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Is dropshipping worth it? This is a common question many people have when first getting into dropshipping or eCommerce in general.
It’s not only about if it is here to stay, but rather that the business model works so well. You’re able to sell products effectively, very easily inside your Shopify store.
In short, yes, any type of online business can be worth it, including dropshipping, if you put in the time and dedication required to grow it into something worthwhile.
1. Are You Committed?
There’s a lot of people out there trying to say how simple and easy this business model is. It even leads some to believe that dropshipping is a scam.
While dropshipping is a simple business model at its core by sending targeted traffic to your store for people to purchase your products, it’s a lot harder and not that easy in execution.
Dropshipping is simple, but not easy. One thing to consider is:
Are you willing to stay committed to this business model? Are you willing to make it work for you? Despite the hardships and dips along the way?
It takes a lot of energy to get something successful off the ground.
Ignore the Lamborghinis and gurus trying to sell you on how easy it is to start dropshipping.
It’s not going to happen overnight.
2. Spending Money on Ads
Overnight you’ll be successful with dropshipping by putting up an Instagram influencer ad…
Or a Tik Tok ad…
It’s the same nonsense strategy in countless flashy YouTube videos.
Whatever social media platform or even Facebook ads, the illusion to make all the money in the world is a joke.
These strategies are both expensive monetarily and time-wise. Consider the time it takes to reach out to an Instagram influencer or Tik Tok influencer, then waiting for a reply from 1 or 2 of the 50 you had to find and direct message.
Not only that, but it’s also fleeting because the value of the promotion only lasts for a short burst of traffic while your store link is in the bio.
Or as long as you keep paying money out to the influencer to promote your products.
Especially as a beginner, it’s very difficult to make a profit when factoring in the cost of the promotion, products, and website costs.
Don’t even get me started on the time ROI. You could make more money working a single shift in fast food at the minimum wage.
This of course is IF you follow the traditional viral methods of most content you see online about dropshipping. There are other much more sustainable methods of acquiring traffic to your online store.
3. Grow Your Own Traffic Channels
One solution to this problem is to grow your own traffic channels. This could include both paid or organic traffic, so long as it’s a more long-term approach.
The issue with so many social media advertising campaigns or marketing methods is that they’re so short term.
No momentum is built by blasting through a list of influencers with a random product that has little brand recognition whatsoever.
Instead of paying influencers to promote your dropshipping products, you could even become an influencer yourself. Or you could run paid traffic in a long term way through Google shopping ads and going after query-based marketing.
Or even doing a funnel based approach through multiple touchpoints on Facebook ads with retargeting.
You could even create videos on YouTube. Or start writing a blog.
Any way you slice it, whatever you’re good at, you can bring value by creating content around the niche you’re in.
4. What Products Can You Dropship?
Another factor to consider with dropshipping and if it’s worth it is the types of products you can dropship.
When it comes down to it, you can dropship just about any product you can think of. With a platform like Spocket, you can find quality dropshipping suppliers of US and EU products.
Or if you’d rather go the more high-ticket approach like Wayfair, you can drop ship furniture, patio decor, or even commercial restaurant equipment.
Finding high ticket drop shipping products is a little bit more work, but once you contact suppliers and become a dealer, that’s a competitive advantage over others who choose the low ticket niches where the products are more widely available.
It all comes down to preference on which method you’d rather go with, or what matches an audience you may have already built traffic around.
5. It’s Going To Take Time
No matter how many gurus want to sell you on quick and easy dropshipping is… it’s going to take a lot of time, hard work, and dedication to build out a real sustainable online business.
Facebook ads are hard to be profitable from the start, Instagram influencer promotions are fleeting, and influencers will only continue to charge more money for shoutouts. To constantly be looking for new shoutouts will run dry in a niche and is not a great model to run with.
If you put out valuable query-based content or paid traffic channels (as long as it’s maintained), that can last on the internet for years upon years so long as it still a valuable resource.
Imagine that you can have traffic coming from the work you put in years ago, even 5 to 10 years in some cases, still getting you sales.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, there is no one size fits all answer to this question. It comes down to personal decisions if you find it a worthwhile endeavor.
Like any business, dropshipping involves time and resources to get started without any guarantee of success.
Whether or not dropshipping is worth it is something to consider on how you build the business and understand that it’s not as easy as it may seem.
