Dropshipping in 2023: What Platform Should You Choose?

Intro

If you’re looking for a business opportunity to pursue in 2023, dropshipping is one idea worth considering. It requires minimal capital while promising great returns, but it depends on how you implement and manage the business. Among others, one of the most important is to pick the right platform.

Choosing a platform is critical as it impacts how you will launch your business. It has features to ensure easy operation, making management seamless, even for those without experience. So, if you’re clueless about the dropshipping platform to use, read on!

Shopify

One of the most recognizable names in the dropshipping market is Shopify. It’s especially a great option for beginners who want to build a small business. More than being user-friendly, it also has a solid reputation because of its affordable plans. As of the time of writing this post, three plans are available:

• Basic: For as low as $1 per month, it has the tools you need to create a store, ship products, and process payments. It also includes basic reports, two staff accounts, and four inventory locations.
• Shopify: If you want to take your dropshipping business to the next level, this plan is for you. It’s available for $49 per month, inclusive of professional reports, five staff accounts, and five inventory locations.
• Advanced: At $299 per month, this is the most expensive and one with the most comprehensive tools for your dropshipping business. It builds custom reports and provides access to up to 15 staff accounts and eight inventory locations.

As a hosted dropshipping platform, simplicity is one of the biggest assets of Shopify. Plus, it has almost everything that you will need, including discount codes and email marketing tools. It also has numerous extensions and plug-ins, so you can be creative in building your dropshipping store.

If you’re using Shopify, search engine optimization is one of the things you must emphasize. It can help build visibility and grow the business. Online stores built using Shopify have built-in SEO, but you must optimize them to increase effectiveness.

Amazon

When it comes to online shopping, Amazon is a name that’s hard to rival. Nonetheless, it’s more than just a place where you can buy stuff. Instead, it’s also a place where you can sell them, making it another remarkable option for a dropshipping platform.

While Amazon allows dropshipping, you must play by the rules. For instance, one of the most important is that you should always be the seller, which should be identified even on invoices and packing slips. Plus, you must remove all information that identifies the third-party seller. You must also be responsible for processing product returns.

The fees for dropshipping on Amazon can vary, but they can range from 10% to 15%. Despite this, you can have margins of 10% to 30%. However, success is not dependent on the platform alone. Instead, it’s a combination of other factors. For instance, marketing matters now more than ever, so you should emphasize such if you want to grow your dropshipping business.

Dropshipping on Amazon is also good because of the vetted suppliers. This way, you can be more confident of the quality of the products you will be selling on your platform.

Nonetheless, some people note that one drawback is that Amazon can access your sales data. In turn, they can use such information to identify selling opportunities that can work to the company’s advantage.

Squarespace

(Photo by Team Nocoloco from Unsplash)

Those who want to start dropshipping to earn money should also consider Squarespace. As an all-in-one content management system, it offers a complete solution for scaling your e-commerce businesses. Nonetheless, it’s more of a website builder, so you might need to work on some tweaks if you want to incorporate e-commerce functionality.

As a SaaS platform, Squarespace takes care of hosting for your business needs. You don’t need coding skills to create an intuitive and engaging website. Different templates are available, which you can also customize depending on your needs.

Looking for the right Squarespace plan for your dropshipping business? Below are your options:

• Personal: At $16 per month, this is their most affordable plan. It includes a free custom domain, SSL security, unlimited bandwidth, mobile-optimized websites, and search engine optimization to improve visibility.
• Business: For $23 per month, you can start your dropshipping business. It has all the features under the Personal plan, plus premium integrations, professional Google email, advanced analytics, and promotional pop-ups.
• Basic Commerce: Pay $26 per month and you get access to everything under the Business plan, plus product reviews, customer accounts, and merchandising tools, among others.
• Advanced Commerce: If you don’t mind the splurge, this $49 monthly plan has all the features under Basic Commerce, plus abandoned cart recovery, advanced shipping, commerce APIs, advanced discounts, and subscriptions.

Zyro

Another popular e-commerce builder, Zyro lets you create a website in under an hour. More than 250,000 small business owners already used the platform. It may not be as popular as others on this list, but if you’re looking for an alternative, it’s worth a shot.

The Business plan is what you should choose if you are building a dropshipping business. The price starts at $3.59 per month. You can enjoy a free domain for a year, free email for three months, and round-the-clock customer support. With this plan, you can sell more than 500 products. The plan also comes with a 3-day money-back guarantee for your peace of mind.

Hostinger, a major web hosting company, owns Zyro. Hence, you can be confident of the website’s safety and security.

Nonetheless, take note that it can be quite restrictive, especially if you’re an advanced user. The plans are quite limited, as well as the functions. As such, it might be limiting in terms of scalability.

WooCommerce

(Photo by Rubaitul Azad from Unsplash)

Transform your WordPress website into a professional dropshipping platform with the help of WooCommerce. It’s an open-source platform, which is one reason for its popularity. Not to mention, it’s free, so it’s the perfect way to kickstart your dropshipping journey.

Since it’s a plug-in, the installation takes only a few seconds if you already have a WordPress site. While it’s free, you’ll need to pay for premium features. Luckily, you won’t need a lot of them to build your dropshipping business. Many of these tools can cost less than $100 a year.

The flexibility of WooCommerce is also one of its strongest assets. You can customize the look and feel of your store depending on the products you’re selling or your target audience. In addition, it allows dropshipping from any host.

BigCommerce

Not to be confused with WooCommerce, BigCommerce is an e-commerce solution provider that can help those who want to be in the dropshipping business this 2023. It’s one of the most acclaimed in the industry, so you can trust that it will do wonders in taking your business to the next level.

The Standard Plan at BigCommerce costs as low as $29.95. The most popular, on the other hand, is the Plus Plan, which costs $79.95 per month. Meanwhile, the Pro Plan is $299.95 per month. Enterprise Plan is also available, but pricing is upon request.

While it is comparable to Shopify, one of the main differences is that BigCommerce has more features. The latter also means that it can be quite more complicated, so it may not necessarily be beginner friendly. Even so, it has a drag-and-drop functionality, which can simplify the process of creating your dropshipping website.

Wix

With more than 200 million global users, Wix is another platform that should be on your radar for your dropshipping business. It’s a drag-and-drop website builder, which is part of the reason why it’s a great alternative. Meanwhile, if you’re an advanced user, you can also add HTML codes. It has most of the tools you will need to get started.

More so, Wix supports the app market, a feature you can also enjoy on other platforms like Shopify. The latter allows the integration of third-party apps, including those you can use for traffic analysis and lead generation.

In addition, Wix is flexible because it allows selling on multiple platforms. Aside from your dropshipping website, you can also sell your products on Facebook and eBay, among others.

Nonetheless, one limitation of Wix is that it was first a website builder before it’s an e-commerce platform. Hence, it might have fewer selling features that you can integrate into your dropshipping website.

Final Verdict

Indeed, dropshipping is a great business opportunity. It can be a good side hustle for those who have full-time employment. More so, it might also amplify your income stream while investing in stocks and pursuing other ways to make money. Despite the promises, success isn’t absolute, so choosing the right platform is necessary.

The choices for dropshipping platforms abound, but if there’s one that stands out, it’s Shopify. It’s especially great for beginners. The platform offers user-friendly and comprehensive tools, accessible at affordable plans.