In the early days of eCommerce, you had to know how to code to sell items online. Fortunately, there’s no need for coding these days.
All you need is the right dropshipping website builder to drag and drop your store to profitability.
However, there are dozens of website builders on the market. Migrating a website takes a lot of time and effort, so it’s important to do your research before building a website.
In this guide, we’ll explain why dropshipping website builders are so useful, offer some helpful tips for finding the right builder for your online store, and list the best-rated website builders for dropshipping businesses.
If you’re looking to build a successful dropshipping business, a website builder’s user-friendly interface and advanced features will simplify the entire website creation process.
But if you aren’t sold on using a website builder, here are just a few reasons why it's better than hiring a developer for your dropshipping website.
Building a dropshipping business can be a significant investment, but using a dropshipping website builder can drastically reduce costs.
Some online store owners prefer to hire a professional website developer for their dropshipping website, and that’s perfectly fine.
But website developers are expensive, charging anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 to build an eCommerce site. Plus, it can take six months or more to get a working website.
But with a dropshipping website builder, you can get up and running in as little as an hour for less than $100 in most cases.
Plus, these website builders come with everything you need to run a business, from eCommerce features to customer support.
These plans provide access to essential tools and features, allowing you to launch your dropship website quickly and cost-effectively.
The beginner-friendly nature of website builders enables you to build your dream online store. There's no need for technical skills: just plug in a few details about your business and your dropshipping venture will begin.
With a dropshipping website builder, you can quickly set up an online store, manage your inventory, and integrate various marketing tools to attract customers—no code required.
Most dropshipping website builders offer a drag-and-drop functionality, making it easy to design and customize your website without any technical knowledge.
This is, hands down, the best option for anyone who’s dreamed of selling products online but feels held back by their lack of coding experience.
Sure, you can customize a dropshipping website creator if you know how to code, but you can do a lot with a platform’s included features.
Normally, you would have to manage multiple platforms and tools to keep your dropshipping website online. But website builders come with advanced ecommerce features such as inventory management, order fulfillment, and analytics tools such as Google Analytics to help you manage your dropshipping website efficiently.
Handle everything in one view without switching platforms, saving time and hassle by managing the entire business from your own website.
The best website builders will usually include web hosting and free domain name registration (with a custom domain), making it even easier to create a dropshipping website.
Need help fixing something on your website? Dropshipping website builders usually offer a dedicated customer support team to help you with any issues.
Plus, they have large communities and followings online that you can check out for quick answers.
If anything breaks, it’s super easy to get help, and best of all, the fixes are usually included in your subscription fees.
Dropshipping website builders are amazing tools, but their features differ. Every platform has its perks, but make sure the website builder you choose offers these features at a minimum.
Ensure that the site builder supports multiple payment gateways. Shoppers expect to be able to checkout in multiple ways when they buy from online businesses, so go with a platform that integrates with multiple payment options.
This allows you to offer more options and flexibility to your customers, which can improve the shopping experience and increase conversion rates.
If you sell big-ticket items, look for a website builder that integrates with installment plan providers like Afterpay to increase sales.
Using a dropshipping website builder gives you a high level of customization and flexibility. You can choose from a variety of templates, customize your website to match your brand, and add advanced features as needed. This ensures that your online store meets your specific business needs and stands out from the competition.
Understanding your customers and their behavior is crucial for the success of your dropshipping business.
Many dropshipping website builders offer integrated analytics tools such as Google Analytics, helping you track your website's performance, understand your audience, and make data-driven decisions to improve your store.
Of course, you need to regularly check this data to make meaningful changes in your business. Check your analytics at least once a week to identify popular product pages and spot potential points of friction in the buying process.
A good dropshipping website builder includes search engine optimization (SEO) tools that enhance your website's visibility on search engines.
These dropshipping tools help you optimize your site for relevant keywords, improving your search engine rankings and driving more organic traffic to your online store.
A good dropshipping site builder should seamlessly integrate with popular dropshipping suppliers.
This integration will simplify the process of adding and managing products on your online store and ensure a smooth workflow from product selection to order fulfillment.
Most dropshipping website builders carefully vet their supplier integrations, so you can be sure that these companies only supply high-quality products.
Security is paramount when running an online business. Ensure that the dropshipping site builder provides robust security features such as SSL certificates, secure payment processing, and protection against fraud and hacking.
Dropshipping website builders are faster and more affordable than hiring a web developer, but they still have a few pitfalls.
Don’t fall for these six common missteps when picking a dropshipping website builder.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not investing enough time in researching and selecting the right dropshipping website builder.
Each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, and choosing one that doesn't align with your business needs can lead to frustration and inefficiency. Compare features, pricing, and user reviews to make an informed decision.
SEO is crucial for any website, but it’s extra important for eCommerce. This is a competitive space and you need every possible advantage to drive organic traffic to your site.
Failing to optimize your site for search engines can result in low visibility and poor search rankings.
Make sure to use the SEO tools provided by your website builder to optimize meta tags, alt text, URLs, and content for relevant keywords. SEO takes time, so it could take a few months to see an improvement in your rankings.
Mobile eCommerce accounts for 60% of all eCommerce transactions. With an increasing number of customers shopping on mobile devices, building a mobile-optimized dropshipping website is essential.
Overlooking mobile responsiveness can lead to a poor user experience, high bounce rates, and lost sales.
Choose a website builder that offers mobile-responsive templates. Test your site on various devices to ensure it looks right and functions correctly.
Understanding your customers and their behavior is key to improving your dropshipping business. Ignoring the analytics tools provided by your dropshipping website builder can result in missed opportunities for growth.
Regularly review your site's performance data, customer demographics, and behavior to make data-driven decisions and optimize your dropshipping website even more.
Product descriptions and images play a vital role in attracting and converting customers.
Skimping on detailed, high-quality product descriptions and using low-resolution images can deter potential buyers who need context before making a purchase.
Spend time carefully planning your dropshipping website content. Write compelling product descriptions and use high-quality images to showcase your products effectively.
Security is paramount when running an online business. Neglecting to implement robust security measures can put your customers' data at risk and damage your reputation.
Ensure your dropshipping website builder offers SSL certificates, secure payment processing, and protection against fraud and hacking. Regularly update your site themes and plugins to protect against vulnerabilities.
There’s no one-size-fits-all dropshipping website builder. Understand your needs first and find the website builder that best suits your requirements. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but users consistently rate these eight platforms as the top dropshipping website builders.
Shopify owns 26% of the eCommerce website builder market, making it the most popular website builder users have at their disposal.
It offers a user-friendly interface and a variety of templates that make it easy to create a professional online store.
With Shopify, you get access to robust inventory management tools, order fulfillment options, and more. Plus, Shopify supports numerous dropshipping apps to help you find trending products and start your dropshipping business in fewer steps.
We love its integrated credit card processor, which makes it a cinch to accept payments in a compliant way from all of your shoppers. The downside, though, is that you do need to factor in credit card processing fees.
Premium Shopify subscription tiers get preferential processing rates, so factor in your total monthly sales volume to figure out if the pricier subscriptions make more sense for your budget.
BigCommerce is a powerful ecommerce platform known for its comprehensive eCommerce features and scalability.
It's ideal for creating a successful dropshipping business with advanced inventory management and order fulfillment capabilities.
BigCommerce offers a range of templates and built-in marketing tools to help you attract and retain customers. Its user-friendly platform makes it easy to manage your dropshipping website and grow your online business.
If you already have a WordPress website with web hosting, BigCommerce is a great option thanks to its back-end enablement for WordPress. It also supports theme customization, offers a visual page editor, and simplifies mobile store optimization.
BigCommerce also comes pre-built with Avalara Avatax, so if you’re tired of managing dropshipping taxes yourself, the platform will handle everything for you.
If you don’t want to use Avalara, BigCommerce also offers custom tax tables to streamline tax time.
Are you all-in on WordPress? WooCommerce is a WordPress-only eCommerce plugin that supports dropshipping.
It offers a range of integrated tools and plugins to enhance your eCommerce store. With WooCommerce, you can manage your inventory, process orders, and integrate various marketing tools to drive traffic and sales. It's an excellent choice if you're looking for a scalable dropshipping website builder.
This is a must-try tool if you already have an existing website built on WordPress. There’s no need to create a separate store—just download the WooCommerce plugin and you’re good to go.
Squarespace is renowned for its stunning design templates and ease of use. It's an excellent choice for creating a visually appealing dropshipping website without coding experience.
Squarespace uses a drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to customize your website without technical knowledge. With integrated marketing features and a reliable customer support team, Squarespace helps you build and manage a professional online store seamlessly.
If you know a little coding, Squarespace allows custom CSS. The built-in editor stores image and font files, which makes it easy to personalize Squarespace’s templates. Just pull a template, customize it to your liking, and save it to create a custom website without the hassle of hiring a developer.
Wix is a user-friendly platform with drag-and-drop functionality. It's frequently ranked as the easiest website builder, so it's perfect for beginners.
It also offers a wide selection of online store templates and supports multiple dropshipping apps to help you find and manage dropshipping products.
Wix includes essential eCommerce features such as inventory management, order fulfillment, and SEO tools to boost your dropshipping website's visibility in search.
Wix is similar to Squarespace, but it allows for a little more flexibility. If you want more control over your site layout, Wix’s unstructured page template builder might be more your speed.
Users rave about Wix’s multimedia features, which allow you to upload transparent videos to product pages. Shoppers love multimedia, so this could give you a serious edge over other dropshippers.
AliExpress is one of the most popular dropshipping platforms in the world, and AliDropship is its specialized tool for creating dropshipping websites.
This tool seamlessly integrates with AliExpress, offering a variety of online store templates and products to help you start selling online.
Users like AliDropship because its team will actually build a dropshipping website for you (for a fee, of course). They build your catalog, assign you a personal manager, and manage the setup process for you.
This process might not be a fit if you prefer to have more control over your dropshipping website, but for folks in a hurry who want it all done for them, AliDropship’s onboarding process is a huge time-saver.
Of course, it’s cheaper to just build everything yourself. For a one-time payment of $89, you can DIY the entire process. Download the AliDropship plugin to import top-selling AliExpress products to your store and you’re good to go.
Since you’re working with AliExpress, the platform automatically fulfills and routes orders as soon as they come in, taking a lot of tasks off your plate.
Ecwid is a smaller website builder, but it owns 5% of the dropshipping website builder market.
Ecwid is a versatile eCommerce platform that allows you to add a professional online store to an existing website. It offers a user-friendly interface and a variety of eCommerce features such as tax calculation, third-party integrations, and inventory tracking.
Ecwid supports multiple dropshipping apps and provides SEO tools to boost traffic, too. It's a great choice if you’re looking to start a drop shipping business with minimal hassle.
The other dropshipping website builders on this list are designed for small dropshipping businesses, but Adobe Commerce is the exception.
Adobe Commerce is a powerful and flexible eCommerce platform designed for larger businesses. It offers a wide range of advanced eCommerce features, including inventory management, order fulfillment, AI, and other dropshipping tools.
Adobe Commerce packs a lot of features into its user-friendly interface. It also supports various dropshipping apps to help you manage your dropshipping website effectively.
Honestly, there are a lot of features to unpack here. Adobe Commerce is one of the most expensive dropshipping website builders out there because it’s so feature-rich.
Its sheer list of features makes it a formidable tool for dropshipping businesses, but you have to decide whether the features justify the large price tag.
Choosing the right dropshipping website builder is critical to the success of your dropshipping business.
Every platform provides a different feature list and level of flexibility, so it’s up to you to find the best dropshipping website builder for your business’s needs.
The more features you roll into your dropshipping platform, the easier it will be to design a scalable business that’s both profitable and easy to manage.
But building your dropshipping website is just the beginning. You also have to think about order routing, supplier relationships, pricing automations, and much more.
Managing an eCommerce business requires a lot of juggling, but Spark Shipping simplifies your work by bringing everything into one platform.
Our one-to-many supplier mapping is especially helpful for sourcing the lowest-price in-stock items from a range of suppliers.
Request a Spark Shipping demo now to put your dropshipping store on autopilot.