Many of you are wondering if dropshipping is still worth it today or what’s the success rate and how profitable is dropshipping. Well, what better way to answer all these than through an entire blog article? So here we go.
If you only want a short answer, well, yes, dropshipping is definitely still worth it in 2023. And no dropshipping is not dead, to answer another question. Looking at the last couple of years, we can almost guarantee that dropshipping will be worth it in 2023 and many years from now on.
But this only applies to dropshipping done in the right way. What’s that exactly? We’re talking about dropshipping and selling high-quality products that come only from reliable suppliers that can also ship fast to your customers.
Now, if you’re thinking of opening a dropshipping store with products from China, that have 3 weeks shipping times, and don’t have any customer support, then yes, this type dropshipping is dead and has been for a long time!
Read on if you want to know why dropshipping is such a strong and profitable business model, of course, when it’s done the right way.
Table of Contents
Why do we think that dropshipping is still profitable and worth it in 2023?
What better way to prove our statement about dropshipping still being a successful business model today, in 2022 and beyond than by giving you some facts from credible sources that can back all this up. So, no need to take our word for it, here are some hard facts for you:
According to a report done by Grand View Research published in 2019, the global dropshipping market is expected to grow at a rate of 28.8% from 2019 to 2025. How amazing is that?!?
Check the report if you want to know more
Another market study done by Research and Markets states that the global dropshipping market will reach $591.77 billion by 2027.
And did you know that 22-33% of online retailers have adopted the dropshipping model as their primary method of order fulfillment?
Here you have also some important statistics that show 56 percent of online sales on Amazon were sold by third-party sellers through dropshipping.
And last but not least important, Shopify’s revenue (one of the most popular dropshipping platforms used by online retailers) for the twelve months ending June 30, 2021, was $3.85 billion, meaning an 85.25% increase year-over-year. This is just impressive and it clearly shows the force of dropshipping.
What’s the search interest in dropshipping these days?
In case the numbers above didn’t convince you, let’s go through some other tools, like Google Trends, to show you how successful and profitable dropshipping can be.
As probably most of you know, Google Trends is a highly valuable tool used mostly to identify “trendy” (aka profitable) niches, products, or brands. So, let’s see how dropshipping is trending.
Google sets the search interest on a scale between 0 and 100. So, the numbers on the right represent the relative number of searches for a given term on a given period. As you can see we have 50 in 2010 and 100 in 2021, and that means that this word has been searched twice as many times in 2021.
Google Trends data about dropshipping for the past 5 years.
Now, this graph shows that the search interest for “dropshipping” has grown since 2016. And, even though there have been some ups and downs, as it always happens, the conclusion is obvious, dropshipping search interest is now 4 times greater than 5 years ago.
Just for the fun of it, here is another graph:
Google Trends data for Amazon drophipping versus Shopify dropshipping in the last 5 years.
Now, we searched for “Amazon dropshipping” versus “Shopify dropshipping”, and both of these terms have shown steady and strong growth in the last 5 years. What’s even more interesting is that “Shopify dropshipping” is consistently gaining more interest and searches than “Amazon dropshipping”.
All those above should absolutely convince you that dropshipping is still worth it.
Now let’s move on to how profitable it can be.
Is dropshipping profitable?
You probably know the answer if you got here, but here it is nevertheless: Yes! It can be quite profitable to dropship products. Of course, as for how profitable it can be, that depends on many factors, such as:
1. The type of products you decide to dropship, if it’s the right niche, what’s the competition, how much you spend researching and analyzing your target audience, etc.
2. How much effort you can put into marketing can lead to an increase in your sales and therefore your profits.
3. The right ecommerce website and platform are also very important when it comes to having a profitable business, as a user-friendly website that is easy to navigate it’s the main channel that can convert users into customers.
4. Try using a platform like AppScenic that gives you access to top and fast suppliers and a catalog of unique, premium products, this way you won’t have to rely on only one supplier and their range of products. You can add new products monthly and test new niches till you find the right one.
5. Treat your customers with respect and have great customer service that always is there for them.
All the above take time, so, if you want to make money fast or if you are not 100% invested in doing the hard work then dropshipping is not for you.
But if you have the right mindset and want to build a serious business and stick with it, then dropshipping can be profitable in the long run.
What is the dropshipping success rate?
Now, to finish off this article, we wanted to talk about the dropshipping success rate a bit. Spoiler alert, the number is quite low.
Experts estimated that about 10% of dropshipping businesses have a high success rate during the first year. Of course, we can’t actually verify this data, and probably one of the reasons it is so low, it’s because many dropshippers rush into this business without doing almost any research or even educating themselves on the best way to start a dropshipping business.
Yes, dropshipping may mean a low-risk business model, because you are not actually keeping a product stock or having to ship the items yourself, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need to plan and do your fair research. Every business model will fail, no matter how simple or complicated it is, if you don’t do your part.
So, for dropshipping to work and be worth it, you will have to invest time, money, and effort. As long as you’re selling unique and premium products and are always there for your customers, your online store can be successful and profitable.
