When it comes to dropshipping, one of the most difficult decisions for a newbie to make is what kind of store should they run. Many of them are on the fence whether they should run a one product dropshipping store, a Niche store, or a General store?

 

 

Please note that one certain store type may work for you but may not for someone else, and vice versa. Truth is all of these methods work well and there are people making money in every single one of these store types. So there is no “BEST” way to start your dropshipping store.

 

Today, I am gonna analyze the pros and cons among these three store stypes so that you guys can make a good decision on exactly what type of dropshipping store you wanna start. Let’s dive in!

 

 

One product store

 

· Pros of one product store

 

1. It's much more time and cost effective

 

Since it’s one item only, it’s not a big deal to place a test/sample order on this one specific item from your supplier. Thus it is much more time and cost effective.

 

On top of that:

 

1) You could see if the supplier is trustworthy and reliable;

 

2) Also guarantee the high quality of this product;

 

3) With only one product in your store, you are able to target all your energy and resources at it, focusing on your branding and marketing, instead of spending days and weeks polishing the product descriptions and shooting product images and videos.

 

2. You get to have your own domain name

 

For one product store, the other upside is that you get to have your own domain name of your product. 

 

For example, if you are selling guitar mug at your dropshipping store, get guitarmug.com as your domain name. Owning the domain of the product, it gives you full authority and customers will find you more official, which will increase the possibility of customers making a purchase at your store instead of the others.

 

But just in case, your product domain has been taken, make a slightly adjustment, like theguitarmug.com. Just remember don’t go too far off.

 

 

· Cons of one product store

 

1.It’s of high risk and big pressure

 

With only one product to sell, the vital part is to select one winning and profitable product. Product sourcing is always a huge headache of dropshipping business owners. Now you are counting all on this one product. That’s quite big pressure you need to deal with.

 

Moreover, it’s pretty risky that your product might be saturated or totally irrelevant to your customers. In consequence, you will have a high chance of failing.

 

2.The possibility of return customers is low as people might need your product for one time only.

 

 

General store

 

· Pros of general store

 

1.It’s more beginner friendly

 

Unlike one-product store or niche store, you don’t put all your eggs in one basket, thus it’s less risky. By adding hundreds of trending products to your dropshipping store and then selling them, you can make more profits and even sustainable businesses. It will be less hassle to run in the long term. There are more potential customers that you can reach out to.

 

2.More potential customers that you can reach out to

 

Your variety of products target almost everyone. By reaching more people, you will eventually start selling to potential buyers.

 

3.Test multiple products at once

 

You get to test multiple products at once so that there will be more room for you to test out the winning products. Just add the products that you would like to cover and promote them through Facebook, instagram and other social medias.

 

 

· Cons of general store

 

 

1.Difficult to market your business

 

You know, if you start working with no particular niche, you will find it really difficult to market your business since you won’t find your targeted audience as specific as one product store or niche store.

 

For instance, if you are selling beauty products, gadgets, baby products and furniture at once in your store.

 

When a customer comes across your store, he will notice that you’re selling almost everything but specialized in none. They probably would feel much less encouraged to purchase from you. Or seeing wide variety of products you have in your store, they get overwhelmed and confused. And confused customers do NOT buy.

 

2.Conversion rate is low

 

Because most visitors are only checking out products without buying intent, unlike niche store attracts visitors who are already interested in their niche.

 

3.There are more competition

 

In comparison with a one product store and niche store, a general store is in competition with almost every other ecommerce stores in the market. Without a narrowly defined specifics, it is extremely hard for general stores to become SEO-friendly.

 

It leaves you not many choices but to use really broad keywords like ‘online shopping’ or ‘buy online’, and you can imagine how many well-established eCommerce stores are already using these keywords.

 

To put it simply, with such a generic keyword, your store isn’t gonna be ranked high enough on the search results page.

 

 

Niche store

 

· Pros of niche store:

 

1.Less competition

 

Your chances of coming across someone who sells exactly the same goods are much lower.

 

And you get to pick what you’re really passionate about. As a fan of your own niche, you know what exact product features are valuable to your target audience. So that you get to give your store more personality, and come up with your own unique product descriptions which are both appealing to your potential customers and winning in terms of SEO. 

 

2. It is easier to brand and market

 

Having a clear idea about the like-minded people who are also passionate about your niches, you’re able to make content around your niche that will resonate well with them. 

 

If you are selling decor for home offices in your niche store, visitors click on your homepage, and see that all of the items listed in your store are exactly what they want but more fun and creative, they’d be super excited and smash the buy now button.

 

3. You could win more lolay customers

 

By speaking your customers’ language to create an emotional connection and bond with them, you could win more loyal customers. And it’d be more likely to result in frequent repeat purchases.

 

· Cons of niche store

 

1.Hard to find the winning niche.

 

No one can say with certainty that a niche store will absolutely become successful. That’s why niche stores require a lot of trials and testing until you find the winner.

 

2. You could only test one niche at a time

 

And you could only test one niche at a time which costs time, money and effort. More likely you will get discouraged when most of the niches you picked didn’t sell well.

 

 

Well, the debate between one product store vs general store vs niche store is probably never gonna end. Like I said at the beginning, there is no such thing as “Best” way to start your dropshipping store. Everybody has different point of views on dropshipping store types that may confuse you rather than help you with your decision-making.

 

So you need to assess your abilities, marketing skills and even budget, go test it out, and find which store type works better for you.

 

 

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