Choosing a profitable niche is one of the first (and most important) decisions you’ll make when starting a dropshipping business.
Focusing on the right dropshipping niche will enable you to build an engaged community and sell items that your audience will love. With the right niche, you’ll spend less on ads and be able to target only those customers looking for products like yours.
So, what’s the best way to decide on a niche? Should you follow your heart, or the most recent market trends? We’re here to help you find out.
In this blog post, we’ll lay out exactly what you should know about dropshipping niches to make the right move for your store. This means everything from free research tools and the most popular niches this year to awesome dropshipping product ideas—it’s all here. Let’s dive in.
Unfortunately, many online store owners overlook this step when setting up their businesses. They’ll only remember when it comes time to prepare their marketing strategy, or worse, when the orders aren’t rolling in as expected and they need to take a step back to see what went wrong.
Whether that’s the case for you, or you’re (luckily) reading this article at the beginning of your journey, there’s one thing you should understand very clearly about niches: it isn’t about the product or service, but the people who use it.
Everything you do, from product choices to promos, must be done with your audience in mind. Once you start thinking about their wishes and needs, you’ll have a better understanding of the direction you need to take. In fact, it’s often much easier if you’re coming from a place of personal experience or reflecting on what you yourself like to buy. Keep reading to find out more.
Think about who you are and what you like
Before you grab your pen to take notes on stats and technical tips to start building your successful dropshipping business, makea list of topics, themes, or styles that genuinely move you.
Although it’s not mandatory to select a dropshipping niche that you have an emotional connection with, doing so could simplify your job. Belonging to your niche will give you the superpower of knowing your audience from within. At the same time, you’ll feel more motivated to keep working at your business when things don’t go exactly as planned.
Once you have the list, it’s time to look for data to find the best dropshipping niche for you.
Use research tools to get to know your audience
Not sure which dropshipping niche to go with? Relying on solid research is another great way to find a profitable niche.
There are a ton of excellent research tools that’ll provide you with valuable insights about different niche options. You’ll be able to determine if there’s a demand for your niche, how saturated the market is, and any relevant trends.
Let’s see what you can use to get all the info you need on the right dropshipping niche for your new business.
Google Trends
The easiest way to check the most recent trends on the internet is definitely through Google.
Besides being super user-friendly, this free tool provides graphics that show how search interests evolve over time. Why is this important? Because you want to jump into a niche that has a growing audience, not a decreasing one.
Here’s an example: after looking into some terms, it seems “body positivity” could be a good niche if I’m starting an online business in the US. I used Web Searches in All Categories within the past 5 years in the United States. Again, you have to supply the ideas, but Google Trends will help you narrow down what’s trending now, and what’s projected to increase in popularity over time.
Source: Google Trends
If you’re planning to sell in other markets or worldwide, you can adjust the settings of your research. You can even check the search intent for your niche on Youtube. In this case, note that “body positivity” still seems to be pretty popular.
Source: Google Trends
Google Trends can also tell you the sub-regions where your dropshipping niche could be more successful and offer some inspiration for your marketing strategy through Related Topics and Related queries.
Source: Google Trends
Pro tip: keep in mind that some topics and products may be seasonal, which means that depending on the time period you’re looking at, you may see different results.
Google Keyword Planner
In addition to your Google Trends report, you should also take a look at Google Keyword Planner to see what people have been searching for on Google. This tool will help you understand how your niche is looking for products related to your online store.
So put on your detective hat and play around! All you have to do is search for words or phrases related to your dropshipping niche and the products you want to sell. Then, it’ll help you find relevant keywords associated with your business and show you how often they’ve been searched for over time.
You might as well use the Planner to make your Ads campaigns sharper too. It provides bid estimates for each keyword, which allows you to optimize your advertising budget.
To get the most out of this tool during your dropshipping niche research, pay attention to match types (use the exact-match option), search locations (focus on your selling regions), and long-tail variations (longer, more specific terms with lower volume search queries that can attract more visitors to your store).
Pro tip: if there are many variations related to the term you’re researching, you’re on the right track. It means that the particular dropshipping niche you’re exploring has many opportunities for success. For example: leggings, yoga leggings, custom leggings, push up leggings, leggings with pockets, etc.
Facebook Audience Insights
Whether you like it or not, Facebook has access to almost everyone on the planet’s data—it’s one of the perks of being one of the largest social networks worldwide. According to Statista, Facebook reached 1.96B monthly active users in the second quarter of 2022. That’s quite an extensive sample for market research.
And, yes, you can use that information to find out if the dropshipping niche you’re interested in is actually in demand right now using Facebook Audience Insights. This tool wraps up all that data in a nice little package by providing precious knowledge about your potential buyers.
Based on your niche, you can “create an audience” (as if you were starting an ad campaign for your store, for example). Once created, you can access relevant information like education level, job title, or even relationship status. Learning about your audience’s interests and lifestyle may help you foresee if and how your products would fit into their routine.
Ahrefs is a search engine optimization (SEO) tool mostly used by marketers to optimize content. But who says it can’t be used for broader purposes?
For example, Ahrefs will come in handy for anyone who wants to learn more about profitable dropshipping niches. Its software allows you to analyze competitors, find keywords in your niche, and check top-performing content.
Now that you have all the tools you need to pick the perfect niche for your ecommerce store, the process should go smoothly. But I bet you’d love to have a ready-to-use list of the best dropshipping niches right now, yes?
That’s why our marketing team has done some extra homework. Based on our expert insights and Printful customer behavior, we’ve rounded up the best dropshipping niches this year.
Challenge: try to guess as many as you can and at the end see how many you got right.
Clothing
Let’s be real. When was the last time you headed to a brick-and-mortar store to buy a new outfit? Gone are the days when we needed to physically go shopping for clothes. Even customers who were more reluctant about it surrendered to the ecommerce boom during the pandemic. And when brick-and-mortar stores reopened in 2021, many people were already convinced that shopping from their bed, sofa, or elsewhere was the better option.
That’s why clothing tops our list as an excellent category to find profitable dropshipping niches in. To narrow it down even further, the bestselling dropshipping products in this category are women’s clothing and sportswear.
Women’s clothing
The women’s apparel industry is expected to grow annually by 7.2% from 2021 to 2025, according to Statista.
That means there are an infinite number of options for you to explore. Below are some suggestions.
Examples of fresh dropshipping niches in the women’s clothing category:
The pandemic didn’t only change people’s habits, it changed their sense of style too—athleisure is here to stay. Most of us wanted to feel comfortable, yet ready for a business call or a midday workout, all at the same time. The solution? Sweatshirts and leggings! They never fail.
With a little help from influencers who’d wear their hoodies in every new Reel or TikTok challenge, the concept and term athleisure quickly became a thing.
Big brands took advantage of it, which generated interesting partnerships between major companies like Louis Vuitton and the NBA, Prada and adidas, or Dior and Nike. Check out the growth in searches for the term on Google and see how it remains consistent through 2022.
Source: Google Trends
So, it’s only natural that sportswear gets a spot on our list as one of the most profitable categories for dropshipping niches this year.
And it’s impossible to speak about sportswear without bringing leggings into the conversation. Love them or hate them, leggings are a staple in any sportswear collection. They’re comfortable, versatile, and can be worn anywhere: from the gym to a fun girls’ night out.
Are leggings a great niche? Definitely, just take a look at these successful brands focusing on leggings—Preggo Leggings and Cool Chick Leggings. While Preggo Leggings focuses on maternity gear, Cool Chick Leggings offers fun all-over print options.
Pro tip: once you’ve gotten your dropshipping business off the ground, it’s a good idea to use branded dropshipping to strengthen your brand identity. Add custom labels, custom packaging, and unique pack-ins to your orders to give a more cohesive look and feel to your branding.
Source: Printful
Accessories
No outfit is 100% ready to be worn out without the right accessories. But don’t think we’re only talking about bags, shoes, hats and jewelry. In this category there’s everything from car accessories to tech extras and so much more.
In fact, this category may just have the most profitable dropshipping niches of all. Why? First, accessories are often cheaper than the bigger products they’re related to. Second, they usually have a higher profit margin and greater volume of sales. And finally, customers tend to be less price-sensitive about them. It’s a win-win across the board.
One of the most common questions about dropshipping niches is which is better: going for a broad niche to reach more customers or sticking to a specific niche to build a stronger brand.
The more specific you get, the more chances you have to thrive in niche markets. However, selecting a very specific niche market or products that don’t have a high search volume isn’t always the right business strategy.
For example, the fact that accessories are one of the most popular dropshipping niches right now doesn’t mean that you’ll have a profitable store by selling all sorts of accessories. It’s probably better to hone in on one idea (custom scrunchies, for example) than to tackle it all.
It sounds tricky, I know. But if you really want to start selling accessories, here’s a growing niche you could safely try: car accessories. Let’s take a look at some stats together.
Source: Statista
Note that the size of the global car accessories market has been progressively growing for 5 years in a row, and the predictions for 2022 are just over $522B.
Source: Google Trends
To have a closer look at the US market, we checked Google Trends. As you can see in the graphic above, the search interest looks steady, so it’s definitely a niche to check out if you want to launch a dropshipping business.
Examples of dropshipping products in the car accessories niche:
Seat covers and floor mats
Air fresheners
Puncture repair kits
GPS navigators
Cameras and parking sensors
Phone holders
Interested in more ideas? Check the search results for “car accessories” on some marketplaces, and don’t forget to set up your selling country/region.
On Amazon, for instance, car headrests and baby car mirrors are shown as best sellers in Germany. In the US, cleaning products and interior car lights are among the platform’s greatest hits.
Source: Amazon
Smartphone accessories
In the world of accessories, smartphone accessories deserve their own section as one of the best dropshipping niches these days.
A report by Market Decipher shows that the global smartphone accessories market is projected to reach a market value of over $139M by 2027. No surprise there, given the increasing digitalization of our world and the widespread use of smartphones.
Examples of smartphone accessories for your dropshipping store:
You don’t need to be a parent to know that when the stork brings a baby, it also brings lots of expenses. Even before they’re born, families need to prepare for the new addition.
During a baby’s first months, they’ll need diapers, clothes, a car seat, a stroller, etc. And the list can go on and on.
Being a mother myself, I’m not surprised that baby products are among the most popular buys on Amazon. It’s also a great dropshipping niche.
If you believe this is the perfect niche for you and want to sell related products, here are some tips: 1. don’t underestimate the importance of product quality and 2. think of ways to motivate customers to leave reviews.
Although this advice is valid for all dropshipping niches, it’s especially relevant here. When it comes to little ones, customers are even more careful about what they’re purchasing online.
Some top selling ideas for the baby products category:
Although some go to greater lengths than others, most of us want to look and feel good. The fact is that people are spending more money on health and beauty products than ever before.
The beauty industry was worth $483B in 2020 and grew to $511B in 2021. The prediction is that it’ll reach $716B by 2025. Overall, the combined health and beauty market revenue surpasses $564B, and the personal care market is the most popular for dropshipping products in this segment.
Pro tips: if you want to stand out from competitors, eco-friendly products are a good way to go—one out of four consumers prefer eco-friendly skincare brands. You should also focus on younger customers since the average amount spent on beauty products by teens is around $44B per year.
Profitable dropshipping products in the health and beauty category:
Skincare
Hair care
Makeup
Perfume
Personal hygiene
Oral hygiene
Office supplies
Studies show that a pleasant work environment, whether working remotely or on-site, boosts motivation, promotes teamwork, and increases productivity. In that line, office supplies can make your work life easier and help bring joy to daily tasks. So it’s no surprise that the tools that help people excel at their jobs are in high demand.
Google Trends agrees. Just take a look at the graphic below to see how office supplies became even more popular in 2020 (when many of us were forced to set up our offices at home). But even now, as many employees go back to work, interest in products for the office continues to grow. This is great news if you’re thinking about focusing on office supplies for your dropshipping business.
From the very first commercial arcade game Computer Space to Minecraft fever, a lot has happened to make the gaming industry what it is today. Video games and online gaming have grown exponentially in popularity and it’s become a top niche for dropshipping products. Plus, gamers are a great target audience for one crucial reason: their passion.
When you pick a niche that has passionate users, you have a gold mine on your hands. Passion drives interest and action, and ultimately, generates sales. Just imagine what a global community of2.95B gamerscan do.
Source: Finances Online
With that type of following, it’s no wonder that revenue for the video game segment is expected to reach $175.1B this year. And if you think there’s not much more room for expansion, think again—the market volume is projected to reach $239.7B by 2026. The largest sub-niche? Mobile games, with a current market size of $124.9B.
Some of the most profitable dropshipping products in the gaming niche:
I don’t know if it’s all the time we spent at home during lockdown or the amount of DIY tutorials popping up on social media, but lately it seems that many of us are feeling inspired to have our own Extreme Makeover: Home Edition moment.
That could explain the growth in tools sales. Even the ecommerce platform Shopify identified tools as some of the best dropshipping products to sell this year.
Of course you’ll need a focused approach and good marketing strategy to generate some brand recognition, since you’ll be competing with big companies like The Home Depot and Sears. A good angle could be to concentrate on people who have full-time jobs and just a few hours in the weekend to work on their home improvements, instead of professional contractors.
Pro tips: choose easy-to-comprehend vocabulary and think of your customers’ pain points when working on your visuals and product descriptions. Make your dropshipping niche even more specific by targeting one public in particular (e.g. tools for women or tools for elderly people).
Source: Amazon
Profitable dropshipping products in the tools niche:
Screwdrivers
Drill bit sets
Gardening scissors
Weed pullers
Folding knives
Complete tool sets
Kitchen and home products
You don’t have to break down walls to make your home more comfortable or beautiful. Just scroll for a few minutes on Pinterest and you’ll see the power of redecorating. New furniture and some fresh home & living items can do wonders for a space.
Making your home as comfy and cozy as possible isn’t the only thing that came out of spending so much time at home during lockdown. More and more people are also getting into cooking, which has expanded the possibilities of the kitchenware market. In fact, during the Coronavirus pandemic, 50% of respondents in the US said they were interested in learning more about cooking. More than that, 54% said they were cooking more and 36% said they now cook at home on a daily basis. It’s clear that when choosing a dropshipping niche, kitchen and home products are a solid contender.
Examples of kitchen and home products for your dropshipping store:
How many of your friends and relatives have a dog, cat, bird, or fish? According to a recent survey, 7 out of 10 households in the US have a pet.
Source: American Pet Products Association
If you’re one of them, I don’t have to tell you how much people spend on their pets. But here’s the data: in 2021, a whopping $123.6B was spent on pet products and services. In case that’s not enough of a reason for this to make the list of best dropshipping niches, check out Google Trends:
Source: Google Trends
They say we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket, but these numbers may have just convinced you that this niche is your golden goose. Let’s take a look at some interesting products you can dropship for pet lovers.
Suggested dropshipping products in the pet supplies niche:
Beds
Dog clothes (dog raincoats are a trend!)
Dog travel bags
Cat litter mats
Pet grooming (scissors, brushes, bows, ties, bandanas, etc.)
So now that we’ve seen some great dropshipping niche ideas, it’s time to check out the competition. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says that “if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Applying that wisdom to the dropshipping battlefield, the message is: “get to know your competitors.”
By researching other companies who are already working in your chosen niche, it’s possible to get relevant information about your audience, specific products, and useful suppliers. In some cases, you might even learn that you’re trying to enter a saturated niche. If that’s the case, don’t hesitate to pivot and find a new one.
Most dropshipping stores rely on organic traffic to attract new users, so the best way of finding out who’s vying for your potential customers’ attention is by behaving like one. Use search engines to look for the products you’re thinking about selling and assess the search results.
Here are some things you should evaluate
Customers compare prices—and so should you.Create a sheet with any products you want to sell and write down your competitors’ prices for each of them. This way, when you define your pricing strategy, you’ll know that you’re offering competitive deals. Learn more about How to Price Your Products Online to make sure you get it right.
Competitor product descriptions and visuals
What kind of dropshipping products do they sell? What keywords do they use to describe them? What do their mockups look like? Think critically about what examples you’d use as inspiration and what you’d do differently.
Competitor website quality
A smooth user experience is the key to a successful online business. You can have top quality products, attractive prices, amazing visuals, and a killer SEO strategy, but if the website is too slow or the payment gateway fails during the checkout, it’s all in vain.
As a matter of fact, research shows that 70% of consumers admit that a page’s speed impacts their purchasing decisions. Learn from your competitors’ mistakes and ensure a high-quality experience for customers visiting your website.
Competitor SEO
If you came across particular competitors during your search, it means they’re doing something right in terms of search engine optimization (SEO). Review their content and list which keywords they’re using and where else they were mentioned. Use that wisdom to build your own SEO strategy.
Customer reviews
You can learn a lot from what people say about your competitors, and I’m not just talking about their store and product reviews. It’s also about who their audience is and what they value. Pay special attention to any criticisms—another business’s weakness can be your brand’s strength.
Marketing tactics
Last but not least, be sure to analyze the marketing strategies and tactics for brands that work in the same dropshipping niche as you. Do they have social media accounts? What kind of content do they publish? Do they do email campaigns? Do they run Facebook Ads? For this last one, check the Facebook Ads Library.
Choose the best dropshipping niche for your business
Congrats! Now you’re up to speed on everything related to dropshipping niches and how to find the perfect one for your online store. It’s time to turn that knowledge into profit.
If you start from scratch, make sure to use the research tools we’ve discussed to confirm if the niche you’ve chosen is in demand and has potential. Focus on the most profitable dropshipping niches on our list and think of products that’ll make sense for your business.
Gabriela is a creative copywriter, professional blogger, and passionate content marketer with experience in publicity agencies and international companies. She loves sharing her ideas and new trends to bring inspiration to everyone around her.
Gabriela is a creative copywriter, professional blogger, and passionate content marketer with experience in publicity agencies and international companies. She loves sharing her ideas and new trends to bring inspiration to everyone around her.
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