When it comes to dropshipping everyone wants to target the USA and for good reason. It’s the biggest and the most lucrative market after China, of course. The US has a huge population, they have a large disposable income and they love buying online.
The problem with this is you’ll also be facing a lot more competition which in turn often makes for higher ad costs.
Although the US is still a great option, there are other countries you may want to consider. The beauty of dropshipping is the Internet has no borders, you can live anywhere and still be able to dropship to whichever country you choose.
I’ve researched all the important factors you should consider when deciding on other countries to dropship to and compiled them into several tables so you can use them as a resource. I have given my opinion in the conclusion as to which countries I believe are the best for dropshipping and best to avoid.
Why Would You Want to Dropship to Other Countries?
You may have heard many dropshippers talk about the big 4 countries for dropshipping, which consist of the US, the UK, Australia and Canada. On top of this, most dropshippers don’t even bother selling outside of the US which kind of makes sense when you look at the amount of money spent on eCommerce by country.
The main reasons you may want to consider dropshipping to other countries are:
- Less competition
- Cheaper ad costs
- Gaps in the market
- More money for you
If you’re a complete beginner and you’re having trouble finding an uncompetitive niche or product to dropship in the US, dropshipping outside of the US may be your best option. I have a simple and effective method of helping you to locate gaps in the market you can exploit.
I also have an article on whether dropshipping outside the USA is actually worth it.
How to Find the Best Countries to Sell to?
Once you’re on the store’s website, use a free Chrome extension called Similar Web. This extension will provide you with a lot of free data on other websites which can be very helpful to your business.
One of the pieces of information it provides is which countries they are receiving their traffic. It will provide the percentage for each country so you can see where they are focusing their advertising campaigns.
For example, check out this screenshot from Similar Web from a successful store called Cat Genie.
This store is receiving over 80k monthly visitors to their website and they are selling a high ticket item meaning they would most likely be making a lot of money. Over 84% of their traffic is coming from the US with France being the next highest at just over 2%.
This shows there are opportunities in many other countries for you to sell a similar product and have success. Everyone focuses on the US because it’s the most lucrative but there are opportunities everywhere when you open your eyes.
Other stores have essentially laid out a free blueprint for you to replicate in other parts of the world. Yes, the market isn’t as big in other countries, but chances are you’ll have less competition and cheaper ad costs.
Another key point Similar Web shows us is where this store is receiving most of their traffic from. As you can see, 88% of their traffic is coming from Facebook and the rest from Pinterest.
This means you can still sell this product in the USA if you wanted but you could focus on other traffic sources. You could focus on Google ads, TikTok ads, YouTube ads, Instagram ads and the list goes.
This way you’ll be marketing the ad to people who may not have seen the product yet.
Cheapest Country for Facebook Advertising
The best way to attract traffic to your dropshipping store in the early stages is through advertising. Facebook Ads is the most popular advertising method currently although this will probably change over time.
I have used Facebook Ads as a guide in the table below to give you an idea of how much each country’s ads will cost you. Take this information with a pinch of salt as these prices are from 2020 and the costs will fluctuate from day to day and vary drastically based on several factors, including what you’re advertising.
I have included CPC (Cost per click) which is the amount you will pay for each click you receive on your store. You can optimize your ads to get the best bang for your buck.
The next column I have included is CPM (Cost per mile) which is the price you pay per 1,000 impressions on your ad. This will also require you to optimize your ads so you can maximize the amount of traffic you receive from your impressions.
Average social media usage is something most people wouldn’t think to look into when it comes to countries to target. If you target countries with high social media usage, your ads may be more effective depending on the type of social media they use.
| Country | Average CPC for Facebook ads in 2020 | Average CPM for Facebook ads in 2020 | Average Social Media Usage per day in hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | $0.73 | $18.57 | 2 hours 7 minutes |
| UK | $0.97 | $18.47 | 1 hour 49 minutes |
| Australia | $0.55 | $9.6 | 1 hour 46 minutes |
| Canada | $0.36 | $12.77 | 1 hour 46 minutes |
| New Zealand | $0.50 | $9.17 | 1 hour 55 minutes |
| India | $0.16 | $1.84 | 2 hours 25 minutes |
| France | $0.65 | $10.04 | 1 hour 41 minutes |
| Germany | $0.41 | $6.79 | 1 hour 24 minutes |
| Brazil | $0.24 | $6.62 | 3 hours 42 minutes |
| South Africa | $0.25 | $7.30 | 3 hours 32 minutes |
| Italy | $0.23 | $5.59 | 1 hour 52 minutes |
| Switzerland | $0.59 | $11.26 | 1 hour 25 minutes |
| Denmark | $0.55 | $14.76 | 1 hour 41 minutes |
| South Korea | $0.55 | $5.66 | 1 hour 13 minutes |
| Sweden | $0.27 | $5.63 | 1 hour 48 minutes |
| Vietnam | $0.16 | $1.83 | 2 hours 22 minutes |
| Israel | $0.71 | $8.80 | 2 hours 2 minutes |
| Thailand | $0.36 | $3.85 | 2 hours 55 minutes |
| Mexico | $0.06 | $0.92 | 3 hours 25 minutes |
| Turkey | $0.10 | $0.93 | 2 hours 51 minutes |
| Malaysia | $0.50 | $4.90 | 2 hours 45 minutes |
| Netherlands | $1.25 | $32.36 | 1 hour 19 minutes |
| Singapore | $0.68 | $6.90 | 2 hours 8 minutes |
| Belgium | $0.34 | $5.99 | 1 hour 36 minutes |
| Spain | $0.54 | $5.39 | 1 hour 51 minutes |
| UAE | $0.30 | $4.89 | 2 hours 57 minutes |
| Portugal | $0.46 | $4.02 | 2 hours 4 minutes |
| Philippines | $0.37 | $4.59 | 3 hours 53 minutes |
| Austria | $0.32 | $3.98 | 1 hour 20 minutes |
| Russia | $0.25 | $4.23 | 2 hours 26 minutes |
| Poland | $0.24 | $7.07 | 2 hours |
| Japan | $0.18 | $14.46 | 45 minutes |
Which Countries are the Most Profitable to Dropship to?
When it comes to dropshipping to other countries, you need to weigh up several factors to decide if it’s a good country to dropship to. Just because a country has low ad costs and they use social media regularly, it doesn’t necessarily make it the right country for dropshipping.
As well as the country’s population, it’s important to know how proficient they are in English if you only speak English. There are several Shopify apps you can use as a language translation but it will still make communicating with your customer difficult.
Knowing the GDP (Gross domestic product) for each country is important as it will help you to know how much disposable income each country has. It also allows you to know what priced product you can sell in each country. For example, selling high ticket items in countries such as India, Brazil or South Africa that have a low GDP would be a hard sell and best to avoid.
| Country | Population | English Proficiency | GDP per Capita |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 333 million | Very High | $63,544 |
| UK | 68 million | Very High | $40,285 |
| Australia | 25 million | Very High | $51,812 |
| Canada | 38 million | Very High | $43,242 |
| New Zealand | 4.8 million | Very High | $41,792 |
| India | 1.4 billion | Moderate | $1,901 |
| France | 65 million | High | $38,625 |
| Germany | 84 million | Very High | $45,724 |
| Brazil | 214 million | Low | $6,797 |
| South Africa | 60 million | Very High | $5,091 |
| Italy | 60 million | Moderate | $31,676 |
| Switzerland | 8.7 million | High | $86,602 |
| Denmark | 5.8 million | Very High | $60,909 |
| South Korea | 51 million | Moderate | $31,489 |
| Sweden | 10.3 million | Very High | $51,926 |
| Vietnam | 97.3 million | Low | $2,786 |
| Israel | 9.2 million | Very High | $43,611 |
| Thailand | 69.8 million | Very Low | $7,189 |
| Mexico | 129 million | Very Low | $8,347 |
| Turkey | 84 million | Low | $8,538 |
| Malaysia | 32 million | High | $10,402 |
| Netherlands | 17.4 million | Very High | $52,304 |
| Singapore | 5.6 million | Very High | $59,798 |
| Belgium | 11.5 million | Very High | $44,594 |
| Spain | 47 million | Moderate | $27,057 |
| UAE | 9.9 million | Low | $43,103 |
| Portugal | 10.3 million | Very High | $22,440 |
| Philippines | 109 million | High | $3,299 |
| Austria | 8.9 million | Very High | $48,105 |
| Russia | 144 million | Moderate | $10,127 |
| Poland | 38 million | High | $15,656 |
| Japan | 125 million | Low | $40,133 |
Which AliExpress Shipping Carriers Ship to Other Countries?
If you plan to dropship from China, chances are you’re going to use AliExpress at some point. If so, you’re going to need to know which shipping options will be best.
The most popular shipping method for dropshippers is ePacket followed by AliExpress standard shipping. These 2 options will provide value in terms of reasonably fast shipping times at reasonable prices.
If you have no access to either of these options it will make dropshipping from China an unrealistic choice and you will need to focus on domestic suppliers.
The other 2 options I’ve included is DHL and Cainiao. DHL is faster than both ePacket and AliExpress standard shipping but it will cost a premium price and is really only a viable option if you are selling higher ticket items and your margins make sense.
Cainiao is the complete opposite of DHL. It’s the budget option and although the prices are either very low or free, it will take a long time to ship which will result in a lot of unhappy customers and little repeat business. For a complete guide to the shipping times from AliExpress, I suggest you read my article as I provide estimated shipping times to multiple countries with multiple shipping companies.
| Country | ePacket | AliExpress Standard Shipping | DHL | Cainiao |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| UK | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Australia | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Canada | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| New Zealand | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| India | X | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| France | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Germany | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Brazil | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| South Africa | X | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Italy | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Switzerland | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Denmark | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| South Korea | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Sweden | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Vietnam | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Israel | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Thailand | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Mexico | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Turkey | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Malaysia | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Netherlands | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Singapore | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Belgium | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Spain | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| UAE | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Portugal | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Philippines | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Austria | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Russia | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Poland | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Japan | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Which Countries Offer the Best Payment Processor Options?
Before assuming you have found the ideal country with a gap in the market you plan to exploit, you better know if they offer the payment processors you plan to offer. There are several payment processors out there you can use but for dropshippers, Shopify payments, Stripe and Paypal are the 3 most popular.
At the time of writing this article, 17 countries are supported by Shopify payments and as time goes on I’m sure their reach will expand. If you will be using Shopify payments, avoid dropshipping to countries that don’t accept Shopify payments.
Stripe and Paypal are 2 of the most well-known and commonly used payment processors therefore it’s important to know which countries they can be used in. They are both fairly similar platforms although their fees and services differ slightly and Paypal is available in more countries than Stripe.
| Country | Shopify Payments | Stripe | Paypal |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| UK | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Australia | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Canada | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| New Zealand | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| India | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| France | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Germany | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Brazil | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| South Africa | X | X | ✔ |
| Italy | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Switzerland | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Denmark | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| South Korea | X | X | ✔ |
| Sweden | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Vietnam | X | X | ✔ |
| Israel | X | X | ✔ |
| Thailand | X | X | ✔ |
| Mexico | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Turkey | X | X | ✔ |
| Malaysia | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Netherlands | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Singapore | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Belgium | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Spain | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| UAE | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Portugal | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Philippines | X | X | ✔ |
| Austria | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Russia | X | X | ✔ |
| Poland | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Japan | X | ✔ | ✔ |
Which Countries Have the Highest Number of Online Fraud Cases?
This is one thing many drop shippers may not have considered. In some countries, the risk of you being scammed is greatly increased.
There are always things you can do to reduce the chances of this happening, however, it might be easier to just avoid these countries altogether.
According to bscholary, these are the top 10 countries in the world for the most online fraudsters/scammers.
- Pakistan
- Brazil
- South Africa
- Romania
- Venezuela
- Indonesia
- Nigeria
- India
- China
- Philippines
This list is in no particular order. If you want to dropship to these countries, make sure you do your due diligence and take all the necessary precautions. Check out the video below for some more information to help prevent the chances of you being scammed online.
Conclusion – Which is the Best Country to Dropship to and Which Country Should You Avoid?
You’re going to hate this answer… It depends. It’s hard to give you an exact answer as to which country is the best and the worst for dropshipping as there are so many factors and variables to consider.
If you’re thinking big and want to create a large branded store that could potentially make millions, then the US is the obvious choice. It has so many people who love to spend money online and all the resources possible in terms of fast shipping carriers and fulfillment warehouses.
If you plan on dropshipping to the US from abroad, check out my article; “Dropshipping to the US from outside the USA.“
When it comes to breaking into the US market, you need to think outside the box and come up with a unique idea in order to stand out.
The other 4 main options for dropshipping after the US are the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. They are similar to the US on a smaller scale and are all reasonably competitive.
You can still break into these markets but may not need to niche down as much as the US when finding a profitable niche. Overall, these locations will be slightly easier to find uncompetitive niches but won’t be as profitable as your audience size is not as large.
A lot of the European countries including France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Scandinavian countries can potentially be great choices. Many of them have large populations, speak English, have high GDP’s and many dropshippers from the US don’t target these countries.
You’ll often find more opportunities to break into the market with these countries. The ad prices vary a lot from country to country and can still be expensive although these prices will fluctuate a lot.
Other countries where dropshipping isn’t as prominent such as India, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Israel and Brazil are generally not ideal if you plan to dropship from China. Many AliExpress suppliers either won’t ship there or the shipping times will be long and expensive. I would leave them on the must avoid list if you plan to use AliExpress.
Another option for countries that have longer shipping times is order products in bulk and ship them to your customers domestically. I have an article on buying in bulk from China if you’re interested.
Don’t assume you can’t dropship profitably to these countries though, you can still use domestic suppliers with fast and cost-effective shipping. The competition is low and the ad prices are very low. These countries are relatively small spenders online, however, most of the online spending in these countries is steadily growing.
If you only speak English it will be far easier only dealing with countries with either a high or very English proficiency score, as noted in the table above. Language barriers will cause issues when you are scaling and trying to do customer service with multiple customers.
My advice is to weigh up all the information in the tables I have created and come up with a few countries you would like to target. Then look for products that are having success in the US market and have yet to be widely exposed to one of the countries that interest you. It’s then just a matter of testing these products and optimizing the ads until you find some success.
For more tutorials visit my other articles.
