Welcome to the latest installment of the SaleHoo Newsletter. Today, I’ll discuss best-selling and easy-to-source products that are perfect for starting your own drop shipping business. But what makes a product uniquely appropriate for drop shipping?
The criteria are twofold:
- A product must be popular. In other words, they should be high-selling items often purchased on eBay, Amazon, or another popular comparison shopping engine.
- Apart from drop shipping and/or wholesale purchasing, a product would normally cost far too much money to purchase and store the inventory.
So the best products are both popular and cost prohibitive in any other retailing format than wholesaling.
Sounds pretty exciting right? It certainly is, but it might also be a good idea to temper your enthusiasm with some sober-minded considerations. Because as much fun as it is to start your own drop shipping business, it’s important to be aware of the dangers presented by even the most popular and profitable products.
You always need to do your research.
In this case, I've compiled and curated research on these products for you. So without further ado, take a look at the top 5 product categories, and potential pitfalls for each one:
- Shoes
- Sunglasses
- Handbags
- Bikes
- Cameras
Let’s start putting in the legwork with our first product: shoes.
Shoes: a multi-billion dollar market
In keeping with our first important set of criteria, the number one item on our list is highly profitable. How profitable? Well, aggregate shoe sales in the U.S. alone total approximately USD $9 billion in revenue.
You need look no further than Zappos for an example of how well you can do selling shoes online. In less than seven years, this online retailer went from $1.6 million in revenue to more than $1 billion. If you don’t feel like doing the math on that one, it’s nearly a 1,000 percent increase in revenues. Not too shabby, eh?
Even more exciting than the promising market is the negligible number of obstacles for you. The barriers for entry are so low as to be laughable. Shoes are easy to buy wholesale, and even easier to start selling on your own ecommerce site. If even that’s too much hassle, you can still sell on eBay or Amazon with little to no extra effort.
The profits you’re likely to achieve in the online shoe selling and drop shipping business are nothing to sneeze at, either. There are considerably good margins on drop shipping shoes that are bought wholesale.
Wholesale shoe prices fluctuate wildly depending on the brand and category of shoe, but you can normally find a price of less than 10 dollars per pair. And according to the SRL (SaleHoo Research Labs), the average selling price for a pair of shoes is $35.86.
For women’s shoes specifically, that price drops another few dollars, to $32.44 per pair.
Though those are decent margins already, it’s worth noting that the average price can be much higher than that for designer brands. Click here for an example.
If you’re ready to drop everything and start selling shoes online, and you’ve already signed up for the SaleHoo Directory service, then click here to access our database of trusted wholesale shoe drop shippers.
But perhaps fancy footwear isn’t exactly your style? Instead, maybe you’re the kind of guy or gal with vision! And that vision needs to be protected from harmful UV rays.
Staying cool with sunglasses
Sunglasses are another popular drop shipping product for several reasons. First, there’s virtually always a high level of demand, because it’s always sunny somewhere. Not to mention, sunglasses are easy items to misplace or break. These factors add up to a fairly consistent market.
Just like the other items on this list, the profit margins can withstand your average litmus test, usually less than 10 dollars if you source from wholesale sunglasses suppliers. Once again according to the SLR, the average selling price for sunglasses is $34.56 dollars, depending on the brand.
If you’d like to find out more about some of the designer options in this category, and all the bottom-line goodness that comes along with brand recognition, take a look at this Monday Market blog post about the USP of Ray-Ban sunglasses.
Handy little handbags
Designer handbags are luxury items and status symbols, always in demand among those with disposable income. You can grab them cheap at wholesale prices and drop ship them to your customers for high profits.
The average selling price for a designer handbag is $38.90, versus a buy-it-now cost of $96.
You don’t always have to look for big-money items right off the bat, though. Designer handbags have plenty of decently constructed imitators. Usually known as “sham bags,” or “industry inspired handbags,” these facsimiles are often easier to acquire, and will still have decent margins.
For more information on designer handbag marketability, take a look at another SaleHoo blog post. If you’ve already signed up for our directory, take a look at the different suppliers listed for this popular item.
Big-time profits with bicycles
Drop shipping bikes and bike accessories can be a highly profitable niche to get into. Sports enthusiasts can make some of the most loyal customers. And anyone who owns a bike will need parts, pads, lots of clothing, and plenty of accessories that can all be cross sold.
What makes bicycling such a profitable niche is the passion you'll find among practitioners. Hobbyists almost always make the best and most consistent customers. Bicycles can also be quite expensive, and of course, more expensive items mean higher profits.
Bikes and bike parts are available at a wide range of prices, both wholesale and retail, that can fit any budget. If you start small and build your business, you can be selling expensive 10-speeds in no time.
If you’ve already got access, check out this link to the SaleHoo directory’s list of bicycle suppliers.
Capturing the action with a camera
A camera is a more expensive item, so you’ll make good money every time you make a sale, and that’s an important factor. And just like bikes, a camera is another hobbyist item. All sorts of hobbyists collect cameras, including home security buffs, recreational photographers, and professional photographers.
Another similarity to our last category is the sheer number of accessories to cross sell. Lenses and lens covers, tripods, and other items will all fetch a good price from a loyal customer.
Check out another one of our Monday Market blog posts for an in-depth look at how a particular item from this niche can make for a profitable drop shipping product. If you’ve already seen enough and are ready to get started, make sure you’ve signed up to the SaleHoo directory and take a look at the different camera drop shipping suppliers contained therein.
Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and roses in this business. You’ve got to look out for the numerous scams and crooks that are out there. Beware of all the...
Possible pitfalls
There are plenty of dangers to the average online seller, if you aren't careful. Drop shipping is no exception. Fake supply websites seem to pop up on a daily basis, and it’s easy to mistake them for the real thing. There are a few maxims you need to be aware of when looking for a reputable drop shipping suppliers.
If you’re planning to drop ship these products, for example, you don’t need to be purchasing your inventory from another drop shipper. They’re already buying from a source, and marking up those prices to make themselves a profit. Go to a manufacturer first, so that you’re not just a second or even third middle man between customer and inventory.
Another thing to look out for is fake or damaged merchandise. Faux designer goods that masquerade as the real thing can get you into a lot of trouble with trademark infringement laws. So always be certain that you’re not selling fake goods in the guise of actual designer merchandise. If you’re considering drop shipping handbags, this will be a big thing to look out for. Damaged goods can also be a big problem, especially in the case of expensive electronic or intricately built equipment such as cameras or bikes.
It’s so hard to find good help these days
As you might have guessed from the previous section, it can be difficult to find trusted drop ship suppliers. It takes a lot of research, trial and error, awkward phone conversations, and occasionally a misstep before settling on a solid supplier.
If you want to cut out the guesswork and get to shipping a few of these items right away, you might want to give the SaleHoo Directory a trial run. Our paid directory is comprehensive and thoroughly vetted to weed out scammers. The time you'll save searching for a dependable supplier cannot be understated.
Get instant access to trusted drop shippers for all these products (and tons more) when you join SaleHoo.
