is dropshipping with aliexpress dead? still profitible? (5)
Is it still possible to do this? Is the competition at a level where it is even profitible for a newbie?
Make it possible! For sure you are not the only one, but it also shows how much potential there is.
It's always possible.
The real question is whether this is something you should be doing, as you will be behind the curve.
But there's always a niche to carve out. In terms of pricing (expensive stuff in stead of cheap), geography (specific countries or areas) or interest (diving, horse riding, table tennis etc).
At this point in time, I would use this (dropshipping via Ali) as a springboard to something else, or as a test. See if there's interest, build out, create your own brand, own the niche.
The churn and burn approach is not recommended, as you'll lose that battle to more established competitors, who have money, sales volume (= purchasing power) and data.
They have their own warehouses for goods too.
So the question, as always is, what business do I want to build and how do I get there?
So it's not just a drop dropshipping business, but think about:
- location freedom
- high volume
- high margin, or low margin and volume
- with employees or without
Which are your goals (personal) and how much money do you need? How many hours do you want to spend?
Think these things through or you might end up with a business that does well, but you hate. Then you lose interest, business goes down and you're back to square one.
And yes, dropshipping from Aliexpress can still be profitable - I have profitable campaigns running on FB at the moment for a product I'm testing. Next step would be to order directly from the supplier and ship from N/A.
I could continue to dropship the same product and not have to worry about tying up capital in stocking inventory, and paying for fulfillment and employees etc. - but like pekadis has alluded to, the churn-and-burn model will leave money on the table in terms of repeat buyers + word-of-mouth referrals - and you don't have an edge so will be easily squeezed out by competition.
And I'm having to stop the test campaign very soon, because if I keep running it, people that place orders expecting gifts to arrive by Christmas will be sorely disappointed - and I just can't do that.
But by then I'll have inventory here in Canada which I'll be able to get to the customer in 1-3 days (if they're in Canada - for US, add a few days more). So I'll be able to sell this all the way until very close to Christmas day.
Given Aliexpress' typical shipping time of 15-45+ days, and Black Friday being on Nov. 23rd, those that are dropshipping from Aliexpress will miss most/all of the Christmas rush.
Either that, or get calls and emails from a swarm of angry customers that haven't received gifts on-time for Christmas.
Amy
Short answer - Nope. It's profitable, very profitable!
LeadCloak
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