Dropshipping is an appealing business model for first-time entrepreneurs: You don’t own your inventory, so there’s less financial risk (and less startup capital needed) than traditional ecommerce. With millions of products available, the options are endless—and overwhelming.
Here’s how to find the best products to launch a successful dropshipping business.
What makes a good dropshipping product?
- The perfect price
- MAP pricing
- Marketing potential
- Compatible with accessories
- Low turnover
- Lightweight
- Hard to find locally
The perfect price
Choose a price point that allows you to turn a consistent profit. For items at a lower price point, aim to sell a higher volume. The reverse goes for high-ticket items. “Your profit margins are going to be amazing, so you have less to sell instead of selling more, which I love,” dropshipping entrepreneur Kamil Sattar, known as The Ecom King on YouTube, says on the Shopify Masters podcast.
The downside is that more expensive products come with more expensive everything else: more expensive advertising, more expensive shipping, more expensive returns. That’s why Kamil advises that new dropshippers start with low-ticket items before moving on to high-ticket items. “You want to learn all the skills by selling lower-risk products, and then once you’ve got those skills, you can move into the higher risk.”
MAP pricing
Some manufacturers will set what’s called a minimum advertised price (MAP) for their products and require that all resellers price their products at or above certain levels. This pricing floor prevents the price wars that often break out—especially for products that are popular in the dropshipping industry—and helps ensure that merchants can make a reasonable profit by carrying a manufacturer’s products.
If you can find a niche where manufacturers enforce MAP pricing it can be a huge benefit, especially if you plan on building a high-value and information-rich site. With prices the same across all competitors, you can compete on the strength of your website and won’t have to worry about losing business to cheaper competition.
Marketing potential
The time to think about how you’ll market an online business is before you launch it, not three months in when you realize that customer acquisition is a nightmare. Can you brainstorm a number of ways you could promote your store by, for example, writing articles, giving away products, or reaching out to active online communities that use the products you’re selling?
Kamil is a big fan of organic TikTok marketing. He recommends creating 30 days’ worth of short-form videos before starting a new account for your dropshipping store.
Compatible with accessories
Selling items that are compatible with accessories can be a great way to grow your business. As customers, we’re much more sensitive about the price of a big-ticket item and care less about the price of smaller accessories.
When selecting products, consider any upselling or cross-selling opportunities. “You can turn a dropshipping store into a hybrid where you use print-on-demand as a nice little cross-sell,” Kamil says. “Let’s say, for example, somebody comes to my dropshipping store and they buy an office desk. Why not buy a nice customized mousepad for your mouse?” Shoppers may be price-comparing desks, but they’re unlikely to check where they can buy the cheapest mousepad; it’s easiest to buy the mousepad from the same store.
Low turnover
Investing in an education-rich, high-quality site can pay big dividends. But if the products you sell change every year, maintaining that site is quickly going to turn into a mountain of work. Try to find low-cost products that aren’t updated with new models every year—like tools or personal care products. That way, the time and money you invest in a superb site will last longer.
Lightweight
In a world where free shipping is often expected, it can be a challenge to sell large, heavy equipment that’s expensive to ship. The smaller the items, the easier they are to ship cheaply to your customers.
Hard to find locally
Selling a product that’s hard to find locally will increase your chances of success, as long as you don’t get too specific. Most people needing a garden rake or a sprinkler would simply run down to the local hardware store. But where would you buy a medieval knight’s costume or falcon-training equipment? You’d probably head to Google and start searching.
How to find the best dropshipping products
Dropshipping sites
The easiest way to find products to dropship is by looking at what’s popular right now.
- AliExpress: The Find Products feature in AliExpress’s business suite shows top-performing categories and popular products across the marketplace. Using this research tool, you can browse the best-selling dropshipping products within each category. Or, click one of the categories in the header to see the most popular products for the day.
- Amazon: The Amazon Best Sellers page features products that have the highest number of sales in a specific category. If you want to find trending dropshipping products, you can check what’s selling on Amazon and sell similar products in your store. You can also dropship with Amazon directly.
- WatchCount: While WatchCount.com may look like a website from the early 2000s, it's useful for finding dropshipping product ideas on eBay. WatchCount shows you the most popular items on eBay in real time, tracking how many people add a product to their eBay watch list. Use this tool to uncover popular products on the largest online auction site and source them from a dropshipping supplier.
Search engine trends
Google Trends is another way to uncover the best products to dropship. It analyzes the popularity of search queries and topics. You can search by country and even compare different queries to each other, so you can find high-demand products for your dropshipping niche.
Social media
Finding products to dropship on social media can be a little more time-consuming, but it’s worth it. “TikTok is the leading indicator today to find products,” Kamil says. “Whatever’s going on there trending-wise, that’s your best bet.”
Try searching for keywords like “Amazon finds” and #tiktokmademebuyit within the app to find out what’s currently trending.
Best dropshipping products to sell right now
- Apparel
- Beauty and personal care
- Kitchen and dining
- Baby
- Pet supplies
- Home interiors
- Office products
- Tools and home improvement
- Phone accessories
- Car accessories
If you’re new to dropshipping, entrepreneur Kamil Sattar recommends starting with five to ten products. “It’s a better metric for success than picking everything under the sun and trying to sell it online,” he says. Here are some of the most popular dropshipping products right now:
Apparel
If you’ve always dreamed of starting your own fashion brand or selling merch but don’t want to take on the financial risk of buying and storing stock, print-on-demand dropshipping is a great option.
You create the designs, and then the print-on-demand service prints or embroiders your design onto an article of clothing and ships it directly to your customer. It’s a low-risk way to see if there’s a market for your brand.
Some of the best-selling print-on-demand products include:
- Basic short-sleeve T-shirts
- Vintage-style T-shirts
- Pajamas
- Tank tops
- Sweatshirts
- Yoga pants
- Crop tops
- Tote bags
- Clogs
- Beanies
Beauty and personal care
The beauty industry—including skin care, cosmetics, hair care, fragrances, and personal care—is expected to be valued at $758.4 billion by 2025. There are two increasingly popular dropshipping products categories in beauty and personal care:
- Natural skin care products with ingredients like herbs and plant extracts. The market for natural personal care products surpassed $19 billion in 2023.
- Hair care products that solve problems like split ends, hair fall, dandruff, and dry and itchy scalp.
Beauty and skin-care videos are very popular on TikTok, making this category a natural fit if you enjoy making GRWM (get ready with me) videos and similar content.
Top dropshipping products in beauty and personal care include:
- Hydrocolloid pimple patches
- Hydrogel face masks
- Facial towels and wipes
- Dermaplaning tools
- Hair growth shampoos, oils, and supplements
- Snail mucin products
- Satin bonnets
- Face rollers
- Reusable silicone masks
- Satin pillowcases
Kitchen and dining
In late 2023, a child’s emotional reaction to receiving a stainless steel insulated tumbler for Christmas went viral on TikTok as limited-edition water bottles flew off store shelves. Reusable water bottles make for a great dropshipping product because they are lightweight, inexpensive, and available in fun colorways.
They also pair well with accessories like water bottle slings, silicone water-bottle ice-cube trays, and lunchboxes. You can even design your own print-on-demand water bottles or offer customized bottles for back-to-school or holiday gifts.
Top dropshipping products to sell in kitchen and dining include:
- Stainless steel tumblers
- Bento-style lunch boxes
- Digital kitchen scales
- Digital meat thermometers
- Oil dispensers
- Food storage containers
- Vegetable choppers
- Coffee pods
Baby
The global baby care market is projected to grow from $240 billion in 2024 to $419 billion by 2032. “People are spending more and more per baby every year because of new product innovation,” Babylist founder Natalie Gordon shared on the Shopify podcast. Babylist started as a baby registry; Now, they also dropship baby products.
Current trends show people are cautious when selecting baby products like food, cosmetics, or safety items. If you’re planning to dropship baby products, make sure you build a credible brand that customers trust.
Babylist accomplished this by creating helpful content for its audience. “We’re talking to people who are making these product decisions for the very first time,” Natalie says of her audience of new parents. “You don’t even know what a diaper pail is when I’m telling you our top recommendations for diaper pails.”
In addition to diaper pails, some of Babylist’s most popular products include:
- Organic cotton baby clothing, swadles, burp cloths, and bedding
- Nursing accessories like breast pumps and nursing pillows
- Baby wipes
- Health tools like baby thermometers and nasal aspirators
- Bottle warmers
- High-tech baby monitors
- Silicone dining sets
Pet supplies
The demand for pet supplies is reaching a seven-year peak, with $150 billion in sales projected for 2024. The pet products business encompasses many different types of products, like clothing, food bowls, collars, carriers, and treats.
If you’re a pet parent yourself, you probably have an excellent understanding of what other pet parents might need—and how to market to them. You can order sample products to your home and create short-form content featuring your own pet.
Consider some of these trending products:
- Single-ingredient dried treats
- Eco-friendly poop bags
- Pill wraps
- Supplements
- Dental treats
- Hypoallergenic wipes
- Slow feeders like lick mats
- Nosework toys like snuffle mats
- Pet water bottle
Home interiors
If you love looking at home interiors on social media, why not start dropshipping your favorite home accessories?
Spending on home interiors, décor, and furnishings is set to reach $949 billion by 2032. Search interest has been steady through the years, typically peaking in January and July.
Small online retailers have an advantage in selling home interior products because they’re high-commodity items. This means nearly everyone needs items like pillowcases—they’re widely available but no individual buyers want the same one, making them perfect for niche marketing.
Top dropshipping products to sell in home interiors include:
- Linen bed sheets
- Microfiber bedsheets
- Pillows
- Blackout curtains
- Non-slip hangers
- Handheld clothes steamer
- Silk and satin pillowcases
- Laundry baskets
- Frames
- Christmas décor
- DIY craft fabrics
- Rugs
- Ceramic vases
- Shower curtain liners
Office products
A wide range of small, lightweight products make up this $18 billion market, many readily available through different dropshipping suppliers. Think: pens, desk pads, décor, and dry-erase markers.
Back-to-school shoppers usually have a long list of supplies to buy and prefer to do it in as few transactions as possible. Bundling cases with packs of pens, pencils, markers, crayons, erasers, and other supplies could be a great way to increase sales. Some of these great products, like mechanical pencils, use refills, meaning there’s a good opportunity for getting repeat purchases and building brand loyalty.
Top dropshipping products to sell in office supplies include:
- Printer paper
- Note pads
- Heavy-duty packaging tape
- Ink cartridges
- File folders
- Gel pens
- Bubble wrap
- Mechanical pencils
- Leather desk pads
- Staplers
- Moving boxes
- Ergonomic mouse pads
- Dry erase markers
Tools and home improvement
Whether it’s stringing patio lights in the backyard or putting an automatic soap dispenser in the bathroom, people want to upgrade their environment—and they often look to social media for ideas.
Many products need set-up help or tutorials, so customers will want to see them in action before buying. Consider starting a YouTube channel or TikTok account to show users what they will be able to do with your product, or how it improved your space. Then, you can use social commerce to sell your product.
Top dropshipping products to sell in tools and home improvement
- Outdoor smart plugs
- Video doorbells
- Motion sensors
- Magnetic screen doors
- Extension cords
- Shelves
- Shoe storage
- Patio umbrella lights
- Lawn chairs
- Camping gear
- Air purifiers
- Drill brush power scrubber
- Silicone drain protectors
- Folding step ladder
- Solar outdoor lights
Phone accessories
Phone accessories have shown a steady five-year trend, peaking in the winter months then maintaining demand throughout the rest of the year. Products like screen protectors and phone cases are always in demand—the market for protective coverings alone is forecast to reach $35 billion by 2027.
Selling phone accessories makes for great bundling opportunities. For example, selling an all-encompassing broadcasting bundle with tripods, ring lights, green screens, and other equipment could be a great way to pick up customers looking to get all the gear they need in the easiest, fastest way possible.
Plus, while selling products from third-party suppliers could work, using a print-on-demand app to create your own designs could make your products more appealing to customers that value uniqueness.
Top dropshipping products to sell in phone accessories include:
- Ring lights
- Power adapters
- Screen protectors
- Waterproof cases
- Custom cases
- Portable chargers
- Phone grips
- Car chargers
- Phone mounts
- Selfie sticks
- Wireless charging stations
Car accessories
People who spend a lot of time in their vehicles want to make them as comfortable as possible, whether they have a long commute, kids that need to be driven between school and after-school activities, or if they drive for a ride-sharing app. Dropshipping is an opportunity to sell niche accessories like a car organizer that blends into the car’s upholstery or a personalized steering wheel cover.
If you can make short-form videos showing how your products make your car more comfortable, even better. Some products, like wiper blades, benefit from how-to videos. Others, like portable vacuum cleaners, are good candidates for satisfying cleaning videos.
Top dropshipping products to sell in car accessories include:
- Windshield sun shades
- Portable vacuum cleaners
- Wiper blades
- Cleaning gels
- Microfiber cleaning clothes
- Window shades
- Floor mats
- Device holders
- Car trash cans
- Leather conditioner
- Steering wheel covers
Read more
- How to Start a Dropshipping Business- A Complete Playbook for 2024
- How To Source Products To Sell Online
- The 9 Best Dropshipping Websites for Your Online Store
- Product Ideas: 17 Places To Find Profitable Products
- 25+ Ideas for Online Businesses To Start Now (2024)
- What is Shopify and How Does it Work?
- Dropshipping Fulfillment- Guide to Supply Chain and Order Fulfillment
- Product Line Extensions- What They Are, Examples, and Tips for Forming Your Strategy
- 10 Best Providers for Print-on-Demand Books
Best dropshipping products FAQ
What are the best dropshipping products?
According to dropshipping expert Kamil Sattar, the best dropshipping products to start with are low-cost items that you are either personally familiar with or that are seasonally relevant, such as pet products if you love pets or phone accessories around Black Friday when consumers are buying new tech.
How profitable is dropshipping?
Dropshipping profit margins are typically lower than those in other retail business models, as retailers must pay the suppliers that source, store, and ship customer orders. However, the hands-off nature of dropshipping also means that retailers typically operate with low overhead costs. As a result, successful dropshipping stores that process a high volume of orders can be extremely profitable.
Which dropshipping supplier is best?
Dropshipping expert Kamil Sattar says the best dropshipping supplier is the one that actually has your product in their warehouse. “If they do have it in their warehouse, that’s going to cut 10 days off shipping straight away,” Kamil says. Some of the bigger dropshipping suppliers include AliExpress, CJDropshipping, and Alibaba. “It doesn’t matter what agent you work with unless you’re buying in-stock,” Kamil says, so make sure you contact the supplier directly to ensure they aren’t getting your product from somewhere else.