Smart technology has enhanced online selling more than before. Though launching an online business seems easy, it’s not when thousands of businesses are already there on different platforms, including Shopify. If you want to sell on Shopify but don’t know what to sell, you must explore different business opportunities to get a better idea. The research will become easier if you already know your interest or expertise.
Not only you, but lots of people want to establish a home-based business so they can work with freedom with little investment. By working from home, you can save multiple expenses that go into buying a new office, or factory and paying your employees, etc. Initially, you have to invest some time to research different business opportunities to see what you can do like an expert. I am here to guide you on how to find business opportunities in this case.
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How Do You Find Business Opportunities?
What to sell on Shopify is difficult to find, but you can make it easy if you follow these 3 steps.
1. Explore What Is Trending In A Particular Industry
If you know your niche, you should try to find what trends are popular in that industry. Stay updated by subscribing to videos, blogs, and following specific groups or pages on social media to see what the experts in that industry are doing.
You can also collaborate with like-minded people through networking. Other experts will tell you how to avoid certain mistakes and reach your goal faster. A mentor can help you find more business opportunities in a little time. Always be ready to grab an opportunity as sometimes it comes to us and we can’t recognize it.
2. Monitor Your Competitors
You need deep research for competitor analysis to see what similar sellers are doing. See why they are successful and how they attract customers. Such analysis will help you find the business opportunities to increase your customers and improve your services or products.
3. Explore Customers’ Reviews
Read customer reviews or listen to what they are saying about your industry or product. Also, find why they are frustrated and what problems they have to face during purchase. Such insight will help you find solutions to their problems and develop the right products with better features.
10 Best Shopify Business Opportunities
We have the top 10 business opportunities for you to establish your shop on Shopify, so let’s explore them together.
1. Print on Demand
Print on demand is a fulfillment model, which you can design and then sell on a per-order basis under your own brand without having to hold your own inventory. Print on demand is well-known with T-shirt lines but it does not all. It is also excellent for mugs, hoodie, yoga pants, tote bags, fanny packs, phone cases, stickers, apparel, towels.
Like you can work with manufacturers to make customized white-label items, like t-shirts or bags with your designs. You will only pay for these products after selling them. So, it’s just like drop shipping as you don’t have to stock inventory or buy bulk products. The designers, artists, and e-commerce brands can avail of such an opportunity.
According to Shopify, a Print-on-demand business can make $500 per month on average. If your marketing is more effective, your business will get more exposure to your customers, you can surely earn more.
For example, Liz Bertorelli started her print on demand business with t-shirts LGBTQ+ lifestyle brand Passionfruit in 2013. She set a goal for herself to get $5,000 to own a French bulldog. Then she exceeded this in a matter of months. This online store is still growing from time to time. The sale surged with “Protect Trans Kids” T-shirt sales after she was invited to share on Saturday Night Live.
2. Start a Dropshipping Business
If you want to start with zero investment, Dropshipping might be the best for you. You can buy any product from the supplier and ship it to the buyers without any hassle of shipping because the supplier will do it. You don’t have to buy a product in bulk or face an inventory.
Due to the ease of business, you can sell unlimited products such as home appliances, beauty products, foods, clothes, digital products, toys, home furnishings, health products, books, industrial equipment, vehicles, real estate, and several others. Even you can sell any product at wholesale to retailers or shopkeepers. You only have to get the updates regarding the product stock, so you can list it on Shopify.
3. Open a Pet Shop
According to Global Market Insights, the global market of products for pets is estimated to top $269 billion by 2025. Those who are fond of pets know the importance of their products. Whether it’s a dog, cat, or some bird, you want to keep them healthy and safe. You can sell pet products through Dropshipping or can develop your own homemade stuff, and it would get you a good profit.
When searching for pet business ideas, keep in mind that this niche is large enough to ensure that your business will grow sustainably. Moreover, this idea is specific enough that your brand can shine in a distinct way. Here is a list of products that Shopify suggests you can sell:
- Pet supplies like bowls, toys, and beds
- Sell homemade pet treats
- Offer dog walking and pet sitting services
- Pet grooming Sell pet apparel
Doing a pet business usually involves diversifying your services and product portfolio to create sustainable revenue from various income sources. For example, TeddyBob is a retailer of pet supplies, especially for cats and dogs. TeddyBob collections are extensive. It provides all kinds of essential products for dog and cat owners from litter boxes to heating pads. On the other hand, TeddyBob does not make its customers getting overwhelmed because it just tends to supply a few options and cut out all not available products every day.
4. Sell Digital Products
Global Stock Images and Video Market Report by Aritzon indicated that the revenue of the stock photography market will be over 4 billion dollars by 2023 with an annual growth rate of 5%.
According to Shopify, “A digital product is an intangible asset or piece of media that can be sold and distributed repeatedly online without the need to replenish inventory”. Therefore, sellers can create once and sell repeatedly to different customers. These products do not need to replenish inventory.
But what can be? They are around our lives such as music, digital templates, licenses to use your digital assets, membership sites, blogger, vlogger. If you have good knowledge of digital products, explore business opportunities in this industry. See what is trending and start selling it on Shopify.
There are also several other platforms to sell these products, and you can link them to your Shopify business. On the Shopify app store, there are a number of sales and marketing tools to help you sell digital products on Shopify. For example, Digital Downloads is a free app by Shopify. This app offers a simple way to deliver digital products. Upon purchase, this app will include a link in the customer’s email then the customer can download their files immediately.
5. Sell Handmade Stuff
Lots of people are fond of DIY stuff and make beautiful things and if you are one of them, start selling it. Selling handmade items is one of the great business opportunities, so find your speciality and start selling it with a good profit. Like, you can sell jewellery, paper bags, home décor items, pottery, essential oils, furniture toys, shoes, and much more. As a kid, I used to sell paper bags and many people ordered me and I got good pocket money.
You can explore different online stores in this case, like Etsy, Target, and West Elm to see what they are selling.
6. Launch an Online Course
According to Global Industry Analysts, E-learning is a potential land, which is estimated to grow triple in a decade from $107 billion (in 2015) to $331 billion (in 2025).
There is a long list of ideas for online courses, such as language, DIY stuff, app and website development, interior design, academic course, digital marketing, and so on. Tell people what they would get after completing your course. Even dentistry and aesthetic courses are very popular these days. Tell people that they can start their aesthetic center by joining your course.
Shopify will support you to launch an Open Learning program such as:
- Give store for course planning purposes.
- If your course is approved, Shopify will give all your students a free store.
- Shopify also can help you to embed fun and rewarding Shopify-based activities in your own curriculum.
- Your students can earn digital badges in recognition of their achievements.
7. Sell Your Artwork
Art selling is one of the best business opportunities for home-based products. Art is a vast field, and you can sell anything that you are an expert at. Like, you can sell your paintings if you are an expert painter or if it’s your hobby. All you have to do is to take your paintings’ photographs and put them on your website, blog, Facebook page, Instagram, or YouTube, or open a painting shop on Shopify.
Paintings vary in terms of topic and media and you can choose any one of them or can sell all types of paintings, depending on your expertise. Some painting categories include landscape, cityscape, figurative, realistic, abstract, etc.
Similarly, you can sell any medium such as watercolour paintings, oil paintings, crayons, pastel, and acrylic paintings or a combination of two or more mediums. You can also sell other art-related talents, such as acting through TikTok videos, writing, music, songs through YouTube videos, and several others.
8. Sell Weight Loss Products
Social media exposure has made people so conscious of their physique and they want to look fit. Several people look for weight loss products to keep them in good shape in a little time because they can’t do hard exercises. Weight loss products are among the best business opportunities on Shopify and other platforms.
You can also sell diet plans as a nutritionist because many women look for authentic experts in this case. Likewise, you can sell exercise tools for weight loss like ropes, dumbbells, balls, tummy trimmers, bikes, mats. Because of COVID – 19, at-home exercise has been growing continuously in popularity in 2020. Consequently, the search volume of yoga mats spiked last year. Google Trends has recorded a skyrocketing surge from February to May 2020.
If so, selling a yoga mat is not a bad idea. Yogo was born with the idea of being a yoga mat on back. Its founder, Ryon Lane invented a kind of Yogo mat, which can fold, strap up small, keep the top clean and available to bring on the back (of course). The online store comes up with many attractive templates. The amazing thing is this store is making very strong sales while the sales team includes only 1.5 people. The secret here is that Shopify apps and tools are powerful to save effort from reaching customers to fulfill orders.
9. Sell Spices
The online world is full of scammers who sell the wrong products and this becomes a health issue if the product is related to food, including spices. You can sell organic and homemade spices on Shopify to assure people that you care for them. Initially, you can grab customers through samples as when they know it’s pure they will buy that spice in bulk on a regular basis.
You can also sell spices through Dropshipping, provided you know that the manufacturer develops pure products. You can promote these spices on YouTube through cooking programs by telling people how they are useful for them.
10. Become a Virtual Assistant
I already mentioned some trending online industries and unlimited people are earning through them. But, managing one’s online business is not that easy, as it needs marketing on different social media platforms that involve posts, videos, blogs, and lots of research.
Customers can’t handle everything while shopping online and they need assistance. You help people through virtual assistance and earn a good income. Sell this expertise on Shopify and ensure people that you are right for them. You can become the best online assistant if you can handle emails, calls, posts, videos, comments, etc.
Be real and genuine so people can trust you and hire you for their virtual tasks. Other than Shopify, you can also sell VA services on Fiverr, Enlace, Freelancer.com, etc. You can also directly sell the virtual assistant services through YouTube videos or other social media platforms.
Final Words
Working from home is the most convenient, especially if it’s a business because you have to invest less and can earn more. You don’t need a place as an office nor have to pay the overheads. Besides, you don’t need transport to go to your shop or office as it’s all online.
Hope the above Shopify business opportunities helped you in choosing what is right for you. However, there are tons of ideas that you can explore by yourself. What is important is that you should see your interest because only then you can sell with love. You can earn more if you do what you love because it makes you happy and more productive.
Already have a profitable idea in mind? Then it’s time to start your online store today. Contact HappyPoints, we are happy to answer your questions and inquiries regarding starting an online with Shopify.
