In this video, we’ll share a realistic budget
for starting a dropshipping store.We got these numbers from successful dropshippers
who shared their startup costs with us.These dropshippers didn’t have identical
budgets, but that’s why we interviewed them.We wanted to know what new dropshippers could
do with a lot, or just a little money.By the end of today’s video you’ll have
an itemized list of startup costs, and insightsinto how much you should spend to reach your
ecommerce goals.Ready?Let’s start budgeting.______________Hi everyone it’s Jessica from Oberlo and
today we’re talking about dropshipping budgets.Before we crunch the numbers, consider hitting
subscribe.The Oberlo YouTube channel has helped a lot
of dropshippers get up and running.Subscribe and you’ll never miss a video
from us in the future.Now back to the question at hand: How much
does it cost to start a dropshipping business?Let’s be clear: There’s no right answer.Every dropshipper has different goals, and
those goals require different budgets.If you want to quit your job and live off
dropshipping, be prepared to budget big.If you just want to make $100 extra a month,
your budget can be much more modest.You’ve all got different goals, and different
plans for achieving them.Today we’ll focus on the more modest budget.That is, we’ll discuss the bare minimum
budget for getting started with dropshipping.We recommend using a budget if you want a
shot at making sales, but don’t want tobreak the bank.So what’s in the bare minimum dropshipping
budget?We’ll cover the costs line by line.The first line item: a Shopify store.1.ShopifyShopify is an ecommerce platform.With Shopify, you can build the website for
your online store and take payments from customersaround the world.It’s the most popular ecommerce platform
around, and you can start using Shopify witha 14-day free trial.But let’s be realistic, you’re not going
to make your dropshipping fortune in two weeks,so the real cost here will be the Shopify
monthly charge once your two week trial ends.That cost is $29.99 a month.All right.That’s the store covered.How about the dropshipping part of the equation?2.OberloThis is where Oberlo comes in.Oberlo is a platform that helps you find great
products to sell online, import them to yourShopify store, and set your own prices.When a customer buys your products, the supplier
ships the products directly to your customer.You never have to worry about carrying inventory,
making this a low-risk business model fornew entrepreneurs.if you’re just starting out, the good news
is: Oberlo is free!Oberlo’s forever free plan is ideal for
first-time dropshippers.It gives you all the functionality of Oberlo,
plus first-class customer service., You onlyhave to pay for Oberlo once you make over
50 sales per month.Until then, you don’t pay a dime.So Oberlo is free, which keeps our bare bones
dropshipping business budget at 29.99 a monthfor now.Now if you want to make sales, you need to
earn your customer’s trust.To do that, you need to look like other trustworthy
online businesses.And there’s one thing they all have in common:
They all have their own domain name.When you get started on Shopify, you get a
free domain that ends with dot my-shopifydot com. but we recommend getting your own
dot com domain name as it strengthens yourbrand and legitimises your business in the
eyes of your customers.You can purchase a custom domain through Shopify.It will only cost you $14 per year.Let’s add that to our budget.[blue text slide:
How much does it cost to launch a dropshippingstore?We’re almost at 50 bucks, and we’ve bagged
ourselves a slick online store with Shopify,the means to find and sell products online
– for free – with Oberlo, and a professionaldomain name.Not bad.What do we spend our money on, next?Pro dropshipper Tim Vangness has this to say:You don’t need to spend your money on custom
photos, logos, and website design.Besides, Shopify can take care of all of that
for you!With Burst, you can find and use beautiful
stock photos for free.And with Hatchful, you can create a custom
logo in minutes.I’ve left links to Burst and Hatchful in
the description below.3.Sample productsOnce you have a custom domain, the next line
item on your budget is the cost of sampleproducts.This line item is extremely important.Here’s why:Dropshipping is great because you don’t
have to stock an inventory of products.But that also means you don’t control the
quality of the products you sell, nor thedelivery times, or the packagingIt gives you the chance to investigate suppliers
and go on the customer journey yourself.If you’re happy with the shipping times,
the packaging, and the quality of the product,then chances are your customers will be too.If you’re not, you can use Oberlo to contact
the supplier with your concerns, or you cansell other products.How much you budget for this depends on the
cost of your products.But, let’s say your products costs around
$15 each, and you order samples for five products.Then you’re looking at around $75 for this
stage of setting up a dropshipping business.Let’s get back to our tally, which now looks
like this:All right.We’re looking at a startup bill of under
$120.Where do you think dropshippers spend their
startup money next?The next line item on our budget: Apps.4.AppsThink of apps like bells, whistles, and turbo-boosters
for your store.Apps can help your drive sales and run your
store more efficiently.The Shopify app store is brimming with apps,
and you can install them with the click ofa button.Some apps are free, while others charge a
monthly fee.Take a look at the following three slides.Here, I’ve outlined for you a few of the
more popular apps for dropshippers.There are links to all of these apps in the
description below.None of these apps are must-haves.But they are definitely nice to have.Like product samples, the amount of money
you spend here will depend on your store andyour goals.However, for the sake of this budget, we’ll
put aside $19 to spend on various apps.Now our budget looks like this:Our next expense is where you can splash the
cash, and make a more substantial investmentin your dropshipping business.5.MarketingIt’s the biggie called marketing.Here are some marketing words of wisdom from
Artsy Wall founder Matiss Ozerskis.Matiss suggests dedicating the lion’s share
of your startup budget into marketing.Marketing doesn’t have a specific price
tag.However, there are some assumptions that we
can use to get a better idea of what you’llneed to spend.In ecommerce, the average global conversion
rate is somewhere between 2 and 3 percent.For the sake of this calculation, let’s
put it at 2.5%.This conversion rate means that if you get
200 people to your store, you can expect fiveof them to purchase something.And how do you get 200 people to your store?Marketing.One of the biggest marketing channels for
dropshippers is Facebook.So Let’s look the cost of driving 200 visitors
to your store from Facebook.On average, the click-through rate for Facebook
ads is 0.9%.Let’s round that up to 1% to make the math
easier.That means, to get 200 people to your store,
you’ll need your ad to reach 20,000 eyeballs.According to marketing software provider AdStage,
the average cost per thousand impressionsis $12.45.Let’s round up to $12.50.Now we have an equation we can work with.The price for reaching 20,000 people on Facebook
in the USA looks like this:First we divide total impressions we want–20,000
eyeballs–by 1,000.That’s because cost per thousand impressions
is the industry norm.That leaves us with 20.Then we multiply 20 by the average cost per
impression, which is $12.50.The result: we arrive at a total cost of $250
for Facebook advertising if we want to reach20,000 people, drive 200 people to our store,
and make five sales.Let’s add that figure to our ongoing tally.Which brings our startup costs for a dropshipping
business to $387.99.Now, I know what you’re thinking: If you
spend $250 to make 5 sales, you won’t breakeven.And you’re right.But most six-figure dropshippers don’t even
expect to make 5 sales the first time theyinvest in marketing.They expect to learn what their customers
want.They expect to analyze the data to decide
which products to promote, which audiencesto promote them to, and which ads to use.Armed with that knowledge, marketing costs
go down and conversions go up.So if you want to start drop-shipping, the
question to ask yourself is: Are you readyto become a constant learner?If you’re able to invest these startup costs,
and you’re enthusiastic about investingyour time in learning how to dropship, then
dropshipping could quite literally changeyour life.Now let’s talk math.I introduced a lot of figures in this video,
and I’m happy to put them in context.Leave me a comment and let me know what you
think of this budget.Is it realistic?Too low?Too expensive?If you want to share your startup budget,
I’ll let you know what I think of it.That’s all for today, but before you go,
do me a favor.If you found this video valuable, give it
a like and hit subscribe.And until next time: learn often, market better,
and sell more.
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