The drop shipping industry is expected to witness exponential growth in the coming years.
With the market expected to grow by over 28% until at least 2025, entrepreneurs need to stay updated on the latest trends if they want to stay ahead of the competition.
Here are 13 dropshipping store trends that will help you make more money in the years ahead:
Renewed focus on customer service
As dropshipping to Amazon, Shopify or even localized platforms like Lazada becomes more popular, it’s becoming increasingly common for sellers to embrace a high-quality customer service ethos.
Customer service is something that dropshipping store owners could neglect in the past because they didn’t have any tangible products or inventory to maintain. But customer care can make all the difference between winning orders and losing them.
Many dropship sellers will soon realize that even if you have an excellent product at a great price, if your customer service is terrible, people won’t buy from you! If you want to be successful in dropshipping in 2022, make sure that you’re providing excellent customer support before your customers think about buying from someone else.
Increasingly sophisticated supply chain management
The dropshipping supply chain has become increasingly complex over the years, and sellers now need to worry about dropship wholesalers, distributors, manufacturers, and suppliers. All of these different dropshipping relationships are important if you want your business to succeed in 2022.
Ecommerce businesses rely on a complex network of providers and suppliers to keep their businesses afloat. Today’s successful dropshipping store owners use sophisticated software that allows them to manage their entire sales funnel from one dashboard. With this kind of technology, they can easily monitor the stock levels in their dropship accounts for all incoming shipments. They can also track orders and inventory levels without having to browse through dozens of different accounts.
Unique brand storytelling
When dropship sellers first enter the market, they often struggle with low sales numbers because they don’t know how to tell their story. But brand storytelling is one of the most important ways for dropshippers to get more orders in 2022!
Businesses that succeed often have a compelling story to tell, and that story needs to be told on every single product page. Great dropshippers realize the importance of storytelling, and they ensure that their business is about more than just hard-selling products. Instead, these brands have an ethos and a reason for being; they have beliefs, values, and practices woven into their narrative. They’re able to connect with their customers because of this narrative, and it’s what turns customers into brand advocates.
Customers will more readily trust a business with a strong branding concept, defined by an established mission and values. They like to feel that they’re part of something bigger than themselves, whether it’s a community of other users or simply a company that’s making an effort to help others through donations or even charitable events.
Whether you’re offering free shipping on products bought from your dropshipping store or investing money in charity programs for each sale made, you’re adding personal touches that will help drive loyalty among your customer base over time.
Niche sites
As the giant online marketplaces become less accommodating, the next big thing for dropshipping stores will be niche sites on very specific products. This strategy will help you sell a particular item long into the future, not just today.
Niche sites are basically about targeting a particular market. An example of a niche site would be a store for all types of iPhone cases with various designs and prices. It can also be something that addresses a particular hobby, like crocheting or mountain biking. While this may at first seem limiting, it’s the way forward if you want to get more out of your dropshipping business.
Outsourcing dropshipping tasks
The more you try to do all your dropshipping tasks on your own, the harder it becomes to run your dropshipping business. It can be very difficult to handle an inventory of thousands of different products and make sure that all of your markets are clean and updated at all times. And if you’re handling hundreds of vendors on your own, eventually, something will get overlooked!
As dropshipping startups continue to grow in popularity, businesses optimally outsource virtual assistant tasks such as product sourcing and order processing more and more. Dropshipping store owners have been increasingly turning to remote workers from all over the world to help scale their business quickly. Hiring a dropshipping virtual assistant can help you find more supplier leads for your dropship products or handle customer service issues quicker than you could otherwise.
Increasing AI integration
One of the most significant dropshipping trends in recent years is implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) into your business development decisions. The advantages of using AI include:
- making better business decisions based on real-time data analysis instead of relying on preselected and hardcoded rules
- saving time by having automated tasks performed by the AI software
- providing more personalized recommendations to customers, resulting in increased customer satisfaction
For dropshippers, an example of applying artificial intelligence would be a chatbot that has been programmed to answer customer questions through platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and even SMS Marketing. While it sounds like a simple idea, this will help increase customer engagement and sales significantly.
You can also use AI to monitor your competitor’s marketing strategies and adjust yours accordingly. This means having AI track the best performing keywords for your competitors or even use it as a keyword research tool in itself. By processing large amounts of text data, an AI algorithm can extract valuable information from billions of web pages. Leveraging this type of technology will help dropshippers develop unique product offerings developed via machine learning instead of through human insight alone.
Optimizing the mobile experience
Since most people browse the internet through their phones or tablets, dropshipping store owners must make it as easy as possible to shop via mobile devices. Your website should be easy to navigate, with features like scroll to zoom and one-click ordering. And it must load quickly, especially on slower internet connections.
Dropshipping businesses that prioritize the mobile experience for customers will be the most successful at attracting new clients. Customers want everything now, and they won’t accept any lagging or glitches in their shopping experience!
A focus on sustainability practices
In 2022, dropshippers will be thinking from a completely new perspective. Instead of simply trying to get as many items in their stock, they will be focused on dropshipping for the good of the planet.
The dropship industry is one of the largest polluters, but business owners who care about their impact on the environment are already revolutionizing the dropship sector by utilizing eco-friendly materials and methods. This trend is sure to continue into 2022, when dropshippers will be sourcing suppliers who use recyclable, sustainable materials that don’t harm the planet.
By eliminating any dropship items from their businesses that cause unnecessary damage to our environment, entrepreneurs will save money in disposal or recycling fees and gain a competitive advantage over other dropshippers who are not as ecologically responsible.
In-depth customer data analysis
Using the latest tracking technology, dropshippers can obtain a customer’s entire purchasing history within seconds. Dropshipping companies have access to data such as where they live, how long they’ve been in business, and the number of products each customer has ordered.
This extensive knowledge of shoppers will allow dropshipping store owners to pick up on things that their competitors cannot — like who is more likely to purchase certain brands based on their previous purchases or which items are most popular in specific locations at certain times of the year. This kind of deep understanding of your customers leads to not only higher sales but also brand loyalty that would otherwise be impossible without this level of insight into your consumer base.
Social dropshipping
Dropshippers have been using social media to gain a better understanding of their customers, and this will continue to be a key strategy in 2022 and beyond.
Social media lets dropshippers interact with their shoppers in a way that is less formal than traditional marketing methods and allows a human connection between the dropshipper and the client. This connection creates a lasting impact on sales revenue.
Dropshippers who are able to build strong relationships with their customers over social media increase repeat purchases significantly. As more shoppers continue to turn to social networks for information about products, dropshippers will need to ensure they have an active presence on all major platforms, particularly Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, if they want any chance of keeping up with the competition.
Dropshipping partnerships
As dropshippers become more and more aware of their impact on the environment, they are starting to join forces with other dropshipping stores in a way that is generally very rare for these companies.
More and more dropshippers are finding ways to incorporate ethical sourcing policies into their business strategies. Instead of just sticking to the major players, more dropshipping businesses are starting to take notice of the more innovative companies around, such as Fair Trade brands who dropship ethically sourced products.
Dropshippers who pledge to only source products from suppliers who share the same values as them will not only be helping to preserve our environment but also stand out from the crowd of companies whose supply chains could be harming our planet.
By formally partnering with one another, dropshippers can help each other get ahead while making sure their dropship business practices remain ethical. While these partnerships aren’t commonplace yet, dropshippers are definitely becoming more conscientious of their supply chain. Slowly but surely, they’re taking steps towards partnerships to ensure they make the most ethical business decisions.
Affiliate marketing
One trend that dropshippers will be able to ride into 2022 and beyond is dropship affiliates. Affiliate marketing was a huge dropshipping channel in recent years, with many dropshippers using affiliate marketers who offer 100% commissions on sales they make for you — meaning no dropship costs are ever incurred.
By using affiliate marketers, dropshippers can reduce costs and increase revenues at the same time. Dropshipping from multiple suppliers will continue to be a major trend in 2022, but for businesses that struggle with maximizing their sales on all of these products, affiliate marketing can help them reach shoppers who have previously been unreachable — helping you make as much profit as possible while keeping your customers happy!
Augmented reality/Virtual reality
One of the newer dropshipping trends is the use of augmented and virtual reality platforms. While still in their infancy, these two technologies are expected to continue growing dramatically over the next few years. Dropshipping stores can capitalize on this by investing in new technology or investigating ways to implement AR and VR into their existing business strategies.
Because deliveries that incorporate AR or VR are riskier, it may be best for dropship businesses who want to capitalize on this trend to partner with others — much as they would do with affiliate marketers — so they can work together towards minimizing these risks while maximizing revenue!
As dropshipping continues its growth into 2022 and beyond, it will likely become an increasingly competitive place for new shops to start up, meaning dropshipping stores owners will have to keep thinking outside the box if they want any hope of staying afloat. The trends discussed in this post are just a few that dropshippers can look out for as we head into the future — but there’s always room for more!
In conclusion
With so many changes going on in the world today, it can be difficult to keep up with the current trends, let alone predict what new strategies might come into play after 2021. However, as always, there are some sparks of innovation that point dropshippers in the direction of where the industry is likely to go next. So pay close attention to these dropshipping trends!
Resources:
https://20four7va.com/the-virtual-assistants-guide/va-tips/what-is-dropshipping-get-to-know-the-basics/
https://blog.bluetuskr.com/start-commerce-business-2021