Intro.

​If you’re considering a career in dropshipping, I want you to be aware of the work that is required. If you already know this, skip down to the heading titled ‘Is Fitness a Good Niche For Dropshipping‘ to learn about the lucrative aspect of this niche.

I’m all for dropshipping as I understand how profitable it can be. There are huge benefits to the dropshipping model, as you can purchase products rather cheaply and dictate your own profit margin. This is what makes this online income generation method so popular.

However, there are some downsides, which I will note below.

What You Should Know About Dropshipping​

Of course dropshipping is a great model to create an income, even online wealth if you can master it. But with the opportunity to build wealth, come risk versus reward. Here’s some of the considerations that you should think about.

Immediate Sales

I’ve attempted the dropshipping alternative myself, and can totally see the potential of this business. Something that turned me away from this model was that when you make a sale, you need to immediately make the dropship transaction.

Let me make this clearer for you. Dropshipping is when you advertise a product on your online store which can be purchased cheaply. As an example, this may be a necklace from AliExpress for $2. You advertise this necklace for $10, therefore making an $8 profit before shipping costs. You then have the product shipped directly to the customer from the supplier.

So if somebody purchases from your website, you now have the money that the purchaser paid with. So it’s now up to you to get the wheels in motion for the buyer to receive their product.

You need to immediately buy the product (from AliExpress in this example), and have it sent to your customer.

Now remember, shipping can take some time depending on which supplier you are buying it from. Which is why you need to get onto the dropship sale as quickly as possible.

Upfront Costs

If you are new to starting up an eCommerce store, I hope you’re prepared for the start up costs. It’s certainly not as expensive as investing in a physical store, but there are certain costs that do mount up.

Take into consideration the following:

• Store platform costs – This really is minimal when you think about it. The most common platform for hosting an online store is Shopify. As a minimum, the basic cost is $29 USD per month (Basic Shopify). To get extra tools that can help with your store advancement, the next level (Shopify) will cost you $79 USD per month. I wouldn’t recommend the Advanced Shopify membership unless you’re already making a decent profit, as it’ll cost you $299 USD per month.
• The larger costs when starting up an eCommerce store are the Shopify plugins. It’s not uncommon to use up to 15 or even 20 plugins to help automate your store. Each of these plugins cost $10-$20 per month, some even cost more. These can really add up.
• Some common store templates are free, but you may want to use a custom store theme, usually with a yearly fee. Some of these can eliminate some of the plugin fees, so look out for a good theme.
• Because of the requirement to start getting immediate sales, you cannot afford to wait for organic search engine results. So the need for online advertising is a necessity. The most common form of advertising is Facebook ads. This is where you would be advised to get educated, as the costs can really get out of hand should you get it wrong.

Add to this the costs of getting educated, and you’ll come to understand the setup costs can be quite significant. Of course you could start a fitness niched dropshipping store from scratch, but without knowledge of what you’re doing, there’s a very high chance you’ll fail within the first 6 months.

I’ve reviewed several eCommerce courses, and I would highly recommend 2 of them.

• Adrian Morrison – eCom Success Academy
• Ricky Hayes – eCom Lifestyle University

Adrian Morrison has a Free Webclass that you can watch here. Then decide if you want to go ahead with the course.

Ricky Hayes’s course is approximately half the price, and he also has a Free Webinar that you can access here. At the top of the screen, you’ll see the link saying ‘Attend The training’.

Now, let’s look to see how good the fitness niche is for dropshipping.

Is Fitness a Good Niche For Dropshipping

The weight loss and fitness industries are absolutely enormous, so it only suggests that the fitness niche is ideal for dropshipping. So in my opinion yes, fitness is a lucrative and prominent niche.

Not only are there suitable fitness products to sell in the lower price range, such as fitness watches, clothing, resistance bands and other accessories. But think of the higher price range items including treadmills, rowing machines and maybe even fitness holidays.

You can even go off track from the dropshipping model, and instead go down the route of subscription services like diet programs, Jenny Craig or Weight Watches. Maybe spa treatments or massages, these can all be attributed to the fitness industry. This is where you can combine the affiliate marketing model within your online store.

So let’s briefly touch on this affiliate alternative.

The Affiliate Alternative

I said earlier that I tried my hand at dropshipping, and I chose not to go down that path. The reason was that I was not prepared to be on hand every minute of the day, ready to complete the transaction when I made a sale.

Although this can be avoided, usually down the track when you can afford to outsource these activities to others, the beginning can be hard work, and risky financially.

So, I chose to do affiliate marketing instead. I still promote products and services, but instead I earn commissions from those that run external stores or digital services. This way I don’t make any transactions myself, I’m essentially directing my visitors elsewhere to make a purchase.

Do I make as much money affiliate marketing as what a successful eCommerce store owner will make? No, but I still make a pretty good living. You get what you put in, and I still invest enough time into my affiliate marketing business to make it pay well.

Just putting it out there that dropshipping is not the only way you can make money online by selling products in the fitness industry.

Final Thoughts

The fitness niche, although competitive, can be a lucrative and rewarding niche for dropshipping. You’ll note that the range of products that can be sold is enormous, which means you’ll never run out of ideas to promote.

There’s always new fitness products hitting the market also, which would be an ideal niche in itself. Just imagine promoting new fitness gadgets, and all of a sudden something as popular as a fidget spinner comes along and you’re already promoting it.

Whether the dropshipping or affiliate marketing model is right for you, there’s only one way to find out. Take action and find out!