TikTok Dropshipping in 2023- Ultimate Guide for Beginners

Do you want to start making money with TikTok dropshipping but are not sure where to start?

Dropshipping is one of the best ways to outsource your products. It offers a great opportunity to help you sell online products without the need to worry about stock, deliveries, or anything wholesale vendors have to worry about.

If you add TikTok to the equation, with over 69.5 million users, it makes the perfect business opportunity for entrepreneurs with a TikTok audience.

But how do you use TikTok to dropship and promote your products?

In this post, I will teach you step-by-step how to create and promote your dropshipping store on TikTok. Let’s dive in!

*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.

What Is TikTok Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a business model that allows business owners and sellers to accept customer orders without keeping the product in stock. Instead, the seller contacts the wholesaler that manufactures the product.

In dropshipping, the seller acts as a middleman and doesn’t need to own an inventory or warehouse to stock the products. These days, numerous platforms make dropshipping super easy and convenient, like Shopify, AliExpress, etc.

However, did you ever think that you could utilize a platform like TikTok for dropshipping? It is not a dreamy idea to claim that TikTok is one of the leading platforms for starting your dropshipping business.

It was crowned as the most downloaded app in Q2 in 2021 and offers integration with Shopify to make things easier. TikTok has proven to be an interesting and creative approach to selling your products. However, you need to be creative and create eye-catching content to sell your products. So, in summary, TikTok dropshipping is to use this platform for dropshipping.

In this post, I will be sure to explain both organic and paid marketing strategies and how to use them to your benefit. So, let’s discover them one by one.

Pros And Cons Of TikTok Dropshipping

Is TikTok dropshipping worth your money, time, and energy? If you’re curious about these questions, then you’re at the right place. Here’s a section where you’ll get all your concepts clear and learn all the benefits and disadvantages.

• Ads are cheaper Than Other Platforms. Creating ads on TikTok is way cheaper than on other platforms, including Facebook. This clearly makes it easier for beginners to start with a small budget. Moreover, it allows them to reach more audiences than other platforms.

• It Has A Non-Stop Flowing River Of Audience. TikTok has around 755 million users from all around the globe. So, seeking a global audience for your sales won’t be a problem for you. Moreover, TikTok recommends your account to other audience that searches for content like your audience. By creating engaging content, you’ll be able to catch numerous sales by putting less effort than other platforms.

• It Has A Significant Younger Audience. If you’re targeting a younger audience for your sales, this is your platform! According to the statistics, the percentage of U.S.-based TikTok users by age: 10-19 – 32.5%, 20-29 – 29.5%, 30-39 – 16.4%, 40-49 – 13.9%, 50+ – 7.1%. So, targeting a young audience will always serve as a benefit for you. Moreover, you can always expect them to purchase your items, as they will do that.

• It Is Easy To Set Up. If you have prior experience with Google ads, then setting up an ad account for TikTok will be very easy. If not, then it’s not something to be stressed about. You’ll just need to integrate your Shopify store with TikTok for Business. After that, you can unleash your creativity to create content to increase your sales.

• Your Content Should Be Top-Notch. To increase your sales via TikTok, you really need to produce some top-quality content to attract users. Competence in this platform can be fierce, so unless you create some unique, you’ll hardly see results. You will need to produce captivating content that not only engages your customers but also converts them into your potential customers. So, being creative and producing quality content is a must.

• You Cannot Target Desktop Users. A con of using TikTok Ads is that you won’t be able to target desktop users. TikTok is a mobile-only platform, so in the targeting settings, you will have the choice between iOS and Android.

• Your Ads Can Be Disapproved. Yes, this can happen on any other platform; however, TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, and getting approval for your ads is not always straightforward. So it is better to make sure you adhere to TikTok ads guidelines.

TikTok Dropshipping guide

In this section, I will explain how to start dropshipping from TikTok step by step. You might want to check the best TikTok niches first if you have not decided on one yet.

Here’s how you can create a Shopify account.

Step#1. To initiate a TikTok dropshipping business, you’ll first need to create a Shopify store. So if you do not have a Shopify Store yet, click on this link to get started for free.

Step#2. Next, you will need to find a dropshipping supplier. My personal favorite, if you are going to use it with Shopify, is Spocket since it offers the best quality products than other dropshipping, which mainly provide low-quality products from China. But you can find other relevant dropshipping apps here.

Step#3. Once you have signed to both platforms, you just need to proceed with the integration. To do that, head to the Shopify app store and look for your dropshipping app (I will use Spocket for this example), and select it. You will only have to click on the “Add App” button and complete the installation.

Once you’re done with the installation process, the TikTok channel will appear on the left sidebar of your Shopify Admin Dashboard. From there, you will be able to connect your TikTok For Business account in order to have your TikTok shop. 

Step#4: Lastly, you just need to import products to your store. This is fairly easy since you just need to browse the products and click import to your store. Here there is a short video that will teach you how to do it quickly.

Once you find your dropshipping supplier, the next step is finding the winning products. You first have to choose a few categories that your supplier offers. However, to find the in-demand product, you may need to do marketing research on TikTok or eCommerce platforms to determine the most searched or purchased product.

These are some questions you should do yourself when doing product research:

• Is there a demand for the product?
• Will it be easy to market or advertise?
• Will the product be profitable?

If you have decided on a dropshipping niche and have a few product ideas in mind, I suggest you use Google Trends to find which one has the most traffic.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you are between:

• Coconut oil
• Essential oils
• Matcha

The lines represent the interest of entrepreneurs over time and how popular these items are in comparison. With this data, you need to ensure that the product you pick is on an upward trend rather than a downward trend. In this case, you can see all of these items are spiking upward, which is a good sign.

If you are still undecided, I suggest you check best-selling products from the chosen platform. For instance, Spocket shows you how to find the best-selling products here easily:

Lastly, there are various categories that normally sell pretty well;

Fashion And Clothing

TikTok’s significant audience is people ranging from 18-24, which is a younger audience. Therefore, selling products that fall under the fashion niche would always be a good choice for you.

You can also do research via hashtags to target the in-demand clothing items to add to your store.

Food

Food is a timeless category. Each individual, at every point in their life, needs food. So, featuring that in your store can bring out the users’ cravings.

Skin Care And Beauty

61% of TikTok’s audience are women, which truly explains why beauty products are the most popular category among the product niches.

So, by choosing the skincare niche and beauty category for your products catalog, you’ll be able to win some top-notch and branded skin care products for your TikTok dropshipping store.

Kitchenware And Appliances

Kitchenware is a part of every household, which means they fall under the top product categories for TikTok dropshipping.

This is a fairly competitive niche, but it is also one of the most profitable ones.

Tech-Related Product

Technology is forever evolving, which makes it best suited for TikTok dropshipping. You can create multiple 15-20 seconds videos about your product’s features and highlight what makes it better than others.

Health And Lifestyle

Lifestyle is the core part of one’s life. Also, you might be aware of how much a healthy lifestyle is essential. By selling products that fall under that category, you’ll be able to achieve numerous followers within a few days because people love this stuff.

Also, there is an excellent chance that a good influencer might want to collaborate with the brand to create more useful lifestyle-related stuff.

Luckily, selling your products on TikTok is pretty simple.

Step #1. Open your TikTok phone app.
Step #2. Click on the “shopping bag” icon to add a new video to your feed.

Step #3. Next, tap the “Add Products” button to add or remove products from your list. I suggest showing the benefits of your products and the different use cases.

Once the previous steps are completed, people can see your products when they click on your bag icon. Once they click on a product, the link will take them to the product on your Shopify store.

This shopping feature is available for online sellers with their product catalog connected to TikTok for Business via their eCommerce platform, Shopify, and their dropshipping supplier.

Lastly, you can find here the best selling products for Shopify.

TikTok is the platform for User Generated Content, which makes it ideal for users to share their experience of using the products and services. You might have seen the videos with the caption “Things TikTok made me Buy” or “Amazon Must Haves” these videos are very good at convincing people what’s the best product to purchase among a category.

Well, this method solely depends upon the user’s perspective. Here are some other ways that you can use to rank high in TikTok.

Your first goal is that your content makes it into the “For You” section. The algorithms will define what type of content might interest a user. So this is how you can give it a push:

• Stay Consistent: You might have already known that consistency is key to social media platforms! To achieve the goal of ranking, it is crucial to stick to the niche you start with. I suggest you upload content daily or 4-5 days a week to get noticed by the app’s algorithm.
• Make Smaller Videos: Smaller videos catch the user’s attention. Moreover, this way, the user will be able to watch your videos till the last segment. It will make TikTok think that your content is interesting and recommend it to other users. So, a 15-second video will be the best to target your audience.
• Loop Your Videos: It is a small but noticeable hack that you can use to your benefit. The video will play on repeat, enabling the user to watch your content multiple times.
• Make Trends Work for You: It is good to use modern music and hashtags in their videos. Through popular music and trends, you’ll be able to reach out to a larger audience with ease.

There are several ways you can help promote your eCommerce store in TikTok.

• Use Hashtags Efficiently. Hashtags are one of the essential parts of social media trends. You can engage a wide range of audiences by inviting them to challenges. It is a fun yet efficient way to claim your customers. Just make sure you always use hashtags on your videos, including your own, and encourage others to use them.

• Ad Call-To-Actions to Your Videos. One of the best yet simple techniques to send people to your store is adding a clear call to action to your captions. To do this, you just need to add in your captions something like “Visit the store for more information” or “Get this {product name} now by clicking on the link below.”

• Use ads to promote your content. If you have some budget, ads can give your store a good push, and it will help to put your store in front of millions of eyeballs.

I suggest you also check this complete guide to niche marketing to learn more efficient alternatives.

How To Create A TikTok Ads?

In order to run Ads, you’ll need to properly set them up in your Overview Dashboard and configure TikTok Pixel. 

Step #1. In your Shopify dashboard, head over to the TikTok channel and add your TikTok account where it says “TikTok Ads Manager.”

Step #2. Next, head over to TikTok For Business, log in to your business account, and then hover over the main menu. Next, click “Assets > Creative” to make a TikTok video. 

You will have three different options when it comes to the format of your video.

1. Video Template.Where you can create a slideshow video for your ads
2. Smart Video. This allows to generate videos with background music and some effects.
3. Smart Video Soundtrack. This finds you the best sound for your video. All you have to do is to upload the original video to this tool.

Step #3. On your Dashboard page of TikTok Ads Manager, click on the “Create an Ad” button in the middle section.

Step #4. Choose the advertising objective you want to set and edit the changes you see fit. You will find three main metrics you’ll need to focus on: Awareness (potential reach,) Consideration (correlates to the traffic you might receive), and lastly, Conversion (how many of your viewers turned into either potential leads or buying customers.)

Step #5. Lastly, work on the caption you will set for your Ad video, the title of the video, and use an exciting thumbnail picture to capture the attention. Don’t forget to add a Call-To-Action (CTA)such as: Learn more, Shop now, Sign up, Visit store, etc. 

You can use TikTok pixel to keep track of key metrics, like organic click management, impressions, reach, etc. This will allow you to tweak future ad campaigns.

Practical TikTok Tips

This is a great trick that brands use to attract their audience. All you need to do is to create a catchy and branded hashtag aligned with your business or products. Some of the best practices are:

• Try to mention your brand and product name on it.
• They should be easy to remember. Almost 9 out of 10 audiences should easily remember it after they hear it for the first time.
• It should have a motive behind the hashtag.
• Try to create fun challenges and videos that bring the audience together and promote your product in a fun way.

To optimize your TikTok profile, there are a few things that you should keep in check.

• Upload an eye-catching profile that can help you reach to many users as possible.
• Make brand descriptions optimized with concise yet captivating text.
• You can use emojis to make it appear more creative and CTA to link your Shopify store to make it easier for a user to open your product catalog.
• Make sure you use keywords on your profile.

Featuring influencers using your brand can help you build your brand. It is also an excellent way to gain the trust of your audience.
To work with influencers, try to reach them politely, asking for an honest review in exchange for a free product so they can test it.
In exchange, the influencers can get a small commission when anybody clicks on the link with their reference.

TikTok Dropshipping- Conclusion

There is no doubt TikTok is one of the most creative and rising platforms for dropshipping. By utilizing this platform, you can skyrocket your sales with less effort than other marketing platforms. In this article, I included all the possible strategies to help you build traffic and target your potential customers with TikTok dropshipping.

Now it is your turn!

Will you start with TikTok dropshipping?

Leave a comment with your answer below.

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