AliExpress Dropshipping: How to start a dropshipping business with Aliexpress
I have the honor to tell you that you have come to the right place! I Love Dropshipping offers to explain why it is interesting to sell products from Aliexpress in dropshipping and the methodology to get started in just a few clicks. This article's objective is for you to make your first sales in the days to come!
The 5 steps to dropshipping with Aliexpress
To sell dropshipping with Aliexpress, you will need to follow 5 main steps. I will give you different advice or refer you to the dedicated articles that I have already written on these subjects for each of these steps. This will save you time because all the information will be centralized at the same time.
If, after reading these 5 points, you still have questions about starting your dropshipping business using the supplier Aliexpress, just ask your questions in the section after the article. I will do what is necessary to respond as quickly as possible.
Find the niche of products you want to sell
The first step in starting your business will be finding the niche of products you want to sell.
A market niche is a very specific sector of products that you are going to market. The goal is to focus all of your attention, skills, and advertising dollars on selling these products.
For example, a dropshipping niche could be kitchen knives' sale: you only sell knives for professional cooks or not. It can also be selling only table decoration for Christmas. Do you get the idea? Become an expert in the field to demonstrate it via his site and focus on these products.
To find the niche, first, ask yourself the following questions:
- What do I like to do for a living? What are my passions? What I like to talk about
- What would I like to sell as products?
- What can't I sell?
- What are the problems that my relatives encounter?
All these questions should allow you to have several ideas for products you might want to sell on your next non-stock online store.
My advice for finding the dropshipping niche that will allow you to make money:
- Avoid overly common products: too much competition and too little potential margin.
- Avoid products that require physical demonstration.
- Avoid branded products on Aliexpress. It's often copying, which is prohibited to sell in France.
- Favor sectors of activity where the internet is not yet a reflex
- Accessories (e.g., chef's hat ...) can be good ideas if you know how to position yourself as an expert.
Once you find your niche, go to Aliexpress and list all the products you could sell related to that niche. Take the time to type in all the different names of products you could sell: make a list and keep all the URLs of the products you plan to integrate into your store.
Related Article: How To Find The Profitable Dropshipping Niche?
Create your online sales platform
Once this first research is done and your products have been selected, the next step is to create the store through which you will sell your products.
Create your store
The simplest and fastest solution to open an online store without stock is to go through a subscription creation solution such as Shopify or its French competitor Dropizi.
These solutions have the advantage of allowing you to launch your online store in just a few minutes. Indeed, on Dropizi, for example, you simply choose your domain name (the name of your store), a theme (your design), add your logo and presentation texts, and have a functional store in just a few minutes.
Once the store is open, you can then integrate products in just a few clicks because these solutions have developed a module that allows you to search for products by name. Then take your list of products found on Aliexpress and add them one by one with just one click. Your product sheets will then be created little by little until you have a perfectly available store.
Which solution to choose between Shopify and Dropizi
To create your store without paying full price, the best solution is to go through a so-called SAAS solution, i.e., a solution accessible from your internet browser and works by subscription. The two most used platforms for dropshipping are the Canadian Shopify (English) and its French challenger (Dropizi).
I carried out a comparative study of the two solutions to allow you to choose between these two solutions and wrote a full article on the subject: Dropizi vs. Shopify. Which solution is best suited to your needs?
To summarize this review, I recommend using Dropizi over Shopify for several reasons:
- The platform is 100% in French which is not the case with Shopify.
- It is a little cheaper (2 € per month) than Shopify.
- The integration of Aliexpress products is native, while you have to open an account with the Oberlo app to dropshipping with Shopify (which can ultimately cost you money)
- It gives access to another large recognized and European dropshipping supplier: Bigbuy.
- It offers a 6-hour training module (video) to support you and train you in the best internet sales techniques. This training will give you the keys to significantly increase your turnover.
This is only my opinion, do not hesitate to read my full opinion on these two solutions before making your choice. The choice of the site creation platform is an important step in your project.
Declare your activity
The third step can be done while you are setting up your store. This step will aim to open and declare a business so that you can legally develop your activity.
As with the previous steps, I have written a comprehensive article to help you build your business based on the goal you want to achieve.
For example, if you want to open an online dropshipping store to supplement your end of the month and therefore supplement your income while being an employee/student, the easiest solution for you is to open a self-employed business on a commercial basis.
In fact, by being a self-employed person, you will be able to generate 170,000 € in turnover per year while saving you from numerous legal obligations such as opening a professional account, declaring VAT, or even the obligation to have an accountant.
This declaration is made via the portal managed by URSSAF, the auto-entrepreneur. This business opening is 100% free and does not require any capital contribution. Concretely, it couldn't be easier to open a business.
If you have planned to devote yourself 100% to this new activity, other company statuses may be more interesting for you. You will find the details of the different solutions available to you in my dedicated article.
Create a first advertising campaign
Once your store is up and running, the next step will be to create your first ad campaigns to promote your products.
Most experts will tell you to advertise on Facebook, and that advertisement will be enough to make your first sales. It's wrong!
Indeed, you must choose the site on which you will promote your products according to their characteristics but above all by answering this major question: are your products of need or of pleasure?
Pleasure Products
If your products are products for pleasure, Internet users are the most likely to buy them on impulse: because they like your advertising, because they want your product. After all, they need this product at all costs.
In this case, advertising on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter is the best solution. You will be able to create an advertisement that makes Internet users want to be interested in your products. You will be able to create an advertisement on the various social networks by following the various tutorials that may exist on the Internet.
Need Products
If your products are necessities, like a car headlight, for example, there is no point in advertising on Facebook or Instagram. Indeed, you are not going to buy a headlight if the one in your car is working properly. Doesn't that make sense?
Thus, it is necessary to be present where the Internet users who need a product are. And typically, 95% of the time, they're on Google. Indeed, what do you do when you need to change a headlight? You type “cheap lighthouse” into Google. Well, know that 95% of the population does the same thing as you.
So, if you have planned to sell needed products, promote advertising in search engines such as Google, Bing, or even Yahoo.
By thinking carefully about where to invest your advertising budget, you will be able to generate the maximum amount of sales and, therefore, your income.
Follow the dropshipping training to sustain the activity
5th and last step to do dropshipping and sell lots of products, learn the best e-commerce practices. Indeed, there are plenty of blogs specializing in e-commerce.
These blogs will give you all the techniques to get to be 1st on Google for the keywords that Internet users type, maximize the clicks on your Facebook ads, or even improve the performance of your store.
Earlier in the article, I told you that Dropizi offers free 6- hour training in video format. This training, which is offered to all customers of the solution, was carried out with e-commerce experts. Thus, they will deliver the keys to you to ensure that you no longer have to invest a single cent in the acquisition of traffic and that all the sales you will make are for your own pocket.
Take the time to train yourself. E-commerce is like any profession. It is necessary to learn many things to become, little by little, an expert capable of selling any product to anyone. Be patient, educate yourself, read blogs and other sites specializing in online sales.
Some tips to get started in dropshipping with Aliexpress
Now that we have seen the 5 steps necessary to get started with dropshipping with Aliexpress, here are some more tips to get you started in the best possible way.
Select your suppliers carefully.
The first piece of advice I can give you, especially with Aliexpress, is to choose your suppliers wisely. Indeed, thousands of merchants sell their products on this Chinese site, and not all of them have the same level of quality or price.
So, when you have found several products to sell, start by comparing the different suppliers who market these products and compare the prices.
Be sure to read the various seller reviews carefully to make sure they are doing a good job with logistics. Indeed, it is they who will take care of sending your sold products, so it is essential that they do a good job otherwise your customers will be disappointed with their purchase and will not recommend you.
Don't invest in creating a custom site.
I mentioned the subscription solutions above. As you can imagine, there are also solutions to create a tailor-made site that will allow you to own the site and that is 100% personalized to your image.
Know that, at first, it is not necessary to invest in the creation of a tailor-made dropshipping site. Indeed, a custom site generally costs more than 1000 € if you want it to be beautiful and efficient. All this money invested in creating your site is as much less budget for your advertising campaigns.
And as I like to say to all my clients: you can have the most beautiful site in the world, if no one knows that it exists because you no longer have the means to promote it, your site is useless!
When to invest in creating a custom dropshipping site?
It will become interesting to invest in a tailor-made dropshipping site when you make € 10,000 in sales with your subscription site. Indeed, these subscription solutions charge a monthly subscription but also take a percentage of the turnover each time you make a sale (2% in general).
As soon as you reach the monthly 10,000 € marks, it will be time to invest in creating a tailor-made dropshipping site that is 100% personalized in your image. You will thus save the 2% commission, allowing you to finance the maintenance of your new e-commerce site.
Because a subscription solution (like Shopify or Dropizi) allows you to avoid having to pay for the hosting of your site, the domain name but especially the costs related to the maintenance of the site: as soon as you have a bug on your site, you won't have to pay a developer to fix these bugs (which happens in real life when you own your custom site).
Be Patient!
The last tip, which is just as important as the previous tips, be patient! Rome was not built in 1 day. It will be the same for your e-commerce site.
Generally, I advise my customers to wait at least 3 months to judge if they will be able to make money from their dropshipping site.
Indeed, 3 months is the time it will take at least for your e-commerce site to be able to rise correctly in the results of Google. When I say “move up in results,” it means appearing on the first page of Google results for a keyword related to one of your products.
During this 3-month period, you will only be able to make sales thanks to the various advertisements you can pay on Facebook or Google.
So do not panic right away if you do not make a sale 2 hours after launching your online store: this is normal. It takes time for Internet users to get to know your site and trust you.
Read more useful articles related to Dropshipping:
2. Which legal status to choose to do Dropshipping?
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