ecommerce tools

Find out what are the best ecommerce tools for your dropshipping business

5 Must-Have Ecommerce Tools for Shopify Dropshippers in 2020

Shopify sellers have their hands full with running their online stores. Inventory management, marketing and other day-to-day activities take time, and that’s even before focusing on business growth.

This is why many sellers turn to dropshipping, the order fulfillment model where third-party vendors directly fulfill ecommerce orders made through the seller. Dropshipping saves e-tailers the time and hassle of storing products in their own warehouses and sending them to their customers, which makes this method an appealing option.

In fact, dropshipping has been steadily gaining popularity over the past five years, per Google Trends, with a sharp spike in March of this year, which is becomes painfully evident if one looks at the increasing number of successful shopify dropshipping stores.

As aspiring dropshippers will come to learn, the process takes a lot of research and maintenance work to be profitable. However, building a dropshipping business is made much easier with the use of software and services that can streamline operations and do the work for you.

These are five must-have ecommerce tools for Shopify dropshippers in 2020.

Statistics on Dropshipping

The effectiveness of dropshipping is questioned at least once a year, but its lasting popularity is undeniable. Research has found that approximately $85 billion in online sales were fulfilled via dropshipping in 2017, which represents 23% of the total market that year.

Since then, dropshipping has become the fulfillment model of choice for one-third of ecommerce stores. Further growth is projected as ecommerce remains on the rise.

Beyond the convenience of never handling the products, why else is dropshipping so popular? Let’s put it this way: E-tailers who fulfill orders this way have the potential to be 50% more profitable than their non-dropshipping peers.

This is because they save on bulk buying and storage expenses, and vendors prefer to work with them to sell more products. Greater total sale volume means more money in the vendor’s and the retailer’s pockets.

Oberlo

Dropshipping app Oberlo is the chosen platform for several Shopify sellers who want to launch their business quickly and efficiently.

The app compiles top trending products, so you can see sale volume and seller competition from the last 30 days (up to six months) and then easily load the products you choose from AliExpress into your Shopify store.

Once products are loaded, you can customize product photos, descriptions and headlines to fit the look of the store. Even pricing is customizable—just use Oberlo data to see the industry standard so you can run the numbers and determine how to stay competitive while being profitable.

Oberlo offers a free trial with full access to all its features, and there is a free plan for sellers who are just getting started in dropshipping.

Recommended: Check out our article on all of the top Oberlo alternatives.

AliExpress

AliExpress Marketplace is owned by the Alibaba Group and offers a wide array of products sold by Chinese and other Asia-based businesses.

The low prices attract international shoppers and ecommerce entrepreneurs alike, which is why it is a widely used source for Shopify dropshippers. Simply add the AliExpress products you’d like to sell to your Shopify store, and whenever an order is placed for one of those products, you pay the wholesale price for the item. The vendor then ships it to your customer, and your work is done.

Shopify dropshippers like using AliExpress because it is easy to experiment with selling different products, and there is very little financial commitment.

There are no upfront costs or fees, and any products that prove unprofitable can be removed from your store immediately. The only recommended investment is time.

Research the quality of products and reliability of vendors, then find high quality product photos and write optimized descriptions instead of using the canned versions already on the AliExpress product listing.

ReadyCloud

ReadyCloud gives Shopify users an easy way to connect all their sales channels, market to their customers and automate shipping and returns. After connecting the CRM to your store, ReadyCloud automatically imports your orders and creates individual customer profiles.

For dropshippers, this is a great tool that gives them insight into the experience of each customer with convenient remarketing tools and thousands of customized apps that can be integrated via Zapier for everything ranging from support to accounting, and more.

ReadyCloud works with Shopify and the major marketplaces, giving dropshippers a way to use one system to manage all their order data, customer relationships, shipping and returns. It comes with a two-week free trial and individual user licenses are $24/month thereafter.

Jungle Scout

Web application Jungle Scout is a product tracker that helps e-tailers identify top-selling products and niches with little competition. Online store owners discover new items to sell and the best keywords to attract customers who are on the hunt for those items.

You can also watch products over time to determine seasonality. In addition to product tracking, Jungle Scout offers vendor analysis, email marketing to earn customer reviews, financial reports to maximize profitability and inventory forecasting capabilities.

For Shopify dropshippers with a multichannel strategy, Jungle Scout can automate several back office tasks, as it was built for Amazon sellers. However, sellers who strictly use Shopify can still benefit from the product finder and make data-driven decisions about what to offer for their dropshipping businesses.

Spocket

Dropshipping tool Spocket is similar to the others on this list because it helps e-tailers find popular products to sell without ever having to handle the inventory themselves. What differentiates it, though, is its two advantages: order samples and US and EU-based suppliers.

Shopify dropshippers can ensure quality before selling it on their online stores by having a product sent to them by the supplier, and the products will arrive quickly because there is less distance to cover than when shipping from a supplier in Asia.

Spocket offers four plans to support growing and established businesses starting at $19/month for 25 unique products and unlimited orders.

Helpful Dropshipping Tips

As with any other business venture, the risk versus reward is important to consider. Although there is little-to-no upfront cost, it is easy to overspend on marketing and other strategies to get your business off the ground.

There is a ton of competition, and even successful dropshippers see little profit margin. This doesn’t mean every business is automatically doomed, but there are inevitable challenges with launching a dropshipping business.

Experts recommend starting with a business analysis to determine which products would fit with your target market and planned strategy. Then, conduct extensive market research to see how—and for how much—competitors are selling these products. For best results, focus on low maintenance products that are already popular or are on the rise, which you can find using the tools on this list. You can then vet suppliers and establish solid vendor relationships when you find a vendor who matches your ideals of quality and customer service.

Conclusion

For every thinkpiece declaring that dropshipping is dead, there are dozens of businesses that are thriving using this hands-off order fulfillment model. Dropshipping is a great way for Shopify sellers to save some time and stress by leaving the post-purchase activities to a third party entity, and ecommerce tools can make the process even easier.