Are you wondering if dropshipping is still profitable today? Even in 2024? Well, don't worry. You're definitely not the only one who questions themself this.
In this article, I will go over everything why dropshipping is still profitable or why it's not. Are you ready to find out if this business model is finally dead? Let's go!
Yes, dropshipping is still profitable in 2024. This question came every year, and will probably come in 2025 as well. Yes, a lot of people are starting dropshipping stores now, but if you got the correct mindset (that you're building a real business and not a "make quick money store"), then you're having a head start already!
If that sounds good to you, then let's get started:
What is dropshipping and why do people do it?
Let’s start by understanding what starting a dropshipping business means. I will explain it really simple to you:
- You got an online store where you sell products, but you don’t have any of these products in your inventory, or in your house.
- When someone places an order on your dropshipping store, then you place that same order directly with your dropshipping supplier. Don’t worry. There are a lot of apps out there that help you with automating this. For example, DSers, or these 14 DSers alternatives.
- Then your dropshipping supplier will handle the rest. Think about preparing the package and sending the order straight to your customer.
- Now your customer will receive the package straight from your dropshipping supplier, and you never touched the product in between!
To make dropshipping even more clear for you, take a look at our infographic below:
The most common question people have now is, won’t my customer know that the package didn’t come from me?
For example, aren’t there any advertisements or recipes from the supplier in the package?
No.
You just need to make sure that your supplier accepts dropshipping and blind dropshipping.
You can learn more about blind dropshipping by reading this article here.
Alright, but why are people interested in dropshipping? And why do people want to dropship?
Most people that are researching about dropshipping, and want to start/are running a dropshipping store do this for one or more of these reasons:
- Earning more money. If done right, then dropshipping could earn you a lot. You will see some success stories at the end of this article!
- Being their own boss. Some people don’t like to work for a boss, so they search for other ways to earn an income.
- Location-independent work. A dropshipping store can be run from just about anywhere with an internet connection. As long as you can communicate with suppliers and customers easily, you can run and manage your business. This is also called being a Digital Nomad.
If you’re interested in learning more about dropshipping, then I suggest reading this article written by me:
Dropshipping for Beginners: What Is It & How to Start Today?
Is dropshipping still alive in 2024? Are people still using this business model?
Let's see if dropshipping is still alive in 2024 by checking Google Trends.
This way, we can check if people are still Googling the term "dropshipping"
This is what Google Trends gives for the United States for the past 5 years:
And Worldwide for the past 5 years:
And to make it even easier for you; here is Worldwide with the past 12 months:
Do you see how popular dropshipping is?
But does this mean that dropshipping is saturated in 2024?
No, not always.
Curious? Let's find out more:
Is dropshipping saturated in 2024?
A lot of people talk about how dropshipping is saturated.
And that's partly true.
Do you know why?
Because, as you can see in Google Trends above, a lot of people know about dropshipping.
Dropshipping is one of the easiest business models to start with.
Let's add laziness to this one.
What do you think happens when a lot of people know about dropshipping and know how to open their own store, and 70% (just an example) don't put any effort into their dropshipping store.
What do you think?
I call that a recipe for failure!
The reason that everyone can open a dropshipping store doesn't mean dropshipping is saturated!
You don't know half how many bad dropshipping stores are out there. See, for example, these 5 bad dropshipping store examples.
Another reason why people do this is that these "dropshipping gurus" advertise dropshipping as "super easy" and "easily make an extra $10,000 this month".
Well...
Let me burst those dreams for you; I’m sorry…
A lot of so-called “gurus” talk about this, but do you know what they all have in common?
They got a course (and most are not even that cheap)!
Maybe you should buy their course and follow them step-by-step to get rich, right?
Please don’t!
Here is a great video about a so-called "guru":
What do you think happens to these dropshipping stores when their owner finds out it isn't a get rich overnight store?
I guess there is a chance that they quit now, right?
If you want to learn more about these "gurus, and why they sell courses, then I suggest reading the article I linked to below:
Are Paid Dropshipping Courses Worth the Money in 2024?
Plus, if you're interested in learning more about if dropshipping is saturated in 2024 or not, then check out this big article here.
So what to do to make your dropshipping store profitable? Let's find out:
How do you make your dropshipping store profitable in 2024?
Now you know that a lot of people know how to start dropshipping and that a lot of people are probably dropshipping right at this very moment that you're reading this.
Let's figure out what to do with your dropshipping store to not fall in the "saturated" dropshipping space.
You will need to start treating it as a real business in order to succeed. (Which it is!)
Before this, people could just open an online store on an ecommerce platform like Shopify, put some trending products in it that are not sold in retail stores (so they have that “wow I never saw that before” factor) and boom they made sales and probably profit as well!
Here is an example of a product with the "wow" factor:
But nowadays more and more people are getting to know the dropshipping business model.
For an example, you can read this news article here where a woman ordered a $70 hoodie of a store she saw on her Facebook feed, but then later found out it was much cheaper on Aliexpress.
It’s an article on The Wall Street Journal. So if you don’t have an account there, then I suggest going to this Reddit post.
So, treat your dropshipping as a real business.
But what else?
Follow me below on 5 things that you need to keep in mind to make your dropshipping store profitable in 2024!
1. Put your mindset right
Let's start by putting your mindset right!
I talked above about how dropshipping courses are not worth it.
So, what can you do instead?
You can learn dropshipping for free!
See, for example, my blog posts below that will give you a lot of resources to learn dropshipping for free!
And secondly, let’s change your mindset to the correct mindset you should have when you want to open a dropshipping store.
You need to go from making some quick money to helping your customers have the best experience they ever had when shopping online. And then, of course, you can still make money!
Instead of thinking, you will be rich the next day; you will need to start treating your dropshipping store like a real business (which it is)!
You will need to start looking at what your customers want and not what your pockets want.
Put your time and effort into it instead of opening a store in a few hours, importing a few products, and starting advertisements already without trying to be unique at all.
If you're interested in learning more about having the right mindset before opening your dropshipping store, then check out these six tips here.
But how to be unique with your dropshipping store?
Let's find out:
2. Be unique
This is for you in case you're not yet impressed on why being unique and "taking it slow" is better than opening a dropshipping store in a few hours and looking like 70% of all the other dropshipping stores out there.
Do you see how popular dropshipping is in 2024 and before?
Everyone wants a piece of it because so many of these “gurus” advertised it as an easy way to earn money online.
But do you know what the sad thing is?
Most of them don’t put any effort into their dropshipping store.
Just like I said above, they open their store, import some products without changing anything and start advertising.
This means that a lot of people that are dropshipping are selling the same products with the same information they got from maybe even the same dropshipping suppliers.
Of course, having the same product is not a bad thing yet, but to also have the same images, descriptions, and so on will definitely not help you grow your online business!
So, how to be more unique than other dropshipping stores out there?
First of all, don’t try to copy everything to save some time!
And secondly, if you want to learn all the ways to be more unique than your dropshipping competition, then I suggest reading this article!
I will go over all the things that you can put more effort into to be more unique.
3. Think about your customers
Customer service is one of the most important things that you need to do at your dropshipping store.
And more importantly, you need to do it right!
Start thinking about your customers first, instead of your own pockets. This will definitely help you kickstart your dropshipping store and will help you keep it alive as well!
You don’t want any bad reviews, trust me. (Although, it can have its benefits if you handle it correctly)
But I know you’re probably skeptical.
That’s why I got some examples below for you.
You will see what will happen with your review or Facebook page after giving bad customer service to your customers.
Status dropshipping store: Offline
Status dropshipping store: Offline
Do you see the trend?
Well, if you’re worried now or if you want to see some more examples of dropshipping stores who have bad customer service (or not at all), then I suggest reading Customer Service for Dropshipping Stores – Complete Guide! written by me!
4. Build a brand
Branding a dropshipping store gives you the opportunity to create a long-term ecommerce store.
Branding is also great to increase the percentage of customers returning to your store.
The opportunity of a branded dropshipping store is great in 2024 because not everyone wants to put this amount of time into their business.
If you want to learn more about why branding is so important when dropshipping, then I suggest reading my other articles below:
- Dropshipping Branding: What Is It & Why Should You Care?
- 7+ Amazing Tips to Brand your Dropshipping Store in 2024!
5. More ways to beat your dropshipping competition and be profitable with dropshipping in 2024
If you want to learn more ways to beat your dropshipping competition and be profitable with dropshipping in 2024, then I suggest reading the articles I linked to below.
- 7 Tips to Beat the Competition of Your Dropshipping Store in 2024!
- 12 Reasons Why Most People Fail With Dropshipping in 2024 | Beat Them!
Are you still wondering now if dropshipping is worth it in 2024?
Then continue reading!
I totally understand if you're not sure yet if you should start with dropshipping or not.
But I will give you this powerful quote already about failures in case you're worried about failing!
The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.
Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
Is Dropshipping Worth It in 2024? and Can It Make You Rich?
I would say yes because the income potential is unlimited and you don’t have to worry about stocking products and to ship them to your customers.
So that means that theoretically, you can scale your store as big as you want. Or maybe even start a new dropshipping store to get multiple streams of income.
As I said above, if a lot of people are giving dropshipping a try, then there will be a lot of competition on the market.
The only way to be profitable then is to put time and effort into your store (oh and try not to listen to these "this is easy money gurus")
But with that said, I still believe that dropshipping is not dead but profitable in 2024 and that you can get rich with dropshipping!
Just don't forget the lessons I taught you above about how to make your dropshipping store profitable in 2024.
You don't want to end up in my bad dropshipping store example list, right?
In case you're still not sure, then I suggest reading some of the success stories below:
Dropshipping Success Stories in 2024
In case you're still not sure if you want to start with (or continue with) dropshipping in 2024, then I suggest reading some of these awesome dropshipping success stories!
They can help you get motivated, and hopefully, you get some inspiration from them as well.
I just got one thing to note for you.
I’m almost certain that these dropshipping income proofs are real, but there are many fake gurus out there who post photoshopped screenshots and fake sales. (Source)
Just to make you believe that dropshipping is super profitable and that they got rich off it.
Here are some success stories:
- How I made $178,492 in three months by dropshipping US and European products by Spocket
- We made 250k USD last month with our dropshipping side hustle. Oberlo / Shopify reached out to us to do a success story. AMA! on Reddit
- How I went from $0 to $25k a month dropshipping on Reddit
- How to Scale: Growing Their Dropshipping Business to $500,000 per Month on Oberlo
In case these are not enough success stories for you, then don't worry; I got you covered:
- Dropshipping Success Stories From Real Entrepreneurs by AliDropship
If you need any more proof that dropshipping is still profitable, then I suggest reading 23 Most Successful Shopify Dropshipping Store Examples written by me.
You will see from these stores that dropshipping is definitely not dead yet!
Conclusion: Is Dropshipping Still Profitable in 2024?
So, is dropshipping still profitable in 2024?
I personally think dropshipping is still profitable in 2024, but you will need to put your time and effort into building a real business.
A lot of people start with a dropshipping store only because they want "Easy money".
They probably never had that thought, "Wait, I'm building a real business".
So if you want to succeed, then please put treat it as a real business, and don't forget that failures are okay!
The best way to learn is to learn from your own mistakes.
And don't forget that dropshipping is just a fulfillment method and that there are tons of big ecommerce stores out there that started with or are still using dropshipping!
Also, if you're wondering now what to do with your product prices, check out this pricing strategies guide for dropshipping! (This includes costs like product costs)
Or you can check out this guide, which will go cover everything you need to know about your profit margin when dropshipping.
If you got any suggestions for this article or if you have any questions regarding dropshipping, then let me know by commenting below or contacting me directly by pressing the “Contact Us” button at the top!
Also, let me know what you think about dropshipping in 2024. Do you think it's still profitable or not?
I wish you the best!
Getting Started with Dropshipping in 2024
So, did you decide to start (or continue) with dropshipping in 2024?
If so, then I suggest reading my complete Shopify dropshipping guide!
It’s a huge article, but it contains everything that you need to know to create your own Shopify dropshipping store in 2024.
It’s like a dropshipping course, but then for free!
Reading this article will surely help you to get started and to stay motivated while beginning and continuing your dropshipping journey!
Just don’t forget that success takes time. Keep improving each and every day!
Shopify Dropshipping: A 20-Step Guide to Starting Your Store
And here are some of our best articles:
- When Did Dropshipping Start? (A Brief History Lesson)
- Is Print on Demand Still Profitable Today in 2024? Or Not?
- How to Find Winning Dropshipping Products (13 Research Methods)
- 23 Awesome Shopify Dropshipping Store Examples
And also, if you don’t have a Shopify store yet, then you can click here to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months!
