How to Choose the Right Dropshipping Platform for Your Business Needs

All dropship suppliers are searching for a marketing platform where they can place their goods with low risks and low costs. It is believed that dropshipping can be started without investments, as the dropshipper does not produce any goods; he is searching for trustable Suppliers. Dropshippers’ main task is to launch an online store and attract customers. Dropshippers may also search for platforms with direct-to-consumer sales models or large enterprise retailer schemes.

There are many dropshipping platforms available now welcoming this business model, and this article is a guide to the most popular. You may start your business from a marketplace and expand to separate domain resources.

Best ecommerce platforms for dropshipping

The total number of e-commerce platforms is up to 1 million. A dropshipper usually works with two platforms – source and target marketplace. Aliexpress with DSers app is one the most common source markets as you may find all products with low costs there.

But the choice of the target marketplaces is much more significant. According to the latest research, in 2023, 23% occupied WooCommerce, 19% Shopify, and 7% Magento. In the 45%, there are also popular platforms such as SaleHoo, AliExpress, BigCommerce, Oberlo, etc. Also, some popular marketplaces that allow dropshipping, but where there are not so many of them, are eBay, Amazon, and Walmart. Finally, the most recommended marketplaces for beginners are Spocket, AliExpress, Modalyst, Sunrise Wholesale, Worldwide Brands, Doba, and SaleHoo.

Whether you are a newcomer in dropshipping business or willing to change your current product niche or marketplace platform, you need to consider the most crucial aspects of choosing the platform for your needs.

10 parameters on how to choose the right dropshipping platform

The same platform could be good for one dropshipper but maybe not suitable for your business. Below are the ten main parameters that should be considered to choose your dropshipping platform.

1. The e-commerce platform’s popularity plays a vital role for beginners. On popular e-commerce marketplaces, you can meet a lot of competitors from your product niche, your price will be determined, and you should deliver the same product quality. But if you behave like an average supplier on top marketplaces it is easier to find Customers. Unfortunately, you need to fulfill all required papers and follow a popular marketplace’s strict requirements.
2. The main categories of goods sold on this platform. All platforms have product niches that are especially well sold there. You need to check if your product fits them.
3. The residence country of the marketplace. For registration on each platform, you must provide legal documents confirming your legal status and ability to pay taxes. For example, you must have Canadian documents and a legal address if you sell goods on a Canadian platform. The legal documents are one aspect; another one is the location of your Suppliers. Modern Customers do not like to wait long; Amazon or Walmart started to propose 2-day delivery, which means you can’t dropship from China marketplaces without an intermediate warehouse if you are in the USA. So, you need to be legalized, and your primary customers should locate in the marketplace residence country.
4. Possibility for customization and integration with other marketplaces. As an ior service requires at least a source platform (website or another marketplace) for the quick creation of an online store listing, the possibility to integrate information seamlessly is a must. Also, if you need to use unique design templates or add functionality to your online store, you need to have the possibility to do so without significant software knowledge.
5. As the dropshipping business model’s main benefit is low investments, your initial expenses should be clear and not significant. Many marketplaces have flexible pricing depending on the number of goods you are going to sell. Some charge you after the actual purchase of your Customers. Plans can start from $0 to $3000.
6. Technical support availability. During everyday working life, mistakes, problems, and questions may arise from your side or your Customers. So, it would help if you chose the marketplace with the availability of such service 24/7. Moreover, during registration, you can meet difficulties that also should be solved in the short term. The best solution is to choose a user-friendly marketplace based on standard CMS for website creation. If your marketplace has limited access to technical support, community forums can be used instead.
7. Availability of applications and plugins for automatic fulfillment of dropshipping main tasks. You may start from one store or several; you may require to list several products or thousands. Initially, you may do everything yourself, but using the software is easier and quicker. For most marketplaces, you may find apps for order fulfillment, online store creation, marketing campaigns, customer service, delivery tracking, product niche research, and supplier research. As you see, you can automate all dropshipping processes. Popular marketplaces may have open-source coding and free software to simplify your job.
8. Possibility to scale your business. The marketplace should allow you to expand your business, to have several stores, and accounts for you and your team. Fortunately, almost all the best platforms for dropshipping are interested in your growth. If you use Easync tool to automate the dropshipping process or any other software tools from point 7, the business expansion will be easy for you.
9. Marketing tools. You can’t sell without Customers, some customers find you by your sold products, but some come from a marketing campaign. Large marketplaces can propose participation in their campaigns, such as deal of the day or targeted advertising. Such events can boost your business, but you should not forget about SEO tools for ranking search engine websites properly.
10. Unique rules of each marketplace. Some popular marketplaces deliver only under their name, some check your production site and stocks, some have many payment options, and for some, before selling on this platform, you need to already show yourself as the seller from your product niche, have many reviews, and have a high rating.

 Conclusion

The online store for a drop shipper is the foundation of his business. Your ideal product can’t be sold without proper placement of your store, its marketing campaign, and user-friendly detailed information about goods. You need to seriously go through all aspects of choosing the marketplace allowing dropshipping. In this article, we provided a list of ten parameters, but you may also have other parameters particular to your business. Most platforms have trial periods, so it is a perfect way to try and find the best!