If you are looking for a consistent income in dropshipping, you have to sell evergreen products. In this article, I will share with you:
What evergreen products are
How are they different from trendy products
The pros and cons of dropshipping evergreen products
On these, I will also provide some key pointers that will allow you to succeed in dropshipping evergreen products.
Trendy and evergreen products are not mutually exclusive
Your likelihood of success also depends on who your supplier is
While evergreen products have steady demand, you may have low conversion rates
In the end, I am hoping that you gain the confidence to sell evergreen products. Although many dropshippers sell the same things, there are many ways by which you can still come out on top.
An evergreen product is one that people buy all year round. It is the exact opposite of seasonal products. The latter are only in demand during a particular season. The former has consumers all the time.
The word evergreen, taken in its literal meaning, is a plant that retains green leaves the whole year. Winter, summer, and autumn seasons do not affect the color of its leaves. Such are evergreen products—they have nothing to do with any season.
Evergreen products are sometimes called consumables. People use them up and need to replace them. Sometimes, an evergreen product and a seasonal product can overlap. For example, a coat is a seasonal product, and yet it belongs to fashion, which is an evergreen niche.
To determine if a product is evergreen, just ask yourself: is this something that many people need and buy regardless of the season? If it is, then you found an evergreen product that you may consider selling.
Apart from seasonality, there are other differences between trendy and evergreen products. Let us explore each one.
Consumer demand – trendy products are only in demand during the fad. Once this hype is over, nobody wants the product anymore. It is not likely for the fad to come back. Think of fidget spinners. They were once in high demand. Now, kids have moved on, and nobody wants a fidget spinner anymore. On the other hand, evergreen products are always in demand.
Capital and selling price – suppliers of trendy products capitalize on the hype. They sell trendy items for a premium, and this price gets passed on to you and your consumer. Evergreen products tend to have a balanced market price all the time.
Consumer need – an evergreen product, like lipstick, is something that consumers will always buy unless they decide to stop using make-up. An evergreen product is leaning towards being a need rather than a want. Trendy products are never a need; trendy products are impulse purchases.
Finally, evergreen products are here to stay no matter what year it is. You can add 100 years from today and evergreen products will still sell. Trendy products will eventually go away and never come back.
One important thing to note is that sometimes, a trendy product can become evergreen one day. For example, drones have been trendy for some time. Now, it has become an evergreen product. There is hardly a professional photographer today who does not use drones.
Here are some of the best cosmetics and personal care products you can sell online:
Lipstick
Make-up
Make-up accessories like brushes
Purses for make-up kits
Skincare products
Soaps and creams
Here is an example of the search trend in Google:
The score of 0 to 100 to the left is the indicator of the search volume for the term “soap.” An ideal number is above 50. Anything above 50 indicates that the interest is high.
Please note that the score does not indicate actual search volume, but rather a statistical value for search interest. If the score is 0, then it means the search term is not popular.
Finally, to see if the product or niche is evergreen, I set the search result to five years. This should be enough to tell us the interest levels of people for an acceptable period.
Here are some pet products you can consider selling:
Pet bowls
Leashes
Collars
Fishbowl
Supplements and food
Now, here is the trend for pet supplies in the last five years:
What I recommend is to create a niche store. It is better to have an online store that caters to dog owners only, than to pet owners in general. It makes your site visitors think that you are an expert or authority in the niche. Generally speaking, niche stores tend to perform better than general ones.
Kitchen utensils and home decor items, such as throw pillows and posters sell well throughout the year. Here are some examples of kitchen items:
Knives
Peelers
Trays
Airtight containers
For home needs and decor, you can sell:
Bedsheets
Quilts
Pillowcases
Rugs and carpets
Here is the trend for one type of kitchen product:
You can combine these two evergreen products in the same store. Most people who want to buy kitchen goods are also inclined to beautify their homes.
I want to suggest that for home decor, you can use print-on-demand systems and design your products. This way, you are not competing against other dropshippers who sell the same items.
In addition, designing your products allows you to bundle a set with the same design. For example, you can sell pillowcases + bedsheets that have the same design, giving the bed a uniform and coherent look.
Did you know that 385,000 babies are born each day? These babies will grow and will need toys, both for entertainment and education. Their parents would be the primary target audience.
Some examples of evergreen toys you can dropship are:
Building blocks (like Lego, but an alternative brand or version)
Wooden blocks with letters and numbers
Train sets
Parents want nothing but the best for their children. I cannot imagine parents not wanting to buy these toys for their kids. As far as interest goes, here is what Google has to say:
It may seem erratic, but it is normal to see a spike during the end-of-the-year holidays. It is a time for giving gifts in many countries, so there is high market demand.
It does not mean that there is no interest. Toys are evergreen products. As you can see, the interest level does not go below a score of 50.
People will buy new clothes any time of the year. The one thing you can expect is that some items can be seasonal, and some can be merely trends.
Here are some examples of evergreen products:
Shoes
Shirts and blouses
Belts and wallets
Bags and purses
Watches and jewelry
Here is a trend report for purses:
The fashion niche market can give you room to capitalize on market trends and seasons. In December, you can add winter clothing. If there is a new fad, even if it is not the holiday, just add it to your online store and milk it until the fad is gone.
Here are some examples of office and school suppliers:
Desks
Chairs
Pens, pencils, and erasers
Foldable plastic tables
Canvas and paint and paint brushes
There are many items you can choose from. Similar to kitchen and home decor, you can combine both office and school supplies in the same store.
Here is an example trend for an office supply:
Who would have thought that an inconspicuous item like a stapler has a huge demand, right? Should you pick this niche market, you can always use Google Trends to validate your ideas.
Finally, there are baby products. Earlier, I mentioned something about the current birth rate. All these babies need:
Clothing
Diapers
Onesie
Bibs
Pants
Jackets
Pajamas
Milk bottles
Teethers
Here is a trend chart:
The baby niche market is a huge one, and there are so many items you can add to your online store. If I may suggest, you can also combine it with toddler items up to age 3.
If a tree bears fruit all year, would you not like the same to happen to your business? That is exactly what evergreen products do. In addition, there are other merits to evergreen products that you and I need to explore.
Since evergreen products are in demand all the time, manufacturers make it a point that they keep up with this demand. As a dropshipper, you do not need to wait for supplies; there is always a supply.
There are also many suppliers you can find. From Alibaba to AliExpress to Tradelle to your local dropshipping companies, there is no shortage of suppliers. It is only a matter of finding out who among these suppliers provides the best service.
People will buy evergreen products again and again. Evergreen products get depleted or worn out, and if the customer likes what you sold them, they will surely be repeat customers.
As far as sales go, it is always easier and cheaper to make money off of repeat customers than new ones. With repeat customers, you do not need to advertise. As you know, customer acquisition costs for new customers can be expensive.
Dropshippers who advertise on Facebook, or any platform, know that marketing money eats profits. With repeat customers, you do not need to aggressively advertise.
In addition to this, the repeat customer can even recommend you to a friend. If they do this, you earn new customers without spending a dime.
Consumables and evergreen products are easier to market. It is easier to convince buyers to purchase your product. Why? The need is there. The desire is there. The only thing missing is for you to give them a nudge.
Evergreen products are easier to market because:
They are often affordable; you can buy samples and create your ad creatives
People need them already; they are just looking for a better version or price that you can offer
Customers are familiar with these products; there is no risk or fear in buying them
Although trendy products are also easy to market, think of the situation AFTER the trend is over. You can spend hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars in marketing and nobody will pay attention to these products anymore.
Because there is a consistent demand, there is also consistent revenue for you if you sell evergreen products.
The profit, however, is another matter. The good thing about having a dropshipping business is that you do not need to stock up on inventory. That is the supplier’s problem.
Should market prices go down, you do not need to worry. You only need to find a new supplier who can keep up with the market’s pricing pace.
Selling evergreen products is not a walk in the park. Some challenges lay ahead, which I will discuss in this section.
Many dropshippers want to be on the safe side of the business. Only a few are willing to take big risks, such as selling products that nobody has heard of. Because of this, many dropshippers start with evergreen niches. These same dropshippers are your competition.
It is not uncommon for new dropshippers to sell these products:
Clothes and accessories
Kitchen items
Toys and educational items
Women’s clothing
Why? Because dropship gurus told them to. These experts know that evergreen products are more likely to make profits than trendy goods. And so, the dropshippers follow this advice.
The key to overcoming this challenge is to set yourself apart. You can either create your brand or find a better product. It is also important to note that the service (such as the quality of the goods received and shipping speed) is paramount to your success.
If you sell evergreen products, you are not likely to focus on trends. Essentially, you are letting the opportunity to earn a lot of money pass you.
While this is a challenge, it is easy to solve. When a trend comes by, and it happens to be in your niche, sell the trendy product. Once the trend is over, take it off your dropshipping store.
For example, let us say that your evergreen niche is toys. Then, the fidget spinner comes long. Add the fidget spinner to your store to increase your Shopify sales. Sell them until the trend is gone.
This is the beauty of having a dropshipping business. You do not need to buy thousands of fidget spinners as stock. You only have to post the product in your store.
The one thing you must not do is sell a trendy product that has nothing to do with your Shopify store. It makes no sense to sell fidget spinners if your niche is kitchen, right?
The last challenge is small profitability and profit margins. It happens because you are competing against so many dropshippers. The result is a cut-throat competition. All of you will cut down the prices just to convince consumers to buy from you.
Then, when you calculate your dropshipping profits, it would seem like all your efforts were in vain.
What is the solution? Here are my recommendations:
Add value to your offer; create bundles where the consumer can save money
Focus on quality; ensure that what the customer paid for is worth it
Brand your items; do white-label or private-label dropshipping to justify your prices
To get ahead of your competitors, it makes sense to look for a reliable supplier. Tradelle is one of these suppliers. With Tradelle, you have a guarantee that the product quality is high and that the shipping service is fast.
Evergreen products are everywhere, but not all suppliers are created equal. While most dropshippers rely on AliExpress, I cannot guarantee that all sellers on that platform can serve you well.
In my experience, there will always be an AliExpress supplier whose:
Products look good in the picture but are bad in reality
Handling and packing times are unreasonably long
Shipping rates are ridiculously high
Shipped products are not as described or are different from the order
I am saying this not to disparage AliExpress. I am just saying that if there was a way to avoid these problems, wouldn’t you take it?
Yes, there is a way, and it is Tradelle.
Tradelle is in itself a supplier. What you can do with this tool is to:
Search for evergreen products and analyze their strengths
Import the products to your Shopify store with one click
Automate the ordering process
As far as automation goes, what it means is you no longer have to order the item yourself. Once you enable this feature, Tradelle will process the order and ship the product to your customer, even while you are asleep.
Tradelle is what you need to find high-quality evergreen products. If the product you want to sell is not on the database, you can always request them to source it for you.
And the best part? Tradelle has a free-forever account. You can use the tool with no monthly financial accountability, albeit with a some limitations.
An evergreen product is one that people buy all the time, regardless of the season.
There is no concrete answer to this. Evergreen products have steady demand, so it is profitable all the time.
Yes, evergreen niches and products are highly competitive. Other dropshippers know that this is their best option for a financially sustainable business.
It depends. Think of it this way: some lipsticks are affordable while some are pricey. The same principle applies to evergreen products.
Before you go, I suggest that you sign up for a free Tradelle account. Use the tool and explore it to see how you can find profitable evergreen products. If you already have a Shopify store, try the product import tool and test the automated fulfillment process, too!
The post Best Evergreen Products And Niches That Sell Year-Round appeared first on Tradelle.
