TikTok is a social and ecommerce powerhouse with about 150 million users in the US.[1] In addition, 37% of TikTok users have bought something from the platform.[2]
If you’re looking to cash in on the TikTok ecommerce phenomenon, you can start selling on TikTok without investing in products upfront. The dropshipping business model lets you outsource inventory and fulfillment to a third-party platform.
Below, we walk you through starting your own TikTok dropshipping business, its pros and cons, finding the right products to sell, and effectively marketing them to generate sales. It’s fairly simple—create a TikTok Business profile to get started.
Key Takeaways:
- TikTok dropshipping lets you market and sell products in your TikTok Shop that are fulfilled and shipped by a third-party company (a dropshipper that acts as a middleman for you and your buyers).
- Product selection is critical to the success of your TikTok dropshipping store.
- Dropshipping on TikTok is a low-cost, low-risk business, but you can face tough competition and have no control over stock and pricing changes.
What Is TikTok Dropshipping?
TikTok dropshipping is a business model that allows you to sell products without keeping physical inventory on hand. Buyers purchase items from your store, and third-party suppliers fulfill and ship your orders from their end without you needing to do anything.
You can use the TikTok platform to generate sales using the dropshipping model in two ways. First, you can use TikTok to advertise your products and lead customers to your dropshipping store. A dropship store is an online store hosted on an ecommerce platform. Second, you can connect a dropshipping app to your TikTok Shop from your seller dashboard.
TikTok Dropshipping via Online Store
If you want to dropship through your own online store, the process will depend on your chosen ecommerce platform. Setting up dropshipping will be done on your ecommerce store, and you have the option to choose from a multitude of dropshipping partners available as integrations.
Then, you can connect your online store to TikTok and promote your products there. You can read our step-by-step guide on how to set up a Shopify dropshipping store to get an idea.
TikTok Dropshipping via TikTok Shop
If you want to set up dropshipping directly from TikTok Shop, apply to be a TikTok Shop seller first. You need to have a TikTok business account and at least 1,000 followers before you can apply to open a TikTok Shop.
You also need a US phone number and email address to sign up and a certificate of incorporation, a US passport, or a US driver’s license to verify your identity and complete the application.
To connect to a dropshipping partner, go to Apps & Services in your Seller Central dashboard. (Source: TikTok)
In the US, TikTok Shop does not allow dropshipping partners from China because of its shipping and delivery timeframe requirements. The ones listed below are the available dropshipping platforms from TikTok’s app marketplace and have warehouses in the US, so they can fulfill orders quickly.
- CJ Dropshipping
- Trendsi
- Wahool
- FashionGo Dropshipping
- Supliful
- EPROLO
- DSers
- Sup Dropshipping
- H&O FreeDropship
- USAdrop
Pros & Cons of TikTok Dropshipping
As with any ecommerce business model, TikTok Shop dropshipping comes with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Pros
Dropshipping on TikTok provides you with a slew of benefits.
Low-cost & Easy to Start
TikTok dropshipping is a low-cost and easy startup business model. You don’t need to maintain inventory and handle fulfillment and shipping since the dropshipping company handles these aspects for you. Hence, you can start an online store without much overhead, so there is little risk.
Allows Market Research & Testing
You can experiment with different products, put them in front of TikTok’s vast audience, and learn which works and which doesn’t. TikTok is also the mecca of viral marketing, so you can stay updated with current trends and customer preferences. The hashtag, #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, is proof of how TikTok can create consumer demand.
Increases Brand Awareness & Audience Reach
TikTok registered 150 million monthly users in the US as of March 2023. The figure alone indicates how even promoting on the platform is a surefire way to reach more audiences. You can even reply to comments in your videos by posting another video, too, so engagement is easily achieved.
Cons
Of course, TikTok dropshipping comes with limitations, too.
No Control Over Stocks or Pricing
Since dropshipping is dependent on a third-party supplier, you have no control over stocks or pricing. It can be hard to set product prices if pricing changes often with a dropship partner. Product quality and inventory are also things you cannot have complete control over.
High Competition
There are more than 31,000 TikTok Shop sellers[3] in the US alone. Trends also shift rapidly, so competing with sellers on top of consumer and viral trends can be difficult.
Engagement ≠ Conversion
While TikTok users are a highly engaged audience, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee high sales conversions. Your content can display high engagement rates, but viewers or followers don’t equate to buyers right away. A solid marketing plan catered to TikTok’s video platform is needed.
How TikTok Shop Dropshipping Works
Now that you have a brief overview of TikTok dropshipping and know its pros and cons, it’s time to understand how it works. Here’s a brief walkthrough of how TikTok dropshipping works:
- The first step is doing product research. Find out what types of products sell best on TikTok—demographics and trends play a vital role in these. Popular categories for TikTok products include beauty, cosmetics, fashion, and novelty items.
- Create a TikTok Business account. If you plan on dropshipping through a standalone online store, the setup is different, but once it is done, you can use TikTok right away to promote your products.
- If you want to dropship via TikTok Shop, first, grow your followers to 1,000, then apply to be a TikTok Shop seller. Once approved, you can link a dropshipping partner from your seller dashboard and set up product listings.
- Once your dropship products are chosen and set up, it’s time to market them! This includes creating organic, entertaining content, working with influencers, and running ads.
- TikTok users see your content through ads or in-feed, then click through in-app links in the post to make a purchase.
- When a customer places an order, TikTok Shop collects the money and deducts associated fees and shipping costs.
- The customer’s order information is passed along to the dropshipping partner that produces or sells the product. This is done automatically.
- The dropshipper then handles the packaging and shipping of the customer’s items.
How to Find Good Products to Dropship & Sell
Finding good products to dropship is slightly different from just sourcing products for selling. Finding a reliable dropshipping partner that produces high-quality products with an impeccable fulfillment process is the most crucial part.
However, you also need to ensure consumer demand to guarantee profitability and consider logistics (weight and shipping fees).
Here are some tips we recommend for finding good TikTok dropshipping products to sell:
- Go through TikTok Shop’s list of prohibited items to sell.
- Explore #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag for ideas.
- Look at the trends. You don’t have to go very far as TikTok has a keyword insights tool you can use to identify which keywords (products) have increased in searches over time. Use Google Trends as an alternative, too.
- Research reliability and product quality when selecting dropship partners. Ask about their return policy. Place an order to get a sample to check for product quality. Since TikTok Shop requires its accredited partners to have US warehouses, shipping fees should be more or less affordable and reasonable.
- Calculate for profitability. Once you have a shortlist of items to sell, check their current market price across platforms and compare it to how much you can set your pricing with your list of potential dropshipping suppliers.
A huge part of ensuring a successful TikTok Shop dropshipping venture is marketing your products right. There are a few ways to market your dropshipping products on TikTok, such as authentic organic content, influencer marketing, and paid advertisements.
Original Authentic Content
Creating entertaining and authentic content is the organic and least expensive way to promote your products on TikTok. TikTok is known for short-form videos, so ensure your content meets user preferences.
To amp up the chances of your content going viral, keep an eye out for TikTok trends (through hashtags and in-feed videos), engage and use TikTok tools (like their Stitch, Duet, and Green Screen Effect tools), and plan content strategically.
Create authentic videos (real life is best!). These can be point-of-view, day-in-the-life, behind-the-scenes, unboxing, or humorous meme videos. Skip the staged shoots and show them your products in real-life settings.
In Action: This digital kitchen spoon went viral with over 50 million views. It also got featured plenty of times in the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt feed.
@kitchenconqueror Best kitchen gadget #food #fypシ #tiktokmademebuyit #kitchen #kitchengadgets #kitchenware ♬ Just Wanna Rock – Lil Uzi Vert
Paid Ads
Similar to Meta Ads and Google Ads, you can use TikTok’s paid advertisements to reach your target audience. You can run ads through your TikTok Ads Manager. You can use in-feed native videos, top-view ads, branded hashtag challenges, branded lenses, or brand takeovers.
Influencer Marketing
Influencers are the most effective endorsers in this age of social shopping. Influencers, typically those that have 10,000 to 50,000 followers and have a super niche account, are the ones that are found to drive the most sales for a brand because of higher engagement rates.
You can partner with influencers that fit your brand and can showcase your products well. You can use the TikTok Creator Marketplace to find such partners.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Click through the sections below to get answers to your most asked questions about TikTok dropshipping.
Yes, you can. You can dropship products from TikTok by connecting your online store or connecting a dropshipping app on your TikTok Shop.
Yes, TikTok dropshipping can be a profitable business. Its success largely depends on choosing the right products to sell and creating a marketing strategy tailored to the TikTok platform.
You can run TikTok ads for your dropship products through the TikTok Ads Manager.
Bottom Line
Dropshipping is a low-risk business model, so it has the potential to earn huge profits. And by using social media’s most popular platform these days, TikTok, you can harness its massive reach to effectively promote and market your products.
TikTok Shop dropshipping’s huge profit margins and shop success will still rely on choosing the right products to sell and the marketing strategy you will employ on the platform. TikTok provides seller tools that help entrepreneurs start and scale their online businesses.
