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Home How to Start an Ecommerce Business 24 Hours

How to Start an Ecommerce Business 24 Hours

aliexpress 1

Starting an online store is very easy. In 2019, you don’t even need to hold a stock of items to post them to your customers.

In this article I’m going to show you how to start your own online store in under 24 hours using Ali Express and Shopify.

This is known as ‘drop shipping.'

What is drop shipping?

Drop shipping is the process of selling products where you only focus on the selling and a third party takes care of stock and delivery.

This is how it works.

Using a site like Ali Express (I’ll talk more about this later), you can find thousands of items to sell.

For example, let’s say you want to sell cell phone accessories like iPhone covers.

aliexpress 1

They are going for as little as £0.24 per cover. Visit any online marketplace or bricks and motor shop and you’ll see them being sold for more than 100% markup.

There’s a high chance that the listing on eBay is from someone drop shipping.

Once a customer orders an iPhone case for £3.38, the seller will place an order on Ali Express to the customer's address. The Ali Express manufacturer will then ship the item to the seller and you keep the profit.

What is Ali Express?

Ali Express is the biggest ecommerce platform in Asia. It’s basically the Amazon of Asia.

There are a few things that make Ali Express different to Amazon and make it great for drop shipping:

The cost of products is cheap – Most of the items on Ali Express are made in China in bulk and so, as a result, are cheap. You can find items on Ali Express that are as much as 50% less expensive than Amazon.

Of course, the quality of these products varies. If you’re paying £0.23 for a cell phone cover, it’s not going to do a great job at protecting your phone.

Sellers ship anywhere – Many manufacturers on Ali Express rely on sales from drop shippers for their products. When sending items to customers, you can tell the manufacturer that you’re drop shipping and to remove all their own branding so the customer doesn’t know where you originally bought the item.

This means that whether you live in the USA or India, you can find products on Ali Express that are shipped globally.

A Shopify store

To run an online store you’ll need a website. While you can do this on eBay and free listing sites like Gumtree, it becomes difficult to scale.

The best solution to fulfill your ecommerce needs is Shopify.

If your store becomes successful and you start getting several orders per day, it becomes a time-consuming process to order each item manually, especially if you’re using several different suppliers.

Shopify has dozens of useful apps like Expressfy and Ali Express Dropshipping, which syncs your store with Ali Express.

These apps will import items from Ali Express to your site, update your stock, allow you to set pricing rules, and send customer info to the supplier to ship out your products.

Shopify offers a 14-day free trial so you can get started right away even if you don’t have much money. After your free trial you’ll need to choose a paid plan. Your other option would be to use a free platform like WordPress (it’s what we use here).

WordPress is ideal for content and blogging sites as that’s what it was built for. I would not advise anyone to drop ship using WordPress as it doesn’t have the robustness needed to run a store.

A few pro tips to get you started

Getting started on Ali Express is super easy. You just need to find a product and create your store on Shopify.

However, before you start selling, consider these factors:

Make sure you have a good product – Many items on Ali Express are poorly made and don’t look anything like the photos. Order yourself a few samples of the product you wish to sell to ensure it's of a good quality.

For most items there will be at least two or more sellers, so review the quality of each to find the best item. Don’t always go with the cheapest as you’ll get a high return rate.

This can cause issues if you accept PayPal as a payment option as too many refunds will see your account blocked.

Refunds – To minimize the chance of refunds, don’t drop ship clothes or art. Clothing sizes on Ali Express don’t match sizes in Europe, and clothing is one of the most retuned items in ecommerce because consumers don’t like how the items look on them.

Art is subjective so once consumers have a photo on their wall they may not like it and want to return it.

Find products from manufacturers who offer refunds if a product is faulty. You can contact suppliers on Ali Express and ask them questions about this, and they respond pretty quickly.

You will likely lose a portion of your revenue to refunds, so keep in mind the suppliers that do provide full refunds if a product is faulty.

Traffic – Have a plan on how you’ll promote your store before you get started. Will you use Google AdWords, Facebook ads, or organic posting on forums and Instagram?

You won’t sell a single product if you cannot drive people to your store. You’ll either need to invest in ads or spend hours each day promoting your items organically.

Your turn

I don’t do any drop shipping because it’s very easy for other people to copy products as they aren’t yours.

But I have drop shipped in the past and it taught me so much about running an online store and driving traffic, and I’ve applied that knowledge to other areas of my businesses.

Have you drop shipped before? Leave a comment below letting me know your thoughts.


Apr 8, 2019Harvie
Drive Targeted Traffic using The $5 Facebook Ad Strategy3 Emails You Need to Send When You Have an Ecommerce Store
Comments: 73
  1. LMSCorp.
    2 years ago

    I would like more info please, I am looking for a "bot" store. Thanks, LMSCorp.

    ReplyCancel
  2. Lyka Marie
    1 year ago

    I am thinking to try this. I am motivated since this is in demand right now because of the pandemic.

    - Lyka @ Wooden Floor

    ReplyCancel
  3. Steve Z.
    1 year ago

    I want to start my ecommerce business but I am hesitant due to lack of knowledge in this field. I am doing my research first before taking the risk and this content help me a lot. Thank you. As of now I am focus on my Movers Boynton Beach

    ReplyCancel
  4. John E.
    11 months ago

    I am doing this drop shipping where I am selling products and only focus on the selling and a third party takes care of stock and delivery.

    ( Bathroom Remodel Tacoma )

    ReplyCancel
  5. Kate
    11 months ago

    I am very interested in e-commerce business. Thanks for sharing this awesome information. I will tell my friend Nash about this information.

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  6. Davidson
    11 months ago

    Nice content about e-commerce. I honestly want to learn how it works.

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    ReplyCancel
  7. David Ing
    11 months ago

    Thank you for this. This is very helpful.

    ReplyCancel
  8. Clarkson
    10 months ago

    If your store becomes successful and you start getting several orders per day, it becomes a time-consuming process to order each item manually, especially if you’re using several different suppliers. Thanks

    Robert
    www.screenenclosure-miami.com

    ReplyCancel
  9. Jason
    10 months ago

    Wow it would be really great to start up a shop! Hopefully next year I'll have a bit more time to focus on it. -Jason, www.epoxywinnipeg.com

    ReplyCancel
  10. Preston
    10 months ago

    These apps will import items from Ali Express to your site, update your stock, allow you to set pricing rules, and send customer info to the supplier to ship out your products. El Dorado Hills Therapy

    ReplyCancel
  11. Dyck
    10 months ago

    Awesome guide, thanks. I've have been thinking of starting a store so I can include products and accessories for clients. -Dyck @ https://bathrenovationswinnipeg.com

    ReplyCancel
  12. Hayley
    9 months ago

    A great way to start an ecommerce business up.
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    ReplyCancel
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    9 months ago

    This is a great help for those who are just starting a business. thanks for sharing!
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    9 months ago

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    9 months ago

    Interesting! I'm about to start mine. Thank you for sharing this helpful article.
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    9 months ago

    Amazing! These tips are helpful for me especially I am about to start mine. Thank you! Asap Digital Marketing

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    9 months ago

    Check here if you want to learn more about ecommerce business.

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  18. Mark
    9 months ago

    Thank you for sharing these tips. I really learn a lot.

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    ReplyCancel
  19. Glen
    8 months ago

    Drop shipping idea is really amazing and it's a win win situation. A Green grass opportunity for everyone.

    ReplyCancel
  20. Ms.Green
    8 months ago

    I always love reading articles like this because it gives me great ideas for my tile installation business.

    ReplyCancel
  21. James
    8 months ago

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    8 months ago

    This was awesome, much appreciated.
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  23. Amber Brion
    7 months ago

    Wow! This is the content that I've been looking for, planning to start a dropshipping but I don't know-how. I just need to think about what will be our services Thank you so much.

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    6 months ago

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  26. Jaime
    5 months ago

    Excellent info about Ali Express. I'd looked at Ali Express before, but never really got too involved because it looked complicated. I'm trying to expand my online store that spawned from my Arlington drywall contractor website.

    ReplyCancel
  27. Scott
    5 months ago

    Very informative article on ecommerce!
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  28. Ken Conley
    5 months ago

    Imagine how much more you can do if you could complete this in just 24 hours. Really cool!
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    5 months ago

    Amazing what you can accomplish when you get to work.
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    5 months ago

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    4 months ago

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    4 months ago

    My husband started a small ecommerce t-shirt business after he lost his job when the pandemic began. He's done pretty well all in all. Great business model if you can find the right product offerings. tile roof repair

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    4 months ago

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    4 months ago

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  45. Chelsy
    4 months ago

    I can't begin to stress the importance of doing something like this 254 hours. For example, think of a 24 hour towing company and how much business they would lose out on if they were only open during regular business hours. Just something to keep in mind. Don't get me wrong though I learned a lot from this article and I'm just adding my 2 cents.

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    4 months ago

    With everything that has been happening in the world, it seems like more and more people are gravitating towards the digital world. I can assist you with website builds and search engine optimization. I also bring a new approach to creating high-quality organic leads if you have any type of service business.

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    4 months ago

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Harvie

I'm Harvie Kalazaki, a UK expat who lives in Thailand helping small businesses do better with their online marketing along with running several of my own sites in various niches.

3 years ago 73 Comments Beginners Articles1,494
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