Dropshipping UAE Dubai
How to start a drop shipping business
in Dubai / UAE (Ultimate Guide)

Chapter 1

Drop shipping fundamentals

In the first chapter we will show you what Dropshipping is, what are the benefits of drop shipping and if drop shipping is still worth it in 2021. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

What is drop shipping? 

Drop Shipping sellers will accept customer orders on their E-Commerce site but does not keep the products sold in stock. The seller will transfer the orders and shipment information to the manufacturer or supplier directly, which then ships the products directly to the customers address.

What are the benefits of dropshipping?

Dropshipping is very attractive especially to startups because it helps to minimise the risk of your business as well as will allow you to invest your money into digital marketing growing your business instead of having your money invested in stock being at your warehouse.

How do dropshippers make money?

The Drop Shipping business sells products to its customers with the retail price of (eg. 160 AED) and once sold the drop shippers are going to purchase the goods from the supplier directly at wholesale prices (eg.40 AED). The Drop Shipping business will only need to take care about the digital marketing, however you will not handle products or need to invest in inventory.

Is drop shipping worth it in 2021?

E-Commerce is growing insanely which increases the overall digital purchase percentage compared to retail purchases, the result is that more business will focus on their E-Commerce presence which will raise the competition. So yes, dropshipping is still worth it, however you should upgrade your Drop Shipping business to stand out.

How to choose a niche for your dropshipping business

In this chapter we will show you how you could find a dropshipping niche by simply doing some research for example on the below listed options. Important is to qualify the niche and products in order to understand if it could make sense to select this audience. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

Facebook Audience Insights

It is quite simple, as much more you know about your customer the better you will be in delivering meaningful content to your audience. That’s the thinking behind Facebook Audience Insights, a new tool designed to help marketers learn more about their target audiences, including aggregate information about geography, demographics, purchase behavior and more.

Google Keyword Planner

An easy way to understand if the niche you would like to focus on would make sense, is by simply doing a check on how many people are actually active looking for it on a search engine like Google. This can be done with the Google Keyword Planner which is a free tool available to you, however keep in mind that you need a google account first.

Google Trends

Google Trends offers you information which Google Keyword planner doesn’t provide for example: Search interest over time. You will be able to understand if the niche you’re entering is actually growing, Trends can let you know if this is the case. For any given search query, you can see the growth or decline in search volume over time.

Amazon Categories

A very effective way to find a niche is, if you are already looking on what is selling, for example you could do this based on the product best sellers from Amazon.  you can identify a working niche and understand if this niche has a potential. You could combine this with the above tools.

Review Amazon’s best sellers by category.

Lucrative Dropshipping Niches 2021

Shopify’s research on the best dropshipping products identified some of the best niches for 2021, these information are based on information from Shopify. We would strongly suggest to do your own research based on the market you want to focus on, the below is just to help you out If you wouldn’t know where to look at.

• Health and personal care
• Wardrobe and accessories
• Kitchen and grocery
• Home and bedroom
• Office products
• Tools and home improvement
• Camera and cellphone accessories
• Gaming
• Car accessories

Dropshipping options

In this Chapter we will have a look at some Dropshipping possibilites, however  if you want to create your own business/brand than Shopify Dropshipping is exactly right for you. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

Amazon Dropshipping UAE

Amazon dropshipping is the same drop ship model as on our own Shopify Drop Ship business.

It is basically listing products on Amazon and sell them, without actually owning the inventory or delivering the products to your customers.

Shopify Dropshipping UAE

Shopify is the perfect E-Commerce platform for your Drop Shipping business in the UAE, however most important if you want to start your own Drop Shipping business in the UAE is to understand E-Commerce in general, because how you are going to market and sell to your niche is the same way how you would sell it if you don’t drop ship. A bit confusing? Watch the full video below to get you started directly in the right direction.

The TRUTH – How the top 1% wins in Drop Shipping and E-Commerce.

Nico Jackle, co-founder and CTO of Creative971 the leading Shopify Agency within the Middle East, does provide a very clear and direct message to everyone wanting to start our Drop Shipping, Nico’s mission is to raise the E-Commerce education and provide you the real insights.

How does dropshipping work on Shopify?

The Dropshipping Model is the same cross platforms, however  Shopify is the #1 E-Commerce platform worldwide and is the first choice if you want to drop ship. If you research about Drop Shipping you have most likely heared about Shopify already. If not, no problem 🙂 Just enjoy the read we got you covered.

AliExpress Dropshipping UAE

AliExpress Dropshipping works exactly the same way as Shopify Dropshipping however AliExpress is not the E-Commerce platform it is your supplier for your Drop Ship products and Shopify is the E-Commerce platform which integrates into AliExpress 🙂 Checkout below review and report about AliExpress – Yes, we ordered products to the UAE and provide you valuable feedback.

eBay Dropshipping UAE

Drop Shipping will follow the same Drop Ship Model however it is not really worth based on the below information which can be reviewed from OBERLO (Leading Shopify AlieExpress Drop Ship software).

Dropshipping on eBay requires you to buy bulk inventory, pay listing fees, and you don’t even get to own your customer base..

Etsy Dropshipping UAE

Dropshipping from AliExpress to Etsy is prohibited. Why? Because goods need to be handmade, vintage, or a craft supply. For example, if you’re selling a t-shirt, the design on the t-shirt must’ve been created by you. While some sellers have been able to sneak their way in, often by having their own custom photos, you’re still not allowed to dropship on Etsy. And getting caught could have you banned from the platform.

So is dropshipping on Etsy allowed? If you’re running a print on demand dropshipping store where you design your own products, yes. If you’re dropshipping products that you did not create or design, no.

Please review Etsy policies to know more.

Finding the right dropshipping suppliers and wholesalers

In this chapter we will have a look at the Drop Shipping suppliers for the UAE. We have purchased products on the most known suppliers and shipped them to a private Dubai address. We wanted to achieve a real experience as your customer would and have recorded a video for it. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

Best dropshipping suppliers for uae

Oberlo

Oberlo is a Software which makes it super easy to drop ship from Aliexpress on Shopify, Oberlo got aquired by Shopify and is mean while such a known name around the Drop Shipping industry. We have done a video review for you to understand this even better.

AliExpress

AliExpress is probably the most known Supplier, so yes we drop shipped from AliExpress to Dubai in order to provide a real review 🙂 Checkout below review and report about AliExpress.

CJDropshipping

Directly after AliExpress, CJDropshipping would be the 2nd most known  supplier, so yes we drop shipped from CJDropshipping to Dubai in order to provide a real review 🙂 Checkout below review and report about CJDropshipping.

DropnShop

If you are fancy about “Made in French”  DropnShop will be your supplier to go to. DropnShop is the leading international distribution network for Made in France products available to you on Shopify as well.Every day, “Made in France” attracts thousands of international resellers to DropnShop in search of authentic French quality products.

CROV

With e-commerce thriving around the world, dropshipping has become the preferred model to start an online business. CROV Dropshipping commits to serving Drop Shippers with very effective Dro Sphipping solutions. We have not personally tested this service so we will update you once we have a report ready for you.

Modalyst

Modalyst is interesting due to their approach of directly connecting you to brands, eco-friendly suppliers and private label manufacturers.  Modalyst ships worldwide and is on our list for the next review.

PlusBuyer

PlusBuyer is one of the worldwide leading electronics wholesalers. They do offer thousands of products in stock  at the wholesale low prices however we as Creative971 have not worked with this supplier as well as can’t provide you any feedback if we haven’t controlled it ourselves.

Printful

Printful is very well known and allows you to design and sell custom products online with a print-on-demand drop shipping approach. Printful offers a direct Shopify integration and will be your software / supplier to go if you are planning to sell custom products online.

Dropshipping from multiple suppliers

You can work with multiple Drop Shipping suppliers in one Shopify store, we for example used AliExpress and CJ Drop Shipping on our Drop Shipping Masterclass business. Important what you need to consider is the “tracking” because you would have 2 different tracking pages based on your Supplier which means it would not work correctly for the user.

10 dropshipping tips all beginners should know

In this chapter we will highlight 10 tips which you might want to review and will help you for your future Drop Shipping business in Dubai. Some of these Tips might be obvious but Julia does provide some more information around them. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

Tip #1: Invest in marketing

It is very important that you do invest in digital marketing, you would need to generate the right traffic in order to achieve your conversions.

Tip #2: Provide Customer Support

Learn the difference between Customer Service and Customer Support, Customer Support is the way to go 🙂

Tip#3: Choose multiple suppliers

You don’t need to only depend on one Drop Shipping supplier, you could source your products from multiple suppliers to have a greater variety and enrich your offerings.

Tip #4: Manage the inventory

It is very important that you make sure the inventory is synced between Shopify and your Drop Shipping supplier, if this is the case you will always be up to date with your stock.

Tip #5: Create trust

You would need to create trust on your site, a good way to showcase this is if you are going to implement customer reviews, there is a specific software which is recommended: Judge.me check it out on the Shopify App store.

Tip #6: Build a website

Your E-Commerce site needs to be on point, you should review the below points and test them yourself.

• Your Website does work perfectly fine on Desktop and Mobile
• Make sure you prioritise the Mobile version over the Desktop one
• Make a test order on your site, you need to assure everything works correctly
• Personalise the Shopify Notifications and Shopify Checkout
• Place a clear Shipping & Refund policy on your Product and store

Tip #7: Check the competition

It is always good to be aware about your competition, if you do check your competition the main focus would be in understanding their core business and what they stand for. It will help you to stand out and be different by knowing what is done already might bring up few ideas on how you can do it differently.

Tip #8: Ask suppliers for reviews

You could get a testimonial or review from one of your suppliers in order to build trust on your Shopify site.

Tip #9: Black Friday and holidays = big chance

It is important that you are up to date with your audience holidays or special events, understand your audience in order to get cater better to them.

Tip #10: Provide different payment options

Ideally you should use only pre-paid solutions such as credit/debit cards or PayPal, you would need to receive the payment first from your customer in order to initiate the purchase of the product from the supplier.

Dropshipping regulations in uae

In this Chapter we will have a closer look at the regulations around Drop Shipping and very important about your business / trade license. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

Trade license

Drop Ship business license is a really interesting chapter, we will list the most after questions about the “Drop Shipping” License requirement within the UAE below and we hope it will answer all your questions. Incase you still have questions please reach out to us directly we are happy to help: info@creative971.com

Below the list of the Top3 Questions we hear all the time:

• Do I need a business license for a Drop Ship business in the UAE?
• I am only Drop Shipping from China to Europe or USA so why should I need a license?
• I don’t touch the goods and don’t import to the UAE so do I still need a license?

Find the answers below:

Do I need a trade license for Shopify dropshipping in Dubai?

Yes, if you want to conduct business in the UAE and open a business bank account you do require a trade license for your Drop Shipping business. Have a look the expert advice in the below video. You can find a very good article about this as well directly in our blog please click here.

What is the best license for your dropshipping business?

There are several solutions and license type from different freezones within the UAE, If you have a low budget you might consider a low cost freezone, for example in Sharjah or Fujairah. Another important point would be that you opt for a LLC formation, however if you want expert advice simply contact us via email.

How to get the right business license to launch your dropshipping business in Dubai or the uae

To get the right business license for your dropshipping business would require to ask you the right questions, for example what is your plan within the next 6month to 1year.. If you are not sure the best advice is contact us at info@creative971.com, we will be able to help you out.

How to start a dropshipping business in Dubai

In this Chapter we will explain you the stages on how to approach and start your dropshipping business in Dubai. We have for each step the right partner which knows about Drop Shipping as well as is aware what you need and looking for, you can just reach out to us and we will guide you through. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

Engage a Freezone

Yes, you could actually start calling the freezones and start talking to them, to be honest this will make you more confused because you don’t know the differences and information you need to look out or ask, we have supported and worked with more than 100 Drop Shippers and will be happy to help you out here too.

Apply for visa

If you would need a Visa under your Drop Ship trade license this would be one of the question we would ask, if you need a visa under your license this will work you just need to be aware the cost slightly increases due to needing a visa.

Corporate Bank Account

Once you have your Trade License the next step would be to apply for business bank account, we have an official partnership with a bank and will surely be happy to connect you and provide you attractive discounts and solutions, just reach out to: info@creative971.com

Drop shipping costs: How much does it cost to start dropshipping?

In this chapter we will have a closer look at the cost of starting a Drop Ship business within the UAE. One of the most costly part in E-Commerce is to have enough inventory ready in your Warehouse, this is already solved because you are going to Drop Ship which means you don’t need to invest into inventory. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

Costs for visa

The cost for a visa depends on the license type you opt for, for example a freezone business license visa might be slightly less expensive. I would suggest to reach out to us on this point, due to our partnerships in place we are more than happy to connect you and try to provide you the most attractive offer in town.

Costs for business setup

The cost for an E-Commerce Trade License is starting at 5750 AED depending on your requirements and the Freezone, the best is to reach out to us directly and we will be happy to help you out: info@creative971.com

Shopify store from 29 dollar a month

The monthly fee of Shopify depends on the Shopify plan you would like to opt into, the smallest plan is starting at 29$/monthly, if you would like to understand the different options have a look at the below picture and please visit Shopify to review the latest version. (Updated May 2021)

Domain name from 10-20 dollar a year

You would need to rent your domain from one of the domain hosting companies, this is usually around 10$-20$ annually, if you would like to have a (.ae) domain you would need to get this from Etisalat directly – you can directly go to nic.ae and search if your desired domain is available.

Cost for test orders

Ideally you should do one real test order on your live Shopify site, to assure everything is working fine especially the Payment Gateway integration. How you could do this the easiest way would be by simply creating a new product with 50AED and you go ahead and purchase this. We recommend to do this to assure all works on the live instance as well.

Online advertising

The core about your Drop Shipping business will be your Digital Marketing (Media Buying) efforts, so you need to make sure that you have a very solid Marketing Strategy in place and you should make sure that every person coming to your Drop Shipping store is most likely to convert on your side. The very important part here is, it is not only about your Product and Product price there is so much more required in order to be ahead of your competition. Have a look at the below video from Nico to fully understand E-Commerce and what it takes.

Benefits and advantages from dropshipping

Drop Shipping is most probably the easiest way for you to startup with your own E-Commerce business and it comes with a lot of advantages as well as benefits some of them are listed below for you. Additionally you could watch Nico’s video of some more benefits about Drop Shipping. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

Not much capital is required

One of the biggest advantages is that you don’t need to invest into your inventory which is on of the most costly part, Imagine having all your products purchased and they are not sold yet and laying in your warehouse. Drop Shipping will allow you to not invest into products inventory and will be able to use this more smartly.

Easy to get started

If you want to get started, there is most probably no other E-Commerce model which will allow you to be up faster than Drop Shipping, it is very easy to start your business however only because it is easy to start with does not mean it is simple and easy to do it right. We have done our own Drop Shipping business and created out of this real business our Drop Shipping Masterclass in order to educate on how to do it right and see it more as a real E-Commerce business and get to know all the insights on how to do it.

Work from everywhere

Running an E-Commerce Drop Shipping business, will allow you to work actually from everywhere, as long you have access to your laptop and internet you are set to go, it is certainly a great way of doing business if you are flexible to work from where you would like to.

Select from different products to sell

You have access to literally millions of products, you can build a very rich product assortment which will allow you to test new products very fast, further you will be able to increase the product arrangement which is working great for you very fast.

Easy to scale

Another benefit is that you can scale your business very fast which means if you would like to tap into another market you would only need to assure that your Drop Shipping supplier delivers and set up your Digital Marketing campaigns for this country.

Disadvantages of dropshipping

There are some disadvantages of the Drop Shipping business as well, we want to be very transparent and highlight them to you so you are aware about them and you will be able to create a strategy for your own Drop Ship business. Keeping in mind the below points will help you to directly watch out and maybe not run into these issues. Learn from the leading Shopify Agency with this ultimate dropshipping UAE dubai guide.

No high margins

One of the main points is that your margin is not quite high because a lot of Drop Shippers are offering the same products for different prices, which will not allow you to charge much more for the product because customers do provide a short research before deciding to buying from you. If the your shopper see’s that your products are to expensive and they are able to get the exact same ones with maybe the same images as well for a cheaper price they will go and purchase from them and might think of you as expensive and won’t visit you again. Please make sure to keep this in mind.

Supplier errors

When you already have a Drop Shipping business you will know that you need to face Supplier errors, these are sometimes frustrating especially if the orders are delaying or not sent as it’s supposed. Keep in mind you already have 2-3 weeks of Shipping if there are errors appearing this can go up to 4-5 weeks, which makes a bad impression for your customers. Makes sure you keep on track with your orders and follow ups to your suppliers to rest assure it is processed.

Shipping complexities

You need to be aware about the complexities of Shipping especially if you are selling within the UAE, GCC or Middle East, it is very important to be aware about these to correctly address them. Please review our 2 videos where we have ordered from AliExpress and CJ Dropshipping to Dubai. There are some shocking news which are important to know and to not run into these problems or to know how to overcome them.

Limited branding possibilities

As a Drop Shipping E-Commerce business you have another disadvantage which you should not overlook and this is about branding. You are selling the same products as your competition and if you want to personalise them for example create your own “Brand” you will run into 2 issues:

A) You need to order bulk and pay for up to 50 or 100 products which you would then need to import to the UAE and store it in an Fulfilment centre, which means if you want to do this with multiple products you inventory cost and requirement is increasing. This is fine if you know your products are selling and you can sell them..

B) When you start “branding” your products and personalise them with your logo or branding you need to understand that one very important legal adjustment will take place! If you sell products under your own brand the responsibility and liability is on you, the legal topic is very important and changes based on this, we have done a full video recording with our trusted lawyer. We are no legal advisors so we have organised a session with our Lawyer which is specialised in Drop Shipping. We focused on over 25 very important Drop Shipping and E-Commerce questions and he provided us all the answers! This is critical if you want to be aware what could happen to you as business in different scenarios. We have this interview in our Drop Shipping Masterclass available for you.