Assuming you have done a proper research for a product that you would like to give a try to dropship pet apparel. Some samples of product research are available here (they are sort of starting points and in no way recommendations to dropship those product categories):

• Skateboard Dropshippers
• Candle Drop Ship
• Bicycle Dropshipper
• Bluray DVD Dropshipper
• Bratz Dropship

So, you have defined a product category to dropship – pet apparel. Next step in your e-commerce business plan is likely to be setting up relations with pet apparel dropshippers. This is an important step.

Your options include contacting local dealers, doing your independent internet research, applying to verified dropship sourcing providers. Let’s consider each option.

Contacting local dealers – this option greatly depends on your location. Not every place has a number of pet apparel wholesalers that you can reach out… And not every local pet apparel wholesaler is familiar with dropshipping business model. Though most wholesalers will easily get the idea most will decline your offer – they would need to make change to their business processes and paperwork and your volume of sale (from their point) would not compensate their efforts.

Your own online research of available pet apparel dropshippers – the idea is simple. You go to your favorite search engine and type ‘pet apparel dropshippers’. Your first impression – wow, thousands of pet apparel dropshipper listings to choose from. Once you browse through 20-30 listings you are less enthusiastic – many unrelated information, many listings of some poor quality products offered by some unknown companies… It does not mean that all hose thousands of listings are complete garbage – there are real dropshippers, but the question is how to define and verify those real dropshippers – reliable, with competitive prices and good reputation.

Applying to verified dropship sourcing providers – probably the easiest way to start your pet apparel dropship business. Those product sources are familiar with dropshipping and ready to fulfill your orders on the one hand; on the other hand those companies were verified by some third party and you can be confident that it is not some sort of scam Where do you find those listings of verified pet apparel dropshippers? You can see a few selected lists compared here

Product selection is crucial to your succeeding in dropshipping. I say this all the time and it is obvious without repeating.

What do you expect from your product research?

• To spot a good online seller (high demand and proper for e-commerce)
• To see moderate competition
• To make sure of the lasting nature of product (I mean it is likely to be in demand and on the market for years to come)
• To set up reliable product sourcing with competitive prices
• To have some personal liking (or at least you should learn to like the products you promote)

We reviewed a number of products in the past, some examples include:

• Candle Drop Ship
• Bicycle Dropshipper
• Bluray DVD Dropshipper
• Bratz Dropship

Today we will have a look at dropshipping skateboards. Skateboards no doubt meet our initial requirement – good online sellers – people buy this product online and they do not need to touch or smell it (though we know that everything sells online now).

What about demand?

About 2 000 keywords. Not that huge as we wished to see it, but quite big. You should keep in mind that keyword tools do not provide 100% exact information. Another point to remember – many searches are of browsing nature and only some tiny share of search phrases are of buying kind.

Google Insights For Search say that there is a gradual decline of ’skateboard’ searches over time with the primary product market still in the United States (yes, this tool is great to define key markets and top searches in addition to the general demand trend).

How do you check competition? Most keyword research tools provide this feature. Probably, the easiest way is to check the number of Google results returned for the term ‘skateboard’, but you need to compare it to something you are familiar with. And it makes sense to enter less general terms.

If you think of the lasting nature of the product it is likely to stay on the market.

What about skateboard dropship merchants? You need verified, reliable, competitively priced. A few sources that are worth your time include Salehoo, Worldwide Brands, Doba – you can see them compared here. Fast check shows that you will have a choice of suppliers:

Our research is not a final answer to the question – should I give a try to dropship skateboards. It is sort of initial steps. You should make a much deeper research using your own extra techniques or applications available on the market similar to finding hot selling eBay goods or in-built market research tool

Well, you can do candle drop ship or set up relations with video game drop ship wholesaler or with any other wholesale drop ship companies, but it does not guarantee your succeeding in dropshipping

As you know browsing our large drop ship case study section dropship websites are different. Some make pennies, others are such a success that provide their owners with a decent revenue.

What is the size of that decent revenue that successful dropship websites make? We have revised our dropship case studies to make the below list (includes large dropship businesses and smaller scaled ones):

Industry – Cars
Niche – Auto Parts
Monthly Revenue – $141 000
Details…

Industry – Department Stores
Niche – Beauty Products, Sporting Equipment & more…
Monthly Revenue – $100 000
Details…

Industry – Books
Niche – College Textbooks
Monthly Revenue – $10 000
Details…

Industry – Apparel
Niche – Halloween Costumes
Monthly Revenue – $10 000
Details…

Industry – Electronics
Niche – Cell Phone SIM Cards
Monthly Revenue – $10 000
Details…

Industry – Apparel
Niche – Socks
Monthly Revenue – $20 000
Details…

Industry – Electronics
Niche – MP3/ MP4 Players, etc
Monthly Revenue – $21 000
Details…

Industry – Consumer Products
Niche – Handbags
Monthly Revenue - $20 000
Details…

Industry – Electronics
Niche – TV’s, Home Audio, etc
Monthly Revenue – $13 000
Details…

Industry – Electronics
Niche – Ink and Toner
Monthly Revenue – $12 900
Details…

Industry – Home Improvement
Niche – Canvas Paintings
Monthly Revenue - $23 000
Details…

Industry – Perfume
Niche – Fragrances
Monthly Revenue – $37 000
Details…

Industry – Sports Goods
Niche – Pool Products
Monthly Revenue – $10 000
Details…

If you feel inspired and like entering dropship business to achieve that level of income off just one dropshipping website you need to do a proper market research for products where you can compete with big retailers and generate enough sales. A few tools that will help you with that (include both: free and paid):

Popular eBay products (more free eBay research tools are here)
Hot selling eBay products
Demand fluctuations over years (includes geo and seasonality aspects)
Built-in market research tool (online demand vs competition and more…)
Keyword research tool

Once you have defined the idea of products that might be good sellers in your case it is time to see what product sourcing providers have to offer and join one or two:

Over 6 000 000 products + free training & videos + in-built market research tool
Over 8 000 verified wholesale dropshippers with ratings + free training + member forums

A few more product sourcing options are compared here