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5 Secrets for a Successful High Ticket Dropshipping Business

Learn how to start a successful high ticket dropshipping business

People stereotype dropshipping as the process of “flipping cheap products from AliExpress”. However, you should know that there are some successful high ticket dropshipping businesses in the market as well. So, in this guide, you can find five secrets to start a successful high ticket dropshipping business.

The process of high ticket dropshipping is completely different than the common dropshipping practices. We will see why, and we will show you the steps to overcome some obstacles to high ticket dropshipping.

What is high ticket dropshipping

High ticket dropshipping is commonly known as the process of dropshipping products that cost over $1000. However, there is no hard and fast rule about this threshold. At Ecommercebuff, we consider high ticket dropshipping products as anything that costs more than $200. Why? Because it is unrealistic to sell products that cost over $1000 without a high-end branding strategy.

Why is it so unrealistic to sell high ticket products

As the price tag of your high ticket dropshipping product goes up, your dropshipping formula gets too complicated and costly. For example, returns, warranty, retail license, premium shipping, customer service, marketing, and many other factors have to be improved; and ultimately, you will have to compete against premium brands like IKEA, Pottery Barn, etc.

Next, as we have discussed in our dropshipping marketing strategy, it is really hard to sell the products with too many specifications using dropshipping. For example, a state of the art coffee maker might be a good high ticket product. But, before someone would spend $1200 on a coffee maker, they would definitely do online research about product reviews, specifications, price comparisons, etc. So, most probably, you will lose your customers from your sales funnel during that stage.

Read more on: The beginner’s guide to start dropshipping

How to start a successful high ticket dropshipping business

Well, here we are going to discuss five points to build a successful high ticket dropshipping business. These five points will cover everything from product research to branding. Also, towards the end, we will discuss some alternatives to high ticket dropshipping as well.

  1. Searching for the winning high ticket dropshipping products
  2. Planning your budget for high ticket dropshipping
  3. Creating a premium online store
  4. Building an audience who trust you
  5. Shipping and customer services for a high ticket dropshipping business

Searching for the winning high ticket dropshipping products

Not every product is suitable for dropshipping. For example, you will find it is really hard, and nearly impossible, to sell needs and necessities with dropshipping.

So, what type of high ticket products do well on dropshipping? We have already shared two hacks to find winning dropshipping products. You can use the same strategy (with a few modifications) for high ticket dropshipping.

Search for best selling products

Go to Amazon Best Sellers and see what is trending and has the highest number of sales/positive reviews. Then check for the same product varients on AliExpress.

Refine your search

You can use refine search features on AliExpress to find the high ticket dropshipping products. For example, you can set the price range above $200 and use “ship from the USA.” The reason to add shipping from the USA is to get shorter delivery times. So, you can save money when offering premium shipping options.

Refine AliExpress search to find high ticket products

Avoid knock-offs

Do not try to sell knock-offs. The price range between $200-$500 has the largest amount of counterfeit products. And, by choosing the products that ship from the USA, you can try to minimize your chances of getting into trouble.

Best high ticket dropshipping products for 2020

  • Digital cameras and accessories
  • Leather products (Wallets, Shoes, belts, handbags)
  • Automotive equipment, vehicle modification accessories
  • Electronic equipment
  • Drones
  • Jewelry and watches
  • Luxury phone cases

Planning your budget for high ticket dropshipping

There is a clear difference between standard dropshipping and high ticket dropshipping in terms of the initial investment. For example, you know you can start a dropshipping business with less than $200 in hand. Refer: How much money do you need to start dropshipping. But, you need much more than that to start high-ticket dropshipping.

Paying for products

If you are using PayPal or Stripe as the payment gateways of your dropshipping store, it usually takes a week for the payouts. However, you need to pay the supplier and shipping immediately after receiving an order. So, you should need to maintain an adequate cash buffer for this process.

High-end marketing budgets

High ticket products need high-end marketing budgets. Getting professional ad designs, targeting higher CPC keywords, and getting endorsements from top tier influencers, everything will need more money than regular dropshipping. However, below we will discuss some practical audience building strategies for a high ticket business. There you can find some exceptions.

Creating a premium online store

The conversion rate of a high ticket business depends on the amount of trust that you can build among your potential customers. And, your store design has to play a major role in building this trust.

A sloppy online store design can quickly destroy the purchasing experience of your customers. The site loading time, the premium look of the theme, the choice of colors, tone of language, and everything about your online store matter for the enormous trust that you have to build among your customers.

Build a premium high ticket dropshipping store on Shopify

Shopify offers a wide range of premium themes and templates to create a high-end online store for your dropshipping business.

Also, when you build your high ticket dropshipping store on Shopify, you can save up to 90% on shipping from all major carriers like USPS, UPS, and DHL through Shopify Shipping. So, it can be a lifesaver when it comes to high ticket dropshipping.

Additional Reading:

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Building an audience who trust you

No one is going to enter their credit card info or hit on that PayPal “Buy now” button unless they can trust you/your business. And, it can be even tougher to get conversions in high ticket dropshipping. So, the only solution is to build an enormous amount of trust among your target audience.

Apparently, we have discussed this whole idea in this article: Build an audience first, then start selling.

Audience building for high ticket dropshipping

There are different ways to build an audience for your business. And, becoming an influencer/thought leader in your particular industry is the most effective way to build an audience for your business.

So, if you are planning on selling high ticket products, perhaps you can start creating content on YouTube and other social media channels to make your name popular among your target audience. You can follow the techniques that we have discussed in Facebook marketing strategies and Instagram selling strategies to build a loyal audience for your name or brand.

Paid marketing for high ticket dropshipping

When it comes to the high ticket businesses, running paid ads works well only if you have a strong brand authority in your industry. For example, no one will pay $1000 on “some” websites just because they run ads.

So, in the beginning, you can run paid ads to promote your content for audience building. Then, once you have a loyal and engaging follower base, you can run paid ads targeting them to sell your high ticket products. So, since your target audience already knows you, these paid ads could make more high ticket conversions.

Shipping and customer services for a high ticket dropshipping business

Unlike regular dropshipping practices, high ticket dropshipping needs a premium level customer service and and shipping facilities. When people pay more, they expect more from you. And, you have to fulfill those expectations to build a sustainable high ticket dropshipping business.

Premium level customer support

Can you reply to customer service emails within 15 minutes? Are you available to answer the phone or live chat 24×7? How fast can you track down and handle shipping delays? All these should be a part of your premium customer service plan.

However, do not consider providing premium customer support as always a cost. Actually, by giving a better customer support service, you can have an edge on your competition by promoting it as one of your unique selling proposition.

Premium shipping features

When people pay more than $100 online, they become skeptical about everything. And, needless to say, in such a situation, something terrible like a shipping delay would be your worst nightmare. So, you need to extra precautious with shipping and delivery in high ticket dropshipping.

So, make sure to properly plan your shipping and delivery. And, it is always better to use tracked shipping plans with an insurance if possible. So, you can share the tracking code with your customers and let them be vigilant about their package.

Also, faster services like “same-day delivery” can be good selling points in high ticket dropshipping. Therefore, if you can invest more, you can slightly adjust your dropshipping strategy to per-purchase a stock and use premium delivery services like FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) to offer faster delivery options.

Alternatives to high ticket dropshipping

High ticket dropshipping is a costly and a complicated process to build. So, are there any cheap alternatives to high ticket dropshipping?

Well, if you become so successful in audience building, as we have discussed earlier, you can use affiliate marketing as an alternative to high ticket dropshipping. In affiliate marketing, you can still promote high ticket products on your online store, and make commissions, rather than making sales.

Talking about affiliate marketing is out of the scope of this article, and we will talk about later. Until then, you can explore more business ideas to start and run a successful online business as an alternative to high ticket dropshipping.

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