Last Updated on January 26, 2022
Dropshipping is a rather new term used to define an online business model that does not require any inventory, warehouse, or even a minimal investment. Dropshipping is as easy as any business gets: it’s absolutely legal, safe, and is now becoming more and more popular all across the globe.
This is how it works: a dropshipper buys an item for $6, sells it for $10, and keeps the $4. Most dropshippers sell products directly from Chinese manufacturers – particularly, AliExpress suppliers – because the prices in China for most products are quite low.
Dropshipping can be done manually; however, experts claim that automating the dropshipping process means you spend less time and effort distributing your product. Automated dropshipping is using technology to manage your business and make a significant profit successfully.
The purpose of the automation process is to minimize the number of repetitive tasks you have to do, so you can focus on what’s most important.
List of Automation Tools for AliExpress Dropshipping
Like any other business, dropshipping has multiple aspects that need to be taken care of. Successful dropshipping business owners know how to delegate the work successfully. If you want to take your business seriously, you need to automate your business to be able to run your dropshipping store.
Due to the fast-paced nature of drop shipping, it turns the best profit when it’s done on a large scale. Automation lets you scale your eCommerce business more quickly.
Since dropshipping is becoming more and more popular, a lot of helpful apps have become available that you can use. Dropship automation is typically achieved by using software: some of the apps are free, while others need to be invested in.
It is absolutely important to realize how dropshipping works. Below are the basic tasks that can be considered part of the dropshipping process.
Automatic Product Addition
The process of adding new items is quite unamusing. You need to find the item, make sure its description is correct, copy-paste it, find a picture for it, and upload it onto your store.
With automated dropshipping, it may very well be avoided. Rather than doing it yourself, consider using an app or software – it will automatically update the product info and check each listing to see if the manufacturer has made changes to it.
Here are some of the best programs to set automatic product addition:
| WooDropship | SaleHoo | Shopmaster | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it safe/reliable? | Yes, it uses the SSL certificate | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | 4 plans (free, $14.99, $29.99, and $49.99 per month) | 2 plans ($27/$97 per month) | 4 plans (free, $19.90, $39.90, and $79.90 per month) |
| Software pricing | Free | Free | Free |
| Individual approach | Automatically detects items having ePacket shipping facility and highlights them for you | One of the better alternatives to importing from Chinese suppliers | Autocorrects shipping address |
| Flexibility | Flexible pricing rules for each item you add to your store | If the app doesn’t meet your expectations, they can issue a refund for you | 1-click import products, which saves up to 98% processing time |
| Service | Support 24/7 | Personal email support and Dedicated Onboarding Account Manager | Email & Chat support |
Automatically Work With Suppliers
In order to increase sales, you need to be working with several suppliers at the same time. It also works the other way around: the more you sell, the more suppliers you have to deal with. This equals increased difficulty in managing your suppliers.
A computer program doesn’t ever get tired. Automate the prioritizing of multiple suppliers to be able to increase the efficiency of your dropshipping business. Choose which product should be fulfilled by which supplier with the help of one of these apps:
| AliExpress DC | Asify | DSers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it safe/reliable? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | Free | Free | 4 plans (free, $1.99, $19.99, and $49.99 per month) |
| Software pricing | Free | Free | Free |
| Individual approach | Helps you analyze products before you sell them, finds you new AliExpress suppliers | Customized product sourcing tips, plus exclusive apps, tools, and APIs | It’s the only official AliExpress partner specializing in automating almost every step of the dropshipping process on Shopify and WooCommerce |
| Flexibility | Has an exciting product analysis tool that helps analyze the items on AliExpress and learn more about their sales and popularity | Offers access to advanced tools like image downloader, product tracking, profit calculator, order tracking, consultation history | Provides a forever-free basic plan |
| Service | Email support | Email support | Email support |
Use Auto Tracking Details
Your suppliers can send you the tracking info once the item has been shipped out. Automated programs will be sending this information directly to the customer, so they know their package is on its way.
Your customers shouldn’t feel the need to ask for the tracking information, so use one of these apps to provide your consumers with all the details:
| Nimble | Oberlo | AliDropship | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it safe/reliable? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | 3 plans ($18, $60, and $120 per month) | 3 plans (free, $29.90, and $79.90 per month) | $89 for a single site license |
| Software pricing | Free | Free | Free |
| Individual approach | Detailed statistics of AliExpress payments | Updates your inventory, so there’s no need to check and update inventory reports constantly | Ensures profitability by controlling the price |
| Flexibility | 14-day free trial | Available in the following languages: English, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese | Can easily manage multiple stores all at once |
| Service | Email support | Email support | Email support |
Automatic Control of the Price
If you have a dropshipping business, you must be able to pick the products carefully. Based on how well you’ve chosen your niche, you will either be earning a lot or nothing.
Surely, you can spend hours editing your prices, but what if you have thousands of products? It’s hard to even keep track of that many items. An easy way to deal with the prices is to let the software manage products for you.
| WooDropship | Oberlo | Spark Shipping | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it safe/reliable? | Yes, it uses the SSL certificate | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | 4 plans (free, $14.99, $29.99, and $49.99 per month) | 3 plans (free, $29.90, and $79.90 per month) | 4 plans ($249, $499, and $999 per month, plus custom) |
| Software pricing | Free | Free | Free |
| Individual approach | Automatically detects items having ePacket shipping facility and highlights them for you | Updates your inventory, so there’s no need to check and update inventory reports constantly | Process feeds using CSV, FTP, XML, API, manual upload, etc. |
| Flexibility | Flexible pricing rules for each item you add to your store | Available in the following languages: English, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese | Automates the entire product management cycle – from uploading items to tracking orders |
| Service | Support 24/7 | Email support | Phone and email support |
Besides, Alitools is another useful tool to track prices and to make sure the seller is reliable.
Tools for Automatic Tracking of Inventory
Accuracy on inventory is essential in any business, isn’t it? You need to keep track of your sales while ensuring that you don’t go over the number of stocks available. By using an automated dropshipping app, you’ll be able to monitor the number of products available and list those items that are no longer available in your store. This avoids any risks of customer dissatisfaction and keeps your rating high.
| Shipway | AfterShip | Inventory Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it safe/reliable? | Yes | Yes, GDPR compliant | Yes |
| Pricing | From $9.99 per month | From $10.00 per month. | 4 plans (free, $99, $149, and $299 per month) |
| Software pricing | Free | Free | Free |
| Individual approach | Branded tracking with China Post, China EMS, Epacket, Yanwen, Yun Express, SF Express, Royal Mail, Newgistics, UBI Smart Parcel, etc. | Collects tracking information from shipping companies for you | Offers very useful documents and videos |
| Flexibility | Provides WhatsApp, SMS, Email alerts | An organization owner can invite members and manage membership for $5/user per month | Filters and categorizes your manufacturer’s products with the Catalog Manager, which allows seamless inventory management |
| Service | Email support | Email and Help Desk support 24/7 | Email support |
Automated Order Fulfillment
Order fulfillment is probably one of the most useful forms of automation for your business. With suitable software, an order will be automatically placed with your supplier once a customer has purchased a product in your marketplace. That’s it! You don’t even need to do anything else. These apps might be of great use:
| Dropified | AutoDS | Ali Orders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it safe/reliable? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | 2 plans ($47 and $97 per month) | From $24 per month | $19 per month |
| Software pricing | Free | Free | Yes |
| Individual approach | Provides advanced eCommerce training for beginner | Drafts management, which allows you to save your product info till you are ready to launch | Auto-solving captcha feature |
| Flexibility | Over 80 product catalogs and marketplaces with thousands of products | Constant price and stock monitoring to make sure you never miss an update from your supplier | One click to import products from AE with a shipping method like ePacket |
| Service | Email support | Email support | Email support |
Automate Email Marketing
In the eCommerce business, email marketing is everything. It needs to be automated to send your consumers automatic notifications, like order/shipping confirmation. You can also remind customers that they have added an item to their cart. Email marketing campaigns can be launched with the help of different software, such as:
| Is it safe/reliable? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | From $20.00 per feature, per month | 3 plans ($19, $49, and $125 per month) | 3 plans ($16, $99 per month, plus custom) |
| Software pricing | Free | Free | Free |
| Individual approach | You can send very targeted emails according to your target audience segments | Focusing on the hottest leads to see what they’re interested in by using the web visitor tracking | Provides an intuitive email builder with many default blocks and a wide range of other options |
| Flexibility | Offers you email templates to easily create an email | You can sync contacts between your CRM and marketing lists | Cloud/SaaS/Web-based deployment |
| Service | Chat and email support | Live Chat | Help Desk and email support 24/7 |
Implement Automatic Ads
Ads and promotions are another great way to increase the conversion rate in your marketplace. This is something that you can easily automate with pop-ups on your website and follow-up emails. You can use pop-ups to offer new customers discount codes or send follow-up emails to clients who have abandoned their cart.
There are endless ways to customize automated promotions, and they’re a very powerful way to improve the success of your dropshipping business. Some of the best ad-automating tools are GTM, FaceBook, Pixel, and others.
Conclusion
Dropshipping is definitely not as easy as it sounds. But the great thing about dropshipping is that it can easily implement the automated processes. If you’re willing to grow your dropshipping store, remember that building infrastructure is the key to scaling success.
However, it should be noted that you can’t and should not fully rely on technology – and it’s not just about dropshipping. As soon as you stop investing your heart into your business, it will be over.
We highly encourage you to use any tools we’ve mentioned above, but don’t forget to dedicate some time to your work yourself. You need to pay attention to such important things as picking a niche, choosing a product, maintaining customer satisfaction, and constantly improving your workflow.
Good luck, and have a lot of success with your dropshipping business!
FAQ
Does AliExpress Provide a Dropship API?
Yes, dropshipping API is a part of AliExpress API tools. With the help of it, you’ll be able to get product information by the product ID and provide it to your dropshipping store.
What Is the Best AliExpress Dropshipping Plugin?
There’s no such thing as the best dropshipping plugin or tool – all of them are exceptional and streamline your processes. Think about what part of your business you’d like to spend less time dealing with yourself, and find a suitable app to do it for you.
Why Is Automated Dropshipping Important?
Automated dropshipping saves you time and money, and it allows you to concentrate on other things that are equally as important as making money itself: keeping up with competitors, learning more about your business, visiting conferences, leading a balanced lifestyle – you name it.
Can I Fully Automate Drop Shipping?
Yes, you can, but it’s not a good idea. Having started a business, you need to be highly invested in all the processes and be aware of every little detail that could potentially lead you to huge success.
