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Looking to do some type of e-commerce store
I’m thinking about creating some kind of e-commerce site, either dropshipping or Amazon Affiliates or some other kind of business. I’m thinking about going into the pet niche. Does anyone have any advice or experience with that kind of thing?
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22 Replies
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I don’t have much experience in dropshipping in particular, but I have experience in e-commerce in general, and I have some tips I could give you:
Biaheza is a guy I have been watching for a while, he is a very successful drop shipper and has made a few stores in videos. Obviously they aren’t his best stores ever, but they are stores that made a bit of money, and I’m sure if you followed the model a bit further out you could make some real moneyI would also recommend looking at different options for your online presence. I know everyone says to do Shopify, but in most cases, the first thing they say is to make your store not look like Shopify. I would have to recommend you go with a store like Ecwid. They have a free tier that is a lot more limited than Shopify, but you can go in without spending any money upfront. Plus, after you make some money, they have cheaper monthly costs than Shopify and no transfer costs.
My third point of advice would be to shop around for URLs. I would recommend https://domcomp.com. They search most (if not all) popular website hosts and will give you the cheapest one.
Anyways, I wish you luck with your store! I would love to see more young people be successful in this arena.
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I watch Biaheza as well, the dude has some great tips and techniques. And good point with the alt-Shopify options, platforms like Woocommerce and the ones you mentioned can be great for keeping costs down. Shopify’s great but it’s pricy.
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I’d advise against Amazon Affiliates. The margins you get from Amazon are terrible (usually <10%) and it takes a ton of time to actually create the content needed to drive clicks to Amazon. It’s great for learning about SEO and building your web dev skills, but if you want a genuine chance at success/profits, I’d go with one of the other options that you and Jordan mentioned.
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I avoided going the Amazon route due to pretty much those exact reasons. It’s nice in theory, but for everyone I talked with, it’s hard to make a profit on the tiny margins if you’re not already a large site.
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Fair, although I actually found it helpful. Affiliates is a great way to get into e-commerce if you want a low-risk/low-cost way to do it, and you can still scale it up to make a lot of revenue. I wouldn’t rule it out for everyone.
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True. I guess it really depends on if you’re trying to get experience or trying to make decent money. I’ll always advise for other methods but Affiliates does definitely have some nice benefits if you’re the right type of person.
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How much have you actually looked into going into the pet niche? Pet accessories, swimsuits, watches, etc are always popular store options, but because of that, there’s a lot of competition and you really need a unique angle or product. Do you think you have that?
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Yeah, I’ve spent a good deal of time researching products and I think I have a couple with a lot of potential upside. Plus, consumer spending on pets has been going up and up, especially during the pandemic, so while it is a crowded market, it’s always expanding. But I appreciate the advice and I’ll try to make sure I find some more products that haven’t been made mainstream already.
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Solid ideas and plan. Good luck bro.
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If you’re still thinking about doing this, the time is ripe. It’s just a matter of finding a niche with enough appeal to sell but that’s unique enough that you’re not competing with other big players. And make sure to use a good platform to build your site, I’m a fan of Shopify. It’s worth the fixed cost to have a high-quality store, especially as your numbers grow.
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Solid advice, and I’m a fan of Shopify too. If you want to set something up and test it out both quickly and effectively, they’re the place to go.
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Agreed, you cannot go wrong with Shopify. Pet niche will be competitive but the software/add-ons are perfect for that kind of consumer product, and the barrier to entry is going to be low. I say give it a shot (if you haven’t already) and let us know how it goes.
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Second this. Shopify is the way to go.
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Appreciate the input. I think I’ll watch some tutorials and start setting up the foundation of a store.
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Hey, I’m curious how this has been going if you ended up building it?
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Would love to hear this too! I’m thinking about getting into e-com and it would be really helpful to hear some successes/lessons learned from building businesses on here.
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Just adding my name here to agree, Noah. Especially with regards to the pet niche and its boom during the pandemic, I’d love to hear your insight.
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I built the store and I ended up running it for a while before eventually shutting it down. I learned a lot but I simply found it hard to ever make meaningful profits. If I do it again I’ll probably go into a less competitive niche, I’ve now learned firsthand just how saturated the pet industry is.
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That’s awesome and definitely also something I’ve learned from trying out e-commerce. Especially for those just getting started, it’s almost always smarter to try to find an impact in a more niche area rather than trying to fight it out in a saturated, established niche. But definitely a great way to learn and glad to hear you’re ready to try it out again!
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Revisiting this thread now and definitely second this advice. Always easier to plant solid roots and scale with a niche store than a general one.
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One thing to note for this idea and similar ones: Shopify has raised its monthly price for new merchants. I still think it’s a great value platform, but if you’re really bootstrapping, you may want to look at cheaper options (i.e. Woocommerce).
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Yeah, I think this whole dropshipping/affiliate wave was kind of dying, and the price raise might just be a nail in the coffin.
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