A big advantage of technology in any business setup is the ability to oversee your business from anywhere in the world with your smart devices. Even better, mobile phones are really up to the task of competing in terms of functionality with laptop and desktop computers.
In this article, we will be analyzing how it is possible to use a smartphone to start a dropshipping business using Shopify and make a profit. This article will be an eye-opener to the possibility of how far a mobile phone can go in building an e-commerce website, doing product research, running ads, and even maintaining the store.
Joaquin Corrales is an internet entrepreneur who has made a lot of money online. He has a YouTube channel where he teaches various ways of making money online and shares his journey of making money online through businesses such as dropshipping, affiliate marketing, Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), and so on.
Joaquin said,
“I got an email from Shopify that I should download the Shopify mobile app and build my business in real-time. This gave me an idea, what if I could start a profitable dropshipping store with just my phone?”
To start dropshipping on a smartphone, you need to register a domain name for your store, and you can directly register a domain through the Shopify app after downloading it and signing in. Click on “Add Domain” on the homepage, type in your domain name, and click on the buy button.
The Best Way to Do Dropshipping Product Research on a Smartphone
There are several ways to do product research, especially with a smartphone, but an excellent method is using the Amazon movers and shakers section of the Amazon marketplace. Amazon describes its movers and shakers section as,
“Our biggest gainers in sales rank over the past 24 hours. Updated hourly.”
According to Joaquin,
“Amazon’s movers and shakers is a section of the Amazon marketplace that shows products that are jumping up or down in sales rank very quickly. These products hadn’t sold a lot of units, and all of a sudden are started selling a lot, which means they could be going viral, or there could be some opportunities in selling them anytime soon.”
When narrowing down your search, it can get overwhelming with such a hugely diverse selection of products. When browsing through the movers and shakers section, there are numerous categories and subcategories. The first and best way to browse through is to start filtering by category relevance.
So whether you are running a general store or a more niched store, you will have a diverse selection of products. Below is the list of the major categories in the Amazon movers and shakers section:
- Arts, Crafts & Sewing
- Automotive
- Baby
- Beauty & Personal Care
- Cell Phones & Accessories
- Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry
- Computer Accessories
- Electronics
- Health & Household
- Home & Kitchen
- Kitchen & Dining
- Musical Instruments
- Office Products
- Patio, Lawn & Garden
- Pet Supplies
- Sports & Outdoors
- Tools & Home Improvement
- Toys & Games
There are a lot of dropshipping products in these categories, so dig deep into each one to start your search for your next winning product, but the disadvantage is that not all products will be ideal for dropshipping. Joaquin selected the home and kitchen categories for his product.
The Product Review
After going through the Amazon movers and shakers section for a while and Tiktok feeds, Joaquin eventually chose a Christmas spirit shot glass. It is a set of six glasses that are being sold for $12 on Amazon that can be used to beautify a Christmas tree.
The Christmas spirit shot glass also includes a hook that makes it attach to a Christmas tree and a plastic stemless break-resistant wine glass.
In his remark about the product, Joaquin said,
“The real key thing for me concerning the Christmas spirit shot glass is the current sales rank which is five and it has generated over 38 000 sales volume in the past 24 hours. So this item has become popular very quickly, and obviously, it’s because it’s a seasonal product. Selling seasonal products would typically go against my product choice because I like to sell evergreen items. However, since we’re still a little bit far from Christmas it gives us enough time to at least test the item and get it to people before Christmas Day.”
To confirm that the spirit shot glass was a good item, he decided to find a supplier. It took Joaquin a while to find the item on AliExpress, but he later found one ready to supply the product for around $6. He decided to sell the spirit shot glass for $19.95, leaving him with a profit of almost $14 on every product sold.
After knowing the product to sell, he ordered the product from Amazon to know what the product could do, took custom images to build a store for the product, and made video ads to promote the product.
The Best Way to Set Up an E-commerce Store on a Smartphone
He named the store Fillable Ornaments because the glasses can be filled with any drink you choose and set it up with product images he downloaded from Amazon and the ones he made by himself.
As previously stated, he sold the spirit shot glass for $19.95 and offered a bundling option to increase the store's average order value. Because the spirit shot glasses are small, some people require a large quantity to decorate their trees.
He added some captions on the store, such as “Celebrate with a drink" and “Fill these ornaments with the drink of your choice for a fun holiday". He was careful with the keyword “drink” as he made sure not to have anything to do with alcohol because most ad platforms deny any alcohol-related ad campaign, especially TikTok ads. Also, he added some reviews from AliExpress to the store. Though the reviews are few, they should suffice, according to Joaquin.
Adding a few apps to the Shopify store on the smartphone is good, and according to him, a Shopify store without apps is like a car without air in its tires. Some of the apps are Oberlo, Omnisend Email Marketing, SEO Optimiser by Booster apps, and Tracktor by ShopPad.
It was incredible how everything was completed and perfected on a smartphone without the use of a computer or laptop.
The Best Way to Optimize TikTok Settings for a Profitable Ad Campaign Using a Smartphone
After Joaquin got the Christmas spirit shot glass from Amazon, he used it to beautify his own Christmas tree. From there, he recorded three videos of the Christmas tree with the spirit shot glasses using his phone which he used for the TikTok promotion campaign.
His strategy was a hundred-dollar-a-day CBO (Campaign Budget Option), and he started by making one ad set with a targeted audience in the United States for the 18+ TikTok placement category.
About 23 hours after launching the ads, the store received two orders totaling $86.90, but both were placed by the same person. When creating a store of this type, especially one with small products, it is advisable to include a bundling feature of numerous products. This will allow buyers to order as many products as they want and will qualify them for lower shipping costs which will eventually increase the average order value for the store.
Income Analysis
- Revenue: $86.90
- Ad spend: $45
- Number of sales: 2
- Income: $18.25
Finally, Joaquin said,
“I would say this store was successful since the idea was to figure out whether I could create a store on my phone. I was able to create the store, got the domain name, and set up the payment processing, the product landing page, and the ads. Even though the store didn’t make much profit, this is just the beginning because I can continue scaling the ads to generate more sales.”
Marketing Tips for Selling Christmas Gifts
- Create a sense of urgency: Use phrases like "limited time offer" or "only a few left in stock" to create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to make a purchase before the holiday rush.
- Highlight the benefits: Emphasize the benefits of your products in your marketing efforts. For example, if you are selling a set of cookware, focus on how it can make holiday cooking easier and more enjoyable.
- Offer bundle deals: Package complementary items together and offer them as a bundle deal. This not only provides more value to the customer, but it can also increase your overall sales.
- Use social media: Utilize social media platforms to showcase your products, offer promotions, and engage with customers. Encourage followers to share their own holiday traditions and gift ideas.
- Provide free shipping: Offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount to encourage customers to buy more products at once.
- Create holiday-themed content: Create blog posts, videos, and social media content that are focused on holiday gift-giving. Share gift ideas, DIY tutorials, and other related content.
- Offer personalization: Allow customers to personalize their gifts with monograms, engravings, or other customizations. This can make your products more unique and memorable.
- Collaborate with influencers: Partner with influencers or bloggers in your niche to promote your products and reach a wider audience.
- Send email campaigns: Send out regular email campaigns leading up to the holidays to remind customers of your products and any promotions you are offering.
- Make it easy to shop: Ensure that your website is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Make it easy for customers to find and purchase your products with clear descriptions and intuitive navigation.
Conclusion
The possibility of setting up and running a Shopify store entirely from a smartphone is possible, and in this case, study, Joaquin made close to $100 in sales in 24 hours selling Christmas spirit shot glasses.
He did his product research in the Amazon movers and shakers section which is a section on the Amazon marketplace with items that have been selling massively for the past 24 hours. There are several categories in the section, such as home and kitchen, arts and crafts, health and household, etc.
The product images used in the store were a mix of images he made by himself and those he downloaded from Amazon. To boost the store’s average order value, there is a bundling option for buyers to buy more than one pack of glasses at a time, and he promoted the store on TikTok with a daily budget of $100. This whole business idea was to show the possibility of using a smartphone to make money online through dropshipping.
