The Rise Of Dropshipping

By Anna Yue April 3 2024

Accessibility to the internet from nearly anywhere in the world has shone a light on a new pathway to prosperity, prepared for those of any age and experience, promising low input and high rewards. Money will come streaming in from the comfort of home through a laptop. This is dropshipping, or at least what dropshipping is envisioned to be.

Dropshipping is an e-commerce business model recently growing in popularity and market size—estimated to reach $1,921.24 billion by 2032 as reported by Precedence Research—appealing for its high profits and low requirement of specialized skills. Under this model, dropshippers act as the retailers of products, directly promoting discounted goods to customers and earning profit from markup prices. After consumers place their order, retailers buy the items from the supplier and have them shipped directly to the buyer’s delivery address. This business model is mutually beneficial, as the suppliers can sell their products without worrying about finding an audience who is willing to buy them. At the same time, retailers can gain a profit without the technical skills to manufacture the products. Around 27% of online retailers, ranging widely from office and home products to accessories and pet supplies, had adopted this business model, states Ecommerce Platforms in 2023.

Saachi Basavaraju Art

Under this simple structure, success stories have arisen; Malaysian entrepreneur Tze Hing Chan made over $19,000 in just over two months selling boba plushies on Shopify. Harry Coleman earned around $5 million in 2018 with his three dropshipping stores. Many had become content creators as a side hustle, teaching and spreading the dropshipping world through video platforms or sold courses. Inspired, several young peers, such as YouTuber Paul Han, have chosen this profitable yet competitive career path at the expense of dropping out of university. 

“It is somewhat problematic how perfect people are advertising dropshipping as, much of it is survivorship bias, where only the people who have succeeded get to share their story, overlooking those who do not, giving the impression that everyone in the market is thriving,” Sophomore Selina Dong said.

Although dropshipping has promising prospects, the low barriers to entry result in high competitiveness. Thus, the success rate of first-year dropshippers is only 10 to 20%, stated by WebinarCare, not to mention other variables like unreliable suppliers that add another layer to navigating around this market as a newcomer.

“Dropshipping is a valid way of building one’s wealth and career and a by-book definition of entrepreneurship. Although I would not go as far as risking my education and career on this, as long as people are aware of the risk, it is a very solid way to start a side hustle,” Senior Ihyun Jeon said.

Despite the opinions and choices that have risen, the dropshipping trend inevitably demonstrated the possibilities of careers the internet has opened up for the generation.

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About The Contributors

Anna Yue

staff writer

Anna Yue is a sophomore staff writer for The Charger Account. During her free time, she enjoys crocheting, sleeping, watching dramas, listening to music and reading web novels,

Saachi Basavaraju

artist

Saachi Basavaraju is a freshman at Leland High School and works as an artist for The Charger Account. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, reading, listening to crime and horror podcasts, and rewatching clips from her favorite movies and shows.