The Ultimate Guide to Branded Dropshipping
The human race is currently living in a fast-paced world that’s literally flooded with all sorts of brand marketing. In fact, more and more businesses are constantly trying to steal a piece of the marketplace using marketing as a way of competing with other participants. Dropshipping businesses are also starting to take over a big part of the market, getting valued at $557.9 billion by 2025 with an incredible CARG of 28.8%, as stated by Grand View Research.
However, although dropshipping is quite a specific eCommerce model providing a safe entry into the market, dropshippers should still carefully choose their niche as well as their branding. This is because dropshipping branded items can help in market differentiation and provide a solid ground for future profits as proved by many eCommerce statistics.
Brands are an important asset to a successful business venture and have become the ultimate weapon in the eternal battle for market penetration. Having this in mind, dropshipping products from renowned brands can definitely change the mind of consumers and make them more prone to making a purchase.
Therefore, let’s see some of the reasons why you should definitely choose to dropship branded items.
Why do people love branded products?
- Confidence in quality: Consumers would probably make the first purchase of a product if they believe that it’ll provide an overall quality experience. For example, buying apparel items, they’ll expect to get the main features of clothing such as protection, comfort, style, and quality materials. Consequently, well-renowned brands provide just that. In other words, choosing to dropship luxury brands can help you easily reach a wider audience and build long-term relationships based on confidence with your customers.
- Time-saving decisions: Customers often find it hard to make a purchasing decision due to the choice of products they’re given. For example, if you provide them with products from unknown brand names, they’ll tend to fall into a constant loop of thinking about which product they should buy, leading to a much longer decision-making process. However, if your product portfolio includes products from renowned brands your potential customer is familiar with, this will significantly decrease the time spent deciding about the product purchase.
- Acceptance and fitting in: People are social creatures and they want to belong to specific groups of society. Whether it’s at work, school, gym, or a social gathering, they constantly strive for acceptance and fitting into the norms. Therefore, a common occurrence is that people will buy products to show that they’re part of a certain social group. This is especially true in the fashion world where people seldom pick the brands they wear to promote a style that’s perceived as fashionable, high-class, or that represents a particular subculture.
- Loyalty: In time, consumers who repeatedly purchased a particular branded product consider it a safe choice for their future purchases. These purchases might even include a broader set of products from the same brand which shows the consumer’s loyalty. In essence, buyers form an emotional bond with a certain brand and are prone to even overpay to get the product. So, including a branded product portfolio in your dropshipping store might lead to increased consumer loyalty and future growth in orders that ultimately will generate more dropshipping sales.
- Personal identity: It’s very well known that companies display their identity through their branding. Similarly, some people build their own identity through the products they purchase and use. By buying these products, they support their constructed image whether on a personal or professional level. For example, people buying branded clothing want to add value to their style and be perceived as high-class or distinctively sophisticated individuals.
- Safety: One thing consumers will always most certainly avoid is risky purchases. People want to invest their money in something that’ll give them a sense of security. This is especially relevant when it comes to online shopping where buyers are extremely careful in choosing stores to buy from. So, the majority will ultimately avoid buying from suspiciously cheap stores and always look for brands they already trust to spend their money on.
- Value: The image a certain brand has created on the market is very important in the process of market promotion. In fact, it adds value to the products, making them more desirable for consumers, who’re even willing to pay higher prices and make premium purchases just to lay their hands on the branded item.
- Definition: After establishing a relationship with the consumer, the brand is highly defined in the eyes of that consumer. This means that the features specific to the product make the item the first and obvious choice over similar, but more generic products.
- Sharing stories: People love to talk and share every kind of experience with close friends or acquaintances. Thus, it’s very likely that a positive experience with a brand they’re loyal to is going to be a topic of conversation with other potential consumers. This way people create a brand appreciation community and stronger connections.
What are the pros of branded dropshipping?
Dropshipping branded products has many advantages and can secure you numerous benefits that’ll skyrocket your sales and boost your online store traffic. The most important ones to remember are:
Brand awareness
According to Marketing91, it’s a common thing for the target market and a certain audience to be aware of the attributes of a brand. In general, marketing and promotional campaigns are used to raise awareness about a particular brand. However, with dropshipping branded products the work in this section won’t be an additional cost due to the already established market position. Therefore, customers will already be aware of the brands you have to offer and will search your store with the intention of buying a product.
High-profit margins
With the intent to buy a high-end branded product, comes the desire to own that deluxe price tag that comes along with it. Usually, people are ready to give their money without a thorough examination, if the product is from an established brand. In short, If you carefully select the contents of your dropshipping store and the niche you’d operate within, you’ll see the benefit from high-end items which bring a higher profit margin.
Little to no returns
Returns and return policies are always hard to manage as there are many tiny details that might make or break a certain deal. But with branded products, people will always know what to expect from a certain product thus making the probability of return very low.
How to start branded dropshipping?
Now that you’re well aware of the reasons why people tend to buy branded items and have informed yourself about the benefits of selling such items, we’ll walk the steps necessary to launch and run a branded dropshipping business.
STEP 1: Choose a business name
The very first thing you need to do is come up with the name of your store. This is a very important step both from a technical and symbolic point of view. After all, you must choose a name in the trading world in order to register your company in the legal system.
STEP 2: Determine business structure
A rather technical aspect, choosing the business model is crucial for your company in order to have a certain legal structure. With that said, inform yourself about possible ways of registering depending on where your company is going to be based.
STEP 3: Obtain a business licenses
Another thing that’s determined by the location and the niche of your future venture is the scope of licenses you need to get in order to freely operate in the market. Obtaining business permits or licenses is a process that involves government authorities on a local or state level.
STEP 4: Choose your niche
In essence, a niche is a very important differentiator that specifies your store and makes it stand out from the competition. The first thing that pops in mind when you think of branded products would probably be the fashion and apparel segment, and you’re not wrong to think of it.
According to Statista:
- The revenue in the fashion segment is set to reach US$1.06tn in 2023.
- The annual growth rate is projected to be 9.14% which will result in a projected market volume that amounts to US$1.50tn by 2027.
These numbers might give you the right idea of what you strive toward when selecting the niche for your store. Ultimately, bear in mind, that offering different types of products might overwhelm potential buyers and result in reduced sales and lower profits. Additionally, it’s crucial to dive into which dropshipping niches are better to be avoided so that you don’t experience set back in your sales or failure.
STEP 5: Find the right dropshipping supplier
Having a stable and well-equipped supplier is very important if you want to be at the top of your selected niche. However, you should be very careful to choose a dropshipping supplier that’ll definitely have all the right features that’ll create your perfect branded store.
What type of branded products should you dropship?
As we mentioned before, branded products from the apparel segment are in high demand and the projections made about the revenue are quite promising. So, here we’ll focus on the apparel section in order to give you a wider perspective.
Branded clothing
The clothing section is the most widespread theme of dropshipping stores that tend to additionally differentiate their offer of items. Assembling a branded clothing web store will surely cover a large piece of the market as the apparel segment is the largest segment in the fashion category. As stated by Statista, the revenue piece that belongs to this segment is set to reach US$607.70bn in 2023.
Another great thing about dropshipping clothing is that you are faced with a pretty diverse market that includes clothing for women and men, suited for different occasions. Now, add here the branding moment, the discounted prices from the dropshipping supplier, and the eager consumers and you get a pretty lucrative scenario ready to be executed.
Branded handbags
If you want to go the extra mile in narrowing down the consumer list for a more unique and one-of-a-kind business experience, you might want to think of specializing in dropshipping handbags from different world-renowned brands. Or if you want to add an additional product and make your offer look diversified, you can also add handbags as the inventory item.
Regardless of how you choose to approach this issue, a sure thing is that handbags will always be a required product in every web store. Handbags are fairly convenient items that come in all shapes and sizes and are perfect for everyday activities. It doesn’t matter if it’s worn at the beach, or at a business meeting, a handbag will always keep the essentials close to the person holding it.
Branded watches
The constant demand for premium watches worldwide is one of the main factors why watches are still seeing growth in terms of market revenue. According to a report by Imarc group, the watch market is projected to grow by US$98.6 Billion until 2028.
Therefore, dropshipping luxury watches can make your store an attractive venture for timepiece aficionados who’ll gladly spend their money in order to obtain the most stylish and popular types of watches. Additionally, this niche also includes many accessories such as different types of straps, smartwatches, sports watches, etc.
Branded sunglasses
Protecting our eyes from dangerous ultraviolet light is an essential part of our lives. Of course, the most widely known protection is wearing sunglasses. These have been a significant accessory for many decades and despite their first use to protect the eyes, they’ve also become a symbol of style.
In terms of dropshipping, they’re an incredibly lucrative item. According to Statista, the revenue in this segment is set to reach US$24.55bn in 2023. With all this said, dropshipping sunglasses will always boost your shop sales and accumulate profits.
Branded dropshipping with BrandsGateway
If you want a luxurious experience in the clothing segment, then BrandsGateway could be your ideal choice. Known as one of the largest B2B dropshipping suppliers for luxury clothing, BrandsGateway provides its users with an exquisite dropshipping service that comes with the following perks:
- More than 100 premium brands that’ll catch the attention of every fashionista out there;
- You can get access to over 10,000 high-end luxury items for both women and men;
- Every product comes with an authenticity assurance of 100%;
- In-house plugin solutions for Shopify, Shift4Shop, Wix, and WooCommerce as well as Rest API Integration for custom-built stores;
- The discounted prices can be very beneficial for your venture, and bring you a very high margin that might amount to 250% for every order.
Register for free, start selling BrandsGateway's catalog, and skyrocket your sales.
In conclusion
The essence of building a business aimed at dropshipping branded products lies in the well-balanced decision-making process that’ll cover every aspect of this path. Whether you’re seeking to find a more secure product range to satisfy the distinctive needs of your customers or are explicitly devoted to attracting a select group of people, branded products are always the right choice for building a store from scratch. They’ll always sell better than the rest due to the fact that they’ll always incite a sense of safety in people. Ultimately, such range of products wouldn’t only give you bolstered sales and increased profits but also boost your satisfaction rates and give your web store a higher market rating.
About the Author
Dimitar Alimaskoski
Content writer and music fanatic. Always using song lyrics as inspiration for my words.
