Newsflash!! — Oberlo is out of operations.
Oberlo shut down operations in May 2022. Active users would enjoy one more month of usage before the app was officially delisted from the store.
Oberlo advised dropshippers and online retailers to switch to DSers, one of the foremost dropshipping apps for Shopify.
However, since this post was originally published before Oberlo’s delisting, we decided to keep it up for readers who needed to understand how Oberlo worked prior to its removal.
Here’s the original post:
If you are looking to kickstart your dropshipping business on Shopify, you need the right set of tools – the Oberlo Chrome extension must be one of them.
Oberlo is a dropshipping app created by Shopify to help online retailers find products on Aliexpress and easily import them into their stores. This app also allows you to manage your product listing, process your orders, and ship your orders.
The Oberlo Chrome Extension is, well, an extension that makes it easy for you to access Oberlo.
In today’s post, we will explore why dropshipping is a profitable business idea to try in 2024. Also, we will share with you what you need to get started and become a successful dropshipper.
And finally, you will get to know what the Oberlo Chrome extension is all about and why using it makes a lot of sense.
Prior to its total absence, Oberlo advised its users to switch to DSers.
DSers, a leading dropshipping tool, and the best Oberlo alternative has partnered with Oberlo to launch a new data migration solution that enables Shopify e-commerce merchants to enjoy an improved DSers dropshipping experience in minutes. The migration tool became available to merchants on May 12, 2022.
DSers provides Oberlo users with a ton of additional features, including the ability to manage multiple stores. Merchants can also integrate their store with PayPal to sync order tracking numbers automatically.
Finally, DSers’s built-in marketing suite allows you to quickly create buy-one-get-one (BOGO) and bundles to increase revenue.
Visit the DSers’ FAQ page to learn more about migrating your store from Oberlo to DSers.
Is Dropshipping Still Profitable?
The long and short answer to that question is a definitive yes.
Another question we see that keeps popping up on the internet is, can you make money dropshipping?
The answer is still a very loud yes.
Here’s the thing; drop shipping saves you the trouble of managing inventory, making it more attractive than conventional eCommerce.
On top of that, dropshipping offers more flexibility. Plus, it is more scalable and costs next to nothing to start.
When done right, you can make a lot of money from it.
Is dropshipping dead? Well, let’s turn to Google Trends for answers.
If you plug in the term “dropshipping” into Google trends, you will see this:
Notice how the trend has risen remarkably in the last five years?
Bet you have your answers now. But if you don’t find that satisfactory, here are some interesting stats that are worthy of an honorable mention:
- By 2026, the global dropshipping market will be worth over $476.1 billion.
- Dropshippers tend to make 50% more profit than eCommerce retailers with physical inventory.
- On average, successful dropshipping retailers make between $1,000 and $5,000 in profits per month.
Those stats are enough to prove dropshipping is still profitable.
How to Start a Dropshipping Business Successfully
Dropshipping is not a walk in the park. If it were, every dick, tom, and harry would be into it. The reason is that the journey to becoming a successful dropshipper is riddled with many challenges.
Some of the common challenges are as follows:
Fierce Competition
One good thing about dropshipping is that it is easy to start. Consequently, just about anyone can get into it. And this means fierce competition.
Finding the right niche is the key to staying ahead regardless of how vicious the competition might be. More details on this shortly.
Consistency and a lot of persistence will also help.
Customer Support Is a Challenge
How do you deal with faulty products, failed fulfillment, and refunds? If you were selling your own products, it would have been easier. But since you are selling on behalf of a supplier, those can be tricky.
Not all suppliers offer customer support – most of those who do are half-assed.
Finding a Reliable Supplier Can Be Hard
The suppliers you work with can heavily influence your chances of finding success with your dropshipping business. Finding the right one can be a challenge.
Despite these challenges, you can still find massive success with dropshipping.
How?
Pricing shouldn’t be your sole differentiator – quality, customer satisfaction, and smart advertising should be your goal.
Focus, focus, focus!! The fastest route to dropshipping failure is selling too many different products simultaneously. Pick a niche and stay on it long enough until you start seeing profits.
Try selling on different marketplaces. Doing so improves your odds for success considerably.
Use the right set of tools. And one of those tools is Oberlo.
What is Oberlo
Put simply, Oberlo is a dropshipping app for Shopify that makes it easy for retailers to find products from suppliers and import them into their store.
Additionally, Oberlo makes it easy for you to customize the details of the products you import into your store with a lot of ease.
On top of that, with Oberlo, you can seamlessly manage and fulfill your orders, track shipment, and run an affiliate program. Even better, you can customize your shipping options by selecting your preferred shipping method from your Oberlo dashboard.
You could even build a website with it and with little or no coding skills.
The best part is that you can start for free with Oberlo. Then as your store grows, you can scale up your plan.
Oberlo comes with lots of additional tools and features to help your business succeed. They include a business name generator tool, traffic calculator, slogan generator, profit margin calculator, etc.
Do bear in mind that Oberlo is wholly exclusive to Shopify. This means you can’t use Oberlo if you don’t own a Shopify store.
What is Oberlo Chrome Extension
An extension, basically, is any additional plugin/app you add to your software to enhance its functionality.
It then follows that the Oberlo Chrome extension is, well, an extension from Oberlo you add to your Chrome browsers.
You can easily import products from Aliexpress right into your store with this extension.
In fact, all the features the Oberlo app comes with are also available on the extension.
How Do I Add Oberlo Extension to Chrome?
Adding the Oberlo extension to your Chrome browser is pretty simple. To do so, first launch your Chrome browser.
When you have, click the three-dot vertical icon on the top-right corner of your browser.
Next, navigate to More tools >> Extensions
On the Extensions page, click the menu icon on the top-left corner.
When you have, click the Open Chrome Web Store link at the bottom of the navigation pane.
On the Chrome Web Store page, search for Oberlo. Once you find it, open it and then click the Add to Chrome button like so:
With that, you have successfully added Oberlo extension to your Chrome browser.
10 Tips to Become Successful With Dropshipping
Dropshipping success hardly ever come by accident. If you are going to be successful at it, you will need a clear-cut plan.
With that caveat out of the way, here are 10 tried-and-trusted tips to succeed with dropshipping.
1. Master the Art of Facebook Ads
If you build it, they will come.
How true is that?
The thing is, it’s never enough to launch a dropshipping store and hope that somehow, customers will find you. That might never happen.
As such, it would help if you masted the art of promoting your products via Facebook ads.
The key to succeeding with Facebook ads is mainly dependent on two variables: your ability to design engaging ads and find your target audience.
Unfortunately, these two skills can’t be learned overnight. Like every other skill, you will practice a lot of times and make mistakes along the way on your journey to mastery.
Will you lose money? Definitely!
But it will be well worth it in the end.
2. Iterate Fast
How easy is it to get things right on the first attempt? Quitely unlikely.
The same applies to dropshipping – you will likely not start seeing sales right off the bat.
What to do?
Iterate – and do so fast.
If Facebook ads aren’t working as you expect, try Google PPC ads instead of giving up on paid marketing altogether.
Even better, you could try organic SEO.
If your website isn’t generating traffic or sales, try promoting your products via affiliate marketing.
Iterate, iterate, iterate. Or should we say, A/B test.
Try different strategies and approaches to see which works best.
Even when you have started seeing sales, don’t stop A/B testing (the same as iterating).
3. Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
The eCommerce industry is very dynamic and changes just too fast. Sometimes, the only way to keep up is by spying out your competitors to see what they are doing.
Before you start wondering if that is not foul play, bear in mind that even established business organizations do the same.
What new marketing strategy are they using? Where do they get their products from? How are their target customers?
Knowing all these can help you make intelligent decisions that will move your business forward.
4. Dig Into Data
Guesses and assumptions can kill your dropshipping business faster than a hot knife through butter.
So, by all means, it makes sense to keep them at bay and depend exclusively on verified data.
For example, let’s say you are looking to the dog toy niche. You will want to know:
- What key terms do people use to find dog toys to buy?
- How many searches does it get every month?
- How competitive is it?
And lots more.
Luckily, you can find all that data using the Google Keyword Planner. It’s free!
5. Be Customer-centric
The whole essence of getting into dropshipping business is to make profits and live the life of your dreams.
While this is a noble ambition, the problem, however, is that it’s easy to forget the people that matter the most to your business while chasing the dough: your customers.
This is why there are lots of dropshippers selling defective products because they are only interested in making profits at all costs.
Some others don’t consider their customers’ reviews – if at all they notice.
That being said, quality and excellent customer service should be your watchword if you will see lasting success with dropshipping.
It might mean losing on some orders, tighter profit margins, etc. but it will always be worth it in the long run.
6. Master the Art of Cross-Selling
Let’s say you sell mobile phones in your store. A customer that visits and buys a phone from your store will most likely be willing to buy a phone case.
Another example is if you sell sneaker shoes. Your customers won’t mind buying insoles if you ask them to.
This is cross-selling at work.
Cross-selling happens when customers buy complementary products based on your recommendation or personal will.
Mastering the art of cross-selling has numerous benefits.
To begin with, it can increase your store’s Average Order Value (AOV) considerably. This means that customers will spend more than they usually would on your store.
Also, it can help to improve your customers’ shopping experience and make them keep coming back for more.
7. Work With the Right Suppliers
The supplier you work with has a heavy influence on the success or failure of your dropshipping business.
Work with a reliable, transparent supplier, and you will have a great time in business. On the other hand, an unreliable supplier won’t only frustrate you but also potentially ruin your brand reputation.
Now sure how to find the right ones? Check out this guide
8. Niche Down
Everyone can’t be your customer. Trying to sell to anybody will lead you to failure.
In order words, rather than being a generalist, pick a dropshipping niche you are comfortable with and focus on it. In essence, niche down.
It’s always better to go narrow and deep than broad and shallow.
Niching down allows you to master your market better than anyone. It also helps conserve the resources you would have otherwise spent on ads that won’t bring any sales.
9. Try Multiple Sales Channels
Facebook and Instagram ads are great for generating sales for your dropshipping business. But they are not to be entirely relied on.
Google ads, Reddit marketing, Email marketing, and SEO can help you immensely.
So, by all means, diversify your sales channels.
10. Keep At It
Dropshipping is a tough grind. You will most likely not see any success in the first months or years of starting out. But if you can stay it out and persevere long enough, you will start to see amazing results.
Conclusion
Dropshipping can bring you riches if done right. This is why you need the right set of tools to succeed. One of such tools is Adoric.
Adoric allows you to create captivating opt-in and promotional pop-ups on your Shopify website. With these popups, you can win more subscribers, generate more revenue, and make more sales for your Dropshipping business.
Best of all, Adoric is easy to use.
