In the article “What Is Dropshipping?,” we go into detail about the pros and cons of running a dropshipping store.
One of the pros listed in the article is the low cost to get started.
So, how much money does it cost to start a dropshipping business? This is a question that people always want to know the answer to.
Before you can answer this question, you need to know that you can start a dropshipping store in many ways.
Most dropshippers choose between Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix to open their stores. Prices are different on each platform.
In this article, we’ll look at how much it costs to start a dropshipping store on each platform.
How Much It Costs to Start a Dropshipping Business
For the store itself, the domain name, hosting service, dropshipping tools, and advertising, you will need a small amount of money to start your business.
The costs will depend on the platforms you use, but here is a breakdown:
Make a store
You need to find a platform to build your online store on and pay for it. You can make a store on different platforms, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or Wix. Don’t decide quickly if you don’t know much about those platforms. Take your time to learn about the pros and cons of running a store on different platforms by doing some research. It’s important to pick a platform that fits your needs and wants.
Shopify
Shopify is an online store that makes it easy for anyone to sell things online. Technically, you don’t have to pay anything to start a store on Shopify because it gives you a free 14-day trial.
After that, if you choose the Basic plan, the least you’ll have to pay each month for a subscription is $29. The Basic plan should have enough features for a store that is just getting started, like the ability to sell unlimited products, create orders manually, get a free SSL certificate, make secure online payments, etc.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is very different from Shopify and Wix when it comes to setting up a store. WooCommerce is an e-commerce plugin for online stores that use the WordPress platform.
WooCommerce and WordPress are both free, but don’t get too excited just yet. Unlike Shopify and Wix, if you want to start your business there, you’ll have to pay for the domain name and web hosting.
Prices for WooCommerce can quickly add up if you buy paid themes and plugins or hire a professional tech person to help you improve your store.
One thing we really want to stress is that customizing your WooCommerce store and WordPress site takes a lot more time, work, and IT skills than running a store on Shopify.
Wix
Wix is a website builder that lets you build websites in the cloud. As Wix moves into e-commerce, online merchants can also choose to run their stores on the platform.
Wix’s Business Basic plan costs $23 per month and comes with everything a new store owner needs to get started, like a custom domain, a free domain for a year, secure online payments, etc.
Domain Name
A brand store is a good place to shop. Your domain name is just as important as your products. It is part of who you are and will help your customers feel more connected to your brand.
Customers can find your website on the internet by typing in its unique address. Your credibility can also go up if you have a professional domain name.
You can ask your friends for ideas or use a name generator, but make sure the domain name is something you and other people will like!
Shopify
If you run your business on Shopify, you don’t have to buy a domain name because you were given one when you set up the store.
But the end of this domain name is myshopify.com.
We get that you want to avoid spending money on things you don’t need when you just opened an online store. But we strongly suggest that you get a domain name because it will make your store look more professional and trustworthy.
More importantly, a professional domain name will make it much easier for new visitors to find your store by making your SEO much better.
There are many sites like GoDaddy, Hostinger, and Bluehost that do this well. How much it costs to register a domain depends on the name you choose and the service provider you choose.
Most of the time, it costs between $6 and $15 the first year, and the price will go up a little bit the second year. Let’s use GoDaddy as an example. A domain name that ends in “.com” will cost you $12.17 the first year, which will bring you more orders and sales.
WooCommerce
If you want to use WooCommerce to open a store, you have to buy a domain name.
You might want to use the above numbers to figure out how much you can spend on a domain name for your WooCommerce store. Hostinger’s prices are generally lower than those of other web service providers.
Hostinger’s cheapest domain name costs $0.99/year and ends in “.online” or “.xyz.”
Wix (Not necessary)
Wix, which is one of the most popular website builders, lets you change domain names however you want.
Your subscription plan already includes the cost of doing this. So, you don’t need to use a third-party web service provider to register a domain name.
Web Hosting
Hosting is the next thing you need to do to start a dropshipping store. To put it simply, your website needs a server.
Like domain names, it’s easy to find a lot of web hosting providers by searching on Google. GoDaddy, Hostinger, and Bluehost are some of the big names we recommend.
Just type in the name of the host you want plus “Black Friday” and you will find the deals, either on the host’s site or on a blog that is promoting it. Here’s an example of a blogger talking about this year’s HostGator Black Friday deals.
Shopify & Wix (Not necessary)
Since hosting is included in both Shopify and Wix’s subscription plans, you don’t have to spend extra money on it.
WooCommerce
Unlike Shopify and Wix, you have to host your own WordPress website and WooCommerce store. The price of hosting really depends on which hosting service you choose. Depending on your needs, it can cost you as little as $2 or as much as a few thousand dollars every month.
Hostinger is a good example.
As you can see in the picture below, their cheapest hosting plan is $1.99 per month, but it doesn’t include a free domain.
With an extra dollar a month, Hostinger lets you upgrade to a premium plan with more features and a free domain.
This is why we recommend that you buy a domain name and web hosting from the same company.
Tools for Dropshipping
Next, you need a tool for dropshipping. In short, a dropshipping tool connects your store and your suppliers.
The tool helps you not only manage your products and add them to your store, but also place orders with your suppliers and keep track of their status.
A good dropshipping tool can save you a lot of time and trouble when it comes to running your dropshipping store. Because of this, we strongly suggest that you choose carefully.
The price of each dropshipping tool depends on the tool itself, the subscription plan you choose, and the platform it works on. Here are three dropshipping tools that we think you should use: dropship-empire, AliDropship, and Oberlo.
dropship-empire(Shopify & Woo)
dropship-empire is the only official AliExpress partner that automates almost everything you need to run a dropshipping store on Shopify and WooCommerce.
People who run their stores on Wix will also be able to use dropship-empire in the near future. With dropship-empire, it’s easy to import products from AliExpress suppliers and keep track of them.
Even better, you can send AliExpress more than 100 orders with just a few clicks.
dropship-empire has a lot of different features that will help you do dropshipping more effectively.
With “dropship empire,” it is simple to find new items to sell. With their supplier finder, you can look for suppliers and try to find a more reliable one.
It is exactly the dropshipping tool you seek if you wish to save more time from the repetitive operations of running a dropshipping business, and would rather focus more on investing your time, energy and resources on things that matter more.
The best thing about Dropship Empire is that it has a basic plan that is always free. The Basic plan from dropship-empire includes all of the above-mentioned important features, such as bulk ordering, Supplier finder, Find Suppliers, automatic synchronization, etc.
It is more than enough to support any startup dropshipping store running until it scales up to a certain level and becomes very profitable.
Visit the pricing page on dropship-empire to find out more about their subscription plans.
Oberlo (Shopify only)
Oberlo is a tool for drop shipping, but it only works with Shopify. It helps dropshippers find products to sell online and makes it easier for them to fill their customers’ orders.
Overall, Oberlo is one of the most popular Shopify apps that many dropshippers would choose.
AliDropship (Woo)
AliDropship is a tool for dropshipping that works on both Shopify and WooCommerce, but WooCommerce is where it really shines.
AliDropship basically links to your WooCommerce store and lets you search for and import products from AliExpress.
With AliDropship, it’s easy to turn your whole WordPress site into a dropshipping store that works.
$89 is what it costs to use AliDropship (one-time payment).
Advertising
You might have to spend the most money on advertising. But as a new business, you can always use some of the low-cost ways to market your store, like improving your SEO and sending out emails.
If you want to grow your dropshipping business, you will need to advertise your products to get customers and orders. You can use Google, Facebook, Instagram, or any other platform to advertise.
The price of an ad will depend on the platform you choose and the people you want to reach. Make sure you find out which platform is best for the products you’re selling.
To give you an idea of how much it costs to advertise on Facebook, an ad that brings 100 new people to your store will cost you an average of $111.50. How did we come up with that number?
According to data from WordStream, about 0.9% of people who see Facebook ads click on them. Let’s say it’s 1% to make our calculations easier.
You will need an ad that can reach 10,000 people to bring 100 people to your store (10,000 impressions).
According to more information from Revealbot, the average cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) in 2023will be around $11.15.
So, here’s how we figure out how much an ad that aims to bring 100 new customers to your store will cost.
(10,000 / 1,000) * $11.15 = $111.50
Time
Last but not least, the time you spend researching, opening and running a store, learning how to promote your online business, etc. is also a very big cost that you shouldn’t ignore.
As we said in “What is dropshipping?,” dropshipping is not a quick way to make money out of thin air. Instead, it takes time and effort, especially if you want to stand out in the e-commerce world, which is very competitive.
Never underestimate how much work and time dropshipping will take from you. If you want to do well with dropshipping, you should always be ready and work to learn more about it.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve talked about most of the costs you’ll have to pay to start dropshipping, such as creating a store, buying a domain name, getting web hosting, buying dropshipping tools, advertising, and time.
Depending on the e-commerce platform you choose, you may have to pay for some of the costs and you may not have to. To make things easier to understand and make sure you get the main point, here is the minimum budget we would suggest for opening a new dropshipping store with basic features.