Before You Take a Trip to China Looking For a Manufacturer...

• by Jason Chinn
 

Before You Take a Trip to China Looking for a Manufacturer...

Before You Take a Trip to China Looking for a Manufacturer...
...there are a few things you need to know.

China is a hotspot for sourcing cost-effective manufacturers, and so many entrepreneurs seek out a factory there to bring their products to life. But as they often find, there's a lot to navigate.

Take Andrew Moore, the owner of Felony Case, who started off hand-making his unique iPhone cases before travelling to China to find a manufacturer.

In this episode of Shopify Masters, he'll share how to plan your trip to China to find manufacturers and make the best use of your time—including what time of year to go and how to work with a "fixer" in China.

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Niche Product goldmines: Uncovering the Trending Treasures of 2025

The 2025 e-commerce landscape is becoming shaped by conscious consumerism, the ever-present influence of social media sites, and a renewed focus on personal well-being.

  

Niche product research reveals a significant shift towards sustainable goods, hyper-personalised items, and products that cater to specialised hobbies and the booming pet and wellness markets. 

Savvy entrepreneurs looking to capitalise on emerging trends will find fertile ground in categories that align with these core values. Analysis of market trends, social media discussions, and e-commerce reports points to a clear direction for where consumer interest is heading. 

The Green Revolution: Sustainability as a Standard No longer a niche itself, sustainability has become a fundamental expectation for a growing segment of consumers. This has paved the way for a multitude of niche products that champion eco-consciousness. 

Biodegradable and Compostable Goods: Beyond reusable bags, the demand for fully biodegradable products is surging. Think compostable phone cases, kitchenware made from agricultural waste, and biodegradable glitter. 

Water-Saving Products: As climate change concerns intensify, products that help conserve water are gaining traction. This includes everything from low-flow shower-heads with advanced technology to innovative home irrigation systems. 

Refillable and Reusable Personal Care: The beauty and personal care industry is witnessing a significant move towards sustainability. Products like, Refillable deodorant, shampoo bars, and reusable makeup remover pads are becoming mainstream, creating opportunities for niche brands to innovate with unique scents, formulations, and packaging. 

The Personal Touch: Hyper-Personalisation and Customisation Consumers are increasingly seeking products that reflect their unique identity are what consumers are increasingly seeking. This trend towards personalisation is a key driver of niche market growth. 

Personalised Pet Products: The humanisation of pets continues to fuel a multi-billion dollar industry. Niche opportunities abound in personalised pet food subscriptions tailored to specific dietary needs, custom-made pet accessories, and even pet-safe paints for creative owners. 

Customised Jewellery and Accessories: Beyond simple engravings, technology now allows for highly detailed and personal jewellery creation. Think necklaces with sound-wave engravings of a loved one's voice or bracelets featuring a pet's paw print. 

Monogrammed and Bespoke Home Décor: From custom-designed wallpaper to monogrammed bedding and unique, handcrafted furniture, the desire to create a personalised living space is a strong market driver. 

The Wellness Boom:2025. Nootropics, Mental Wellness, and At-Home Fitness The focus on health and well-being continues to expand, creating a plethora of niche markets. 

Nootropics and Functional Beverages: Brain-boosting supplements, known as nootropics, are gaining popularity among professionals and students seeking a mental edge. The market for functional beverages infused with adaptogens, vitamins, and minerals is also experiencing rapid growth. 

Mental Wellness Products: In an increasingly stressful world, products that promote mental clarity and relaxation are in high demand. This includes weighted blankets, aromatherapy diffusers with unique essential oil blends, and subscription boxes focused on mindfulness and self-care. 

Specialised At-Home Fitness Equipment: While the home gym trend is not new, the niche lies in specialised equipment. Think smart yoga mats that provide real-time feedback, portable and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout gear, and recovery tools like massage guns and compression boots. The Influence of the "Small Screen": TikTok and Pinterest Trends Social media platforms remain powerful engines for product discovery and trend creation. 

"As Seen on TikTok" Gadgets: Viral videos can launch a product into overnight success. Niche opportunities lie in identifying and sourcing the next trending gadget, from kitchen tools that simplify cooking to innovative cleaning and organisation hacks. 

Aesthetic-Driven Niches: Pinterest and Instagram continue to fuel aesthetic movements. "Cottagecore," "Dark Academia," and other visual trends create demand for specific types of clothing, home décor, and accessories. Entrepreneurs who can tap into these emerging aesthetics will find a ready market. 

Hobby-Specific Products: The creator economy has shed light on a vast array of hobbies. Niche products that cater to these specific interests, such as specialised tools for miniature painting, high-quality materials for bookbinding, or unique supplies for urban gardening, are finding dedicated customer bases. 

In conclusion, the most promising niche products for 2025 are those that tap into the core values of sustainability, personalised, and well-being, often amplified and accelerated by the power of social media. By identifying and catering to these specific and passionate consumer groups, entrepreneurs can carve out a profitable space in the dynamic world of e-commerce.

Some Essential Questions You Should Ask A Supplier Before Signing Up For A Dropshipping Account

Some Essential Questions You Should Ask A Supplier Before Signing Up For A Dropshipping Account

If you're looking for a dropship supplier for your business, it's essential to do your research beforehand as there are so many scams and middlemen who pretend to be a legitimate dropshipping company but are merely just a middleman or a scam just to take your money and run.

A dropshipping scam or a middleman can be quite difficult to

distinguish from a legit dropshipping company. Their website will look like a real business, the design, layout, and features can be difficult to distinguish from a true droppshipper, and may even be designed to look even better than the average legit website. This is to fool you into giving away your hard earned cash without you knowing until it's too late.

So before you decide on starting your own dropshipping business, I've

prepared some essential questions below to ask a supplier before committing to a scamster or a middleman acting as a legitimate business with the sole intent of taking your cash and disappearing. 

In case you're wondering what's is a middleman, it's a company

acting as a dropshipper and claiming to be the supplier of the products displayed on their website, but instead of taking your cash and running, most middlemen will actually supply the products you pay for but do not hold the products themselves but instead they use their own legit suppliers and add a higher margin to the products taking a cut of your profit, thus making it difficult for you to earn a profit from the high prices you pay compared to your competition.

"Below are some questions I've prepared for you to ask a supplier before committing, and in order to separate the legitimate dropshipper from scams and middlemen"

1. Are you the Manufacturer of the product/s?   If not are you a partner or have a share of the Manufacturer's business? (This is an important question to ask. Although not all dropshipping company actually manufactures the products they sell, but if legit will have some sort of partnership or common interest with them as some manufacturers don't have the time to dropship items in small quantities, so they outsource them to large wholesale companies who purchase in bulk).
2. Do you stock Inventory of the products you sell?  (If not this is guaranteed to be a middleman, who is taking the profit that you should be earning and charging a much higher price to you, which will prevent you from competing on price with your competition and more often than not you'll end up at a loss.
3. Do you offer true wholesale pricing so I can make a profit?   (If so, ask them for a copy of their price list or ask to see some product prices on their website).
4. Do you Dropship (single) item's to the UK?  (I've used the 'UK' in question 1. as an example only. This is your choice depending on what country you live. Also, I've put the word (single) in brackets because not all dropshipping company's will dropship single items, some have a minimum amount (e.g. minimum £100....) you have to spend on your first order. Most dropshippers will dropship single item’s but not all will. Don't automatically assume it's a scam if they have a minimum purchase requirement).
5. Do you charge a dropshipping fee for each item, and if so what are your fees?    (Not all genuine dropshipping company's charge an additional fee for their service, but some do. this is quite normal for them to charge a small fee for their service, as it covers their shipping materials and handling charge. Others don't charge an additional fee but merely include it in the price of the products. Either way, it saves you a lot of time and hassle of having to purchase shipping materials yourself and saves you time, enabling you to concentrate on more important aspects of running your day to day business.
6. Is there a minimum order?   (Some legitimate dropshippers policies include a minimum order, so don't automatically assume its a scam if they do. It's your decision to separate legitimate company's from the scamster, only after asking all these questions and getting a reply, along with your own research of the company in question. Only then should you make a decision. If one or more of your questions cannot be answered appropriately, then ask yourself, why?  (All legitimate dropshipping companies should be able to answer these simple questions, and in plain and simple English, without the jargon, and words you don't understand).
7. Do I have to purchase the website start-up package in order to become a dropshipper and do business with you?   (some legitimate dropshipping company's I've come across do have a package website already loaded with their products for you to dropship, but will also give you the option to dropship single items without purchasing the package. Personally, I've found that a lot of them with the website package deals are a scam. not all of them but the majority of them are. if you come across a company with this package your better off to steer clear and avoid using them. If you are sure they are legitimate and want to do business with them and they give you an option of taking out the package or not, then it's safer not to buy into the package, just use the single item dropshipping program they have).
8. Do you have the appropriate certificates in your possession that are needed for a business in order to be a dropshipping company? If so is it possible to see them or get a copy of them? (A legitimate company should have these in their possession and would be only too willing to share this information with you. If there's a delay in providing this or if they are unable to provide these certificates, the stay well away. It's almost certainly a scam if they refuse to provide this information).

Check out some wholesale products at my store

The Definitive Guide to Dropshipping with AliExpress...Part 1

...

• by Corey Ferreira
 
• Dropshipping

Dropshipping is an excellent way to start an ecommerce business without needing to worry about inventory or shipping. It’s as simple as listing a product for sale on your website, and sending an email to your supplier to ship the item on your behalf whenever you get an order.

While starting a dropshipping business is a great way to start an ecommerce business, digging deep through the internet to find a reliable supplier can be tough. However, with Oberlo and Aliexpress, there is a convenient marketplace you can use to dropship.

AliExpress makes it easy to find products to sell on your store, without having to worry about inventory or shipping. You can pay for products at wholesale prices and have them drop-shipped directly to your customers.

Why AliExpress for Dropshipping

AliExpress is a gigantic marketplace with a wide selection of products you can sell in your store. Because most of the AliExpress sellers are overseas manufacturers, their prices are very competitive.

While AliExpress may position itself as an online retailer, most sellers on AliExpress understand that a large number of their customers are resellers and are much more interested in dropshipping.

Dropshipping with AliExpress is also very easy.

There’s no upfront cost or fee, so you can test out products without any financial commitment. You can start dropshipping today, for free, by using AliExpress or Oberlo.

Many sellers on AliExpress have great product photos that you can use on your website, as well as detailed product descriptions to help you describe the product in your store.

Lastly, dropshipping using AliExpress is as simple as ordering the product on AliExpress after getting an order, and inputting the customer’s address.

I’m going to go over in more detail how this all comes together, what to look for in a product and seller, and how to position yourself for success, but it’s really not any more complicated than what I described above. Dropshipping using AliExpress is a great way to get started selling online once you have everything setup.

Why Would Someone Buy from Your Store If They Can Buy the Same Products on AliExpress?

With an AliExpress dropshipping business, your competitive advantage won’t be your price or unique proprietary products. Your competitive advantage will be reaching your customers before competitors do.

It’s retail arbitrage.

Good marketing and reaching customers first can be a competitive advantage. You can also add more value to your customers by building a brand, creating content and providing awesome customer service.

Continue Reading >>  Go To The Definitive Guide to Dropshipping with AliExpress...Part 2

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The Definitive Guide to Dropshipping with AliExpress...Part 2

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Part 2...

Setting Up Your Store

Now that we understand how AliExpress can work as a dropshipper, and how you will position your store, let’s first get your store set up before placing your first order.

Selecting Your Niche and Products

The first part of setting up your store is deciding on your niche. If you don’t know where to start, start with the product categories AliExpress has and begin deciding what interests you the most or what you’d feel the most comfortable selling.

Once you have a niche in mind, it’s time to start choosing a few products you want to resell on your store. In this example, I chose running shoes as my store niche.

As you’ll find with AliExpress, there’s a huge selection of products to choose from. It can be overwhelming. It can also be lead to headaches if you don’t select a quality product from a reliable supplier.

While it isn’t perfect, I’ve developed  a list of criteria for choosing a product. There’s no science to it, but so far it’s helped me select reliable sellers. Here are a few things I look for when selecting a product on AliExpress to dropship:

No brands, fakes, knockoffs: I avoid any brands to avoid reselling fakes and knockoffs. Look for unbranded products. If there’s a logo on the product, I avoid it, even if it may be legitimate. I don’t want to take the risk since I’m not a licensed reseller and also because I don’t actually know if the product is real. This might significantly limit your choices, so choose a niche where brand doesn’t matter, such as with electronic accessories or clothing.

ePacket delivery with free shipping: When possible, I try to only resell products that offer ePacket shipping that’s free. Because a majority of products on AliExpress come from China or Hong Kong, ePacket delivery is not only the most economical, but one of the quickest for small goods to get to the United States.

Over 300 orders: A product with a lot of orders tells me a few things. First, it tells me there’s demand for the product. Second, it tells me the supplier must be reliable as my guess is that a few of those orders are repeats. Sometimes when looking for a new product, I’ll sort products by the most orders.

Over 4.5 stars rating: I also like to ensure the products I plan to resell have a high product rating (over 4.5 stars) and the seller has high positive feedback as well. Just to get a second opinion on sellers on products, I use a Chrome extension called AliExpress Seller Check.

This provides me with a detailed overview rating left with a third-party app. I’ve found this to be much more reliable than simply using AliExpress’ rating system.

Low price with a high margin potential: Depending on the product I want to resell, I like to stick with purchasing products within a $1-$20 price range. This makes it less risky when I lose money on a sale, and these products generally can be priced at $20-$50 or more. For example, I can find running shoes on AliExpress for around $20 and sell them for $50. This provides me with a 60% profit margin.

Lots of great, unbranded, product photos: Do your due diligence to ensure the photos are actually from your manufacturer and not stolen from another retailer online. Doing a quick Google image search will help you see if the product photos are of a real brand and retailer or from the manufacturer themselves.

Communicative, helpful seller: Don’t be afraid to ask a seller questions before placing an order with them. A good reliable seller will answer all of your questions quickly. If a seller doesn’t respond to messages, that’s a big red flag.

Adding Products to Your Store

Once you setup your Shopify store, it’s time to add a product. This step is important to cover in detail because it’s not as simple as copying the images and description of the AliExpress listing and placing that on your website.

Instead, if you want to position your store for success, there are a few things you should consider.

Write your own product descriptions. The product descriptions for many of the products on AliExpress were not written by copywriters or with the intention of fully explaining the benefits of the products. Having your own unique content will serve your business better in the long run (Google ignores duplicate content) and will help you convert better on product pages.

Let customers know about delivery times. It’s a good idea to include on the product page (or elsewhere on your store) that your customers may need to wait at least 20 days (depending on the supplier) for their order to arrive. Since most suppliers on AliExpress are located in China, shipping times can be longer than average.

Use an order tracking app. With longer shipping times than most people are used to, you’ll often receive emails from customers asking where their purchase is. Use an order tracking app from the Shopify App store to keep your customers up-to-date with the status of their purchase.

Image: Tracktor

Offer free shipping. This can become one of your competitive advantages so I highly recommend offering free shipping to your customers by taking advantage of the free/low cost shipping offered by many AliExpress sellers.

Price products appropriately. Consider pricing your products at about twice the cost. Shooting for a 50% margin will make running the business worthwhile, as well as cover for marketing expenses.

Add products to your store with Oberlo. Instead of manually adding products from AliExpress to your website, you can use Oberlo to quickly add products to your store.

How to Use AliExpress to Dropship

Now that you have your store filled with products ready to sell and dropship, what do you do once you get your first order?

Dropshipping with AliExpress works similarly to any regular dropshipper. When you receive an order, purchase the item on AliExpress and enter your customer’s name and shipping address. The AliExpress seller handles the rest.

It might be a good idea to have a spreadsheet handy with a list of all the products on your site, the amount you’re selling them for, the amount they cost on AliExpress and a link to the AliExpress listing. This way, whenever you get an order, it will be easier for you to find the supplier on AliExpress as well as keep track of price changes.

Alternatively, you can use Oberlo which can handle all this for you, including making it easier for you to purchase orders on AliExpress and watch for price changes.

When ordering on AliExpress, it’s a good idea to let the seller know you’re dropshipping. This way, the supplier won’t include any invoices or promotions in the package being sent to your customer.

On checkout, you can leave a message for the seller. I recommend leaving a message such as: “We’re dropshipping. No promotions & invoices, please!”

As I mentioned earlier, try and select ePacket shipping if the supplier is in China and if it’s available as a shipping option. Many suppliers will offer this shipping option for free.

Depending on your seller’s processing time, you’ll receive an email shortly letting you know that your order has been shipped.

Click the link in the email to view the order, which will allow you to see the tracking number for the order.

Head over to your Shopify admin and fulfill that order. Be sure to enter the tracking number, too.

That’s it! Now it’s just a matter of waiting for your customers to receive their order. When the order arrives, AliExpress will send you an email asking for confirmation that the order was received. Give some time for the customer to get back to you in case there are any problems with their order. This way, you can bring up the issue with the supplier through AliExpress for them to correct it.

What About Refunds and Returns?

Many AliExpress suppliers don’t offer returns. This means you’ll have to handle returns and refunds in one of a few ways. When there’s an issue with an order a customer placed on your store, it’s usually because the order never arrives or your customer is not happy with their purchase.

For the first case, an order never arriving should be brought up with the AliExpress supplier. In this situation, contact the supplier to resolve the issue or use AliExpress’ Buyer Protection.

If your customer is simply not happy with the product, I suggest providing a refund. If the product is damaged, ask your customer to take photos and send those photos to the AliExpress seller and go from there.

Growing Your Dropshipping Business

Once you’ve made your first few sales, it’s time to start looking at how you can grow your dropshipping business and make more money.

Eventually you’ll begin to figure out who the reliable and quality suppliers are, and who are not. You should consider building relationships with the reliable ones. This will allow you to get better prices and priority order processing.

I’ve found most of the suppliers on AliExpress use Skype. If you see yourself frequently ordering from the same seller, it’s a good idea to ask them for their Skype username to develop a business relationship. Once you’ve demonstrated you can bring in recurring sales, some sellers will allow you to place your logo on products, include custom invoices or branded inserts into shipping packages.

Start Dropshipping

The best part about AliExpress dropshipping is that it allows you to quickly test and validate store ideas and products. Unsure if you’re capable of selling a certain product? Add it to your store and test it! Doesn’t work out? It’s as simple as removing the item from your store and testing something else. Start for free with Oberlo.

Because you’re not carrying or managing any inventory, and there’s no upfront cost, there’s little risk to setting this all up.

Check out some great Wholesale Prices here at my Addoway Store >>

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