The Biggest Dropshipping Trends of the Holiday Season
The holiday season is the happiest time of year, especially if you’re in online retail! According to Deloitte’s annual holiday survey, the average American household is likely to spend close to $1,500 this coming December.
Most of this year’s holiday spending will be online. This is a great time to expand your online store’s offering and use eCommerce dropshipping to source must-have holiday products.
To make the most of the upcoming holidays, check out our tips for choosing products for dropshipping and explore the season’s trendiest items when building an dropshipping website and starting a dropshipping business.
Best Practices for Dropshipping During the Holiday Season
Choosing the Right Products
When creating a product catalog for your eCommerce website, choose products that are easy to ship (see also our guide on what is eCommerce). Ideal products are small, lightweight (and of course, trendy).
As a general rule, you should always be able to maintain a profit margin of at least 30%. This margin should allow you some wiggle room, without risking profitability.
Read Also: How to start a business
Make Sure Your Suppliers Are Prepared
For most retailers, the holidays are when you get rid of the year’s inventory. This is done by offering larger discounts than any other season.
As a dropshipping business, you don’t technically have a large inventory that needs clearing. That doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax though.
The holidays are an extremely busy time for both merchants and suppliers. Make sure you keep in contact with your suppliers, let them know your sales projections and make sure they’re capable of quickly supplying your best-selling products.
Though dropshipping merchants do not tend to build up an inventory, suppliers often do. This can be used to your advantage. Talk to your suppliers and see if they can offer you any discounts.
Gauge Demand and Competition
There’s no way to really know how many sales a specific product will bring, which can lead to panic-price-dropping. You can combat this by doing your market research ahead of time.
There’s competition for every product out there. But how this affects you can differ. A good pre-holiday practice is to get a pulse on the competition. See who’s out there, what they’re doing to promote holiday sales and try to understand how much of the market they actually hold.
Similarly, it’s best to understand your own status. A good way to do this is by offering shoppers exclusive pre-holiday deals or allow them to sign up to be notified when your sales start. This will give you a better idea of projected sales.
Top Products to Dropship During the 2019 Holiday Season
Product selection plays a huge role in determining the success or failure of this season’s sales. You want to look for items that will sell, but avoid markets oversaturated by other merchants.
When considering whether dropshipping is worth it, you need to find profitable products to sell. This is a must for any retailer. The best ways to do so include checking out last year’s sales, researching social media, keeping an eye on Pinterest and looking up products using Google Trends. You can also browse trendy products on dropshipping platforms such as Modalyst.
8 top products to dropship
To give you a head start, we’ve done our own research. Here are some trending products to add to your product collections this holiday season:
01. Socks
Not much says Christmas more than socks. Well, stockings… But socks are much trendier this year.
They’re small and lightweight, making them easy to dropship. As opposed to other clothing items, socks are pretty versatile. Many of which go for a unisex design with a small number of size options.
The sheer variety of designed socks is huge, making them great gifts. No matter what people are into, they can always find the right sock to represent them.
02. Men’s Watches
Wristwatches make for a classic gift and they are trending in the dropshipping market, especially men’s watches.
Watches are a great way to attract a diverse range of customers. Selling $20 watches alongside $500 watches ensures that you’ll have products that match your shoppers’ budget.
03. Mini Projectors
Winter time is perfect for staying in. So why not take it to the next level?
Mini projectors can turn a living room into a movie theater. For an electronic item, these projectors are relatively small and cheap, making for a great online purchase.
04. Mugs
Mugs are one of those products that spike in searches and sales every holiday season.
Personalization is often the deciding factor with these. Most people won’t buy a mug as the sole present for a loved one, but they do make for a spontaneous add-on.
With this in mind, you can offer customizable mugs for your target shoppers. For example, if you sell men’s watches, throwing in a recommendation for a “Best Dad” mug can get you a few extra dollars and up your average order totals.
05. Drone Cameras
Who doesn’t want their own drone?
While drones still maintain an air of luxury, this year the market price dropped for these futuristic products.
These days, drone cameras are quite compact with surprisingly high-quality images. This is definitely a great gift for any photographer, traveler or gadget-head.
06. Decorative Pictures
Framed pictures, paintings or photos make fantastic gifts. They give people a chance to show their appreciation for others by choosing something that suits their individual tastes.
To cash in on this long-standing trend, offer some customization options, or go with a specific theme that suits your target shopper.
07. Bags
Backpacks, fanny packs and tote bags are true utility products that are almost always trending.
The huge variety of available designs and patterns means there’s something for everyone. Curating a well-designed line of bags is a great holiday addition to your online storefront.
Bags are also a popular item when it comes to starting a print on demand business, which is a form of dropshipping that allows you to sell customized products with your own design or logo on them. You can integrate with print on demand companies to get started.
08. Bean Bags
Home goods normally trend during the holiday season. It’s a time when people hang out indoors with their family and friends. No time of year is better for spicing up the stay-at-home experience.
Bean bags seem random, but it’s one of those products that people love—especially children. They’re cheap and lightweight, so shipping should be hassle-free.
Carrying a wide range of sizes and designs is a good way to ensure that anyone can walk away (or sit back) with something.
Sell Products Fit for Your Business
The holidays are a highly competitive time for dropshippers. Most products that appear on trending lists tend to spread quickly, so it’s best to do your own research and find your niche.
The most successful businesses sell products that fit their brand. By finding items most relevant to your business, you’ll likely increase your chances of connecting with your target shopper.
Other dropshipping ideas and products to consider
Tamar Nevo
Head of Product, Wix eCommerce
Tamar has spent over a decade in product leadership with dynamic B2C companies, and is an established innovator in the field of eCommerce. As the head of product for eCommerce at Wix, Tamar builds the tools that enable over 700k online stores worldwide.
