Product sourcing—finding products to sell and suppliers to supply them—is a common challenge for would-be entrepreneurs.

Starting a business can be tough when you don’t have products to sell. If you’re not making things yourself, you’ll need to find a good supplier who can source or manufacture the items your customers want.

The good news is, if you’re starting your business on Shopify, there are lots of options for sourcing products. By using integrated retail or dropshipping suppliers, you can stock your store with popular items. You can even team up with suppliers that specialize in niche products or offer product customization.

Some product sourcing use a dropshipping fulfillment model. That means your supplier will manage inventory and ship orders directly to your customers.

Dropshipping suppliers

Dropshipping is not only a product sourcing technique, but also an order fulfillment method. As a dropshipper, you don’t hold inventory or handle shipping. Instead, you partner with a dropshipping supplier who takes care of storing and shipping products for you.

The process is straightforward:

Find a reliable dropshipping supplier.
Add their products to your store.
Market your store and products to your customers.
When you receive an order, the supplier is notified and they handle shipping.
There are two main ways to work with dropshipping suppliers:

Working directly with a dropshipping supplier: You create your own process for managing orders and communicating with the supplier.
Using a dropshipping app: An app connects you to a marketplace of suppliers with an established system for relaying customer orders. You can manage multiple suppliers conveniently in one place.