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Ready or not, it’s looking increasingly possible that we will have an eCommerce shopping future, much of it driven by dropshipping. Ecommerce, and dropshipping in particular, has soared during the pandemic.
If you already own a dropshipping store, you may be wondering how you should run it in light of the challenges and, most importantly, what product niches you should focus on. We covered this in an earlier post.
However, the idea of selling a single product has become hugely popular in recent times.
In this post, we explore the nuts and bolts of a one product store and whether it can be just as commercially rewarding as running a large, multi-product dropshipping store.
It isn’t uncommon for dropshipping stores to pivot from one product line to another or provide a wide range of product lines. In fact, dropshipping stores don’t die, at least not all of them, but they adjust accordingly and constantly find winning products.
There are three different types of dropshipping stores; general stores, which sell multiple product categories, niche stores that sell different products but are related to a specific subject (niche), and one-product stores, which focus on selling a single product. This product is often referred to as a ‘flagship product.’
However, it’s important not to take the description ‘one-product store’ too literally. These stores can have a few extras, such as accessories or different variants to the flagship product. They can also offer variant deals, bundle deals, and upsells that maximize profits.
Selling multiple products often means more multitasking and numerous aspects of the business to monitor and improve. So, what’s so great about running a one product store? Here are a couple more reasons you should consider a one product store:
When it comes to a one product store, you just have to do one thing; sell one thing and do it well. This means channeling all your human, financial, time, and business resources to achieve that goal. All your resources are geared towards delivering your product to your customers with the utmost value.
A one product store also means less data to collect, analyze, and work with since all your key data metrics will come from a single product. With less complicated data metrics, you get far less work to do, and you can use the rest of your time strategizing on how to scale or grow your store.
Selling multiple products often means spreading your marketing tactics and resources across your product lines. You have to market to different niches, which also means different personas. When it comes to social media marketing, it also means a spirited battle with the algorithms for all your product categories.
However, a one product store allows you to concentrate all your marketing resources and tactics on a single product and benefit from all the Google algorithms already in place for the specific customers interested in your product. Your SEO rankings will significantly improve since you can now easily rank for certain keywords relating to your product.
Running a one product store also allows you to test different types of ads, targeting settings, and promotional tactics since you won’t be distracted by multiple product lines.
One product stores have one of the highest conversion rates. All your traffic will basically come from that one product, and all your leads will already have qualified themselves. In fact, you can build a strong social media audience around your product, that is, your product’s raving fans who will spread the word on your behalf.
Since you’ll only be focusing on one product, you’ll be able to run a superb customer service experience. A one product store allows you to handle all your customers with excellent pre-purchase advice and even better post-purchase support. You will only be answering questions about a single product, and after some time, you’ll be something of an expert or a specialist on the product.
With a one product store, branding becomes even more crucial but, at the same time, a lot less easy. Branding a single product focuses your creative energies and gets you a lot closer to perfection.
With multiple product stores where you would have to brand 50+ products, your branding message can get diluted in all the marketing copy and messaging.
While stripping down your store to a single product offering certainly makes life a little easier, there are several things you have to get right to ensure your store can flourish as a one product store. They include:
Having “good” products to sell just won’t cut it. The best products, in this case, have to have some aspect of scarcity to them and be the kind of products customers can buy without much research. These products also have to be interesting enough to lure buyers, be difficult to estimate their pricing, and also fall within the affordable range of products.
If you don’t already stock products that fit this description, you’ll have to first draw an accurate picture of your ideal customer and then identify the right product. This, of course, isn’t as simple as it looks. One way to go about this is to go to industry forums, social media groups such as Facebook groups, and other community forums. Pick out the trends and every other thing happening in the industry and then try to identify areas few or no stores have catered to, including common customer pain points and how you can provide affordable solutions.
Some of the best product niches for one product stores include electronics and pet products, even though you’ll have to narrow it down to the best product. Luckily, tools such as Sell The Trend can make the process of finding winning products and reliable suppliers for your dropshipping store super easy. More on this later on in the article.
The next crucial aspect of a successful one product store is to put your plan in action, that is, designing your store. You already know this; first impressions are everything! They can make or break a potential purchase.
We often recommend that you start creating your store using an already established eCommerce platform such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce. This way, you get to save a ton of time, effort, and money by simply selecting customizable themes rather than building all your web pages from scratch. With pre designed themes, your one product store can be up and running in a matter of hours.
That being said, not all themes would work or create the kind of first impression to make a one product store hugely successful. One great example that’s available on Shopify is the Narrative Theme. It was designed for small to medium businesses to tell a visual story of a product similar to a start to finish demo of a product.
The suitable theme will not only deliver that great first impression but will also save you a great deal of time and effort. Try out these simple pointers to guide your choice of a theme for your store:
Remember, it’s all about achieving that crucial first impression by visually enticing visitors to click the order button. Therefore, you’ll want to create a killer homepage or landing pages that will knock your visitors’ socks off. That includes the copy, product descriptions, social proof from publications such as major magazines, and your best testimonials.
Finally, you’ll want to ensure that your brand’s logo, including colors and impressions, matches your store’s design. This, of course, shouldn’t be too much trouble since you are only dealing with one product and making fewer decisions.
One of the most alluring elements of owning a dropshipping store is the fact that you don’t have to pay upfront for inventory until you have made a sale. The competition is often high, and customers aren’t exactly going to stream in as soon as you open your doors for business. You’ll need smart marketing strategies to attract visitors and generate sales for your store.
A lot of the marketing basics that apply to general and niche-product stores also apply to one product stores. However, you’ll need a few creative tweaks to get the marketing right and generate excellent results.
One of the first marketing tactics you’ll need to execute a little differently is how you design your funnels. For instance, placing a clear call to action on the home page will generate great results since you want your visitor to proceed directly to checkout.
Creating extra hoops or asking them if they want to consider other complementary products will slow down the purchase and create distractions that might lead to hesitations. Post-purchase funnels will generate better results when it comes to one product stores.
Secondly, most of your visitors will already be looking to purchase the product. Therefore, make it easier for them to click the order button by making the CTA pop on the page so that they can click on it as soon as they land on the homepage. With the right kind of alluring imagery and a prominent CTA button begging to be clicked, you can expect super high conversion rates.
The eCommerce space isn’t just a playground for general products stores. One product stores are now becoming hugely popular and successful. In fact, some of the most successful multi-product stores started as one product stores.
Are you ready to get started? The first step is, of course, to pick out the right product. With the right tools, this shouldn’t be a huge problem. Tools like Sell The Trend provide an all-in-one dropshipping platform with powerful capabilities such as product research tools that make the process of setting up your store less cumbersome.
Sell The Trend’s Nexus Product Research feature is an AI tool that provides powerful product insights unmatched by any other dropshipping platform. It examines more than 25 data points for each product and provides an in-depth competitor analysis to give you the confidence to identify winning products. No more trial and error and all kinds of experiments.
Sell The Trend has a ton of other features that will get your one product store off to a flying start. An AI-powered Product Explorer brings 7 million products across 83 eCommerce niches to your fingertips through search and analytics so you can quickly single out the best product to sell. Other features include Store Automation, 1-Click Push to Store, Automated Order Fulfilment, and access to a Supplier Database of more than 1,200 verified suppliers across overseas as well as US warehouses.
Once you’ve successfully set up your one product store, you’ll need to reach the right audiences and deliver the kind of engaging messages that convert prospects into sales. Sell The Trend has a repertoire of powerful marketing tools such as the Facebook Audience Builder that will help you eliminate the guesswork and start generating the right traffic right from the get-go.
