Is Dropshipping Business Model Dead in 2024? want to make your Dropshipping store more profitable? Read on for 29 essential dropshipping stats & Facts.
This is a complete list of the most important dropshipping stats and facts (for novices and pros, alike) in 2024.
If have you have the following questions:
Then you've come to the right place...
Let's get started!
1. You Have 15 Seconds to Make a Sale
15 seconds is the average time that users spend on a website, according to Time Magazine.
Your site needs to be professional. Match the design with the themes of whatever you're selling.
Keep your e-commerce site simple and elegant. This goes for your writing (product descriptions), too.
Use visual aids, videos, photos, and gifs to grab and hold the customer's attention.
Your Call to Action, or purchase field, should be front and center. Use scarcity tactics and time sensitivity to give your visitors more reasons to make a purchase.
eCommerce is a 5 Trillion Dollar Industry.
Approximately 4.89 trillion dollars were spent in 2021 on eCommerce (compared to 3.5 trillion spent in 2019).
According to eMarketer, the global dropshipping market is expected to grow by 18.7% annually. By the end of 2024, dropshipping will be worth an estimated 6.3 trillion dollars.
Free Delivery is an Expectation
Via Oberlo, nearly 51% of consumers stated that the reason they shop online is free delivery (aka convenience).
Though it may cut into profits, know that you'll get more sales by offering free delivery.
Most Popular Dropshipping Product Niches in 2024?
In 2021, clothing sales made up 20.8% of the dropshipping market ($142 billion), followed by Home & Garden (14.4%) and jewelry (11%).
Electronics now account for 30% of the North American dropshipping market, while Crafts held 3% of the global e-commerce dropshipping market.
When deciding upon a product niche for your dropshipping store, consider accessory heavy products, specialty items that you can't get in a store, or disposable goods.
Shopify Dominates US eCommerce
62.8% of Shopify stores are from the US.
8% are from Canada.
7.4% are from Australia.
This is according to a global dropshipping market crawl of 300 million products from over 600,000 stores by Shopgram.io
2.2 Billion Online Shoppers in 2021
The global dropshipping market is enormous and ever-growing.
27.6% of the world's 7.74 billion people bought something online last year. 230 million of those shoppers were from the US.
There were 900 million more online shoppers than there were in 2020 (4.4% increase), according to Oberlo. In 2024, 65% of Americans shop online.
58% of Customers Stop Buying Because...
...of a bad customer experience.
Returning customers are a gold mine. They trust your e-commerce store and products.
Give them a great ecommerce user experiences, keep them happy; they'll keep coming back for more.
Smartphones Are The Dominant e-Commerce Shopping Platform
Mobile shopping dominates eCommerce.
According to Forbes, in 2021, 73% of all online shopping purchases (in the global dropshipping market) were made on mobile devices (over 3.5 trillion dollars).
China Is The Leader In eCommerce Sales
It should come as no surprise that China is the biggest player in eCommerce.
66% of all online sales were made through Chinese companies in 2021. They're the clear leader in the global dropshipping market, especially for suppliers.
10. Your Chance to Convert Drops Dramatically With Each Funnel Step...
According to DropshipLifestyle, your chances to convert drop 50% for each step in your e-commerce funnel.
Optimize your e-commerce sales funnel to be as simple as possible. Customers should be able to get from your store page to checkout in less than 3 clicks. Ecommerce must be as simple as possible for your customers.
Consider each step to halve your profits.
11. Top eBay Sellers Are Still Running Strong (But Offer Lower Profit Margins)
87% of dropshippers state that finding a good ecommerce supplier is the most troublesome part of getting your business off the ground. Here are a few of the major players who dominate the supply sector.
As you may have expected, AliExpress still reigns supreme over the market. They allow for direct ordering through their website, offer some of the best prices, and provide useful automation tools.
SaleHoo, based in New Zealand, provides an excellent service to bridge suppliers and buyers. Their service only costs $67 a year, too.
Worldwide Brands does a great job at vetting suppliers and provides training services for running a retail business.
You Should Offer Multiple Shipping Options
Don't just offer free shipping. Make sure there are premium offers, too.
66% of customers buy from stores with more than one shipping option. Just make sure the price isn't outrageously high.
Make Yourself Available to Build Trust With Customers
If a customer encounters an issue, make sure they can resolve it asap.
At a chatbox that delivers messages to your phone (or an employee).
You can also make a separate email form for customers to reach out. People prefer to buy from those they trust.
2/3 Shipping Carts Are Abandoned...
Free shipping and urgency tactics will help negate the fact that 69.57% of shopping carts are left unconverted.
You can also setup automated follow up emails to customers who've abandoned their carts. Oberlo states that customers open and engage with 40% of follow up emails.
Use this data to retarget ads, too. Just because someone wasn't ready to buy doesn't mean that they won't make a purchase later on.
Don't Skimp On Your Mobile Store
The modern dropshipping market demands and functioning mobile store.
It should be as usable and clean as your desktop store. Why?
Because there are over 3.8 billion smart phone users in the world; a number that is only expected to rise. 73% of ecommerce takes place on mobile devices
A poorly formatted mobile site will absolutely kill your conversions. Phones are already tedious to use for online shopping. Don't make it any harder.
Your Page Must Be Multilingual
Most of the world does not speak English. Don't exclude billions of potential customers because your page isn't formatted to be multilingual.
According to Shopify, 58% of customers prefer to shop with stores that feature their native language.
17. Millennials Are Motivated By More Than Just A "Good Value"
An IBM study revealed that 80% of millennials stated that sustainability is a major motivating factor for their purchases.
46% stated that they look for products that offer additional health or wellness benefits. 44% preferred to purchase items that support recycling, or use organic ingredients.
It's something to consider when looking for products - and it adds another layer of value to include in your product descriptions.
18. How to Double Your Conversion Rates (Using Scarcity, Urgency, and Bonus Offers)
Average conversion rates for dropshipping stores sit around 2.45%. There are a few ways you can beat the odds and increase sales and profits in 2024:
Try using an expiring header coupon (Click for Free Shipping, or Click Now for 15% Your Order - Expires in 2 Hours).
Customers will talk themselves out of a purchase if you give them time to think about it.
You can also limit your stock - and add a counter that tracks how many products remain. No one wants to miss out on a product, right? It's an incredibly powerful persuasion technique.
Lastly, use bonus offers to sweeten the deal. Could be as simple as saying "free shipping." Or, try combining the product with another essential product. For instance, if you're selling a yoga mat, include a bottle of cleaning spray with it.
These are some of the easiest tactics to implement that will literally double your dropshipping store conversions.
Online Retailers Are Adopting Dropshipping
Dropshipping is easier - and often more profitable for online retailers. Dropshipping can increase profit margins by 50% when compared to owning inventory.
About 33% of online stores have adopted the model - and it will continue to rise significantly in the coming years.
Almost 33% of online stores use dropshipping to fulfill customer orders.
How Much Does It Cost To Get Into Dropshipping in 2024?
According to sixads.net, you can get started for as low as $280.
It takes money to make money, though, and realistically you should plan on having at least a few thousand dollars set aside to get your store set up, marketing, and, of course, acquiring your products.
Dropshipping Is Beneficial To Suppliers
Manufacturers who've adopted Dropshipping are 18.33% more profitable than those who rely on old or conventional retail channels.
This is primarily due to inventory space, which dropshipping helps to negate.
2025 Is Going To Be Big Year For Dropshipping
Grandviewresearch.com reports estimates a 28.8% growth rate from 2019 to 2025.
This means a revenue forecast of approximately 557.9 billion dollars.
Is the dropshipping market dead? Absolutely not.
Ordering Stock With Credit Cards Can Make You Serious Profit
Many credit card companies will give a small kickback to encourage you to keep using their card. This is a great way to make some extra cash when product sourcing.
Ebay dropshippers are averaging $693 a month in credit kickbacks alone. Though the amount is usually only around 1%, the money can really add up.
How Likely Are You To Succeed With Shopify?
They keep the specific numbers a secret - and Shoify is quick to highlight success stories, but their user report states that around 5% of stores are abandoned.
Your store platform doesn't matter that much. What's most important to your success is your niche, product, and marketing.
25. The Best Supplier for 2024?
87% of dropshippers state that find a good supplier is the most hard part of getting your business off the ground. Here are a few of the major players who dominate the supplier sector.
As you may have expected, AliExpress still reigns supreme over the supplier market. They allow for direct ordering through their website, offer some of the best prices, and provide useful automation tools.
SaleHoo, based in New Zealand, provides an excellent service to bridge suppliers and buyers. Their service only costs $67 a year, too.
Worldwide Brands does a great job at vetting suppliers and provides training services for running a retail business.
26. Shopify Growth is Through the Roof
In 2018, Shopify grossed 1.07 billion.
2019: Shopify grossed 1.58 billion.
2020: Shopify saw an 85% increase, grossing 2.92 billion.
2021: By the end of September, 2021, Shopify grossed 4.2 billion.
They're estimated to see over 6 billion dollars in revenue by the end of 2022.
Shopify also had 100 million unique customers in 2016.
They reached over 457 million by the end of September, 2022.
27. Is Dropshipping Dead in 2024 (Over-Saturated)?
Is the ecommerce industry too saturated to start a dropshipping business? Yes, you can expect a lot of competition if you're going into dropshipping in 2024.
According to dodropshipping.com, there are an estimated 12-24 million ecommerce stores, many of which are dropshipping sites.
However, only one million of these stores sell more than $1000 each year.
This means that there are a lot of dropshippers, but the vast majority are doing a poor job. You could say that dropshipping is dead for those who dropship ineffectively...
Remember...
- Optimize your store for desktop and mobile
- Know how to effectively target your customer base
- Have the right products for sale
Competition breeds innovation. If you want to rise to the top, you have to do a better job than your competition. Dropshipping might be a bit saturated, but there is plenty of room in the market for dropshippers who do it right. There will always be a place for well-run eCom stores.
Innovation, effort, and great service will push you past your competition.
To read more on this topic: Is dropshipping saturated?
28. What Dropshipping Products Should You Avoid in 2024?
There's a lot to consider when decided on which dropshipping items to sell in your store. Here are a few niches and products you absolutely should avoid when product sourcing.
1. Large Items
Don't be tempted by the high profit margins of things like home appliances and furniture (don't let your supplier convince you otherwise). Their weight will eat up your profits and they are prone to damage.
2. Fragile Items
Plates, glass products, figurines, ect... have a tough time arriving intact (especially over international transit). Plastic and other non-breakables are a much safer option.
3. Weight Loss Pills and Supplements
You cannot use facebook ads, due to their policies on health related advertising - to the point where it's hardly worth the effort.Account bans are the norm and health product dropshippers often have to rely on shady forms of advertising to push their goods on the market.
4. Clothing & Shoes
This might come as a surprise, but clothing and shoes are not nearly as profitable as you might expect. Customers can't try on the products - and being that international clothing sizes vary, you'll process a lot of returns (and most of those goods can't be resold).
5. Common Household Items
This includes anything that people commonly pick up for cheap at a local store. You're going to have a tough time beating Walmart prices. The only exception is premium niche items, like a special teeth whitening toothpaste or herbal soaps.
Go Social To Increase Your Profits
Use social media platforms to get more sales, promote your product and increase brand awareness. Every month 130 million users engage with shopping posts on social media.
The number of users on social media globally grew from 4.2 billion in January 2021 to 4.62 billion in January 2022. In 2024, 59% of the population uses social media, making it the place to be for dropshippers.
63% of customers expect a business to have a contact option on social media.
According to BigCommerce, social media channels can boost sales by 32%.
Influencer marketing can be a game changer for dropshippers:
Top dropshipping stats suggest that 30% of consumers report recommendations from influencers are a key factor in buying products online.
49% of people rely on product recommendations from influencers on social media.
