Dropshipping is a popular term that you most likely have come across. It is one of the hottest buzzwords on the Internet over the past few years. Online sales from this eCommerce business model have generated a whopping $4.206 trillion globally. Currently, around 27% of online retailers have channeled their resources here. In case you are still contemplating whether or not to start a dropshipping business, there is no better time than now. In this guide, you will learn how beginners can start Wix dropshipping with a low budget.
First of all, what is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is simply a retail fulfillment business model where you can sell products through a website without stocking, managing, or shipping inventory. Instead, you connect with a third-party dropshipping supplier and source products for your store. When a customer visits your store and buys an item, you forward the order information to the supplier who packages and ships the order. The difference between the suppliers’ pricing and your pricing becomes your profit margin. Sounds easy, right? Wait, don’t get too excited. You will need a platform to get started. And, this is where dropshipping Wix comes in.
Introducing Wix dropshipping
Unlike traditional eCommerce, dropshipping allows you to save the cost incurred from manufacturing to order fulfillment. It simplifies the fulfillment process by reducing initial overheads and outlays which is beneficial for businesses with a small budget. However, you will need a website, the right product, and reputable dropship suppliers. Wix, a popular & fully-functional website builder, provides you with every tool & resource needed to build a successful dropshipping store from the grass root. Wix currently powers over 3.8 million websites in the world, which makes it not just reputable, but also reliable.
What is Wix?
Wix is a popular website builder and content management system (CMS) that anyone can use to create blogs or online stores. This powerful website builder comes with tons of pre-designed templates and helpful software that can enhance the functionality of any website. Wix was launched in 2006 and since then, they’ve risen to rank among the most popular website builders for Wix eCommerce dropshipping businesses. It is easy to use, thanks to its drag-and-drop features. You don’t need any knowledge of coding before you can start enjoying this beginner-friendly website builder. Wix’s impressive 4.7/5 star rating suggests that its users are delighted with the sort of services they are getting. We recommend Wix for beginners and experts who want to start or grow a dropshipping business.
How to dropshipping on Wix
Dropshipping with Wix is ideal if you don’t have the initial overheads to stock inventory/warehousing/shipping, if you don’t make your own products, or if you aren’t sure of what you want to sell. From pricing to functionalities, customer service to pre-loaded templates, speed to marketing tools, security to SEO capabilities, dropshipping on Wix has lots to offer experts who are already active in the eCommerce sector or beginners who are looking to start an online store.
You can start Wix dropshipping in five simple steps.
STEP 1: Create a Wix account
STEP 2: Import products to your online store
STEP 2: Customers order on your Wix store
STEP 3: Forward order information to your suppliers
STEP 4: Suppliers fulfill orders directly to your customers
Now, let’s break down these steps.
1. Figure out your budget
Outlining your budget is an important factor to consider before starting any business. Yes, dropshipping requires very little capital to get started. Yet, we recommend beginners count the cost before delving in. For instance, you may not spend a dime on stocking an inventory, but setting up a website, marketing, and digital assets (e.g. images, videos, and other promotional materials) will incur costs.
Let’s begin with setting up a website. Although Wix offers a free plan to create an online store, however, this plan will not profit even the smallest business. It can profit individuals though. What we mean is, you will need a Wix business account. Mind you, their cheapest plan is $23 per month.
In addition to the website cost, you need to put into book the cost of dropshipping apps. Some apps are free while others are paid. Modalyst and Spocket are essential dropshipping apps that you cannot do without. While Modalyst offers a free plan, you will need a premium package to sell above 25 products. On the other hand, Spocket's least plan starts from $24 per month.
Marketing depends on what method you want to use. Facebook and Google Ads can take up to $100 monthly if you want to get desired result. As for digital assets, you can leverage free tools like Canva and DIYbookcovers.com for images and videos respectively.
We recommend that beginners start from the least plan and then scale up as they generate revenue. Don’t make the mistake of overspending even if you have a huge budget. Wisdom is profitable to direct.
2. Sign up for Wix
Now that you’ve figured out a budget, it is time to sign up for Wix.com. Simply visit Wix.com and sign up or log in if you already own an account with them. You’ll be asked to drop your email & password, and attempt a few questions to give Wix an idea of what your website will look like.
How much does Wix cost?
As stated earlier, Wix offers a free plan for personal usage, of course. But, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan if you want to sell anything on Wix. Amazingly, Wix offers a 14-day money-back guarantee for all of its premium packages. You can walk away at no loss if you aren’t satisfied with their service within 14 days.
Check out Wix pricing:
- Business Basic: $23
- Business Unlimited: $27
- Business VIP: $49
3. Pick a professional template
Wix boasts over 80 templates that are suited for online stores. These themes have powerful business tools and SEO capabilities to help grow your business. We recommend choosing a template that is related to your niche, category, or industry. For example, if you are selling bags, finding a template under clothing, fashion, or accessories is a good start. The beauty of the Wix template is it gives users a decent level of creative control and customization. Luckily, that’s next on our list.
4. Customize your online store
Customization is one of the reasons Wix has around 28 million mobile websites as of 2017. It uses a drag-and-drop editor to alter the color scheme, align texts, and move around different components in a way that will give your online store a personal feel, look, and touch. Yes, with Wix, you can bring your personality on board. What’s more? You can add as many pages to your site, display tons of products as you’d like, and insert quality media that reflect your brand.
That’s not all. Wix has additional features that can enhance your site's user experience, some of which are social media integrations, email subscription boxes, customer testimonials, advance tabs, popups, and the list goes on. Common, what more can you ask for? You have everything needed to offer convenient browsing for your visitors all checked.
5. Find the right niche and products for your business
Now, let’s move to the serious part. The beauty and elegance of your store will not count if you don’t source products to sell. There are a few things to consider when trying to pick a niche.
Do you have an interest in the products in that niche?
You should have a slight interest in what you intend to sell. You also want to be familiar with the products. Otherwise, you may find it difficult to promote the products in a way that will attract customers.
Ensure your dropshipping niche is not just a fad
We recommend you pick evergreen products that will not fizzle out quickly. Use SEMRush and AHREFS to research niches that have stayed consistent over the years.
Know the profit margin for your products
Profit margin varies from product to product. After making a list of potential product ideas, carry out a price analysis. This will help you figure out which products have a bigger and better profit margin.
Known the competition
In addition to keyword research, you should consider competitor research. Be aware that you are not the first or only person in that niche. There are a thousand others who are selling the same product as you plan to. We recommend you choose a niche that is not overly competitive, yet evergreen.
In summary, the best kind of niche is one that should interest you, is evergreen, and have a decent profit margin.
6. Connect with reliable suppliers
Now that you’ve created your Wix store and have researched the right niche product ideas, it is time to source a reputable supplier. Finding the right supplier can be a daunting task if you are not informed. We will highlight three ways to find the right suppliers for your Wix store.
SaleYee: SaleYee is not among Wix dropshipping suppliers nor is it a Wix dropshipping app. It is a standalone dropshipping and wholesale platform to find reliable suppliers selling top-quality products. SaleYee was established to empower online retailers to sell and earn globally, regardless of the location. On the SaleYee platform, you will find over 30,000 profitable SKUs in evergreen product categories to choose from. They offer professional customer service to see through your needs. If you have a non-Wix online store, SaleYee offers seamless integration with Wish, Walmart, Shopify, eBay, Amazon, and so on. With over 630,000sq.m warehouse, your customers are sure to receive their delivery safe and fast.
SaleYee is completely free to start with – no membership fee, no monthly subscription fee. All you need is to visit SaleYee.com to get sign up and import products from reputable dropship suppliers.
7. Set your profit margins
In dropshipping, your profit is the difference between your supplier’s price and the price that you set in your store. Unfortunately, you cannot just set prices. There are pricing rules depending on the app you decide to use.
If you are using Modalyst, the Modalyst calculator will automatically set the markup to X1.67. This means that if the retailer is selling a bracelet for $3, that product will appear as $5.01 on the sales page. However, if that price doesn’t suit your preference, you can override and fix whatever value you want.
If you’re using Spocket, you can visit ‘Settings’ to change the pricing rules. There isn’t a default set of rules in place for those using Spocket so you’ll need to add your own price manually.
If you’re using the SaleYee platform, you need to research Global Pricing Rules that apply to products in your niche before you can set your price.
NOTE: In dropshipping, you have complete control over your profit margins. However, it is wise for you to develop a dropshipping pricing strategy and set competitive prices. You don’t want to set too low or too high prices on your products. You’ll end up chasing customers and eventually ruining your store.
8. Customize your product details
Your product page should be set in a way that will attract customers. Make your visitors stay longer on your site by uploading high-quality images that fit your brand, engaging item descriptions, the right color theme, and so on.
9. Legal issues
Dropshipping is a business model and as such, every legal procedure needs to be carried out before making sales. Like any new venture, you want to:
- Create a business plan
- Register your business name as a Sole Proprietorship business, Limited Liability Company, or Corporation.
- Apply for an EIN (Employment Identification Number). This is important because most dropshipping suppliers require you to have one before they do business with you.
10. Promote your store
Now that you’ve got everything set up, it’s time to make your store visible. There are different ways to promote your online store; some are free, others aren’t. The most popular way to promote your store for free is to create social media channels for your business. Simply sign up and set up a business profile with any four: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and LinkedIn. You can also create a blog section where you will post relevant articles relating to what you sell. This way, you get to add backlinks and draw organic traffic to your store.
If you sell fashion items or something similar, create informational ‘How To’ videos so potential buyers can learn how to use your products. All these are free! If you have a budget, then consider setting up a Facebook Ad campaign and Google Adsense as well. If you don’t know how to drive traffic or promote your store, we recommend hiring a digital marketer. You’ll find thousands on Fiverr.
11. Setup shipping
Shipping isn’t a big deal when it comes to dropshipping. Your dropshipping supplier will cater to this. What you want to do is to provide shipping guidance when listing your products. Both Spocket and Modalyst offer this; crosscheck on your Wix dashboard to verify.
12. Accept orders and forward customer orders to the supplier
Now you have positioned your store for customers to find you. When you get your order, simply pay your dropshipping supplier; submit your customer orders as well as shipping details to your supplier. The dropshipping supplier will handle order fulfillment and give you a tracking number so your customer can track where their package is at specific times.
13. Manage all orders from your Wix dashboard
Dropshipping on Wix provides an intuitive dashboard where you can do everything. Get familiar with your Wix dashboard as you progress in this business.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There you have it, thirteen awesome steps to take when dropshipping through Wix. To be a successful dropshipper, you must learn new things daily, choose the right niche/product, and choose reputable Wixdropshipping suppliers. Follow our guide and get your Wix store running within hours.
