Choosing the Right UX Agency for Your Startup
Blog, UI/UX

Choosing the Right UX Agency for Your Startup: A Founder’s Guide from India

Choosing a user experience (UX) design agency can feel overwhelming, especially for startup founders in India. In bustling cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru, where tradition meets cutting-edge innovation, a new wave of UX agencies is making waves. With so many options out there, how do you find the one that’s just right for your startup?

Let’s figure it out together! 

But before we dive in, let’s explore why great UI and UX are crucial for your SaaS products, websites, and any other digital experiences.

Why UX Design is a Game-Changer

User experience (UX) design is all about boosting user satisfaction by refining how we interact with websites, apps, and devices. Essentially, UX design simplifies complexity, making things more intuitive and easier to use.

Although “UX” as a term is fairly recent, the idea of designing for usability and user-friendliness has been around for a long time. As early as 1973, Thomas J. Watson, the second president of IBM, emphasized this when he told Wharton students, “Good design is good business.” He strongly believed that thoughtful design could significantly help a good product achieve its full potential.

Let me kick things off with an eye-opening stat

Research from Forrester shows that, on average, every dollar invested in UX brings 100 in return. That’s an ROI of 9,900%.

Isn’t that HUGE?

This clearly shows just how important a well-crafted user experience is for your startup’s success. It can turn a good product into a great one, significantly boosting user satisfaction and driving business growth.

Hey wait , do you need more reasons to for this?

Then check this out

Why Investing in UI/UX Design is a Game-Changer

So, why should you really care about putting your money into UI/UX design? Let me tell you—it’s not just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. Here’s why I believe investing in great design is crucial for your business:

1. Enhanced User Satisfaction: Great design isn’t just about looking good; it’s about making things work seamlessly. An intuitive and visually appealing interface leads to a better experience for your users. Did you know that 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience? That’s huge! You don’t want your users walking away because your design didn’t hit the mark.

2. Positive Brand Perception: Your website or app design speaks volumes about your brand. In fact, 48% of users say that the design of a website is the number one factor in deciding a brand’s credibility. If you want to be seen as professional and reliable, investing in top-notch design is non-negotiable.

3. Increased User Engagement: A solid UI/UX strategy doesn’t just attract users; it keeps them engaged. Companies that prioritize UX can see conversion rates jump by up to 200%! That’s the kind of impact thoughtful design can have—it turns casual visitors into engaged users and, ultimately, loyal customers.

4. Building Brand Loyalty: A great user experience isn’t just a one-time thing—it builds trust and keeps users coming back for more. Happy users are repeat users, and repeat users become brand loyalists. And who doesn’t want that?

5. Competitive Advantage: Let’s be real—your competition is just a click away. About 89% of consumers are willing to switch to a competitor after a bad experience. That’s why having a superior design isn’t just important; it’s a competitive advantage. Don’t give your users a reason to go elsewhere.

6. Reduced Bounce Rates: When users find your website easy to navigate and interact with, they stick around longer. Intuitive design minimizes bounce rates and keeps visitors engaged. And the longer they stay, the better your chances of converting them.

7. Optimized Conversion Rates: Here’s a striking stat—one negative experience can decrease the chances of a future purchase by 62%. On the flip side, a positive user experience can boost conversions by up to 200%. It’s clear: investing in UI/UX isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about driving real business results.

In short, good UI/UX design is more than just a pretty face for your digital products—it’s a powerhouse that drives user satisfaction, boosts engagement, builds loyalty, and ultimately, fuels your business growth. If you want to stand out and succeed, investing in UI/UX is one of the smartest moves you can make.

So, I think I’ve given you plenty of reasons to seriously consider bringing in a UI/UX agency, right? If you’re nodding along, thinking, “Yeah, I need this,” then you’re on the right track!

So, How Do You Get Started?

First things first, you need to know where to look. There are several great places to find top-notch UI/UX agencies:

  1. Online Directories: Websites like Clutch, GoodFirms, and DesignRush have extensive listings of UI/UX agencies. You can filter by location, budget, and client reviews to find one that suits your needs.
  2. Freelancer Platforms: Platforms like Upwork and Toptal not only feature individual freelancers but also boutique design agencies. This is a great option if you’re looking for something more flexible or budget-friendly.
  3. LinkedIn: Never underestimate the power of LinkedIn. Search for UX design agencies or browse through recommendations in your network. Sometimes the best agencies are just a connection away.
  4. Design Communities: Sites like Dribbble and Behance showcase portfolios of agencies and designers. You can see their work firsthand and reach out directly if something catches your eye.
  5. Word of Mouth: Sometimes, the best recommendations come from those who’ve been there. Ask your peers, colleagues, or other founders in your network about their experiences with UX agencies.

Finding the right UX agency is about more than just a Google search; it’s about doing your homework and finding a partner who aligns with your vision. So, roll up your sleeves, dig in, and start exploring these options. Your perfect UI/UX partner is out there, and with the right approach, you’ll find them!

So next step is lets compare the shortlisted agencies.

What You Need to Look for in a Top UX Agency

When you’re choosing a UX agency, it’s not just about finding one with a shiny portfolio or impressive-looking designs. It’s about finding a true partner—one that understands your vision and is tuned into your unique needs. So, let me break down what I believe you should be looking for:

1. A Diverse Portfolio: Look for agencies that showcase a variety of design styles and solutions. A diverse portfolio shows they’re adaptable and capable of handling different types of projects. You don’t want a one-trick pony; you want a team that can think outside the box and tailor their approach to suit your specific needs.

2. A User-First Philosophy: Make sure they live and breathe user-centric design. The right agency will prioritize understanding user needs and behaviors through deep research. UX isn’t just a buzzword or a box to tick; it should be at the core of their entire process. After all, if they don’t get your users, they won’t get your product.

3. Clear and Open Communication: You want a partner who knows how to communicate—plain and simple. They should be able to take your goals and turn them into a clear, actionable plan. And, importantly, they should keep you in the loop every step of the way. No one likes to be left in the dark, especially when it comes to something as crucial as your product’s user experience.

4. End-to-End Services: Look for agencies that provide a full range of services—from initial concept and user research to final design , application development and post-launch support. This ensures the process is seamless and integrated. Trust me, it’s a game-changer when you have a team that can handle everything from start to finish without dropping the ball.

5. A Strong Track Record of Client Satisfaction: Dive into their client reviews and case studies. Don’t just take their word for it—see what their clients have to say. Positive feedback and successful case studies speak volumes about their ability to deliver.

Ultimately, it’s about finding a UX agency that aligns with your vision and values. I’ve been through this process enough to know that the right partner can make all the difference. So take your time, do your research, and choose wisely. Your product (and your users) will thank you for it!

One more crucial step to see if agency UI/UX design costs are a good fit for you:

Before making a final decision on a UX agency, it’s essential to dig deeper what UI UX design cost in India and see if it aligns with your budget and expectations. Remember, investing in UI/UX design is not just about finding the cheapest option but about getting the best value for your money.

Here’s what you need to consider:
  • Understand What’s Included: Ensure you know what the pricing covers—are you getting end-to-end services like research, prototyping, testing, and post-launch support? Make sure there are no hidden costs.
  • Compare Pricing Models: Different agencies have different pricing structures—some might charge hourly, others may offer project-based or retainer models. Understand which model works best for your needs.
  • Evaluate Return on Investment (ROI): Think about the potential ROI. A higher initial investment in a great UX design can lead to significant gains in user satisfaction, engagement, and conversion rates down the line.
  • Negotiate and Ask Questions: Don’t hesitate to ask for clarity on costs or negotiate for a package that best fits your needs. A good agency will be transparent and open to discussing pricing that aligns with your budget.

Taking these steps will help you determine whether the cost of hiring a particular UX agency is justified and whether it will bring the right value to your business. After all, it’s about finding a partner who not only fits your budget but also delivers quality that drives growth.

You might also want to check out Emerge Digital.

If you’re on the hunt for a top-tier UX agency in India, let me tell you about Emerge Digital. They’re not just another UX agency; they’re known for their evidence-based approach to crafting user experiences. Emerge Digital is all about creating engaging and profitable experiences that are rooted in data and real insights—not just guesswork.

With over five years of experience under their belt, they’ve collaborated with some amazing startup brands. Their range of services covers everything from UX research and usability testing to accessibility testing and UX strategy. What sets them apart is their commitment to sharing their knowledge, empowering their clients, and giving back to the industry.

If you’re looking for a team that doesn’t just deliver, but also helps you grow and understand the UX process, Emerge Digital is worth considering.

Reach out to them at: hello@emergedigital.co or visit at www.emergedigital.co

Now that you’ve chosen your UX agency, it’s time to set expectations and understand what a great partnership looks like. Here are five key things you should expect from your UX design agency

Need to know more top agencies in India, do check UI UX agencies in India with a strong track record of successful projects.

What to Expect from Your UX Design Agency

  1. Deep Research and Understanding: A strong UX agency will begin with comprehensive research into your industry, target audience, and competitors. This foundation helps them design solutions that truly meet your users’ needs and align with your business goals.
  2. A User-Centric, Customized Approach: The best agencies prioritize your users, focusing on their needs and behaviors to create designs that are both functional and engaging. Expect solutions that are specifically tailored to your brand and objectives—not one-size-fits-all templates.
  3. Prototyping and Iterative Testing: Look for agencies that provide interactive prototypes and conduct user testing to gather real feedback. This approach ensures the final product is refined and optimized for the best user experience.
  4. Transparent Communication and Collaboration: Effective communication is key. Your agency should involve you in workshops, brainstorming sessions, and regular check-ins to keep you informed and aligned throughout the process.
  5. Ongoing Support and Measurable Results: A great UX agency doesn’t just disappear after launch. Expect post-launch support for enhancements based on user feedback, along with a focus on delivering measurable outcomes to ensure your investment is driving real business value.

With these expectations in mind, you’ll be set up for a successful collaboration that leads to a standout user experience for your product.

Final Takeaway

Now that you have a clear idea of what to look for in a top UX agency and what to expect from your collaboration, you’re well on your way to creating a stellar user experience that aligns perfectly with your brand and business goals. Remember, the right UX partner is more than just a service provider—they’re an extension of your team, helping you shape your product’s future.

So, take your time, do your homework, and choose wisely. The journey to a great user experience starts with the right partnership. And who knows? This could be the start of something amazing for your business. Happy designing, and here’s to building something incredible together!

UI/UX Agency in India
Blog, UI/UX

Hiring a UI/UX Agency in India: Your Comprehensive Guide

In today’s digital landscape, a strong user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design are critical to the success of any online platform. Whether you’re developing a website, mobile app, or any digital product, the right UI/UX design can make all the difference. Hiring a UI/UX agency in India is a smart move for businesses looking to leverage cost-effective, skilled talent without compromising on quality. In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know about hiring UI/UX designers in India, from understanding the advantages to selecting the right agency for your project.

Why Choose a UI/UX Agency in India?

Cost-Effective Solutions

One of the biggest advantages of hiring a UI/UX agency in India is the cost-effectiveness. Indian agencies offer high-quality design services at a fraction of the cost you might pay in Western countries. This allows you to allocate your budget more effectively, ensuring that you get the best value for your investment without cutting corners.

Access to Skilled Talent

India is home to a vast pool of skilled UI/UX designers who are up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies. These designers bring creativity, technical know-how, and a deep understanding of user behavior to the table, ensuring that your project is not only visually appealing but also highly functional.

Time Zone Advantages

Working with a UI/UX agency in India can offer time zone advantages, particularly if you’re based in Europe or the Americas. The overlap in working hours facilitates real-time communication and collaboration, making the design process more efficient and responsive.

Key Factors to Consider When Hiring a UI/UX Agency in India

Experience and Portfolio

When evaluating a UI/UX agency, their experience and portfolio should be your top considerations. A strong portfolio showcasing similar projects to yours is a good indicator of the agency’s capability. Take the time to review their previous work to ensure their style aligns with your vision.

Team Expertise and Skills

It’s important to understand the expertise of the team working on your project. Ask about their specific roles and experience with UI/UX design. The right team should have a mix of creative and technical skills to handle all aspects of your design needs.

Design Process and Methodology

A well-defined design process is essential for successful UI/UX outcomes. Ensure the agency follows a user-centered design approach, which involves thorough research, prototyping, user testing, and iterative design to create a product that truly meets user needs.

Communication and Collaboration

Effective communication is key to a smooth working relationship. The agency should be responsive and open to feedback throughout the project. Clear and consistent communication helps avoid misunderstandings and ensures that the project stays on track.

Project Management

Strong project management ensures that your project is delivered on time and within budget. Ask about the agency’s project management practices, including how they set timelines, manage deliverables, and handle revisions.

Client References and Testimonials

Client references and testimonials provide valuable insights into the agency’s reliability and quality of work. Reach out to past clients to learn about their experiences and satisfaction with the agency’s services.

Types of UI/UX Agencies in India

Full-Service UI/UX Agencies

Full-service UI/UX agencies in India offer end-to-end design services, covering everything from user research and wireframing to visual design and usability testing. These agencies are ideal if you’re looking for a comprehensive approach that addresses all aspects of your project.

Design-Focused Agencies

If your primary need is to enhance the visual appeal and usability of your product, design-focused agencies specialize in creating intuitive and engaging interfaces. These agencies excel in crafting designs that not only look great but also provide a seamless user experience.

Consulting and Strategy Agencies

For businesses needing strategic guidance, consulting and strategy agencies provide expert advice on optimizing user experience. They focus on aligning your design strategy with business goals and improving overall user satisfaction.

Niche-Specific Agencies

Niche-specific UI/UX agencies focus on particular industries or markets, such as healthcare, eCommerce, or finance. Their specialized knowledge allows them to design user experiences that are particularly well-suited to the unique needs of your industry.

Pricing Structure for Hiring a UI/UX Agency in India

Factors Influencing Cost

The cost of hiring a UI/UX agency in India can vary based on several factors:

  • Project Scope: Larger, more complex projects will naturally incur higher costs.
  • Agency Experience: Established agencies with a strong track record may charge more for their expertise.
  • Location: The cost can vary depending on where the agency is based within India.
  • Service Package: Additional services like user testing or post-launch support can increase the overall cost.

How to Choose the Right UI/UX Agency for Your Project

Aligning Agency Capabilities with Your Needs

When choosing a UI/UX agency, it’s crucial to ensure that their capabilities align with your specific project needs. Whether you’re looking for a complete redesign, a mobile-first approach, or industry-specific expertise, the right agency should demonstrate a deep understanding of your goals and requirements.

Balancing Budget with Quality

Finding the right balance between cost and quality is key to a successful project. While it’s important to stay within budget, investing in a quality agency can pay off in the long run by delivering a product that truly resonates with your users and drives business results.

Evaluating Long-Term Partnership Potential

Consider whether the agency is a good fit for a long-term partnership. A strong working relationship can lead to ongoing support, future projects, and a better understanding of your brand over time. Look for an agency that shows commitment to your success beyond just the initial project.

Conclusion

Hiring a UI/UX agency in India offers numerous benefits, from cost-effective solutions to access to a pool of highly skilled designers. By carefully evaluating agencies based on their experience, communication, and alignment with your project needs, you can find the right partner to create a user experience that drives success. Take the time to do your research, and don’t hesitate to reach out to potential agencies for consultations to find the best fit for your project.

Introducing Emerge: Your Premier UI/UX Agency in India

At Emerge, we are dedicated to transforming your digital vision into a stunning reality. As a leading UI/UX agency in India, we specialize in crafting intuitive and engaging user experiences that resonate with your target audience. Our team of skilled designers and strategists is committed to delivering innovative solutions that not only enhance your brand’s online presence but also drive meaningful user interactions. Whether you’re looking to refine your existing design or start a new project from scratch, Emerge is here to help you every step of the way. Partner with us to elevate your digital product and achieve exceptional results with the expertise of a top-tier UI/UX agency.

Ready to elevate your digital product with top-notch UI/UX design? Reach out to us today for a consultation and discover how our team of expert designers in India can bring your vision to life.

Blog, ecommerce

Hiring a Shopify Agency in India: A Comprehensive Guide

The e-commerce landscape is booming, and India is at the forefront of this digital revolution. As more and more businesses establish their online presence, the demand for skilled Shopify developers is surging. This guide equips you with everything you need to know about harnessing the expertise of Shopify developers in India to propel your online store to success.

When you’re looking to build or enhance your Shopify store, choosing the right agency can make all the difference. The type of agency you select should align with your specific needs, whether it’s creating a visually stunning site, tackling complex technical challenges, or scaling up with Shopify Plus. Here’s a quick guide to help you understand the different types of Shopify agencies so you can find the perfect fit for your business.

Here are the top types of Shopify agencies to consider, tailored just for you

1. Full-Service Shopify Agencies

These agencies take care of everything for you—from design and development to marketing and ongoing support. If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop to build and grow your Shopify store, this is the way to go.

2. Design-Focused Shopify Agencies

 If you want your store to look stunning and offer a seamless shopping experience, these agencies specialize in creating beautiful, user-friendly designs. They focus on making your online store visually appealing and easy to navigate.

3. Development-Focused Shopify Agencies

These agencies handle the technical side of things, building custom features, integrating apps, and ensuring everything runs smoothly. If you need complex functionality, this is your best bet.

4. Shopify Plus Partners 

For those with larger businesses or advanced needs, Shopify Plus Partners are certified experts in the enterprise version of Shopify. They provide you with top-tier, custom solutions to scale your business.

Why Indian agencies are the Preferred Choice

India has emerged as a leading hub for Shopify development, offering several compelling advantages:

  • Cost-Effective: Hiring a Shopify agency in India can significantly reduce development costs compared to Western countries.
  • Skilled Talent Pool: India boasts a large pool of highly skilled developers with expertise in Shopify and related technologies.
  • Time Zone Alignment: The overlapping time zones between India and many Western countries facilitate seamless communication and collaboration.
  • Cultural Compatibility: Indian developers often demonstrate a strong work ethic, cultural adaptability, and a commitment to delivering quality results.

What to Look for in a Shopify Agency before hiring

When evaluating Indian Shopify agencies, consider the following key factors:

  • Portfolio: Review the agency’s portfolio to assess their experience in handling projects similar to yours.
  • Team Expertise: Inquire about the agency’s team members, their roles, and their experience with Shopify development.
  • Technical Skills: Ensure the agency has proficiency in Shopify’s theme development, app integration, and customization capabilities.
  • Communication and Collaboration: Evaluate the agency’s communication style, responsiveness, and ability to collaborate effectively.
  • Project Management: Assess their project management methodologies, including timelines, milestones, and reporting processes.
  • References: Request references from previous clients to gain insights into their experience working with the agency.

Hiring Models: Which One Suits You Best?

  • Fixed-Price Model: Suitable for projects with well-defined scopes and requirements, offering a predictable budget.
  • Time and Material Model: Ideal for projects with evolving requirements or uncertain timelines, providing flexibility.
  • Retainer Model: A long-term partnership where the agency is dedicated to your ongoing needs, ensuring consistent support.
  • Dedicated Team Model: For large-scale projects or ongoing development, this model offers a dedicated team of developers.

Pricing Considerations for Shopify Projects

The cost of a Shopify project can vary significantly depending on several factors, including:

  • Project Scope: The complexity and size of the project, such as the number of products, customization requirements, and integrations, will directly impact the cost.
  • Agency or Freelancer Experience: More experienced and established agencies or freelancers may charge higher rates due to their expertise and reputation.
  • Location: Geographical location can influence pricing. Agencies and freelancers in regions with lower labor costs may offer more competitive rates.
  • Hiring Model: The chosen hiring model (fixed-price, time and material, retainer, or dedicated team) will determine the pricing structure.
  • Additional Services: Any additional services required, such as design, marketing, or ongoing maintenance, will contribute to the overall cost.

Here’s a general breakdown of potential pricing ranges:

  • Freelancers:
    • Entry-level: $15-$30 per hour
    • Mid-level: $30-$50 per hour
    • Senior-level: $50-$80 per hour
  • Online Marketplaces:
    • Prices can vary widely depending on the freelancer’s ratings and experience.
  • Shopify Experts:
    • Hourly rates typically range from $50-$100 per hour.
  • Agencies:
    • Prices can vary significantly depending on the agency’s size, reputation, and location. However, you can expect hourly rates to range from $75-$200 per hour or more.

It’s important to note that these are general estimates, and actual pricing can vary depending on specific project requirements.

When evaluating pricing, it’s crucial to consider the overall value that the agency or freelancer brings to the table. Factors such as experience, quality of work, communication skills, and project management capabilities should also be taken into account.

To get a more accurate estimate for your specific project, it’s recommended to request proposals from multiple agencies or freelancers and compare their pricing, scope of work, and qualifications.

Red Flags to Avoid while Selecting Shopify Agency

When hiring a Shopify agency in India, it’s crucial to be aware of potential red flags to avoid pitfalls and ensure a successful partnership.

  • Lack of Experience: Look for agencies with a proven track record of successful Shopify projects. Check their portfolio for examples of similar work to your needs.
  • Unclear Communication: Effective communication is key. Avoid agencies that are unresponsive or struggle to understand your requirements.
  • Limited Expertise: Ensure the agency has a team with in-depth knowledge of Shopify’s platform, features, and best practices.
  • Unrealistic Timelines: Be wary of agencies that promise unrealistic project timelines without considering the scope of work.
  • Lack of Transparency: A reputable agency should be transparent about its pricing, processes, and team structure.

Shopify Agency in India

Looking to build a successful Shopify store? Emerge is a leading Shopify agency in India, ready to transform your eCommerce vision into reality. Whether you’re looking to hire Shopify Partners in India, hire Shopify developers for specific needs, or hire a dedicated Shopify developer in India, Emerge has the expertise to deliver results. Our team of skilled professionals is committed to crafting customized Shopify solutions that drive growth and maximize your online potential. With Emerge, you get a partner who understands your business and is dedicated to helping you succeed in the competitive eCommerce landscape.

References:

Blog, Dropshipping

100+ Dropshipping Business Ideas to Inspire You

100+ Dropshipping Business Ideas to Inspire YouHow to Start Dropshipping: The Easiest Way to Sell Online

Dropshipping is a profitable business model for new entrepreneurs to make money on the side.

It isn’t free to start a dropshipping business (there are non-inventory costs), but it’s much lower risk and less complex, since you don’t need to stock products or handle order fulfillment.

Finding a dropshipping business idea is as simple as finding a product to sell. Yet with so many dropshipping businesses out there, the hardest part is finding the right product—one that’ll set you apart.

Here’s how to find and validate a dropshipping business idea, with 100+ trending products to look into. We’ll cover:

How to find a dropshipping idea

Social media

Social media platforms are a major shopping channel for young consumers. Discover your next dropshipping idea by scanning hashtags, accounts, and trend pages that appeal to your target demographic.

 

Marketplace bestsellers

The biggest online marketplaces sell millions of SKUs from thousands of brands. By 2027, they’ll play a role in 59% of purchasing journeys, making them a great source of data to uncover trending products and dropshipping ideas.

Start by looking at “top product” pages on Amazon, Etsy, and Walmart. Pay close attention to top products in any given category, or those with a “selling fast” icon.

Continue your search on wholesale marketplaces like AliExpress, Alibaba, and SaleHoo. Because most of these marketplaces double up as dropshipping websites, top products are also available for dropshipping (versus something you find on eBay that may not be drop-shippable).

 

Amazon bestsellers for handmade and automotive products.

Amazon’s bestseller lists provide great dropshipping business ideas.

 

Pinterest Trends

Pinterest is a social media/search engine hybrid that allows users to save pins to a virtual mood board. Use Pinterest Trends to see what users have saved the most during the previous week/month, and dropship similar products through your own online store.

 

Pinterest Trends shows fall fashion, nails, and bedroom ideas are the most-pinned topics this week.

Use Pinterest Trends to discover trending pins within the last week.

 

Trendhunter

Trendhunter uses page view data, artificial intelligence, and research teams to discover trending products. Recent examples include compostable menswear and muted pink sneakers, though you can browse its website to find online business ideas before they become saturated.

 

Trendhunter’s recent trend articles for Barbie paint collabs, cool-toned low sneakers, and sci-fi dart toys.

Trendhunter analyzes data to find trending products, like these cool-toned low sneakers.

 

100+ dropshipping ideas for 2023

  • Beauty and skin care
  • Clothing and accessories
  • Jewelry
  • Books
  • Art
  • Coffee
  • Baby products
  • Fitness products
  • Pet products
  • Car Accessories
  • Home tools
  • Furniture
  • Electronics

Beauty and skin care

 

Graph showing beauty and personal care industry growth from 2013 to 2026.

The size of the beauty and personal care market is increasing.

 

The global beauty and personal care industry is set to be worth $679.79 billion by 2025. People spend big bucks managing their appearance and solving cosmetic-related health issues. Claim your stake by working with a dropshipping supplier to source cosmetics, skincare, and beauty products. Sell them at a higher price through your own online store.

Popular dropshipping business ideas in the beauty and skincare industry include:

  • Moisturizer
  • Cleanser
  • Foundation
  • Concealer
  • Fragrances
  • Nail clippers
  • Makeup bags
  • Cooling eye masks
  • Facial rollers
  • Acne treatment
  • Sunscreen
  • Lip balm

Clothing and accessories

 

Google Trends graph showing how searches for “athleisure” increased during the pandemic.

The number of people searching for “athleisure” increased during the pandemic.

 

The global apparel industry is one of the biggest markets in the world, valued at $1.5 trillion. Fashion niche markets come within the clothing and accessories umbrella—products you can dropship and make money from online.

“Since a few years ago, tank tops, sports bras, and leggings have all become popular athleisure items. Even among those who simply want a comfy suit for sitting and are hoping to participate in a little more leisure than athleticism.” – Colton Horn, co-founder of Breinfuel

Popular items to dropship in this category include:

  • Hats
  • Socks
  • T-shirts
  • Sports bras
  • Hoodies
  • Swimming trunks
  • Cargo pants
  • Bridesmaid dresses
  • Fashion accessories
  • Fancy dress costumes

Read more: The 19 Best Dropshipping Clothing Suppliers to Grow Your Business in 2022

Jewelry

 

Google Trends graph showing increasing search volume for “gold hoop earrings,” with spikes around the festive season.

Search volume for the keyword “gold hoop earrings” is on an upward trend.

 

Consumers spend $28.68 billion on jewelry each year. If you want to start a jewelry business but don’t have the time or skill to handcraft your own products, consider drop shipping those another manufacturer has already made.

The chunky gold jewelry trend, in particular, is one worth considering if you’re looking to use this online business idea. Block gold rings, necklaces, and earrings are back in fashion, with searches for “gold hoop earrings” steadily increasing.

Other notable jewelry products to dropship include:

  • Rings
  • Necklaces
  • Fine jewelry
  • Costume jewelry
  • Anniversary jewelry
  • Wedding rings
  • Gemstones
  • Bracelets

Books

 

Line graph showing the number of US adults who’ve read a print, ebook, or audiobook in the past 12 months.

Statista data shows that 65% of adults have read a print book in the past year.

 

Reading is still one of the most popular activities, with almost two-thirds of US consumers having read at least one print book in the past year, spending an annual total of $25.71 billion

Instead of dropshipping any book you can find, the key is to specialize in one specific type of book. Take academic course materials, for example. Consumers spend $339 per year on higher education books (compared to the global population’s $113.87 average).

Other types of books to dropship include:

  • Fiction
  • Non-fiction
  • Language books
  • Religious books
  • Large-print books
  • Autobiographies
  • Pre-K books

Art

 

Manufacturer selling a 3D artwork sculpture on Alibaba’s wholesale marketplace.
Find art-related dropshipping products from suppliers on Alibaba.

 

Online sales in the art market top $13.3 billion each year. The industry experienced a 7.3% annual growth rate in 2021.

The best thing about dropshipping art is that it’s accessible to anyone, regardless of how knowledgeable you are of the field. You’ve got the option to dropship fine art, which can fetch thousands of dollars per piece or handcrafted drawings that are printed and sold at scale for a lower cost.

Find your next dropshipping business idea with products like:

  • Prints
  • Art pencils
  • 3D statues
  • Wall Decor
  • Coloring books
  • Enamel pins
  • Phone cases
  • Greeting cards
  • Children’s art kits

Coffee

 

Bar chart showing how the average American drinks 1.87 cups of coffee daily.
Statista data shows Americans are major coffee drinkers.

 

Dropshipping coffee is a great way to take your slice of this spend. Find a coffee dropshipping supplier like Dripshipper or Aroma Ridge. Add custom labels to coffee-related products and list them on your e-commerce website for a higher price.

Popular items to sell on your coffee business’s online store include:

  • Coffee beans
  • Sachets
  • Coffee pods
  • Coffee machines
  • Coffee bags
  • Coffee grinders
  • Flavored syrups

Baby products

 

Google Trends graph showing an uplift in searches for “gender reveal balloons” from 2016 onward.
Searches for “gender reveal balloons” have become more consistent.

 

Parents and caregivers spend $67.35 billion on baby care products each year—a figure set to hit $88.72 billion by 2026.

Niche markets are emerging in the baby space. Take the gender reveal industry as an example. An increasing number of soon-to-be parents are hosting parties to announce the gender of their baby. According to Google Trends, searches for “gender reveal balloons” have steadily been increasing since 2016.

Here are some other baby products you can use to spark a dropshipping business idea:

  • Kids’ toys
  • Diapers
  • Strollers
  • Stair gates
  • Breast milk pumps
  • Organic baby food
  • Baby monitors
  • Changing mats
  • Baby carriers
  • Booster seats

Fitness products

 

Bar chart showing the annual end-user spending on wearable fitness devices.
Fitness trackers generate $93.86 billion in sales per year.

 

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work from home, exercise levels increased. House-bound consumers had no choice but to exercise at home. To do that, they needed fitness equipment.

Fitness trackers are one dropshipping niche that’s exploded in popularity. Some 553.6 million fitness trackers were shipped last year, with global consumers predicted to spend $93.86 billion on wrist-wearing activity trackers in 2022.

Aside from fitness technology, consider dropshipping the following exercise products:

  • Yoga mats
  • Foam rollers
  • Gym gloves
  • Jump ropes
  • Protein powders
  • Fitness trackers
  • Trampolines
  • Step blocks
  • Resistance bands

Pet products

 

Google Trends data showing an increase in searches for dog and cat vitamins.
Vitamins for both cats and dogs are popular dropshipping niches.

 

More than half of American households own a pet, contributing to a $123.6 billion industry.

To capitalize on our love for furry friends, find a lucrative business idea in the pet industry. Dog vitamins, for example, are just one huge area of spend. Owners splash $81 per year on supplements to keep their dogs healthy.

Other pet-related items to dropship include:

  • Food
  • Leashes
  • Collars
  • Cat litter
  • Raw bones
  • Bird seeds
  • Cage water bottles
  • Drying coats
  • Pet ID tags
  • Slow feeding bowls
  • Grass patches

Car Accessories

More than 65 million cars are sold each year. Give the millions of consumers who own one the chance to make their driving experiences more enjoyable by dropshipping car accessories.

The product you might consider selling could be:

  • Air fresheners
  • Car mats
  • Car cleaning kits
  • Cup holders
  • Steering wheel covers
  • Dash cams
  • Car hoovers
  • Neck pillows
  • Tablet holders
  • Trunk organizers
  • Wiper blades

Home tools

 

Bar chart showing how the home improvement market size increases each year.
The home improvement market is set to reach $621.3 billion by 2025.

Home improvement sales are predicted to reach $621.3 billion by 2025, making it one of the largest consumer markets. Dropship home gadgets, hardware, and decorating accessories to build a profitable business in this niche.

“I believe the best dropshipping products in 2023 will be anything in the off-the-grid living and homesteading space. These niches are continuing their upward trajectory trend and there are a ton of different supplies in these niches that can be targeted with high or low-ticket dropshipping.” – Thomas Sleeth, founder of Dropshipping Hustle

Popular home-related items to dropship include:

  • Extension leads
  • Doorbells
  • Step ladders
  • Security cameras
  • Lint removers
  • Wine fridges
  • Handheld vacuums
  • Carpet cleaners
  • Lights

Furniture

 

Google Trends report showing a sharp spike in the number of searches for “home office chairs” in 2020.
Google searches for “home office chairs” catapulted at the start of the pandemic and have remained high ever since.

If you’re looking for a high-ticket dropshipping business idea in the home improvement market, consider dropshipping furniture. Products are often priced higher than small home improvement gadgets. The average hybrid queen-size mattress, for example, sells for $2,050.

The hardest thing about dropshipping furniture is the fact customers can’t always see the product they’re thinking of buying. Solve any pre-purchase anxiety and build consumer trust with extensive product photography, reviews from happy customers, and size charts to scale.

Furniture-related items to dropship include:

  • Mirrors
  • Bean bags
  • Bookshelves
  • Rugs
  • Lamps
  • Bedside tables
  • Dining chairs
  • Shelving units
  • Home office chairs
  • Standing desks

Electronics

 

Portable sound and video, computers, and cameras are amongst the featured categories on Amazon's website.
Amazon’s featured subcategories under the electronics category.

From computers to cameras, global consumers spend $376 billion on electronics each year. This type of product isn’t in short supply—you’ll find manufacturers offering dropship electronics across all major dropshipping platforms.

However, the electronics industry is another highly regulated niche. Reputable suppliers will be happy to supply a portable appliance test (PAT) certificate that confirms their electronics have been rigorously tested and meet safety standards.

To turn this niche into a profitable dropshipping business, source trending products like:

  • Chargers
  • Cameras
  • Headphones
  • Sat navs
  • Printer ink
  • Screen cleaners
  • TV remote controls
  • Memory cards
  • Smart speakers
  • Phone cases
  • Kettles

How to choose a dropshipping business idea

Dropshipping is notoriously known for being a low-risk business model. However, you can increase the odds of ecommerce success by validating an idea before running with it.

Evaluate demand

Before running with your next idea, see whether people are already talking about the product you’re thinking of selling.

Do your own research with online tools like Google Trends. The platform shows historical data for how many people search for that dropshipping business idea. Pay especially close attention to keywords on an upward trend. This indicates the product is becoming more popular and demand is increasing. Try to get there before competitors cotton on.

“I always use Google Trends to see how the product is trending in various countries over the last five years and then use a keyword tool to check the monthly search volume.” – Thomas Sleeth, founder of Dropshipping Hustle

 

Google Trends data showing a sharp increase for “treadmill walking pad.”
Searches for “treadmill walking pad” are on the rise.

If you’re torn between two dropshipping business ideas, use Google Trends’ comparison tool to evaluate demand for each term. Knowing one keyword is much more popular than the other can sway you in that direction.

Check your competition

If you go into a niche that’s already popular, it’s going to be super competitive. Dropshipping requires a successful marketing strategy—and paid ads will cost more and keywords will be more competitive for top products.

Yet go the other way and there’s a risk of nobody wanting to buy the products you’re dropshipping. It’ll be an uphill struggle to build a profitable business.

Ultimately, there is no “ideal” demand when selecting the best dropshipping product. There are pros and cons when going niche versus hyper-competitive. The ideal competition level depends on the type of business you want to build.

Low competition

If you’re struggling to find retailers selling similar products to the one you want to dropship, it’s not a bad sign. Going after a niche market can be a smart business move.

Pros

  • It’s easier to stand out.
  • Build customer loyalty by being known as the go-to brand for a specific product.
  • You’re not at the mercy of competitors—many of whom are able to sway consumers with lower prices.

Cons

  • Demand might not be as high.
  • You often need to take the quality-over-quantity approach.
  • It can be more expensive to find and acquire customers in a niche market.

High competition

Hundreds of other dropshippers selling comparable products might make it harder to stand out, but it proves demand is there. Look at their product pricing strategy and see whether it’s worth competing.

Pros

  • Proven demand from customers.
  • Wider variety of suppliers to choose from.
  • A strong brand personality can help you charge a premium for comparable products.

Cons

  • It’s harder to stand out from established competitors.
  • Most often, you compete on price—even when profit margins are already tight.
  • You’ll need to define your unique selling proposition upfront (and heavily market it).

Find dropshipping suppliers

Dropshipping suppliers make or break your new business. They’re the ones responsible for manufacturing, packing, and shipping orders to your customers. Check that for whatever dropshipping business idea you choose there are suppliers to work with.

Most importantly, recruit a reliable supplier you can trust. Any customer complaints will fall in your hands since the dropshipping supplier acts as a silent partner. Ask for their order accuracy rate, previous customer reviews, and minimum order quantity upfront. It’ll minimize the chances of a supplier’s problems ruining your own brand’s reputation.

Order a sample

Dropshipping isn’t a business you can start with no money—people pay a premium for higher-quality products. Figure out whether it’s worth paying more for quality from your suppliers by ordering samples.

Let’s say your supplier stocks three different varieties of the resistance bands you want to dropship:

  • Product A: $2.49 cost price and made from low-quality rubber.
  • Product B: $3.69 cost price and made from high-quality rubber.
  • Product C: $6.29 cost price and made from recycled and sustainable materials.

If you’re looking for a dropshipping business idea that’ll make the most money, you might think Product A stands you in better ground to do that. Lower cost price means higher margins, right?

However, people pay premiums for sustainability. After ordering all three products to sample, you survey your target market and discover they’d pay $28 for Product C—a 79.68% profit margin (compared to 25% for A and 43% for B).

Ordering samples in advance also gives you first-hand experience dealing with a supplier before your customers are involved. You’ll have the delivery communication emails, unboxing experience, and first impressions your customers get.

Survey your target market

Your target market is the group of people who will buy your products. Instead of finding a dropshipping product idea and hoping there’s a market for it, survey your target audience to see:

  • Whether they’d buy the product
  • How they’d discover it (i.e., your best marketing channels)
  • How much they’d pay

There are two ways this process tends to go AWOL. First, people are notoriously awful at telling you what they would do or would buy. It’s difficult to get honest opinions when no real money is at stake.

Secondly, small business owners often turn toward their family and friends for market research. They ask if they’d buy a product, only to hear everyone say yes because they didn’t want to hurt a budding entrepreneur’s feelings.

Solve these issues and ask hard-hitting questions that allow you to verify whether what you think is a great business idea would make money. That includes:

  1. How would this product impact your life or daily routine?
  2. What products are you currently using to solve this problem?
  3. Which features do you find the most/least useful?

Calculate your profit margin

Once you subtract the wholesale price of a product and your overheads, are you left with any profit? Good business ideas are those where products are sourced at a low price and resold higher.

Use Shopify’s free profit margin calculator to see how much money you’re left with after buying the product from a supplier and paying their fee for picking, packing, and shipping.

 

Screenshot of how the item cost, markup, and sale price impact profit and gross margins.
If you buy a product at $3.57 and add a 50% markup, your profit would be $1.79.

 

One route is to find the absolute cheapest product and sell it at as high of a price as possible. But that strategy comes with risk. You often have to sell as many products as you can, rather than focusing on high-quality customers and building a sustainable business.

Invest in brand-building if increasing your profit margin is the ultimate goal. Consumers pay a premium to shop with brands that:

Even if cost prices and competitor RRPs are low, make your dropshipping brand the go-to e-commerce website for consumers who want more than the ordinary.

Start a dropshipping business today

The success of your dropshipping store depends on the product you choose.

Build a small, low-maintenance (and low-cost) online store with Shopify to validate your dropshipping business idea and test a marketing strategy. Choose three to five products in the same niche. Invest more time and effort into products proven to sell for the best chance of success.

Blog, Dropshipping

Shopify and GlowRoad: How to start a dropshipping business in India

Shopify and GlowRoad: How to start a dropshipping business in India

Ever thought of how to earn money from home?

With more time at hand now due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the emergence of a new normal, we’re all exploring ways to earn from home. While some have taken a setback on the professional front, others just want to make the most of the time available to them.

Starting an online store has been one of the most success-proven ways to remain productive, and at the same time, earn from home. That’s why Shopify is partnering with GlowRoad to enable dropshipping in India and equip merchants to become more successful.

What is GlowRoad?

GlowRoad is a reseller platform and app in India that is providing millions of individuals including housewives and graduate students an opportunity to earn from home by starting their own online business. All they need to do is sign up on the platform as a reseller, choose the products they want to sell or think can sell, and submit their interest to the supplier.

Once the supplier reviews and accepts your request, the next step is for you to start promoting those products in your network over chat apps like WhatsApp or social media platforms like Facebook.

If someone places an order via the shared link, GlowRoad takes care of delivering the product collecting the money, and submitting the profits in your bank account. Simply put, the reseller gets to earn from home based on the number of sales they make for products sourced from suppliers, via their own channels.

To further enhance this business model, Shopify is stepping in to enable the resellers to start an online store and grow their drop shipping business using a robust eCommerce platform where the products they sell will become more discoverable, leading to more sales.

But at the same time, here’s what this partnership also does for other Shopify merchants in India who are running a dropshipping business – they get access to locally available products that they can add to their store from the suppliers registered on GlowRoad.

How does GlowRoad benefit the dropshipping business in India on Shopify?

With the need to earn from home increasing by the day, dropshipping is one of the most popular business models we’re seeing on Shopify.

The business model does not require one to keep products in stock. Instead, here, the store sells the product and passes on the sales order to the supplier. It is the supplier then who is responsible for shipping this order to the customer, and the overall order fulfilment experience.

Simply put, you get to start an online store and earn from home, all without having to risk stocking up on inventory of products. Or for that matter, even worrying about the logistics and order fulfilment.

So far, Shopify merchants running on the dropshipping model in India relied on suppliers from other countries. While reselling products from these suppliers was easier before, the new normal has slowed things down in terms of the availability of products as well as the efficiency of order fulfilment from the supplier’s end. As a result, this has resulted in Shopify stores in India having lesser stock available on their stores, leading to a dip in sales for their dropshipping business.

With GlowRoad, Shopify wants to address this issue and make online retail businesses less dependent on external factors, by giving them access to Indian suppliers.

Introducing their app on Shopify, GlowRoad will be taking the lead on expanding the dropshipping business in India. Online retailers running on the dropshipping model, will simply need to add the GlowRoad Shopify app to their store, to get access to suppliers who are selling products across different categories – fashion and apparel, jewellery, healthcare, pet supplies, local goods and more.

glowroad dropshipping shopify india

Benefits of using GlowRoad to start a dropshipping business in India

  • Access to more products
  • Lesser supply chain delays
  • Lesser logistics issues
  • Faster order fulfilment
  • Support for local brands and suppliers
  • Ability to offer cash on delivery (COD) to shoppers

TLDR; faster business growth and more revenue.

But this isn’t a one-sided affair. Here’s how the Shopify and GlowRoad partnership will benefit retailers who have been using their reselling platform to run a dropshipping business.

Want to start your own dropshipping business in India? Start an online store with Shopify to benefit from GlowRoad.

Sign up for a free trial on Shopify today.

How does Shopify benefit the dropshipping businesses being run on GlowRoad?

So far, those who want to earn from home and start an online business, have signed up as resellers on GlowRoad. They then take a look at what kind of suppliers are wanting to sell their products to resellers.

Choosing the products they want to sell, the reseller then shares the link to purchase those products with their network. They do so by sharing this link on their social media channels, profiles or even chat apps. Most begin their online business by promoting the product links amongst their friends and family.

With the Shopify partnership, these resellers will be able to start an online store for their business. This will make it easier for their business to get discovered by a larger audience, equip them with an online presence they can market digitally beyond their own network and also make it easier for their target audience to explore more products from the range they have.

Benefits of using Shopify to grow your GlowRoad dropshipping business in India 

  • Easy online store setup
  • Access to 4,400+ apps to enhance the shopping experience for customers
  • Better marketing and product promotions
  • Easy online payment setup
  • Easy order fulfilment tracking
  • Access to customer data to boost engagement and retention

TLDR; faster business growth and more revenue.

Yes, the goal of the Shopify and GlowRoad partnership is to help those who want to start an online business and earn from home, and also equip those stores running on dropshipping models to grow without bounds.

Don’t have an online store for your dropshipping business yet? Get started on Shopify with a free trial.

Whether you’ve been in the dropshipping business for some time now or want to start exploring the industry by starting an online store, Shopify and GlowRoad are here to equip you with everything you need.

Right from setting up an online store to finding products that you’d like to sell, and a guarantee from verified suppliers to be able to fulfil orders in a timely manner, this partnership has it all lined up for you.

Already have a dropshipping business and want to expand the range of products available in your store? Install the GlowRoad app on your store today.

Blog, Dropshipping

What Is Dropshipping and How Does It Work?

What Is Dropshipping and How Does It Work?

If you’ve thought about starting an e-commerce store, you’ve heard of dropshipping. It’s a streamlined approach to order fulfillment where you don’t own or ship any inventory.

Gone are the days when retailers had to lease warehouse space, juggle supply chains, and manage inventory. Whether you’re an ambitious newcomer or an e-commerce veteran, understanding and using dropshipping could be the key to taking your online store to the next level.

Ahead, you’ll learn everything there is to know about dropshipping, from how it works to benefits, and how to start your own dropshipping business today.

What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method where a business doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, the seller purchases inventory as needed from a third party—usually a wholesaler or manufacturer—to fulfill orders.

The biggest difference between dropshipping and the standard retail model is that the selling merchant doesn’t stock or own inventory—they act as the middleman.

What is a drop shipper?

A dropshipper is a person or business that uses the dropshipping model of buying inventory and fulfillment logistics from a third party, instead of warehousing and shipping the products themselves.

Because dropshipping relies on a third-party supplier to handle inventory warehousing and order fulfillment, a dropshipping operation may be managed by dozens of employees or a single business owner.

How does dropshipping work?

The dropshipping process is essentially a relationship between a customer-facing store and a supplier.

There are two common approaches to adopting a dropshipping business model. The first is to seek out one or more wholesale suppliers located in North America (or anywhere else in the world) on your own using a supplier database. Examples of popular online supplier databases include AliExpress, SaleHoo, and Worldwide Brands.

If you’re not interested in finding suppliers for all of the products you plan to sell, you can use an app that connects you and your store to thousands of suppliers. For this, use DSers, a Shopify app that helps independent business owners find products to sell.

With DSers, you can browse AliExpress and import the products that pique your interest directly to DSers—which is connected to your Shopify store—with the click of a button. Once a customer buys a product, you’ll be able to fulfill their order in the DSers app.

Fortunately, DSers automates most of the dropshipping process. As the store owner, all you have to do is check that the details are correct and click the order button. The product is then shipped directly from the AliExpress supplier to the customer—wherever in the world they may be.

how dropshipping works

Dropshipping is often seen as a no-hassle, get-rich-quick scheme. But it’s not. Just like any other e-commerce website, it takes dedication to get your startup running and successful. Done well, dropshipping companies can become reliable and convenient partners to growing e-commerce businesses to expedite order and fulfillment processing.

Benefits of dropshipping

Here are a few other reasons why dropshipping is such a popular e-commerce business model for both large and small businesses.

1. Less upfront capital required

Probably the biggest advantage to dropshipping is that it’s possible to launch an e-commerce store without having to invest thousands of dollars in inventory. Traditionally, a brick-and-mortar or e-commerce retailer has to tie up huge amounts of capital purchasing inventory.

With the dropshipping model, you don’t have to purchase a product unless you’ve already made the sale and have been paid by the customer. Without significant upfront inventory investments, it’s possible to start dropshipping and become successful with very little money.

Additionally, because you’re not committed to selling through any inventory purchased upfront, like in other business models, there’s less risk involved in starting a dropshipping store.

2. Easy to start

Running an e-commerce business is much easier when you don’t have to deal with physical products. With dropshipping, you don’t have to worry about:

  • Managing or paying for a warehouse
  • Packing and shipping your orders
  • Tracking inventory for accounting reasons
  • Handling returns and inbound shipments
  • Continually ordering products and managing stock level

💡 TIP: With Shopify, it’s easy to start a dropshipping business and start selling without the hassle of managing inventory, packaging, or shipping. Orders are sent directly from your wholesaler to your customers, so you can work on what matters—your products, marketing, and customers.

3. Low overhead

Because you don’t have to deal with purchasing inventory or managing fulfillment centers, your overhead expenses are quite low. In fact, many successful dropshipping stores are run as home-based businesses, requiring little more than a laptop and a few recurring expenses to operate.

As you grow, these costs will likely increase, but will still be low compared to those of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses.

4. Flexible location

With dropshipping, a successful business can be run from just about anywhere with an internet connection. As long as you can communicate with suppliers and provide timely service and support that meets customer expectations, you can run and manage your business.

5. Wide selection of products to sell

Since you don’t have to pre-purchase the items you sell, you can offer an array of trending products to your potential customers. Plus, you can rotate or change your dropshipping products list without having to worry about unsold inventory. If suppliers stock an item, you can list it for sale on your online store at no additional cost.

6. Easier to test

Dropshipping is a useful fulfillment model for both launching a new store and for business owners looking to test the appetite customers have for additional product categories, e.g., accessories or wholly new product lines. The main benefit of dropshipping is, again, the ability to list and potentially sell products before committing to buying a large amount of inventory.

7. Easier to scale

With a traditional retail business, if you receive three times the number of orders, you’ll usually need to do three times as much work. By leveraging dropshipping suppliers, most of the work to process additional orders will be done by the suppliers, allowing you to expand with fewer growing pains and less incremental work.

Sales growth will always bring additional work—especially related to customer support—but businesses that utilize dropshipping scale particularly well relative to traditional e-commerce businesses. You can dropship on many platforms too, like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.

Drawbacks of dropshipping

All the benefits we mentioned make dropshipping a very attractive model for anyone getting started with an online store or for those looking to expand their existing product offerings.

But like all approaches, dropshipping has its downsides, too. Generally speaking, convenience and flexibility come at a higher price.

Here are a few shortcomings to think about when considering a dropshipping business.

1. Low profit margins

Low margins are the biggest disadvantage to operating in a highly competitive dropshipping vertical. Because it’s so easy to get started, and because the overhead costs are so minimal, many competing businesses will set up a dropshipping store and sell items at rock-bottom prices in an attempt to grow revenue. Since they’ve invested so little in getting the business started, they can afford to operate on minuscule margins.

Typically, these sellers will have low-quality websites and poor (if any) customer service, which can help you differentiate your dropshipping business. But that won’t stop customers from comparing their prices to yours. This increase in competition will quickly hurt the potential profit margin in a niche. If you’re concerned about your margins you can quickly calculate it with Shopify’s profit margin calculator.

Fortunately, you can do a lot to mitigate this problem by choosing the right products and selecting a niche/vertical that’s well-suited for dropshipping.

2. Inventory issues

If you stock all your own products, it’s relatively simple to keep track of which items are in and out of stock. But when you’re sourcing from multiple warehouses, which are also fulfilling orders for other merchants, inventory can change on a daily basis.

Fortunately, these days, there are a handful of apps that let you sync with suppliers. So dropshippers can “pass along” customer orders to a dropshipping supplier with a click or two and should be able to see in real-time how much inventory the supplier has.

DSers also lets merchants take automated actions when a supplier’s stock hits zero. For example, when a product is no longer available, you can automatically unpublish the product, or keep it published but automatically set the quantity to zero.

3. Shipping complexities

If you work with multiple suppliers—as most drop shippers do—the products on your online store will be sourced through a number of different dropshippers. This means you have no control over the supply chain.

Let’s say a customer places an order for three items, all of which are available only from separate suppliers. You’ll incur three separate shipping costs for sending each item to the customer, but it’s probably not wise to pass this charge along to the customer. And even when it does make sense to include these charges, automating these drop shipment calculations can be difficult.

4. Supplier errors

Have you ever been blamed for something that wasn’t your fault but had to accept responsibility for anyway?

Even the best dropshipping suppliers make mistakes fulfilling orders—mistakes for which you have to take responsibility and apologize. In addition, mediocre and low-quality suppliers will harm the customer experience via missing items, botched drop shipments, and packing or product quality issues, which can damage your business’s reputation<.

5. Limited customization and branding

Unlike custom-made products or print-on-demand, dropshipping doesn’t give you a lot of control over the product itself. Usually, the product drop shipped is designed and branded by the supplier.

Some dropshipping suppliers can accommodate your business’s product changes. Even then, however, the supplier has the most control over the product itself. Any changes or additions to the product usually require a minimum order quantity to make it viable and affordable for the manufacturer.

Start your dropshipping business with Shopify

Whether you’re interested in finding a side hustle, starting a new full-time enterprise, or changing the business model behind your existing online store, dropshipping may be the answer you’re looking for.

Getting started with an e-commerce platform like Shopify is easy:

  • Set up your Shopify account: Go to Shopify’s website and follow the instructions to set up a new account. You will need to provide some basic information about yourself and your business.
  • Choose a theme: Shopify has a variety of themes available. Choose one that fits your brand and products.
  • Customize your store: Add your logo, create product categories, set up your navigation, and add any necessary pages like “About Us” and “Contact”.
  • Setup DSers: Dsers is an AliExpress dropshipping tool that you can integrate with your Shopify store. Go to the Shopify App Store, find Dsers, and install it.
  • Link your AliExpress account: You’ll need to connect your AliExpress account to Dsers so you can import products.
  • Import products: Use Dsers to find products on AliExpress that fit your niche. You can import these directly to your Shopify store.

Yes, dropshipping comes with a number of built-in complexities you’ll need to address as an entrepreneur. But with careful planning and consideration, you can anticipate and resolve those issues to create a thriving, profitable dropshipping business

Blog, Dropshipping

Why and How to Start Dropshipping in India as an eCommerce Business

Why and How to Start Dropshipping in India as an eCommerce Business

Want to start an online business in India, but not sure where to begin?

If you’re someone who does not want to get into product manufacture and production or isn’t sure about what type of products to sell, there is still an opportunity for you – dropshipping in India.

And we’ll tell you why.

What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping refers to a retail business where a store is not required to keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, it acts as the storefront to sell a product, which then gets directly shipped to the customer when an order is placed from the supplier/ manufacturer.

As a result, you as the seller don’t have to handle the product directly or have to store inventory in warehouses.

What is the difference between dropshipping in India and standard retail?

Well, when you are dropshipping in India (or anywhere), you as the selling merchant don’t have to stock or own any inventory. Instead, the purchase gets made and fulfilled by a third party – usually, a wholesaler or manufacturer; while you act as the middleman.

Here’s how dropshipping in India works:

Why start dropshipping in India?

Dropshipping in India is a cost-effective way to start an online store or an eCommerce business.

It allows you to sell products online without having to worry about carrying, storing, and maintaining inventory of products. It also removes the need to take care of shipping and order fulfillment.

All in all, dropshipping makes starting an online store in India, a low-risk business model.

India’s eCommerce sales are projected to grow at an annual rate of 51%, making it the biggest opportunity for business owners. Dropshipping in India is the perfect way to test the waters, irrespective of the products you want to sell.

India also happens to be one of the biggest suppliers of raw materials and products across various industries. So when you begin dropshipping in India, you can actually choose to work with a local supplier or manufacturer, who will also ensure a good delivery time on orders.

To summarize, here are the benefits of dropshipping in India:

  • Less upfront capital investment
  • Easy to get started with
  • Low overhead as compared to other models
  • Flexible location
  • Wide selection of products to sell
  • Easier to test out different markets
  • Easier to scale

With Shopify, thousands of entrepreneurs have been able to start dropshipping in India. Get started today.

Now if you’re exploring starting a business, you would have heard about wholesale in India. So let’s quickly go over why dropshipping in India is a better business model than wholesale.

How profitable is dropshipping in India?

Dropshipping is one of the most profitable business models across the globe. Since you are not responsible for the costs of product manufacturing and shipping, you can start profiting from every sale you make very early on.

Although, you do need to ensure you’re selling a product that people really care about and need, and have the right supplier by your side.

Not sure where to begin and what type of products you can start dropshipping in India? Fret not, we have a list.

How to start dropshipping in India?

1. Find your niche

The first step to building a dropshipping business is figuring out what you want to sell and who you want to sell to.

Choose a niche that you’re genuinely interested in and passionate about. But at the same time, also make sure that the niche and the product are in demand in the market.

You can start off by first creating a list of products you’d like to sell and how your potential customers could be searching for them. For example, keywords like “yoga pants”, “kitchen basket”, etc.

After that, look into how these keywords have been trending over the last few months. The goal is to understand if the interest in these products is sustained or tends to drop every now and then. A good way to do this is to type in the keyword in Google Trends and check for the last 3 months.

2. Identify a profitable product

While dropshipping gives you the flexibility to sell almost any product on your store, it is important to find products that are profitable.

Take into account the cost of doing business (running your store), shipping fees, marketing and the cut you will need to give to suppliers/ manufacturers. Make sure that you have healthy margins of about 40-70%, if not higher.

So in general, you want to look for low-cost products that you can sell at a premium price.

3. Set up your Shopify store

You need to give your business a name, identity, and address to begin selling drop-shipped products.

Set up a store on Shopify and get started with dropshipping in minutes. It provides you with an easy-to-use eCommerce platform that is packed with features.

Right from features that will help you design an impressive storefront to integration with dropshipping apps, payment gateways and more, Shopify makes it all a matter of a few clicks.

You can even get started with a free trial and then choose a plan that suits your business plan the best. Sign up here.

How does dropshipping work on Shopify?

Typically, you would have to first identify products you want to sell and then seek out a supplier in your location. Then you would have to find a way to integrate and connect your Shopify store to those suppliers to fulfill the demands of the orders you receive on the storefront.

But Shopify makes dropshipping in India easy.

All you need to do is set up a storefront on Shopify and then install a dropshipping app on your store.

Explore some of the apps that you can use for dropshipping in India here.

Once you install an app, you can browse through thousands of verified suppliers registered on the app based on products, location, price and other parameters.

Import the products you want to sell on your Shopify store. And you’re done!

All you need to ensure is that you have complete information about the products, including sizing guides, descriptions, care, etc. to display on your storefront. You will still need to help the end customer make an informed purchase to get a sale.

But when a customer does make a purchase from you, you’ll be able to fulfill their order with the dropshipping app you choose. The supplier you choose will be notified automatically when you receive an order and will take care of shipping and fulfilling the order placed.

What are the best products to dropship in India?

The demand for products continually varies based on seasonal trends and other factors. So make sure you validate the product’s interest by using tools like Google Trends and analyzing the market in general.

But here is a list of the 33 most trending products to sell online in 2022 as per our research:

Electronics & Accessories

  • Wireless charger
  • Power bank
  • Laptop cover
  • Smartphone videography equipment

Fashion, apparel, and accessories

  • Scrunchies
  • Nail extensions
  • Shapewear
  • Tote bags
  • Slip-on shoes

Beauty and self-care

  • Beard grooming kit
  • Personal hygiene essentials
  • Posture corrector belt

Nutrition

  • Ashwagandha fortified consumables
  • Protein bar
  • Multivitamins

Home Furniture & Decor

  • Workspace furniture
  • Kitchen furniture
  • Sofa bed
  • Blankets
  • Rugs

Home and Kitchen

  • Air fryer
  • Vegetable chopper
  • Planters
  • Air purifier

Exercise and outdoor

  • Resistance band
  • Bicycle
  • Yoga mat
  • Tent
  • Fitness band/watch

Other

  • Pet food
  • Jigsaw puzzles
  • Reusable water bottle
  • Customised gifts

If you’re not able to niche down to an industry, you can also sell different types of products in your store. When you choose dropshipping, you get the flexibility to sell a wide range of items, including and excluding products based on demand easily.

Although, we do recommend following these tips on how to choose products to sell:

  • Identify products people are looking for to solve a problem
  • Find products that people (and you) are actually passionate about
  • Find products that have a branding potential
  • Keep a tab on market trends
  • Find products that are impulsively bought Identify and serve niche segments

Why is dropshipping in India better than wholesale?

Wholesale is a model that has been running in India for years. But wholesale in India can end up costing more upfront investment in goods or products, added cost of shipping them, and employee costs to manage the processes.

Now in the wholesale model, the cost of goods is high because a consumer needs to make a purchase in large quantities to get a good price. So you will have to stock up more inventory, without any guarantee that they’ll be sold.

When you do sell and you need to ship the order, you also have to incur high shipping costs as you may not have government deals such as ePacket.

On the other hand, starting dropshipping in India let’s you focus only on tasks like marketing your brand and offering good customer service to those who buy from you. The rest gets taken care of by the supplier/ manufacturer.

Start dropshipping in India with Shopify

Ready to get started with your online business?

It’s time to explore Shopify for dropshipping in India to open a business without the hassle of managing, packaging or shipping.

Step 1: Create an account on Shopify

The very first step you need to take is signing up on Shopify. Don’t worry, you start with a free trial and are not charged until you’re ready to take your business live.

Step 2: Fill in more information about your business

After signing up, you will be asked a few questions about your business. Start using the dropdown and provide your information to Shopify accurately.

start a dropshipping store in india - shopify set up

Once you have completed the signup process, you will receive an email from Shopify with your admin login information and URL. It will be in the format of your-store-name.myshopify.com/admin. Make sure you save this information safely.

Step 3: Add a dropshipping app

Once you’ve set up your account, you’ll be taken to your Shopify dashboard. If you have a new account, you will not see a dropshipping app just yet.

To install one, follow these steps:

  • Find a dropshipping app to install from the Shopify App Store
  • Click on Add App
  • In your Shopify admin, to authorize the use of the app, click Install App

Step 4: Add products from the dropshipping app

After installing the app, you will be able to add products to your storefront by following these steps:

  • From your dashboard, click “Products” on the left-hand side
  • Select “More actions” then click “Find more products to sell”
  • Click the dropshipping app you installed

You will then be taken to your dropshipping app’s interface, where you can search for products and suppliers.

Go through the results carefully and select the products you want to add to your Shopify storefront.

Step 5: Enter the retail price

On the product page, you’ll see the supply and shipping cost, along with a pricing field in which you need to enter your retail price of the item.

Click “Add product” when you’re done, and the dropshipping app will add the item to your Shopify store.

Step 6: Edit product details

Based on your target audience, make sure you tailor the product description to help them make an informed purchase decision.

Add a product title/ name, description, sizing guide, material information, and more. Ask the supplier for more information if it is not already available.

Step 7: Set up and design your Shopify store

Once you have the essentials ready, move to the next step – designing a good storefront.

Go to Online Store -> Themes from the left-hand side of your Shopify admin dashboard.

From here, you will be able to select free Shopify themes or even pick a more premium theme for the look and feel of your store.

Make sure you customize the theme by adding your logo, brand colors, and more!

Step 8: Set up payment gateways

Before taking your store live, you will need to ensure you offer payment gateways that Indian customers are comfortable transacting on.

From online payment gateways to third-party gateways like PayU, Razorpay, Cashfree, and others, cash on delivery, and popular wallets, Shopify supports them all. Learn more about payment gateways here.

You do not have to worry about setting up shipping in this case as the supplier you choose using the dropshipping app, will take care of the fulfillment.

Step 9: Choose a plan and go online!

With everything set up, the next step for you is to choose a plan. This will remove the password from your Shopify store and make your storefront public.

Now your customers can come to the store and make a purchase easily!

Easy, right?

Don’t think of another day and miss another opportunity to start your online business.

Sign up on Shopify to get started with dropshipping in India today!

Blog, ecommerce

How to make a Shopify website in 9 steps

Shopify may be easier than other website builders, but that doesn’t exactly make it easy. Optimizing a site always takes some effort, but that goes double with ecommerce, where you have to align your sales strategies with your design choices. Even if you’ve built a Shopify website before, you may have missed some opportunities you never knew existed.

Whether or not it’s your first time making a Shopify website, it helps to start with an actionable battle plan. Below, we outline the nine steps to building a Shopify website for your ecommerce business.

1. Familiarize yourself with the Shopify website builder

First things first, you have to make sure Shopify is the right choice for you. As we mentioned in our ultimate guide to website builders, it’s best to do your own research before settling on a decision.

Explore the Shopify site, the Shopify theme library, and the Shopify app store to get a general idea of what’s involved with making a Shopify site. While you’re there, make a list of any themes and apps that catch your eye for later—don’t forget their prices, too, so you can estimate your Shopify website cost.

Luckily, Shopify offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card) so you can tell for sure whether or not you like it. Take it for a “test drive,” and pay particular attention to its usability and navigation—can you do everything you want to do and find everything you want to find? Just be aware that if you do not put money down after 14 days, you will lose all the progress you’ve made, so only start your trial when you can commit to a decision within two weeks.

2. Plan your website

Once you get a feel for how the Shopify website builder works, you can use that as a background for when you plan out your website. Shopify has more restrictions than, for example, making a website on Wix. That’s why it’s best to familiarize yourself with its system beforehand, so you don’t waste time planning anything Shopify won’t let you integrate.

It’s crucial at this time to know your sales strategies and have a good idea about your digital marketing campaigns—some of these require special apps or work better with certain themes. For example, if upselling is important to your business model, you’ll want an app that adds the Frequently Bought Together feature. The sooner you know what you need, the better—you don’t want to find out too late that you can’t implement something.

 

You may also need other media, such as personalized photography or branding assets like a logo. The cost of these is variable and while some assets are really important—like your logo—others are completely optional—like videos or motion graphics. But if you’d like to include them in your site, it’s best to start planning for them early.

If you’re worried about money, now is a good time to calculate your Shopify website cost. All of Shopify’s paid themes and apps list their prices outright, so you can make an accurate budget of one-time costs and recurring costs before actually spending anything. Of course, a large portion of your budget depends on your Shopify pricing plan, which brings us to Step 3…

3. Choose your pricing plan and sign up

Now’s the time to cross the threshold. Shopify offers three main pricing plans to accommodate small, medium and large businesses—although technically they offer five plans, if you include Shopify Plus for enterprises and Shopify Lite for adding products to existing sites or blogs. Most people will be interested in the main three:

  • Basic Shopify — $29/month
  • Shopify — $79/month
  • Advanced Shopify — $299/month

Each plan, even the basic, includes all the essentials: unlimited product range, access to sales channels, 24/7 support, SSL certificate, fraud analysis, Shopify Point of Sale Lite, gift cards, discount codes and abandoned cart recovery. In terms of differences, Basic Shopify does not include professional reports, and only Advanced Shopify can calculate third-party shipping rates at checkout. Also the number of staff accounts and synced storage locations increases with higher-tier plans.

So what’s the real difference between Shopify plans? Shipping and transaction fees. The percentage amount that Shopify takes per sale gets lower with higher-tier plans—the less you pay upfront, the more you pay at each sale. Shopify also charges a “penalty” fee if you use a third-party gateway instead of their native Shopify Payments, and that penalty fee also decreases at higher tiers.

 

Basic Shopify

 Shopify

Advanced Shopify

Online credit card rates

2.9% (+ 30¢)

 2.6% (+ 30¢)

2.4% (+ 30¢)

In-person credit card rates

2.7% (+ 0¢)

 2.5% (+ 0¢)

2.4% (+ 0¢)

Penalty for not using Shopify Payments

2.0%

 1.0%

0.5%

As you can see, your pricing plan should depend on your sales volume—how much you sell in a given time period. If your sales volume is high enough, you can conceivably save money by buying a more expensive plan, considering what you’d save per sale. Again, that’s why it’s so important to plan out your sales strategies beforehand.

It’s also worth mentioning that higher-tier plans get a greater discount on shipping when using DHL Express, UPS or USPS. Depending on how heavy your products are and how far away your main customers live, this could also impact which plan is best.

 

Basic Shopify

 Shopify

Advanced Shopify

Shipping discount

up to 64%

 up to 72%

up to 74%

On the plus side, you can always upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time, so if you err in your budget, you can always correct it for the next month.

4. Pick your theme

Once you actually begin using the Shopify website builder, your first task should be to finalize your theme. Choosing your theme is vital for all website builders, but it’s especially important with Shopify—Shopify doesn’t let you change much about your appearance and layout, so which theme you choose determines a lot of your design decisions.

You’ll still be able to customize your images and text no matter which theme you choose, but where those images go and what fonts your text uses are fixed by theme. Definitely take advantage of the search filters at the left side of the theme store: you can search for only themes with the features you want, or use ones built specifically for your industry.

Of course, all Shopify themes suffer from the same drawback: stores run a high risk of looking generic. On top of that, other stores can use the same exact theme as you, making it difficult to set yourself apart, especially if you’re using a free theme.

One workaround to get a unique and personalized Shopify site is to hire a 99designs designer to customize a theme specifically to fit your needs. We even have designers who specialize in Shopify in particular—here are our top 9 Shopify designers.

5. Install your apps

Next, you want to install all your apps so they’re in place when you begin customizing your site. You can find everything you need at the Shopify app store, and if you already planned out which ones you need, this step should be a breeze.

Just like with the theme store, you want to take full advantage of the filters for more efficient searching. For apps, your best bet is to search by category—design apps, marketing apps, shipping apps, etc.

And don’t worry about getting all your apps at once—you can always come back and add new ones or replace old ones later. Knowing which apps to use can give you a head-start at the beginning when you launch, but if you miss something or make a mistake you can correct it at any time.

6. Personalize your store

Finally, we come to the big step: personalizing your Shopify website to make it your own. As we mentioned before, Shopify makes this process easy and convenient—it’s more or less filling in the blanks after choosing your theme and apps.

Most of the customization options can be found in Sales Channels > Online Store in the left navigation menu. Each of these options (Themes, Pages, Domains, etc.) offers a new set of customizations options, so we recommend going down the list one-by-one.

Editing your Theme is the big one, where you can personalize your homepage. Click on Theme on the left and then on the Customize button to bring up the editor.

All the areas you can change are listed on the left of the screen, with a real-time preview of your Shopify website on the right. In the upper-right corner, there’s an icon where you can switch between the desktop and mobile versions of the preview, ensuring both look how you want them to.

Just go through each entry on the left and enter your custom text or upload the images you want. You’ll see clearly labelled fields for each area, along with other options like text alignment. Again, it comes in handy to prefer these assets beforehand. Although they offer free images, you want to keep the shared assets you use to a minimum in order to mitigate the “generic” look of your Shopify website.

Before you start populating your site with your products—our next step—there’s also more customization options in the Settings section at the bottom of the left menu. These are the more technical details of your business, often the behind-the-scene areas, including:

  • General preferences (currency, location, business address, etc.)
  • Payment providers
  • Shipping and delivery
  • Store languages
  • Billing
  • Taxes

… and many more areas. Although many of these options are minor choices, they can have a major impact on your business, especially payment and shipping. Be sure to take the time to go through each one and customize them based on your personal site goals.

7. Add your products

Now you can add all of your products into your Shopify website, but depending on how many products you offer, this might now be good news. Each product must be entered individually, one-by-one, so this step could take awhile.

To enter a new product, go to the Products section of the left menu, and then click on the Add product button.

The next step is simply filling in the template. You have fields for everything you need:

  • Title
  • Description
  • Availability
  • Organization (product type and brand name)
  • Media
  • Pricing (including a separate section for “Compare at price”)
  • SKU and Barcode
  • Quantity
  • Shipping information (including weight, shipment origin and HS code)
  • Variants (like Size or Color)
  • SEO tool
  • Tags

You also have the option here to place products in custom Collections, which are groupings of items you can use for a variety of different sales methods. Collections can be made manually or automatically.

8. Buy and set your domain name

There’s tons of areas you can customize before you launch, but there’s one that’s practically a necessity we haven’t talked about yet: your domain.

Your URL, or domain name, can be a powerful branding tool and help with recognition as long as you use an original one. While Shopify by default provides you with one of their domains (~.myshopify.com), if you’re serious about your ecommerce business, we recommend investing in your own domain name. Luckily, that’s a service they provide as well.

To buy and set your Shopify website domain, go to the Sales Channel > Online Store > Domain in the left menu. You can type in the URL you’re looking for, and they’ll search to see if it’s available and how much it will cost. They’ll also display alternate options (.net, .org, etc.) in case there’s too much competition.

You can both buy and apply your new domain in this section, so this step might not take that long… unless your top choices are fiercely competitive.

9. Launch and sell!

With your domain name in place, everything is ready for launch! And by “everything,” we mean the bare minimum!!

Let’s be clear: your work is far from over. Even if you followed this guide to the letter and went through every customizable section, there’s still all the external areas that are crucial to ecommerce success, like marketing, customer profiling and promotions. Many of these areas you can’t even start until you’ve made your first sale.

Shopify makes these areas as easy as possible, allowing you to connect your campaigns to your store and offer a variety of different promotion types. And if Shopify’s native features aren’t enough, their app store adds even more options. You’ll get a clearer idea of what you need once you begin selling, but at this point you can still look around to see exactly what you can do in the future.

However, one thing you want to do as soon as possible is test out a sample order. By that we mean, order a product from your store just like a normal customer and see if any problems arise. If there’s a mistake or something was overlooked, it’s better if you catch it instead of your very first customer!

Is Shopify too easy?

Shopify is a particular niche for site builders—it’s designed to be easy and user-friendly, at the cost of customization options. While that’s the perfect fit for a large number of online retailers, it’s not for everyone.

If you want more customization options and don’t mind putting more effort into building your site, check out our comparison guide of the 10 best ecommerce platforms. We go through the most popular choices for building an online store, explaining what makes them different and whom each is recommended for.

About the Author!

Matt Ellis is a freelance content writer, specializing in web design and ecommerce. For over a decade he’s been sharing his industry knowledge through ebooks, website copy, and blog articles just like this one. You can learn more about his career and writing services at https://www.mattelliscontentwriter.com/

Post Credit:- https://99designs.com/blog/web-digital/shopify-website-how-to/https://99designs.com/blog/web-digital/shopify-website-how-to/https://getfirepush.com/blog/8-rules-to-optimize-for-homepage-conversions-from-top-shopify-websites/

 

Blog, ecommerce

8 Rules to optimize for homepage conversions from top Shopify websites

The homepage plays a crucial role in the customer’s buying journey. If you have created an effective home page, visitors are less likely to bounce. Once they click on a product, they are more likely to buy. Imagine walking up to a restaurant, you’re more likely to go in and check out the menu if the restaurant looks inviting. Perhaps it’s bustling or shows you appealing dishes on a handwritten board outside. The restaurant’s exterior and façade is like the homepage of any ecommerce business. The homepage doesn’t convert visitors to buyers on its own. Instead, the objective is to get visitors to click or view a product or category page to bring them ‘in’ to your store.

To optimize the homepage, you have to understand the psychology of your visitors and potential customers. The purchase intent of a visitor who lands on your product page is usually higher. So the goal of any homepage is to encourage the visitor to view a category or product page.

In general, there are two main challenges to solve with homepage design:

  • Many different products means different customer segments. How can a homepage appeal to different customers given its limited real estate?
  • The chance of closing the sale for visitors who have clicked/viewed at least one product is much higher. How could we create a homepage that encourages as many visitors to click on a product?

Let’s look at some successful Shopify stores and look at how they solve it.

To start, we’ll review the most important elements that a high-converting homepage has.

1. Clear unique value proposition

What makes you different? To attract first timers and build loyalty with repeat visitors, you need to make this clear. Why should someone buy from you? Are your products unique? more affordable? Or do you have the fastest delivery? a unique style?

Communicate this clearly on your homepage to make the most impact once visitors land on your site.

A great example is Allbirds, Once you go to their homepage, the first message that pops out is “Light on your feet, Easy on the planet”. So you are aware that they have high-quality shoes that are good for the environment. This immediately draws attention and invites visitors to click on a product.

Figure 1 Allbirds has a very clear value proposition front and center on their homepage

2. Add category images for clear navigation

In any given e-commerce website, the more products you have, the more diverse your customers and what they look for. Humans process visuals much faster than text. When the visitors land on your homepage, they may not have a clear idea of what they want to buy. For this reason, relying on them to navigate your menu bar or search function to discover products they might like could lead to lost sales opportunities.

A better way is to showcase your popular categories on the homepage. Remember the goal of your homepage is to get every visitor to take an action, to view a category or product page. Therefore every element on your homepage should help you achieve this. Start by thinking about different customers that you have and if you can put them in different buckets. If you’re running a furniture store, it could be a different style they are after (Nordic, vintage, minimalist etc.) or occasions if you have a fashion store (party, wedding, job interview etc.).

Figure 2 Fashionnova shows bright and attractive images of their main categories on the homepage to get visitors to view the category page

If you’re already doing this, the next step is to show different images to each visitor based on their interest.

Using an app like DataCue, you can upload all your category banner images in one place. The app will then automatically show different images on your homepage to each visitor based on their browsing history.

Figure 3 Inspirations Dancewear shows each visitor different images based on their last category and product views and purchases.

3. Use personal history for personalized recommendations

Your e-commerce website sits on valuable insights about your visitors, namely what they are interested in and their preferences. Done right, you can mine this information and use it to show each visitor only products they would be interested in.

After all, 45% of visitors are more likely to buy from an ecommerce website that offers personalized recommendations. The benefit of personalization extends beyond improving conversion. It’s a great way to improve customer loyalty as they feel that you understand their needs and they’ll remember you when they’re ready to buy again.

Figure 3 Personalized product recommendations improve conversion and average order value

If you’re not using any personalization solution at the moment, you can easily get started by featuring trending or the newest products. While this is not the best example of personalization, it shows your visitors what your best products are and gives them an idea of what to buy.

Most e-commerce websites offer some sort of product carousels on their homepage. However, we’ve found that the best practice for high converting product carousels includes the following:

  • If you’re selling fashion items, the product visuals should be of someone using or wearing it. This kind of image helps your customers imagine how the product could look on them.
  • Consider increasing whitespace between the products and completely eliminate borders to reduce noise and keep everything clean
  • Add price, an add to cart button and reviews

Figure 4 Colourpop’s product carousel includes price, add to cart buttons and customer ratings

A Shopify app like DataCue allows you to achieve exactly this. It’s a no-frill personalization tool that personalizes content on every page including the homepage for every visitor. The tool changes banners and product recommendations automatically based on who’s looking.

4. Personalization via localization

Personalization is not only based on specific browsing history. It can also be other general observations such as location, currency, season and time. If your customers are from different countries, you can adjust the currency and time to deliver automatically.

Doing this will reduce friction for your visitors to convert the price and shipping time on their own.

5. Drop the banner slider

Banners are great, sliders are not. While they might be useful at giving you more opportunities to show more offers and products, the benefits stop there. Carousels are distracting, slow to load and worst of all, they are not mobile friendly.

John Stutt from VaporFi ran an experiment by swapping the slider with static images. He found that the static images led to 12% revenue increase per session. Time on page also dropped significantly which is a good sign that visitors spent a short amount of time deciding which products or categories to view next.

A similar experiment found that after swapping carousels for static images, the click rate went up to 40.53% compared to 2%.

6. Design for mobile first

Transactions through mobile will reach 73% of all ecommerce sales in 2021. It makes sense to prioritize and keep mobile UX in mind when you make any changes to the homepage.

Take a look at this example on mobile. Notice a very prominent search bar that’s integrated with the latest Instagram posts as well as the top CTA for a 10% student discount.

And this is their desktop version.

There’s no doubt Tony Bianco has designed their homepage experience with a ‘mobile first’ attitude. And it makes perfect sense when their customer base are young women who are constantly on the go and always checking their phones.

Other things to keep in mind when designing for mobile include:

  • Big and friendly CTA
  • Hamburger menu
  • Make search bar prominent
  • Design for a finger tap (i.e Design big, avoid pinch and zoom at all cost)
  • Easy to navigate

7. Keep it simple

Online retailers have traditionally tried to communicate everything on their homepage and its products. Many A/B studies have shown that having competing messages is too hard to process. What do visitors do when they get confused? They leave.

This is related to Point 1 which is a clear value proposition. Decide what it is and make sure that your homepage screams the DNA of your brand. Make sure that it’s consistent and easy to follow. Your homepage needs to offer a clear flow for visitors to do next, whether using a search bar, clicking on the product recommendations or viewing the category pages.

8. Create urgency

Most visitors will not buy in the same session. They will browse around, compare prices and might come back to your website once they decide to buy. While they’re making the decision, you want to stay on top of their minds. The way you do this is through relevant communications through different channels such as:

  • Desktop notifications to remind them of your brand
  • Countdown SMS to create a fear of missing out
  • Seasonal and promotional SMS to bring visitors back

Pura Vida Bracelets customers subscribe to push notifications via a message on their website, they then receive a welcome message

And when they come back to your website, you can impress them with relevant notifications which show you that you understand their needs and what they look for.

A tool like Firepush allows brands and merchants to automate push notifications without the hassle. Customers automatically receive different push notifications at different stages of their purchase journeys.

Conclusion

The Homepage is the most prominent page of any ecommerce website. Yet, it receives less attention that it deserves. The goal of any ecommerce homepage is to get visitors to click on an image or product on the homepage and bring them ‘in’ to your store. Personalization and creating urgency are two great ways to optimize the webpage to ensure high conversion. A high converting homepage is easy to navigate, helps visitors discover products they like and brings visitors back again and again.

About the author Ann Pichestapong

Ann is the co-founder and CEO of DataCue. Her unique background as a data scientist and an ex-management consultant helps her use technology to solve real business problems for ecommerce. Her passion is to open up the power of personalization to everyone.

 

Post Credit:- https://getfirepush.com/blog/8-rules-to-optimize-for-homepage-conversions-from-top-shopify-websites/

Blog, UI/UX

User Attention: 10 Psychological Facts to Help You Design Better UX

Our environment has become noisier than ever. People have to carefully select what they pay attention to in their overstimulated daily lives. As a business, you not only compete with other businesses but basically everything your audience pays attention to. How can you have their undivided attention? Can we even ethically drive people’s attention? In this article, I will introduce some basic psychological principles about human attention, and give guidelines for creating usable and delightful products.

Year by year, more and more content gets pushed at us. After reaching a threshold, it just cannot get through the bottleneck of attention.

Humans behave in extremely complex ways. This means we cannot reliably predict our own or even our users’ behavior per se, not even as UX researchers.

To know how to get through the bottleneck, we have to understand how human attention works.

  • First, we’ll look at some facts and concepts.
  • Then, we’ll take a look at what we designers and researchers can do to create the optimal fit for their attention with our product.

Using psychological principles in design

“Digital innovations must survive the psychological bottlenecks of attention, perception, memory, disposition, motivation and social influence if they are to proliferate.” – says David C. Evans in his book.

Using psychological principles, by the way, also speaks to the sustainability of UX research. Of course, we shouldn’t skip talking to customers. Still, we can solve some challenges in product design simply by keeping aware of psychological principles related to attention.

I recommend it to every UXer. I strongly believe that becoming knowledgeable about these theories in context and then putting them into practice for screen or service design can result in a better fit for your customers while saving you a lot of time and energy.

Human Attention Distractions

10 psychological facts about human attention

Our mobile devices come with their data connection and endless possibilities available 24/7. This makes it ever more difficult to concentrate on a meeting. Or to wait for your order in a restaurant. Or to watch a movie on TV.

Teachers take away mobile phones in class. We UXers cannot and should not do that. When we want the user to interact and focus on our app, we can’t remove their moms talking to them or turn off the Netflix playing in the background.

Rather, we should design products with this context in mind and optimize tasks, user flows and the interface design for our users’ hypothetical level and type of attention.

In this section, I’ll introduce you to 10 psychological facts about human attention to keep in mind when designing digital products.

1. Attention comes in different types.

Human Attention Table

Let me explain about the different types of attention. What makes this important? You have to think about the context your product will be used in.

Can people really concentrate and pay attention to your product? It depends on the type of attention needed in the specific context.

1. Sustained Attention

Human Attention McDonalds

Let’s consider a kiosk which customers place their orders with in a fast food restaurant. Imagine yourself in this situation. OK, this busy place has lots of noise and other stimuli, but also consider the social aspect.

People are waiting in line behind you; you want to eat and so do they. They would likely get angry if you lost focus, wandered around and took more time than necessary to complete the task everyone is waiting to do.

Most people in this situation would like to avoid confrontation, so they probably won’t pull their phones out to check their Instagram feed while placing the order. The design of these kiosk programs purposely makes the flow easy, simple, straightforward and fast. They don’t steer attention away with unnecessary newsletter signup popups.

2. Divided attention

Human Attention Driving

Now let’s explore another scenario on the other end of the spectrum. Imagine you’re using a navigation app.

In this context, the focus of your attention can determine life and death. You can’t constantly stare at the screen – sometimes you have a split second to look at the navigation. That gives you long enough to see whether to go left or right, but your focus needs to stay on the road.

Because you can’t look at the screen, you pay attention to what the navigation tells you. It might even prompt you to look at the screen quickly to double-check that you are taking the correct exit while still focusing on the technicalities of driving: putting your indicator on, steering the wheel to slightly turn left and switching to a lower gear.

2. Not much differentiates us from a goldfish.

Your mind has wandered off by now… Did a Slack message pop up? Or did you remember something you wanted to check? Did you just smell freshly brewed coffee and steer away? Anyhow, if you are still keeping up with me or focused on reading this, give yourself a pat on the back! These days, this might qualify you as extraordinary. Even superior to a goldfish… Wait, what?

Human Attention goldfish

A Time article titled, “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish” didn’t exactly boost our self-confidence about our cognitive capacities. It features a Microsoft study that found that our attention span had dropped from twelve seconds in 2000 to eight in 2009. A fun fact for comparison: A goldfish goes nine.

Should we just accept this depressing data and deal with the fact that we have to live and do our best with this ridiculously short amount of time for which we can focus on one thing?

3. Our attention might be shrinking … or evolving.

Despite the outcome of this research, many specialists doubt that our attention span is shrinking. Many argue that our attention span is not decreasing, but the way we pay attention is. Some would say that because of the mobile age, our ability to multitask has improved.

Others very firmly dispute this and say no such thing as multitasking exists. We can switch to another area to focus on or shift our attention. We can’t purposefully and actively pay attention to multiple things at the same time and process that information.

Human Attention Multitasking

Those who say that our attention spans are not shrinking believe we merely react to technological advances and our overstimulated environment. We do that by evolving and developing better selective attentional processes. We learned to tune out things better and shift more quickly.

Another important argument measures up against the catchy but inaccurate “goldfish example”. It says the span of attention depends greatly on personal characteristics, but even more so on context.

Your products’ target audience most likely will have both the extremes. Some want bite-sized content and usually disengage with content in a matter of seconds. Others instantly look for substantial content backed up by a lot of detailed information with reliable sources and statistics.

Most people fall somewhere in between. Only continuous research will tell you how your audience interacts with your product in its context of use.

4. Content helps capture attention.

The Hungarian presentation platform Prezi released their 2018 State of Attention report. It found that for all generations, the key for engaging content lies in providing a compelling narrative and stimulating, animated visuals.

Human Attention Prezi Attention

People participating in the survey reported improved focus over time in spite of all the distractions around them. Another important finding relates to multitasking or multi-device usage: “52% of responders admitted that splitting their attention across two or more pieces of content has caused them to watch, read or listen to something multiple times”.

Also, we constantly need to improve our ability to focus in order to retain information and get things done quickly and effectively. Out of more than 2000 respondents, 49% said they’d become more selective about the content they consume.

5. Attention-related differences have arisen between generations.

Besides the overall numbers, generations differ noticeably. Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials, who in some situations have to work side by side, develop very different patterns when it comes to attention.

The study showed that Millennials generally shift their attention away, multitask and lose focus more often than Boomers and Gen-Xers. However, they also felt subjectively that they could concentrate and focus more effectively and for a longer time.

That said, we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the opportunity there. Millennials expect and enjoy a great story or a theme, as well as visuals representing and backing up the information. One-third reported they only engage with content if it has a great story, as it keeps them interested.

6. Attention and memory go hand in hand.

When it comes to information-processing, a lot goes on in our brain until we actually get to the point of making sense of the information presented to us.

Our working memory plays a big role in what we can process and the amount of information we can manipulate. But before all that, we need to divert our attention to the stimuli for us to perceive the sensory information – whether auditory, visual or even olfactory.

To sum up, attention links closely with short-term memory and working memory. The ability to manipulate information we work with makes up a mutual effort between focusing our attention onto something and also keeping those units of information in our working memory.

Human Attention Working Memory

7. The brain: A biological machine with the best compression algorithm.

Many researchers set out to measure and learn about the human information processing capacity to learn how our nervous system transmits and decodes messages.

Shockingly, they found that even though 11 million bits of information come through our sensory system every second, at maximum capacity we can only process 50 when performing conscious activities such as reading or playing the piano.

This huge discrepancy between the portion of transmitted and processed information does not mean that more than 99% of the information just goes missing. This involves powerful compression. How does that happen? How can we compress all this information in such a short time?

First, note that we don’t have to make a conscious effort to process information and do this compression. It happens unconsciously, automatically. Second, a half-second delay occurs between the processing and the compression. Thanks to the multitude of connections between our 100 billion brain cells, that gives us just enough time to make that powerful compression happen. Amazing, right?

Human Attention Scan

8. The Cocktail-Party Effect

We spend so much time online that we begin to safely assume we’ve developed new ways and techniques to filter out the irrelevant. We face countless marketing messages a day, personalized advertisements target us non-stop, and fresh new content bombards us every second.

Saw something mildly interesting in your feed? Too late. You switched apps because it couldn’t keep your attention. Or you didn’t have time to read that article at that time. Next time you open it, the feed refreshes. Good luck finding your post. The bottom line: No one has it easy. Not the user, the provider, nor product or content creator.

That said, we do have an amazing innate capability to tune things out and focus on what we consider important at that moment. The famous psychological phenomenon of the “cocktail-party effect” backs this up.

Human Attention

Usually, people at a party tune out the background noise and perceive it as a murmur in order to concentrate on their conversation partner. If they wish to, however, they can eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. But at that point they are not paying attention to their conversation partner anymore.

This proves that humans can only focus on one stream of attention and can’t divide it, at least when it comes to understanding speech. You can have a dim awareness of the music playing in the background or the approximate number of people around but still you can only perceive and pay attention to one stream on the level of assigning meaning.

9. Inattentional blindness: We don’t see everything in digital products.

So you have carefully crafted the design and the user experience of your mobile app or website. You didn’t want to burden and overstimulate users. Also, your business model didn’t even require ads. Uninterrupted flow, clean, simple, flat design – everything to think that your users will easily complete their task efficiently and without interruption.

But unfortunately, it doesn’t work that simply. Putting something on the small or large screen doesn’t mean they will process everything that has been going on in there.

Like with reading, even though we focus our eyes and attention on a small amount of space with only two bits of information per letter, we cannot process, notice and interpret all the written content on that page in a matter of seconds.

We typically don’t process the information from areas and functions on the screen that fall outside our attention.

Human Attention Hotjar

10. Netflix and cooking go well together for balancing cognitive load.

I think we all have examples like that from our daily life. Most days, we face the challenge of finding the things we direct our limited and valuable attention to. Sometimes all the talking, visual cues and messages overstimulate us. In those situations, we learn to tune out many things and do some of our recurring tasks completely automatically.

Some of the inputs go together well enough. To mention a personal example, I can listen to music while reading or working or watch a series while cooking. I can’t however look at the screen of my tablet to check the recipe and do some precision work with my carrots in the meantime.

Two conscious processes with a considerable amount of cognitive load don’t go well together. Essentially, you cannot multitask two demanding tasks.

Designing for attention

Think about how the time we spend daily on the internet increases every year. Even though more and more stimuli surrounds us, with technologies taking a bigger part of our lives in general, our attentional capacity is not changing

From an evolutionary perspective, it could take centuries before neural pathways in the brain change significantly.

So we have to design for what people can do cognitively. We have to accept and take into account when designing digital products that human attention has its limits as a resource. Our ability to pay attention for a number of seconds is not changing.

Our actual activity is.

Profit-focused vs. user-centered design

The way we pay attention and how quickly we switch from one source to the other has a big effect on professions like marketers and UXers.

As one way to get their attention, we can simply force content and products on users with pop-ups, push notifications and sounds. With another, we empathize with them and alleviate the stress of over-stimulation at least inside our product, service or webpage.

This presents a great challenge: You want your business to strive, so you’d have to get your product in front of the user. But you also want them to have a delightful experience.

Human Attention Cat Pictures

Designing for limited attention

UX designers have the responsibility for exactly what happens to the user inside of a product, how they comply with the human psychological bottlenecks, and how to align their product design with it.

We don’t want to take their attention away from more important things, and we don’t want to rob them of their attention. We just want to alleviate the cognitive load by requiring exactly that amount of attention required in that context to accomplish their goals. So, what can we as designers do?

I’m not going to tell you how to grab user attention. I’d argue that we can’t do it ethically. First, really understand how your users feel in the various contexts of using your product and service and design for that specific situation.

That said, some basic principles can help you not make your user think more than they should. People don’t like when they have to do more things or contemplate more than necessary.

1. Remember: The dial-up internet era has ended

Back in the day, we had to plan carefully what pages we wanted to visit and for how long. We had to “call in” to connect to the World Wide Web, and it had its limits.

Human Attention Slow Internet

Nowadays, most people don’t live with these limitations thanks to wifi and unlimited data plans. Because our habits have changed, how we interact with our devices has too.

We have to keep some changes in mind. We no longer have barriers and limitations like in the time of dial-up. So in creating your design, we have to remember that the user can go away and switch tabs in a browser or apps on their phone anytime in milliseconds.

2. Provide your users with only what they need

Clearly, state what pain your product solves so you know their desired outcome precisely. But how do we find that out? With research, of course.

You need to gather data on users from the most channels and methods possible: usability tests, user interviews, surveys, observations, heatmaps, recordings, AB tests, click tests and so on. Read about the UX research methods our design studio uses most here.

When you have found out users’ desired outcomes and identified their focus, you can highlight the information they need to accomplish the task at hand. Then weed out the distractions from the flow and the interface design.

Human Attention Website
Booking.com has a lot going on in a single page, it is hard to focus on our task during the booking process

3. Find out your users’ goal – if they have one

Our goals direct our attention. That means that if we have a clear goal at hand, we will direct our attention towards those signals in the environment we find essential to move towards our goal. We tune out the rest like noise and consider it a frustrating distraction. We call this functioning task-positive.

Human Attention Navigation
When we are focusing on driving, an advertisement on a navigation app can be frustrating and distracting

However, if we don’t have a clear goal, we don’t know exactly what to ignore and what to focus on. These situations make us receptive to anything that comes our way, except when it requires a lot of our cognitive capacity, conscious effort and concentration. The latter “mind-wandering mode” supports a broader, non-linear processing of the information around us – in other words, a task-negative mode.

Human Attention Apps
Even though there is a lot of visual content on a Pinterest dashboard, the task-negative mode of browsing pictures requires less concentration

4. Vary the types of content

Spice up long texts with images, GIFs, or videos – an app or a website or a presentation. No one wants to read long texts with no visual relief. We have books for that.

Also, a clear visual hierarchy makes the content easily scannable and comprehensible. For the visual hierarchy and the content you present, use very well-crafted and thought-out words. You can achieve it with UX writing and microcopy.

Human Attention Fashion Site
A clear visual hierarchy makes the content easily scannable and hints to the next step

We know that people tend to willingly keep their attention on something they find more exciting. Scientific evidence shows that a page full of relevant visuals – images, infographics, catchy videos – provides much more excitement than a full body of text.

It has also shown that executives who don’t have the time or drive to read through corporate websites will much more likely dedicate time when presented a video. One with captivating, informative visuals that convey all the information but not more than needed at a certain time can make all the difference.

5. Pare it down

Give your users the minimum information they need to process. Even if you initially think you need a certain amount of text, minimize it. Remove words and even sentences.  

Human Attention UI
Forms on Typeform let you focus on one question at a time

Removing the clutter also helps you achieve that pared-down effect in your interface design. Provide that breath of fresh air for your user between all those crammed-in products and other stimuli from the environment fighting for their attention.

6. Reduce users’ cognitive load – Use patterns

People already have a hard time determining where to direct their attention. Sometimes they struggle with unintentionally steering away because of all the distractions.

We UXers have to take it easy on them! Minimize the cognitive load for users while they interact with your product.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. Rely on patterns, users’ already existing mental models, and design principles. Apply Gestalt principles, use on well-known UI patterns, and go for that intuitive design!

Louder user attention
Don’t waste time and effort trying to do something that has been already done well

But beware! Before you test it with real users, you can only assume they’ll find your interface intuitive. So make sure you see how it resonates with users and ask about their subjective experience.

7. Use observation and exploratory research

Without experience research, you can’t know if you have nailed the previous steps.

For measuring attention, don’t ask your users in a survey or make them think out loud in a usability test setting. Instead, conduct exploratory research and observe people in the natural context in which they will use your product.

Although no one has clearly laid out the methodology yet, lightweight EEG headsets like Emotiv can help capture attention levels amongst many other useful variables. Users wear the headsets while they perform tasks on a digital product and we get clear data on their attention level and cognitive load from brainwaves.

Human Attention Emotiv
EEG headsets can help capture attention levels with contextual human brain research. Source: Emotiv

8. Always keep ethical concerns in mind

We can’t consider the topic of the intersection of human attention and design without taking a look at it from an ethical aspect. Many people say that tech giants today aren’t trying to sell to us anymore. The roles have changed, as we get sold and our data and digital profile has become that product.

Human Attention Stats
Google started a series of features on Android Pie to support ‘Digital Wellbeing’

I think many of us can’t help but notice this as emails, pop-ups, push notifications and nudges constantly bombard us. Keeping business goals in mind, we still have to put the user first. Not robbing them of their attention span by overloading them unnecessarily makes up part of that. If you want to read more about how to produce successful but ethical designs, check out this article by my designer colleague Attila.

Post Credit:-https://uxstudioteam.com/ux-blog/user-attention/