4 E-Commerce Business Ideas You Can Start Today from Dubai
There are many business ideas you can start from Dubai to earn extra income in order to afford the relatively high cost of living in a city like Dubai. One of such business ideas is starting or running E-Commerce related businesses.
Bangkok, London, Paris, Dubai are the four most visited city destinations in the world recording a total of 73.11 million international overnight tourists/visitors among them. These spend and generate billions of dollars in revenue for Dubai based businesses and individuals.
One of the ways to tap into this revenue stream is by implementing e-commerce business ideas using the drop shipping e-commerce business model.
Also Read: 10 Smart Ways to Save Money in Dubai While Shopping Online
Perhaps you’re wondering
What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is an e-commerce business model that allows you to start selling millions of other people’s products from the comfort of your home. And the best part is you can start this business idea with as little as $50-$100.
What You Need to Start Dropshipping
You can start dropshipping today if you have
- PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone
- Internet connection
- E-commerce store (e.g Shopify, starting at $29/mo)
- Dropshipping automation apps like Oberlo (free, paid plans starting at $29.90/mo)
- Some few hours a day
- And a lot of determination
And in case you’re wondering
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Why Dropshipping?
Here are a few reasons why you should start drop shipping business idea even from Dubai
- Low/no startup capital required
- Millions of products to choose from
- Many suppliers/manufacturers
- You set your own prices
- You can sell globally
- You can work from home or anywhere in the world
- You decide your working hours
- You’re your own boss
- You can earn as much as you want
- Others are succeeding with dropshipping, etc
And here’s
How Dropshipping Works
- 1- You choose product niche(s)
- 2- Select manufacturers or suppliers
- 3- Import product photographs from suppliers into your Shopify store for instance (Oberlo does this automatically)
- 4- Edit product descriptions if you wish
- 5- Set pricing rules and add markup
- 6- Market, market, market
- 7- Customers place orders
- 8- You take your profit
- 9- Forward cost price and customer order details to your supplier
- 10- Supplier picks, packs and ships orders to customers anywhere in the world
Sounds like a good business idea right? However, here are
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Some Cons of Dropshipping
- High competition due to the low entry barrier
- Risk of selling substandard products because you don’t see what your suppliers send to your customers
- Long delivery times to certain destinations
To counter these
1. Differentiate, niche or build a stand out brand
2. Order at least one piece of any product you intend to sell
3. Use e-packet delivery or target your marketing efforts to countries or regions near your suppliers
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Business Ideas for Dropshipping
Here are some top selling business ideas for drop shipping which you can start from Dubai.
Drones
Drones are currently attracting a lot of attention from hobbyists, government and businesses. It reminds us of the once popular fidget spinner.
Drones are useful in a variety of areas including
- Agriculture
- Manufacturing
- Building and construction
- Aerial photography
- Motion film making
- Aerial surveillance
- Remote sensing
- Geological exploration
- Military
- Hobby/leisure flying, etc
Many users fly drones as a hobby and there are many flying clubs for this purpose.
Selfie drones are also hugely popular around the world as seen in the following 5 yrs Google Trends chart.
Source: Google Trends
Between 2016 and 2018 there was a sharp rise in interest in selfie drones. The market is huge as some people just can’t stop taking selfies to post on Instagram. To start this business idea you can get suppliers on AliExpress.
US areas with a high interest in selfie drones include:
Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Georgia, New York, California, New Jersey, Alabama, Virginia, Pennsylvania, among others.
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Mobile Phone Accessories
Statista reports that in 2016, the global mobile phone accessories market was worth $60.42b. Similarly, as of 2014, there were 257 million 4G LTE phones in use. Mobile phone users today are in their billions.
Because most people spend a fortune acquiring smartphones they depend on certain mobile phone accessories to maximize or help protect their handheld investment against fall, wear and tear.
Some top-selling mobile phone accessories include:
- Replacement Battery
- Battery case
- Headphone/Earphone
- Portable Speaker
- Charger
- Memory Card
- Power Bank
- Protective Case, and others
iPhone protective cases have been popular for a long time. Here’s a Google Trends chart showing worldwide interest in iPhone protective cases in the last 12 months..
Source: Google Trends
Some of the most popular markets for this business idea include:
US, UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia
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Smartwatch
The smartwatch is also having its time and trending in recent times. Increasingly packed with new features these wearable tech devices are a fashion item.
Statista reports show that 5 million units were sold in 2014. By 2018 sales estimates was up to 141 million units.
Some top companies in this space include:
- Apple
- LG
- TicWatch
- FitBit
- Samsung
- Fossil
- Tag Heuer
- Garmin
- Huawei, etc
Some of these are the flagship, custom smartwatches and cost quite a lot. There are cheaper alternatives that you can quickly start selling as a business idea.
Source: Google Trends
Some areas in the USA with high interest in smartwatches include:
Oklahoma, Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Kansas, Arizona, Florida, etc.
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Throw Pillows
Selling throw pillows is a good business idea, it isn’t just thrown in this list of business ideas for the mere showcase.
People are always moving house, buying houses, furniture and such like, and as a result, might be requiring throw pillows
The Google Trends chart below gives more insight and visualization for throw pillows worldwide in the last 5 years.
Source: Google Trends
As a good business idea for Dubai or UAE residents, you could look out for designs that portray aspects of life in the Emirates. For instance, a throw pillow featuring a picture or derivative of the Buja Arab would better click with citizens.
Areas with higher interest in throw pillow include:
US, Nigeria, Philippines, Canada, Australia, Singapore, UK
Also Read: 5 Best Business Ideas in Dubai to Start in 2019
Conclusion
As stated earlier, there are many business ideas out there to be explored. Staring with these four (4) can help you grow and earn extra or even major income in Dubai.
Author Bio:
Amos Onwukwe is an AWAI trained Business and Ecommerce Copywriter who has been featured in scores of blogs including Huffington Post, Dumb Little Man, E-commerce Nation, eCommerce Insights, Understanding E-commerce, Result First, Fellowship, Successful Startup 101, Small Biz Club, Small Business Bonfire, among others.
He is available for hire
Twitter: amos_onwukwe