Elevate your income with a dropshipping side hustle in 2025 [With expert tips]

Low startup costs

You won’t need a huge initial investment to start dropshipping successfully, as there’s no need to rent a facility, purchase inventory, or manage order fulfillment.

You’ll partner with a reputable supplier who will source and ship products directly to your customers, allowing you to focus on sales and marketing without the burden of tracking the logistics.

Work whenever, wherever

Enjoy the ultimate flexibility in running your dropshipping business from anywhere – whether at home, in a cozy cafe, or on the go.

This allows you to set your own schedule, fitting work around your personal commitments to maximize your productivity and work-life balance.

Wide product selection

From custom t-shirts and accessories to electronics and home goods, dropshipping lets you start selling a wide range of products without handling inventory.

Adapt your product offer to the hottest trends to meet growing demand and attract more customers.

Unlimited growth

One of the biggest perks of dropshipping is how easy it is to scale your business with no overhead expenses.

As demand grows, quickly add new products and ramp up marketing efforts to ensure repeat business and a growing customer base.

Passive income potential

Once you set up your online store and establish reliable suppliers, the system automatically fulfills orders, generating passive income that provides stability and growth without requiring constant hands-on effort.

High competition

Successfully navigating a market packed with other sellers requires more than just selling products in high demand.

You need to choose the right target audience, use effective marketing strategies, deliver exceptional customer service, and constantly review and adapt your offers and strategies to changing market trends.

Setting profit margins

Managing tight profit margins is a significant challenge for anyone wanting to ensure a steady income from this business model.

By analyzing your costs and pricing competition, you can maximize profits while managing low-margin products effectively. For long-term success, offer a mix of high- and low-margin products to appeal to diverse customers and increase revenue.

Finding reputable suppliers

Ensuring your dropshipping suppliers consistently deliver high-quality products on time is crucial for keeping customers happy and running your operations smoothly.

This is why you need to vet suppliers carefully based on their track record, product quality, and reliability. Clear communication and sample ordering help ensure they consistently meet your quality standards.

Lack of customer service

When customers have questions or encounter any issues, they’ll expect prompt and helpful responses from your business. Without reliable customer service from your suppliers, this can result in negative reviews, lost sales, and damage to your brand reputation.

Ensure your suppliers prioritize excellent customer service to support your business and maintain customer loyalty.

Pick your niche

Research trending products with online tools like Semrush or Google Trends, look at other online retailers to assess market saturation, and consider your own interests and valuable skills when selecting a niche market.

For example, if you already have a side hustle as a dog walker or pet sitter, you might consider starting a dropshipping business selling pet products.

Identify niches with high demand and low competition to increase your chances of earning extra money and stand out.

Find your suppliers

Look for suppliers that offer quality products that align with your niche and consistently meet your order and quality requirements.

Instead of selling someone else’s products, partner with Printify to sell products with your own custom designs. We offer a global network of quality Print Providers and all the tools necessary to launch a print-on-demand side hustle.

Create a branding strategy

Establish a strong brand identity by clearly defining your brand’s mission, vision, core values, and unique selling points. Create a memorable business logo and visuals like distinct color palettes, typography, and imagery.

Consistency across all branding elements, platforms, and communications will help build brand recognition and customer trust, setting the stage for long-term success in your market niche.

Open an online store

Launching your online store is the next step in turning your side hustle idea into a thriving business. It’s all about choosing where to sell, creating a captivating brand image, and making sure your store is easy and enjoyable to use.

• Choose your sales channel

Set up a place where your customers can buy products. This can be your own business website or a popular eCommerce platform or marketplace like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Etsy.

• Apply your visual identity

Customize your store’s appearance to reflect your brand identity by using high-quality visuals, themes, colors, and fonts that create a cohesive and engaging shopping experience.

• Optimize for mobile users

With mobile eCommerce in the US set to reach $856 billion by 2027, your store needs to look and work great on mobile devices.

Use a responsive design that adjusts seamlessly to different screen sizes, ensuring everything loads quickly and is easy to tap.

• Enable essential features

Incorporate a smooth and secure checkout process, reliable shipping options, and support channels to ensure customer satisfaction.

Test all the links and features to make sure everything functions properly.

Market your online business

Use effective digital marketing strategies to increase brand awareness, attract potential customers, and make your side hustle profitable.

Here are some key strategies:

• Content marketing

Create informative and engaging content like blog posts and videos to resonate with your audience and increase your authority in the industry. For additional insights, go through our content marketing tips.

• Search engine optimization (SEO)

Use relevant keywords, quality content, and meta tags to drive organic traffic to your store from popular search engines like Google.

Take our SEO Masterclass online course to become an expert.

• Email marketing

Create a mailing list and send regular newsletters to stay connected with your audience. Share updates on new products, exclusive offers, and helpful tips to nurture leads and encourage repeat purchases.

• Social media marketing

Use popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to connect with your audience through organic content, paid ads, and influencer collaborations.

To effectively reach your marketing goals, check out our social media marketing tips.

• Search engine marketing

Use digital marketing services like Google Ads to run ad campaigns and place your store at the top of search engine results by bidding on relevant keywords.

Offer excellent customer service

To build trust and cultivate long-term customer loyalty, you need to be accessible and responsive.

Provide various channels for customers to contact you, including email, live chat, and social media platforms.

Offer prompt responses to all inquiries, resolve issues with empathy, and maintain clear and proactive communication throughout the entire process.

Create a Printify account

Sign up for a free Printify account to start your print-on-demand business.

Connect your store with Printify

We have automated integrations with some of the world’s most popular eCommerce sales channels, including Shopify, eBay, and Walmart.

Go to your Printify Dashboard → Add a new store → Select a sales channel and follow the instructions to connect.

Alternatively, sell products via a unique store link by opening a free Pop-Up Store.

Design your products

Browse our Product Catalog of over 1,300 custom products in various categories, from t-shirts to home decor, find brands you want to customize with your designs, and click Start designing.

Use our Product Creator to upload your artwork or create new custom designs with our free graphics, fonts, AI image generator, and professional image editing tools.

Scale, layer, and adjust your designs to perfection, then generate product mockups to add to your store listings.

Set competitive prices

Conduct thorough market research and price your products competitively to attract customers while ensuring healthy profit margins to sustain your print-on-demand business growth.

Factor in production costs, shipping fees, and desired profit margins. By default, all your Printify-made products will have the profit margin set to 40%, but it’s possible to adjust it manually.

Regularly review and alter your retail prices to stay competitive and profitable.

Start making money online

Once everything is ready, launch your print-on-demand dropshipping store, start selling products, and sit back and relax – we’ll handle the rest.

When a customer places an order on your store, it will sync to your Printify Dashboard. We’ll charge you for fulfillment and ship the order directly to your customer.