How to Start Dropshipping with AliExpress (2024 Playbook)

Dropshipping has become a popular trend in the e-commerce industry, allowing entrepreneurs to run their online stores without managing inventory or handling shipping. In this article, we will delve into the world of dropshipping and provide a guide on how to start with AliExpress, one of the most reliable platforms in the market.

What is Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a retail fulfilment method that allows businesses to sell a wide range of products without having them in stock. Instead, they take orders from their customers and buy the products from a third-party supplier, who then ships them to the customer. 

In dropshipping, the supplier is responsible for storing the inventory, packing, and shipping the product to the customer. The business only needs to focus on marketing and making sales.

What is AliExpress?

AliExpress is a massive online marketplace with millions of products to sell. Founded in 2010, it is owned by the Alibaba Group, a Chinese multinational conglomerate and one of the world’s largest eCommerce companies.

 AliExpress functions like other retail marketplaces, but with a unique twist: it connects international buyers with Chinese suppliers.

On AliExpress, you can find almost anything, from electronics and fashion to home goods and beauty products. This is why it is a popular choice for dropshippers, as you can find anything you want at a low price.

Related: How to Avoid Scams on AliExpress

Does AliExpress Allow Dropshipping?

A resounding yes! AliExpress allows dropshipping. What makes it even better is that the platform encourages it by offering tools and resources to make your business easier as a dropshipper.

It also helps that many suppliers on the platform are familiar with the dropshipping model and are open to working with you to ensure the process is as smooth as possible.

When you place an order, you can leave a note for the supplier to remove any promotional material or invoices from the package. This ensures the product looks like it came directly from your store and helps maintain your business's professional image.

How Much Does it Cost to Dropship on AliExpress?

It costs N0 to dropship on AliExpress. You just need to create an account and search for your desired products. You can also use dropshipping apps like Dsers (an AlIExpress partner) to automate searching for suppliers and products.

Here's how AliExpress dropshipping apps work:

1. Search for products on AliExpress that you want to sell.
2. Choose an item through your dropshipping app.
3. Determine your selling price.
4. Import the item to your dropshipping store and adjust the product listing. Dsers works well with tools like Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix.
5. When you get an order, your dropshipping app will send it to the AliExpress supplier.
6. The AliExpress supplier ships the item straight to your customer.

 Benefits of Dropshipping with AliExpress

Wide Product Range:
With millions of products available, AliExpress makes it easy for dropshippers to find products that fit their niche. This means you can easily find products that meet your customers' needs and preferences.

Competitive Pricing:
AliExpress prices are usually lower than those of other platforms.  You can sell products at a competitive price while still making a profit. Additionally, they offer free shipping on most products, which can save costs.

Easy to use:
AliExpress is easy to use, and the platform is user-friendly. With a few clicks, you can find products, place orders, and manage your business. 

No MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity):
Minimum order quantities are the bane of most offline businesses. With  AliExpress, you do not have to bother about minimum order quantity as you can order whatever number of items you want. This helps you avoid large capital investments and allows you to test new products for your business.

Supplier Ratings and Reviews:
AliExpress allows customers to leave ratings and reviews for suppliers. This transparency enables you to evaluate the reliability and reputation of potential suppliers before entering into partnerships. 

Problems with Dropshipping from AliExpress

While dropshipping from AliExpress has many benefits, it has its challenges. Here are some common problems you might encounter:

Long Shipping Times:
Most suppliers on AliExpress are based in China, which means shipping times can be lengthy, ranging from two weeks to over a month. This can lead to impatient or dissatisfied customers, especially if they expect faster delivery.

Variable Product Quality:
The quality of AliExpress products can be inconsistent. Some items may be excellent, while others may not meet your expectations or those of your customers. 

Customer Service Issues:
Dealing with returns, exchanges, or refunds can be more complicated when dropshipping from AliExpress. You rely on the supplier’s policies and responsiveness, which may not always align with the level of customer service you aim to provide.

Risk of Stock Issues:
Because you don’t control the inventory, there’s always a risk that a product might go out of stock without notice. This can be frustrating for you and your customers, especially if you’ve already received orders you can’t fulfil quickly..

Potential for Counterfeit Products:
Some sellers on AliExpress might offer counterfeit or knockoff products. Selling these items can lead to legal issues, damage your store’s reputation, and result in dissatisfied customers.

Customs and Import Duties:
Your customers might face unexpected customs fees or import duties, which can lead to complaints.

Why Would Someone Buy from You If They Can Buy Directly from AliExpress?

At first glance, customers would have no reason to buy from your store when they could go straight to AliExpress. However, this is not entirely true as you can offer a different experience to the customer. 

Here are some ways you can make yourself the go-to:

Curated Selection:
Your store offers a carefully curated selection of products, saving customers the time and effort of going through thousands of items on AliExpress. You choose only the best and most relevant products for your niche, making shopping more accessible and more enjoyable for your customers.

Enhanced Shopping Experience:
By providing an attractive, user-friendly store with detailed product descriptions, high-quality images, and customer reviews, you create a more pleasant and trustworthy shopping experience. This can be more appealing than the often cluttered and inconsistent layout of AliExpress listings.

Better Customer Service:
You offer personalised customer service and support that AliExpress sellers often cannot match. Being responsive and helpful builds trust and loyalty with your customers, encouraging them to return for future purchases.

Branding and Trust:
One of the most important elements of building a business is having a strong brand that customers can trust. AliExpress suppliers cannot have or build this. Customers will feel more comfortable buying from you through your marketing efforts and responsiveness than from an anonymous AliExpress seller.

Tailored Content and Marketing:
Good marketing can make all the difference. For example, if you decide to sell trendy female wear, you can create content on social media that involves accessorising or styling outfits. This helps you entertain and educate your audience (people like me). In the long run, this can make you an authority and the go-to person for content and products in the fashion category.

Setting Up your Dropshipping Store

Your dropshipping store is very important for your business's success. It can help you streamline operations and work more efficiently. Let’s go over what you will need to get your store up and running.

Choose Your Niche/ Products

Selecting a profitable niche is the foundation of a successful dropshipping store. Consider your interests, passions, and market demand. Research popular trends, conduct competitor analysis, and identify a niche where you can offer unique value.

Market Research:
You can start by doing market research to determine products in demand. You can use tools like Google Trends, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, Amazon Best Sellers, and Google Keyword Planner to determine what people seek.

Competitor Analysis:
seekYou can look at the competition in your niche and what they are doing. Analyse their product offerings, pricing, and marketing strategies. You can also view their customer engagements and reviews to identify gaps you can capitalise on.

Passion and Knowledge:
Consider your interests and passions.  What can you do every day for the rest of your life without getting tired? What’s that one thing that can keep you awake all night? 

A niche that aligns with your interests can be motivating and enjoyable to work on, making it easier to stay engaged and committed even when the tide is low.

Another thing to consider is your expertise or knowledge. You can leverage your knowledge and monetise it. Your understanding of the niche can give you a competitive edge.

Target Audience Needs:
Who do you intend to sell to? You need to understand their demographics, interests, behaviours, pain points and needs. Knowing this will guide your product selection efforts and further help you improve your marketing.

Testing and Validation:
One crucial step in user experience design is testing the prototype with the proposed audience to gauge their reactions and see if improvement is needed. You can reveal a few products you intend to sell to your audience. This feedback can then help you make informed decisions.

Choosing a niche is like fishing in a big river. You need to understand the river (the market) and where it has a large concentration of fish (market segment). After which, you must position your bait strategically (your product offering and marketing efforts) to catch a fish (make a profit). 

Select an E-commerce Platform

A reliable e-commerce platform is essential for building your online store.  Here are some popular dropshipping platforms:

Shopify

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows businesses to create and run their online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. It was founded in 2004 and has since grown to become one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. The platform has a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and requires no programming knowledge.

One of Shopify's standout features is its extensive customisation options. You can choose from various professionally designed templates or create your own custom design using its drag-and-drop website builder. The platform also offers a wide range of plugins and apps to enhance your website's functionality, from marketing and SEO to payment processing and shipping.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin for WordPress that allows businesses to create online stores easily. It presents a flexible and customisable platform to help you sell digital and physical goods, manage inventory, and process payments and shipping. If you’re already familiar with WordPress, using WooCommerce will be easy.

One of the great things about WooCommerce is its versatility. It integrates with various payment gateways, shipping providers, and other plugins to provide a seamless shopping experience for your customers. This means you can customise your online store to fit your specific needs and preferences and give your customers a good user experience.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is one of the leading e-commerce platforms that allows you to set up an online store and sell products to customers worldwide. It offers a wide range of features and functionalities that make it easy to manage your online store. From product listing and inventory management to payment processing and shipping.

One of BigCommerce's key benefits is its scalability. It provides the tools and resources necessary to grow your business. It offers a range of customisable templates tailored to fit your unique needs and branding. It also has a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to customise your website without coding knowledge.

Another advantage of BigCommerce is its ease of use. The platform is designed with the user in mind, and its intuitive interface makes it easy for even novice users to set up and manage an online store.

BigCommerce also offers a range of marketing and SEO tools that can help you increase your online visibility and attract more customers. Its built-in SEO features allow you to optimise your online store for search engines, while its marketing tools, such as email marketing and social media integration, allow for easy promotion and customer engagement.

Integrating Your Dropshipping Store with AliExpress

Once you've chosen an eCommerce platform, integrating it with AliExpress is important to fulfil orders and manage inventory. Here are some tools you can use: 

Oberlo

Oberlo is a popular e-commerce platform designed to help entrepreneurs easily find and import products from AliExpress directly into their online store. One of the main benefits of using Oberlo is the convenience it provides. With just a few clicks, you can import thousands of products into your online store, set your prices, and start selling right away.

Another key advantage of Oberlo is its integration with Shopify. With Oberlo, you can easily integrate your AliExpress products into your Shopify store and take advantage of all the benefits that Shopify has to offer.

Dsers 

DSers is a dropshipping tool that makes managing your orders easier. It works well with AliExpress, letting you automate sending orders from your store directly to suppliers. 

With DSers, you can place multiple orders simultaneously, saving you time. It also helps you manage different suppliers and switch between them to get the best deals. You can easily import products from AliExpress to your store and keep track of orders. Plus, if you run several stores, DSers can help you handle all of them from one place. 

AliDropship

AliDropship is a powerful e-commerce platform designed to help entrepreneurs build and manage their online stores. This platform lets you easily import products from AliExpress to your online store.

One of AliDropship's best features is its ability to fully automate the dropshipping process. This means you can set up your store, import products, and fulfil orders without doing anything manually. This saves time and allows you to focus on growing your business.

Additionally, the platform offers SEO optimisation tools to help your store rank higher in search engine results and attract more customers.

Dropified

Dropified is a powerful software platform designed to make e-commerce easier and more efficient for online entrepreneurs. With Dropified, you can easily find and import products from multiple suppliers, manage inventory and orders, and automate your fulfilment processes.

One of Dropified's key features is the ability to connect with multiple suppliers, allowing you to source products worldwide and access a wider range of products.

How to Dropship with AliExpress

Your store is up and running, plus you’ve gotten some orders. What, then, do you do?

As we said earlier, dropshipping happens when you get an order from a customer, buy it from a supplier, and have the supplier ship it to your customer. This is how it also works on AliExpress. 

You can choose to order these items manually or automate it using dropshipping tools.

Manual  Ordering:
Search AliExpress to find products you want to sell in your store. Look for items with good reviews and reliable suppliers. Manually create product listings in your e-commerce store. Include detailed descriptions, high-quality images, pricing, and shipping information.

When your customer places an order in your store, go to AliExpress, search for the product, add it to your cart, and use the customer’s shipping address when you check out.

While it is called manual, it doesn’t have to be hectic. One way you can simplify your manual ordering is to create a sheet with all the products you’ve listed on your store, the price you are selling them for, the cost on AliExpress, and a link to the product. 

This way, once a customer places an order, it will be easier for you to find the product. It also helps you stay informed about price changes.

Automated Ordering:
Select a dropshipping app that integrates with AliExpress and your e-commerce platform. Install the app on your chosen e-commerce platform and connect your store to AliExpress through the app.

Use the dropshipping app to browse and import products directly from AliExpress to your store. The app will automatically pull product details, images, and pricing. You can customise the product listings in your store, including titles, descriptions, and prices.

When a customer places an order, the dropshipping app will automatically forward the order details to the AliExpress supplier and help make the purchase.

Ordering Tips to Note 

Choose Reliable Suppliers:
Look for suppliers with high ratings and positive reviews. A good track record is crucial for ensuring product quality and reliable shipping.

Also, establish clear communication with suppliers. Ask questions about their products, shipping methods, and return policies to gauge their responsiveness and reliability. 

Let them know that the product is for dropshipping and that they shouldn’t add any promotions or invoices.

Order Samples:
Order samples of the products you plan to sell to check the quality firsthand. This helps ensure that the items meet your standards before being offered to customers.

Monitor Stock Levels:
Regularly check the stock levels of your products on AliExpress to avoid listing items that are out of stock.

Set Clear Expectations:
Communicate expected shipping times to your customers on your product pages and during checkout. Transparency helps manage customer expectations and reduce complaints.

Keep Track of Orders:
Use a reliable order management system to keep track of all your orders, including order details, shipping information, and customer communication. Regularly follow up with your suppliers to ensure orders are processed and shipped on time.

Best AliExpress Dropshipping Products

1. Bottle lamp
2. Toddlers non-slip shoes
3. T-shirts
4. Sandals
5. Pimple patches
6. Makeup brush
7. 2-in-1 bracelet and ring
8. Pilates workout bar
9. Yoga socks
10. Water shoes
11. Makeup remover wipes
12. Air fryers
13. Electric kettles
14. Children's toys
15. Teething toys
16. Baby Pillow
17.  Ringlights  
18. Lavalier microphones
19. Phone  pouches
20. Light note board
21. Virtual laser keyboard
22. Power adapters
23. Printer paper
24. Pillows
25. Bedsheets
26. Blackout curtains
27. Hangers
28. Note pads
29. Storage boxes
30. Salad cutter bowl

Growing Your AliExpress Dropshipping Business

Building Supplier Relationships:
You are probably tired of hearing about building supplier relationships. It’s one of the foundations of your business success. Good supplier relationships will help you negotiate better pricing and make you a priority customer.

Establish and maintain open communication with your suppliers. Regularly check in to discuss product availability, shipping times, and any issues that may arise. If you’ve used a particular supplier over time, you can use tools like WhatsApp to stay in touch.

Take Marketing Seriously:
One of my favourite quotes from Grant Cardone is, “Best known beats best.” You have to be known to build a successful dropshipping business. To do this, employ marketing strategies like:

• SEO
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Social media ads
• Google ads
• Referral systems

Expand Your Product Range:
Expand your product range to cater to different customer needs and preferences. Offering a diverse selection can attract a broader audience and increase sales opportunities.

Conclusion 

Starting a dropshipping business with AliExpress can be lucrative if done correctly. By following the steps outlined in the 2024 Playbook, you can set yourself up for success and avoid common pitfalls. Conduct thorough research on your niche, select reliable suppliers, and provide quality products to build a loyal customer base. Continuously improve your marketing strategy to stay ahead of the competition. 

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