Saturated Dropshipping Products: Myth? or Do They Exist?

Here at Do Dropshipping, we often get questioned if saturated dropshipping products exist. Some people question if they should try to sell a certain product, just because they think it is saturated!

In this article, I will tell you my point of view about saturated dropshipping products. Is it true that you will have less chance of success with a “saturated” dropshipping product?

In my opinion, saturated dropshipping products are a myth. Yes, it is true that some products are more popular and sold more, but the demand for these products is often so large, that it does not matter that many people are selling them. Often, people think a product is saturated because all dropshippers use the same video and ad copy to sell it!

I will start by explaining the underlying theory of saturated dropshipping products; market saturation!

What is market saturation?

When dropshipping, you will have to deal with general economics, just like all other ecommerce businesses. 

One situation which can occur is market saturation, this happens when the volume of a product is maximized. In other words, a business can only get more sales by improving the product, taking existing market share from a competitor, or through an increase in customer demand.

In most cases, market saturation occurs when a company faces heavy competition or the demand for the product falls.

These are 4 key signs of a saturated market:

1. No new demand for the product
2. A steady decline in sales or interest in the product
3. All customers have been serviced
4. The product supply is higher than the demand

Let’s see if we can find dropshipping products that have these characteristics!

Which products are considered “saturated”?

When thinking about saturated dropshipping products, which products come up in your mind and why?

I think about the more “popular” dropshipping products like the posture corrector, resistance bands, and pet beds.

These products seem to be sold more often, but does that automatically mean they are saturated?

When searching for saturated dropshipping products on YouTube, you will find lots of videos as well.

I TRIED DROPSHIPPING A SATURATED PRODUCT - HERE'S THE RESULTS

In this video, YouTuber “Beast of Ecom” tries to dropship a "saturated" product, the filter shower head.

On a side note, before you start following these "YouTube dropshipping gurus", take a look at this article here.

But, there are many other products which people call saturated:

Here, someone in a Facebook group posts about the pet beds he is selling. He even calls a pet bed an “extremely saturated” product.

Let’s take this product as an example and see if we can find signs of a saturated market for this product.  

1. Is there any new demand for this product?

Pet beds belong in the pet niche (of course!). 

To find out if there is any new demand for this product, we can search for various stats on Google. 

For example, “How many shelter animals are adopted each year?”

We now know that, according to ASPCA, approximately 3.2 million shelter animals are adopted each year (1.6 million dogs and 1.6 million cats).

From this fact, you will know that there are approximately 3.2 million new cat and dog owners per year in the USA alone. 

It tells us that each year, there will be new demand for this product!

P.S. Looking for more information about the pet niche? Check out this article here.

2. Is there enough interest in this niche?

You wouldn’t want to pick a dropshipping product which was trending earlier, but isn’t in demand anymore!

A great tool for analyzing the interest of a specific niche is Google Trends.

Just type in your product name, and you will directly see a beautiful graph of the interest in your product over time!

For pet beds, we see a pretty consistent line (with a pretty interesting peak pattern in November/December) over the past 5 years, which tells us that this is a so-called evergreen product (always in demand and can always be sold).

3 & 4. Have all customers been serviced and is there any demand left?

We now know two things, there is a new demand for products in the pet niche each year and there is a steady interest in it! These characteristics give us an early hypothesis of the product not being saturated.

But now, we have come to the difficult part of analyzing if a product is saturated, checking if all customers have been serviced and if there is any demand left.

The best method to do this is to search for ads on Facebook. Look at the ad copy, how many views the ads get and compare this to the numbers you got in step 1 and 2.

If you see a lot of video ads that are old, have tons of views, and receive no new comments, this may be a sign of a saturated product. But be aware that a truly saturated product has all 4 characteristics mentioned above:

1. No new demand for the product
2. A steady decline in sales or interest in the product
3. All customers have been serviced
4. The product supply is higher than the demand

In this case, I can’t find many posts about pet beds that have tons of views, which suggests that there is still demand for this product!

Most of the time, you won’t be able to find a concrete answer to these two characteristics. In that case, try to make a judgment about how much of the market has been covered already and how much there is still left for you to capture!

Do you have a lower chance of succeeding with saturated dropshipping products?

Some people claim that picking a “saturated” product to dropship with will lower your chances of succeeding.

I think that this question can be looked at from two perspectives.

Ultimately, it all depends on the question, “Do saturated dropshipping products exist?”

If they do, it is true that picking saturated dropshipping products will lower your chances of succeeding since the demand for your product will be very low.

However, I have personally never seen a product with all 4 characteristics of saturation which I described above. 

I do think that some products come close to saturation, like the posture corrector. But even that product can be sold with the right marketing angles, as many YouTubers have shown!

[Case Study] How This Dropshipping Store Generated $1M Per Month

[Free Course] $0-500K in 60 Days Dropshipping (Shopify & Facebook Ads)

Picking a more “popular” dropshipping product may be harder because you will have to think a lot about which creative angle you want to market your product with and how you will differentiate yourself from your competition.

But, in my opinion, you will always have to think a lot about these things! Being unique will make your chances at succeeding so much higher than if you are just doing the same thing as all other dropshipping stores do!

That’s why I think that you should pick a product you are confident and passionate about, and you shouldn’t care a lot about if it is “saturated” or not.

Tips to dropship a “saturated” product

Often, people who try to sell a popular dropshipping product fail for the same reasons. They think no one will ever have success with this product again and continue to call it saturated.

A common reason why people may call a product saturated is the fact that everyone uses the same ad copy.

When a certain ad gets shown too many times to a demographic, a phenomenon called “ad fatigue” happens.

This means that the ad is no longer effective and won’t generate you many sales anymore.

The graph above shows that the more often people see your ads, the less likely it is that they will click on them and the more it will cost you when they do!

In that case, people have seen it too many times and have become “blind” for it.

If you want to dropship a “saturated” product, try to make your own videos, pictures, and creatives. Try to stand out from all your competitors who just copy the same video ad that everyone else uses!

Looking for inspiration? Check out this article with 9 Awesome Dropshipping Facebook Ad Examples!

Also, try to make your product page unique and design your own infographics, gifs, product layout, and marketing angle. If you aren’t getting the number of sales you were hoping for, try selling the product from another angle!

If you're interested in learning more about this, then I suggest reading the article I linked to below:

Unique Dropshipping Store: 11 Amazing Tips to Create One

Is dropshipping saturated in 2024?

A question that most people have when they are wondering about saturated products is if dropshipping, in general, is saturated or not.

If that's you with this question as well, then don't worry!

We wrote an amazing (and big) article around that topic, and you can find it below:

Is Dropshipping Saturated in 2024? (Should You Still Start?)

Saturated dropshipping products: Conclusion

So, we’ve now come to the end of this article, and my conclusion is that saturated dropshipping products are generally a myth. 

However, in general, it is true that the more people are selling the same product, the more competition you will have and the more trouble you will have to succeed in this market. Usually, you will also need a larger budget to test the product and find out which marketing angle works for you.

If you truly believe in the product, have a unique marketing angle, are able to build a clean product page and are able to differentiate yourself from your competitors, I think you should definitely go for it!

I hope that after reading this article, you will have a better understanding of the different perspectives and the meaning of a saturated dropshipping product.

If you have any questions or if you have any suggestions for this article, then let me know by commenting below or contacting me directly by pressing the “Contact Us” button at the top!

Thanks for reading, and I wish you great luck with your dropshipping journey!

Getting Started with Dropshipping in 2024

So, are you ready to get started with dropshipping? Or maybe you have already started, but you’re looking to get some inspiration?

If so, then I suggest reading this 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 the articles I suggest you read next:

• Unique Dropshipping Store: 11 Amazing Tips to Create One
• The 8 Best Chrome Extensions for Dropshipping Store Owners
• Dropshipping Startup Checklist: 10 Things to Do Before Starting
• How to Find Winning Dropshipping Products (13 Research Methods)

And also, if you didn’t create a Shopify account yet (to get your dropshipping store online), then you can click here to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months!