

Sure, you found the perfect dropshipping product.

But your potential customers are still not buying.

Why? Because your ecommerce site is super slow. And dated. And overall hard to deal with.

Thankfully, Debutify is here to rescue you.

Debutify is not your typical Shopify theme. It's also THE ultimate Profit Optimization Partner.

It's armed with over 50+ Add-Ons. Not only does it optimize your store's appearance... It also optimizes your conversions, AOV, and profits!

So what are you waiting for?

Increase Your Ecommerce Sales With Debutify — Today!

14-Day Trial. 1-Click Installation. No Credit Card Required.

In conclusion, when considering what makes a good dropshipping product, it's essential to focus on factors like affordability, unique value proposition, demand indicators, and accessory potential. By carefully selecting high-value dropshipping products that align with these qualities, you can set the foundation for a successful dropshipping business.

Ricky Hayes
Author

Ricky Hayes

Ricky Hayes is the CEO at Debutify. He is a passionate entrepreneur running multiple businesses, marketing agencies, and mentoring programs.

Share post