7 Day Dropshipping Challenge As A Beginner (Transparent Results)

Introduction

You've probably seen people online making tens of thousands of dollars with dropshipping. The idea of achieving this kind of financial success online is mind-blowing, but how feasible is it for a beginner to go from rags to riches using this business model? In this article, I'll walk you through my experience launching my own dropshipping business in just 7 days to see how possible it is.

What is Dropshipping?

In a nutshell, dropshipping allows you to sell products directly from suppliers without holding any inventory. Instead of spending months designing, manufacturing, and shipping a product yourself, you can partner with suppliers (typically on platforms like AliExpress) who handle all that for you.

How to Start Your Own Dropshipping Store

The framework boils down to three simple steps:

Finding a Good Product
Creating an Attractive Product Page
Advertising to Drive Traffic

While many people use paid advertising on platforms like Facebook or TikTok, for this challenge, we relied on organic marketing. This involves creating short-form content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels to drive traffic to the store.

Step 1: Finding a Good Product

The ideal approach for finding products suitable for organic marketing is to scroll through social media to discover what other dropshippers are promoting. After sifting through numerous options, I narrowed it down to around 20 potential products and chose one: protection cases. These seemed easy to create viral videos around, and I felt they had targeted audience potential. I ordered it with overnight shipping and prepared to set up the store while waiting.

Step 2: Building the Website

To build the website, I used Shopify. The process involved setting up the backend (shipping policies, etc.), sourcing the product from a supplier, and then creating the product page. I used my photos to build trust with visitors and included some reviews. I kept the design simple and user-friendly.

Step 3: Advertising

Advertising becomes crucial here. For those using Paid ads, good ad creatives are vital, and one effective service is Viral Ecom Ads. They specialize in creating high-performing ad creatives. However, for organic marketing, I used TikTok and Instagram Reels. The primary risk involved here is account shadowbanning due to suspicious activity, which can result in zero views.

Creating Content and Initial Results

I set up a little studio for shooting the videos and created two initial videos, which I posted on TikTok and Instagram. By day three, we had no sales, although one Instagram Reel got over 1,000 views. The initial videos lacked polished features like better lighting, storytelling, and editing.

Adjusting the Strategy

I noticed other successful dropshippers were making simple, funny, and viral-oriented videos. Although these might not be the best ads, they seemed essential for gaining traction. I reluctantly made similar "TikTok-ified" videos, hoping they’d go viral.

Final Results

By day seven, the final day, the organic approach yielded some views (6,000 on TikTok, 12,000 on Instagram) but resulted in zero sales. Despite investing an entire week, we lost money. This led to a few realizations:

Product Choice: The product selected was not compelling.
Storefront Offer: The store lacked a compelling offer.
Content Quality: The videos fell short in terms of quality and strategy.

Many beginners might experience similar initial failures. Persistency and continuous improvement are crucial for breaking into the winning percentage of dropshippers.

Conclusion

This 7-day challenge may not have been successful, but it taught crucial lessons. Dropshipping can indeed work in 2024, but it requires a compelling product, better storefront offers, and higher-quality content. Joining communities and learning continuously will improve chances of success. If you want to join a community focused on organic dropshipping, consider joining my free Discord community.

Keywords

Dropshipping
Organic Marketing
Product Page
Shopify
TikTok Ads
Instagram Reels
Viral Ecom Ads
Beginners
Storefront
Ad Creatives

FAQ

Q1: What is dropshipping? A: Dropshipping is a business model where you sell products directly from suppliers without holding any inventory. The suppliers handle manufacturing, shipping, and logistics.

Q2: What are the steps to start a dropshipping store? A: The three main steps include finding a good product, creating an attractive product page, and advertising to drive traffic.

Q3: What marketing strategy was used in this challenge? A: Organic marketing via TikTok and Instagram Reels was used to drive traffic without spending on ads.

Q4: What was the product chosen for this challenge? A: Protection cases were chosen as the product to sell.

Q5: Why did the challenge result in zero sales? A: The product choice was poor, the storefront lacked a compelling offer, and the content quality was below par.

Q6: Is dropshipping still viable in 2024? A: Yes, it is viable, but it requires good products, effective stores, and high-quality content to succeed.