TikTok Dropshipping: Everything You Need to Know

What Is TikTok Dropshipping?

Dropshipping allows someone to sell products from third-party suppliers to customers, without having to maintain any physical inventory. TikTok dropshipping is a business model that utilizes the TikTok platform to generate sales. Specifically, dropshippers can use TikTok to advertise the products they’re offering through their dropshipping store.

Using TikTok to market a dropshipping business is similar to leveraging Facebook or Instagram. These social media platforms can allow dropshippers to expand their reach and tap into a wider audience in order to attract new customers to their business. Dropshipping is a popular business model for people who want to operate an online store without being required to hold or ship inventory themselves.

How Does TikTok Dropshipping Work?

Dropshipping involves selling products that are manufactured or sold by a third-party company. It’s a form of indirect selling, in which the dropshipper acts as a go-between. There are different ways to market a dropshipping business in order to generate sales, including promoting it on TikTok.

Here’s a brief walkthrough of how TikTok dropshipping works:

• You create a TikTok business account and link to your dropshipping store, which you might maintain on Shopify or a similar ecommerce platform.
• You market your dropshipping store and products through TikTok, which may include running ads, working with influencers, or creating organic content.
• Customers see your products advertised on TikTok, then click through to your dropshipping store to make a purchase.
• When someone places an order, you collect the money for the item along with the shipping costs.
• You then pass the customer’s order information along to the company that produces or sells the product.
• The company then handles the packaging and shipping of the customer’s items.

Now, how do TikTok dropshippers make money? It all comes down to pricing. TikTok dropshippers can contract with companies to pay the wholesale price for the items they plan to market to their customers. They then list those items for sale at retail prices, which is where they make their profit.

Advantages and Disadvantages of TikTok Dropshipping

There are pros and cons to using TikTok for dropshipping. It’s important to consider both sides before using this business model.

In terms of the advantages, here’s what makes TikTok dropshipping attractive:

• Low startup costs. TikTok dropshipping doesn’t require you to maintain any physical inventory, so you don’t have to spend a lot of money buying products to sell. You’ll need to spend a little money setting up your dropshipping store, but otherwise, it’s relatively easy to get started.
• Built-in audience. In the United States alone, there are approximately 150 million Americans using TikTok. While not every user on TikTok is going to become a customer, it’s much easier to start a business when you have a ready-made traffic source to tap into.
• Multiple ways to market. TikTok is primarily known as a platform for video creation, but there are different ways to leverage it for marketing a dropshipping business. Similarly, you’re not limited to just using TikTok to start or scale a dropshipping business, and it’s possible to incorporate it into a multiplatform marketing plan.

Now, here are some of the limitations of TikTok dropshipping:

• Engagement doesn’t guarantee conversions. TikTok as a platform can offer a high engagement rate, thanks to the form that content typically takes, but that doesn’t guarantee that viewers or followers will turn into buyers. You’ll need to have a solid marketing plan for encouraging conversions—otherwise, your time on the platform might be wasted.
• Competition from other dropshippers. Dropshipping on TikTok is a relatively new trend, but that doesn’t mean no one else is doing it. If you’re selling products similar to ones being offered by other dropshippers with larger followings, you may find it difficult to generate sales.
• Limited customer support. TikTok provides customer support just like other social media companies, but numerous customer reviews have expressed dissatisfaction with the level of support offered, as well as the overall treatment of content creators who are using the platform to generate income.
  

Best Products to Sell

Generally speaking, the best products to sell when dropshipping on TikTok are items that are trending and that you can purchase at a price point that allows you to collect a decent profit margin once they sell. Keep in mind, however, that TikTok trends can go just as quickly as they come—you’ll need to be quick in order to capitalize on them.

Examples of items that tend to do well with dropshipping include:

• LED lights, including strip lights and night lights
• Beauty products like makeup, skin care products, and makeup brushes
• Jewelry and accessories
• Sunglasses
• Seasonal items
• Pet-related items, like water bottles or food dishes
• Phone cases

When researching which items might work best for dropshipping on TikTok, it helps to consider who your target buyers are, how much they might be willing to spend, and how much you might be able to source products for. Spending some time on the platform can be a good way to see what people are buying most and how dropshippers are marketing those items to make sales.

How to Advertise Dropshipping Products on TikTok

There are several ways to advertise your dropshipping business on TikTok. You might use one or all of them to build an engaged audience.

Some of the best ways to advertise on TikTok as a dropshipper include:

• Paid ads
• Collaborations with TikTok influencers
• In-content marketing

Here’s more on how each one works, as well as a brief look at pros and cons.

Paid Ads

TikTok offers the option to purchase ads on the platform. You’ll need a TikTok business account to sign up and get started. Using the Ad Manager, you can create a campaign that includes different types of ads based on your goals. Once you’ve created the campaign, you can set your ad budget to specify how much you’re willing to spend to market your business.

Pros: Paid TikTok ads are relatively easy to create, and they can increase your reach, which may lead to more conversions.

Cons: Your return on investment isn’t guaranteed, and if you have a small budget to work with, you might not see much traction from running paid ads.

Collaborate with Influencers

Influencers can be a powerful marketing tool for TikTok dropshippers or other business owners. If an influencer plugs your business or products to their following, that can increase your visibility and potentially increase sales. A typical collaboration usually involves sending an influencer one of your products and asking them to create a video reviewing it.

Keep in mind that influencers may expect payment in exchange for plugging your business. In that case, you again have to consider the potential return on investment.

Pros: Working with an influencer who has a sizable following could dramatically boost the number of people viewing your products, which may result in sales.

Cons: You’ll have to spend time identifying influencers who may be a good fit for your products, then make a sales pitch to them, which may or may not require you to offer a fee.

In-Content Marketing

If you don’t have the budget for ads and are struggling to make connections with networks, you could still use your own content to market your dropshipping products. For example, you might create a step-by-step tutorial video showing how to apply a bronzer that you’re trying to sell or do a mini-review video that breaks down everything buyers might want to know about the water bottles you’re selling.

Pros: Creating organic content to market dropshipping on TikTok doesn’t have to cost a dime, which is great if you’re starting out with a small budget. Also, you have complete control over the type of content you create.

Cons: Building an audience on TikTok can take time, which can mean waiting longer to see sales begin to roll in.

TikTok Dropshipping Statistics

Getting hard numbers on how many people use TikTok for dropshipping is difficult, as there are no definitive studies. However, it’s possible to get an idea of TikTok’s potential as a good platform for dropshippers by using other data that’s available.

Here are a few key TikTok statistics to know, as of 2023:

• TikTok has approximately 1 billion monthly active users globally.
• Of the Big Five social media networks, which include Facebook and Instagram, TikTok ranks third.
• By 2025, TikTok is projected to have nearly 1 billion users.
  
• TikTok’s growth rate is roughly double that of Snapchat and 2½ times that of Instagram.

All of the numbers suggest that TikTok isn’t going away anytime soon, which means there may be plenty of opportunities for new dropshippers to leverage the platform now and in the future. However, there are multiple bills in Congress and across several states that are attempting to get rid of TIkTok due to its ties to the Chinese government.

Is TikTok Good for Dropshipping?

Whether TikTok is good for dropshippers can depend largely on their business model, the types of products they’re selling, and what type of audience they’re targeting. In general terms, TikTok dropshipping could be good for people who are looking for a low-cost business to start online. If you already have a decent following on the platform, it may not be difficult to market your products and encourage your followers to become buyers.

Dropshipping—whether it’s on TikTok or another platform—may not be a good choice for someone who’s hoping to make money instantly or generate income with little to no work. Even though you’re not making any products or managing inventory yourself, a certain amount of effort is still required to set up your dropshipping storefront and market it effectively on TikTok.

That being said, there are questions about the long-term viability of TikTok for U.S.-based dropshippers. In April 2024, the Biden Administration signed a bill that would effectively bank TikTok in the U.S. unless its underlying company, Bytedance, agrees to divest its ownership. TikTok sued the U.S. government in May 2024, arguing that such a ban constitutes a violation of First Amendment rights.

If the ban is enforced, U.S.-based dropshippers would lose access to this marketing platform. That could have a significant impact on their ability to generate sales from their dropshipping businesses. As of May 2024, it remains unclear whether the ban will take effect if ByteDance refuses to sell, or if TikTok's lawsuit against the government will be successful.

The Bottom Line

Dropshipping on TikTok could be a lucrative business model, but it can take some time to find success. Learning how dropshipping works, building an audience of loyal buyers on TikTok, and researching tips for going viral could give your small business a boost.

Keep in mind that any income earned from a TikTok dropshipping business or any other online business must be reported on your tax return to avoid trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).