Valued at over $1.2 billion, the U.S. is easily one of the world’s largest eCommerce markets. As such, it’s a great market to target if you want to build a successful dropshipping store, and there are plenty of top-quality U.S.-based suppliers to help you achieve your goals.

By working with reputable US suppliers, your eCommerce store should be easier to manage and more likely to succeed. Your suppliers will be able to get products shipped out across your target market more quickly than those in, say, China, streamlining your order fulfilment and satisfying your customers all at once.

However, you can’t simply rush in and pick the first supplier you find. That’s a surefire recipe for disaster. Indeed, more than 80% of dropshippers agree that supplier relationships are a cornerstone of dropshipping success. So, you have to choose your suppliers with care and not settle for second-best.

This guide explores how to find the right suppliers for dropshipping success.

Understanding Dropshipping and Its Importance in Ecommerce

Before digging into the details of suppliers and how to find them, let’s first focus on the basics.

What is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a simple, accessible eCommerce model. It’s made up of three main components: 

1. Customer

2. Dropshipper

3. Supplier

The dropshipper is the middle man in this scenario, bridging the gap between customers and suppliers.

Here’s how it works:

A dropshipper finds a supplier of products they want to sell. But, instead of buying those products from the supplier and selling them, like in a more traditional model, they simply market the products via their online store or other sales channels.

Then, when a customer comes along and places an order with the dropshipper, the dropshipper passes the order through to their supplier. The supplier takes care of fulfilment, packaging and shipping the item(s), while the dropshipper just has to handle customer support and verify the items arrive correctly.

It’s convenient, low-cost, and low-risk, compared to running a more traditional store. You don’t have to invest lots of money in inventory to get started, nor do you need to concern yourself with inventory management. You focus on marketing and support. Your suppliers take care of the rest.

The Role of Dropshipping Suppliers in Your Business

Suppliers are a crucial piece of the dropshipping puzzle. They’re responsible for quite a lot of the work, after all. They have all the stock to manage, and when orders come through, it’s up to them to package items safely and ship them off to the correct destinations.

Key factors like product quality and order promptness are all down to your suppliers. As such, they have a very direct and noticeable impact on whether or not your store succeeds. If they’re reliable and fulfil their role, your customers will be happier and your store will have a decent chance of making money.

For this reason, dropshippers should always take great care in selecting their suppliers. Consider a range of factors like product quality, reputation, location, reliability, and delivery speed. That’ll help you hone in on the perfect product providers.

Finding the Best Dropshipping Suppliers in the U.S.

Now we know how critical suppliers are, let’s look at how to find the best dropship vendors.

Criteria for Selecting Dropshipping Suppliers

To find dropshipping suppliers, it’s recommended to focus on:

• Product Quality: Better products are easier to sell. It’s that simple. You can make more money on higher quality products, too, with less risk of unhappy buyers sending them back.

• Shipping Times: No one wants to wait weeks for orders to arrive. Especially not in this day and age of same-day delivery. Look for suppliers that are prompt and punctual with their order processing.

• Customer Service: The best suppliers are responsive, courteous, and communicative, perfect for those moments when you need to reach out and ask questions or renegotiate terms.

• Pricing: To maximize your profits, make sure you find a dropshipping supplier that offers decent quality items at affordable prices.

Top Dropshipping Suppliers for 2024

Some examples of reliable dropshipping suppliers include:

• Modalyst: Modalyst offers seamless integration with major eCommerce platforms, like Wix and Shopify. It also has millions of dropshipping products to pick from, with a massive database of suppliers around the world, including in the U.S.

• SaleHoo: SaleHoo has over 8,000 vetted suppliers to pick from, all of which have been vetted to ensure they uphold certain standards of quality and service. There are over 2.5 million products in this directory, and it has excellent tutorials and support to help new users learn and grow.

• Inventory Source: Inventory Source is dropship automation software with an integrated supplier network – an all-in-one solution for dropshipping success. It works with all major e-commerce platforms and provides access to many quality products from exclusive brands.

These are just some of the many highly-rated dropshipping supplier directories and platforms where you can find top-quality products to add to your store. 

To find even more, and learn the best tricks and tactics for building a successful high ticket dropshipping business, it’s worth joining the High Ticket Program. This offers one-to-one coaching with expert dropshippers who already make a minimum of $100k a month in their own stores.

Categories of Products and Suppliers

In dropshipping, you can sell almost any product you can imagine. However, for best results, it pays to focus on trending, popular, high ticket dropshipping niches, such as:

Home Decor and Furniture Suppliers

If you want to set up a high-ticket dropshipping business and make an impressive amount of profit per sale, home decor and furniture are good niches to focus on. Items in these niches tend to be a little pricier, and people are often more willing to spend on decorative or functional additions to the home.

A couple of the leading furniture-focused drop shipping suppliers in the U.S. include:

• Ashcroft Furniture: This supplier focuses on furniture items all around the house – beds for the bedroom, sofas for the living room, tables, chairs, TV stands, and so on. Prices with Ashcroft Furniture are competitive and their service is highly rated.

• Zuo Modern: Zuo Modern is a US dropshipping supplier specialized in home décor products, particularly with modern, contemporary themes. From mirrors and wall décor to lamps and more, there’s a broad range of quality items to consider here.

When choosing a home décor or furniture supplier, quality is the key factor to consider. Customers tend to be discerning when buying items like this, and won’t want to settle for poorly-made products. Variety matters, too, as you may want to sell a range of items for the whole home.

Apparel and Fashion Suppliers

Clothing is by far one of the most popular niches in eCommerce. It’s what people buy the most – 60%  of today’s consumers buy clothes online. It’s therefore a terrific niche to focus on when setting up a dropshipping business. However, there’s a lot of competition, so picking good suppliers is key.

Some examples of top U.S.-based fashion suppliers include:

• Trendsi: Trendsi is one of the best-rated clothing supplier apps on the Shopify eCommerce platform. It has a vast range of clothing items to choose from, and it’s an affordable supplier without any expensive monthly subscription fees to worry about.

• My Online Fashion Store: More than a simple supplier, My Online Fashion Store is a one-stop shop with everything you need to set up a fashion-based dropshipping store. It offers turnkey websites, marketing services, and custom designs to complement its 5,000+ product range.

If you decide to sell in the fashion niche, make sure you’re up-to-date with what’s trending. Pick popular products that will sell well and strike a balance between quality and affordability to maximize your profit margins.

Health and Beauty Product Suppliers

Health and beauty products consistently rank among the best-selling dropshipping niches, especially among younger generations. So, if you’re looking to future-proof your store and target the Millennial and Gen Z markets, this isn’t a bad niche to pick.

Again, a couple of examples to get you started:

• BeautyTrade: BeautyTrade isn’t a single supplier; it’s a global marketplace where you can connect with beauty suppliers worldwide, including many in the U.S. It offers many categories and filters to help you narrow your search, and all featured suppliers have been vetted.

• ISO Beauty: ISO Beauty is a specialist hair care and beauty supplier, selling everything from nourishing oils to straighteners. You have to pay a one-off fee to work with this provider, but they’re helpful and responsive, and all new dropshippers can request up to four free samples.

In the health and beauty sector, it’s important to find products that really work if you want to secure repeat business, reviews, and recommendations. Focus on brands that use good ingredients and effective formulas, and make sure they’re compliant with key guidelines and regulations.

Tools and Resources for Managing Dropshipping Suppliers

There are many tools to help you find suppliers and improve your store’s operations, including:

Supplier Directories and Databases

Many new dropshippers start their search for suppliers on a dropship supplier directory or database. Popular examples include Worldwide Brands, Modalyst, Inventory Source, SaleHoo, Supplier HQ. These platforms aim to bridge the gap between dropshippers and suppliers, connecting them with thousands of suppliers and millions of products.

Using a directory is a fantastic way to save time in your search for the best possible suppliers. You can view hundreds of them, all in one place. Plus, a lot of the top databases have strict vetting processes in place to ensure that their suppliers all uphold certain standards of quality and reliability. In other words, directories are great for finding suppliers you can count on.

Automating Your Dropshipping Business

The most successful dropshippers also tend to make the most of automation tools, designed to take care of mundane, everyday tasks on your behalf. These tools, for example, might update your store’s stock automatically when orders are made, so you don’t have to, or update your supplier when an order comes in, so they can start processing it right away.

Some examples of popular dropshipping automation tools include:

• Mailchimp: To automate your email marketing. 

• Recapture: Automatically messages customers who abandoned their carts in order to recapture lost sales. 

• Zapier: Provides automated alerts when orders come in and other automation, like feedback collection. 

• Shopify Flow: Helps to win-back lost customers or respond to negative feedback automatically. 

• Spocket: Useful for finding suppliers quickly and easily.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Dropshipping

Sadly, around 80-90% of new dropshipping companies fail. Here’s how to avoid the same fate:

Recognizing Fake Dropshipping Suppliers

Due to the rapid rise in the popularity of dropshipping, it’s become a hotbed of illicit and malicious activity, including scams and fakers. Fake dropshipping suppliers can tempt you into sending them money, only to suddenly vanish with your cash.

They may appear perfectly genuine at first, with their own professional-looking sites and products. However, there are ways to spot fake suppliers: 

• Poor communication 

• Inconsistent pricing 

• “Too good to be true” products and prices 

• Lack of reviews or testimonials 

• Not featured on any directories

Ensuring Consistent Quality and Service

In dropshipping, suppliers do a lot of the work for you. But not all of it. They’ll take care of products and order fulfilment, but you have to make sure you provide quality customer service to meet your customers’ expectations.

Make sure you set up a strong support system, perhaps with a live chat tool or email that customers can contact if they have queries. Offering features like order tracking, along with clear refund policies, also helps to reassure and comfort customers, making them more likely to buy from you.

Also, don’t just assume that customers are content with their products. Reach out, ask for feedback, and verify that the products your suppliers provide are of consistent quality. If standards start to slip, you need to know about it, in order to take action.

Conclusion: Build a Successful Business with the Best Possible Suppliers

Without a doubt, suppliers are integral to the dropshipping model. You can’t run a successful store without them, and the better they are, the easier your job will be. That’s why it’s so important to put time and effort into picking prime suppliers who won’t let you down in any area, from product quality to shipping speed.

This guide may have covered the basics of finding top-notch suppliers, but if you’re new to this industry, you may still have much to learn and master. The High Ticket program can help with that. Our high-rated program has helped thousands of sellers set up profitable businesses, and it can do the same for you. Reach out to the High Ticket team today to find out more.