With digital technology getting better and better, shopping has changed in a huge way, giving people ways to buy things that are faster and more convenient. That being said, most people these days tend to shop more online and prefer to buy from online stores rather than stores with physical locations. Statista says that by the end of 2025, online retail sales will have topped $7 trillion, which is more than double what they are today, which is $5.5 trillion.
Dropshipping is one of the most popular ways for entrepreneurs to run an eCommerce business because it’s less risky and doesn’t require you to deal with inventory or shipping. Your provider is in charge of these tasks.
One of the easiest and most popular ways to set up a dropshipping store is to use WordPress, a CMS (Content Management System) that makes it easy to build and run a business. So, keep reading to find out how to use WordPress to start dropshipping.
How much does it cost to make a WordPress site?
WordPress is free software that lets people make websites and use them for many different things. But if you want to use it for a dropshipping store, it’s best to pay for a subscription to the platform. The free version of WordPress doesn’t have many features for running a business. Still, the prices are very low, starting at just $7 a month and going as high as $59 a month. If you choose to be billed once a year, the prices go down even more. The cheapest plan costs $4 per month, while the most expensive one costs $45 per month and comes with a free domain for a year. Here’s an overview of all the plans for WordPress:
- $7 per month for a personal plan
- $14 a month for the premium plan
- $33 per month for a business plan
- Plan for eCommerce for $59 per month
How do I use WordPress to set up dropshipping?
If you want to use WordPress to run your business, you’ll need to set up a WordPress website. Follow these steps to make a successful eCommerce site for your dropshipping store
Buy a domain name and hosting
You would need a domain in order to have a website that anyone can visit. Without going into too much detail about how it works, the domain name store is the way your website is identified through the computer it is hosted on. You can easily get one by having your website hosted by a hosting provider. Make sure to choose one with an SSL certificate, which is used to keep your data safe and stop attackers from getting any information that could help them take advantage of your site. BlueHost and HostGator are two platforms that you can trust.
Make an account on WordPress.
Go to https://wordpress.com/, click on “Start your website,” and fill out the necessary information to create an account. After that, click “Create your account,” and you’ll be taken to a page where you can enter your domain name and choose your subscription plan.
Install a dropshipping plugin
The next thing you would want to do is add some useful plug-ins to your website and turn them on. The most important is WooCommerce, which gives you access to a number of dropshipping tools, such as a section for importing products and options for payment methods, to make your store work.
- Go to the WooCommerce page, click “Log in,” and connect your WordPress account to your WooCommerce account to set up your account.
- Go back to the dashboard of your WordPress site. Go to “Plugins” on the left-hand menu and type “WooCommerce” in the search bar.
- Click “Activate Now” and then follow the on-screen instructions to finish the installation.
- You’ll be asked about your store’s location, specialization, delivery service, products, payment processing, and more.
Set up the rest of the options.
To have a WooCommerce dropshipping website that works well, you must go through all the settings that need to be set up, such as:
- Go to “Products” and then “Add Product” to add your products. But keep in mind that you probably won’t have to do this by hand because your supplier should give you a plugin that lets you automate most tasks.
- Click on “Payments” to choose how you want to pay.
- Choose “Shipping” to set up your shipping methods.
Make changes to your website.
Once you’re done installing and setting up WooCommerce, you can finally style your store with the many free and paid designs and templates you can find in your WordPress account as well as your WooCommerce account.
Add additional extensions
By adding the WooCommerce plugin, you’ve just given yourself access to a huge number of other extensions that can help you take your store to the next level. You can install WordPress and WooCommerce plugins from your WordPress admin account or by going to the WordPress Plugin page or the WooCommerce extension store. In either case, you’ll find a lot of add-ons that can help you with:
- Getting better at SEO
- elevating your marketing strategies
- managing how you get things delivered
- putting in place customer service, setting up the structure of your site, etc.
With WordPress and dropship-empire, you can do dropshipping.
When you start a dropshipping store on WordPress, it’s important to work with a supplier that has a plugin you can add to your WordPress site. In this way, you can avoid doing a lot of work by hand that isn’t necessary and take advantage of automated dropshipping.
dropship-empire, for example, lets you integrate and synchronize your WordPress store. In other words, if you install their WooCommerce plugin in your store, you’ll be able to do things like easily map categories, get real-time updates on inventory, convert currencies, automate orders, and set desired profit margins, among other things. These will make it easier for you and your supplier to talk about adding new products, updating the number of items in stock, and filling orders. dropship-empire gives you a step-by-step video tutorial on how to connect your store to their automated WooCommerce solution. This makes it easy to set up.
In a few words
This article gives you a step-by-step guide with all the information you need to start your own dropshipping store on WordPress. Dropshipping can be a part-time job or a full-time business, so don’t wait any longer to change your life. We hope that you now feel ready to take on the challenge and are excited to join the community of eCommerce business owners.