22 Profitable Ecommerce Business Ideas: How to Start in 2024 - Shopify

Here are 22 profitable ecommerce business ideas you can start today, from dropshipping and private label to digital courses and subscription boxes.

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Often, the hardest part about starting a business is finding the right idea. For example, you might want to build a business that you can do on the side while still working at your day job. Or maybe you want a business that allows you to work from home and monetizes a skill you already have.

If you’re an entrepreneur in a creative lull, get some inspiration from this guide as we share 22 great ecommerce business ideas with high profit potential.

If you’re looking for a low-investment small business idea, dropshipping can be a safe bet.

Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method that doesn’t require you to buy, store, or ship inventory yourself. Instead, you work with a dropshipping supplier who takes those responsibilities off your plate, meaning you only pay for products once you sell them.

Popular items to make and sell include:

Reach extra potential customers by listing your handmade products on marketplaces like Etsy.

However, it’s worth noting that Etsy takes a cut out of any sale you make. A combination of both Shopify and Etsy gives you the best of both worlds: You tap into Etsy’s available customer base who’s looking to buy handmade items, while also maintaining strong profit margins on orders made through your ecommerce website.

Further Reading: How to Sell on Etsy Successfully

Do you have a following on social media? If so, monetize your audience by selling fan merchandise.

Use a print-on-demand service like Printful to create a custom design with your logo or slogan. Then, upload the design to mugs, t-shirts, phone cases—anything your target audience would be interested in—and sell them online.

Subscriptions are a profitable ecommerce business idea worth considering if you want to earn recurring revenue. You’ll bill customers every month (unless they cancel) in exchange for a subscription box.

Choose an industry where the subscription business model is already popular with customers. According to Statista, those popular industries for subscription models are:

Fresh Patch is one business using this model to make money online. The retailer sells grass patches for pets to use the toilet inside.

More than 80% of its sales come from subscriptions. Its founder, Andrew Feld, advises people who are thinking of starting a business to “try and find something that is necessary and needs to be replenished.”

Capture the millions of customers who pay for premium education by selling courses and educational materials. Monetize your skill by creating an online course around something you have deep knowledge of. From pottery to cooking, there’s bound to be someone looking to get better at whatever you have to share.

To nurture inbound leads and launch their digital products, course creators typically share short, informative videos on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, which encourage viewers to visit their site and purchase the full course. If you enjoy sharing your knowledge with people around the world, online course creation can be a satisfying—and profitable—outlet.

Sell clothes online to claim your share of the roughly $180 billion US consumers spend in the global apparel market each year.

While you could maintain high profit margins by handcrafting the clothes yourself, business models with a lower barrier to entry include:

Sarah Donofrio is a successful designer with her own clothing line, and she advises new business owners to follow fashion trends. “Take athleisure,” she says. “I don’t make tights, I don’t make sports bras, but this cool woven crop would look kind of awesome with tights, so that’s how I would incorporate the trend.”

If you’re looking for a startup business idea with the ability to make money fast, flip broken, faulty, or unloved toys and sell them for a profit.

To find unloved kids toys:

Refine your DIY skills to bring the toys back to life. List them for sale on your ecommerce website, and capture parents looking for new toys without the brand-new price tag.

Read:Top 24 Achievable Business Ideas for Kids

Marketplaces like Amazon give consumers access to almost everything they’d want to buy online.

Look at Amazon’s bestsellers category and see whether you can capitalize on existing interest from shoppers. Chances are, you could source cheaper products in bulk from a wholesaler and list them for sale on Amazon.

Amazon aside, other popular marketplaces to sell products online include eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

While marketplace selling gives you access to a purchase-ready customer base, it does come with its downsides—notably cuts to your profit margins. There’s also the risk of a marketplace taking down your mini-store and cutting sales overnight.

Mitigate that risk by operating an online store alongside your marketplace listings. That way, should the worst happen, you’re still able to keep your business afloat.

Reach customers everywhere they are with Shopify

Shopify comes with powerful tools that help you promote and sell products on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google, and YouTube from one back office. Make sales on multiple channels and manage everything from Shopify.

Monetize your writing skills by self-publishing a book. Publishing platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing, Lulu, or Reedsy make it easy to sell books online. They print and ship books at the point of sale, meaning you don’t need to keep a stack of unsold books at home.

Not a great writer? Other business models to sell books include:

Keen photographer? Grab your camera (a phone can do the trick), snap some images, and sell your photos online to earn extra cash on the side.

The following sites pay out each time your photo is licensed or downloaded:

To squeeze more cash out of your budding ecommerce business, sell photography services on the side. List your photography packages on freelance sites like Fiverr and Upwork, or apply to become a Shopify Partner. You can often charge higher prices for these custom photoshoots.

Health-conscious consumers spend billions per year on natural cosmetics and personal care products. Create and sell your own natural, quality products online, such as:

“Customers are becoming more interested in natural and organic products as a result of increased consumer awareness of their lifestyle choices,” says Justina Blakeney, the founder and owner of NiaWigs. “You can begin selling natural products online to support people living an all-natural and sustainable lifestyle.”

Tap into the deep connection people share with their pets by selling customized pet products. Imagine a place where pet owners can find everything from bespoke apparel to personalized toys and accessories—all tailored to their pet’s size, breed, and personality.

You can build a Shopify store to showcase your products and hook your store up to Printful to create truly unique items for shoppers. Use social media to showcase testimonials and pet stories to create a community around your brand.

Millions of households use smart speaker systems worldwide, but smart home products are expensive. Not everyone has $100 or more to drop on brand-new gadgets.

If you’re looking for a part-time business idea, search for smart home products to refurbish. Find old, broken, or faulty versions of:

Then use your DIY skills to bring them back to life. List them for a higher price on your ecommerce site and recoup the profit.

Products don’t need to be the only thing you sell through an online store. Monetize your skills and turn them into a service, such as:

Michael Keenan is a freelance marketer who uses his SEO skills to sell freelance services online. He says, “I started ghostwriting for companies and made $20 per article on the side of my day job. As I began to refine my service offering and get more experience under my belt, I went full-time and started making six figures per year.”

Affiliate marketing is an ecommerce business model that doesn’t require you to make your own products or services. Instead, you partner with a brand, promote their products or services, and earn commission on any sales you make.

To drive traffic to your affiliate partners’ website:

The key to success as an affiliate marketer is to diversify your partners within a specific niche market. If you’re promoting pet products, for example, partner with brands that sell food, toys, and medication. That way, you’re not left without an income if one brand shuts down its affiliate program or denies your commission.

Get paid by brands you love with Shopify Collabs

Shopify Collabs makes it easy to find brands that match your vibe, build affiliate relationships, get paid for what you sell, and track everything in one place.

The 3D-printed wearables market is a small but growing sector. An ecommerce store with 3D-printed creations taps into people’s desire for personalized and exciting products.

From fashion accessories to home décor, ecommerce 3D printing ecommerce businesses can offer a variety of items that stand out with unique designs.

If you love technology, a store that sells virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) products—more specifically, educational products for schools and students—may be the perfect fit. You can sell VR headsets, educational apps, and AR learning kits for anyone intrigued by immersive experiences.

To start this type of business, source or create high-quality VR/AR content. Partner with subject matter experts to guarantee your products are engaging and informative. Sell your tools, as well as tutorials and lesson plans to help educators integrate VR/AR into their curriculum.

There’s a huge market for eco-friendly products, and it’s only getting bigger. A PwC report found that 46% of shoppers are buying more sustainable products as a way to reduce their carbon footprint, and they’re willing to pay a 9.7% premium for products that let them do so.

Find an industry that you’re interested in or passionate about and do some research to find the most popular products within the niche. Are existing products eco-friendly? Do competitors follow sustainable business practices? If not, see whether you can create new versions that are more sustainable and sell them to climate-conscious consumers online.

If you want to start your own ecommerce business and flex your creative chops without manufacturing new products, tap into the personalization market. By 2026, Statista estimates that consumers will spend $34.3 billion on unique gifts each year.

Find wholesale products that you can buy in bulk and add your own spin on, such as:

Then pick up a craft machine to apply stickers to these niche products, or refine your embroidery skills to stitch someone’s name or custom design onto the product.

This approach to selling online might require more back and forth with your customers, but you can charge much more for personalized products than simply reselling existing items or adding a generic design.

You don’t need to create and sell handmade wedding gowns to get a slice of the wedding industry pie. Stationery is a smaller market within the wedding industry that people spend millions of dollars on each year.

Create your wedding stationery designs on a free graphic design tool like Canva and sell them through an ecommerce website. People can buy these templates, add their wedding details, and print them at home.

What’s great about this ecommerce product idea is that you don’t need to manage fulfillment. Customers get a digital download or link to your customizable template when they order—no need to figure out shipping.

Thrifting is a popular hobby that you can turn into an ecommerce business without actually manufacturing apparel yourself.

Thrift stores make money by buying niche apparel products at a discounted price and reselling them online. You’ll need a keen eye to spot what’s trending, as well as time to scour consignment stores for new inventory.

Read more: Closet Full of Treasures? Here’s How To Sell Vintage Clothing

You don’t need a spark of genius to start an online business. As these ecommerce business ideas show, it’s possible to make money by monetizing your existing skills, hobbies, and interests through a business online.

The best part? You don’t need upfront cash to start or find ecommerce business ideas. Business models like dropshipping, print-on-demand, and self-publishing books take inventory and fulfillment tasks off your plate entirely. That leaves you with more time to do what you do best: create and sell.

Dropshipping is considered one of the best ecommerce business models for new entrepreneurs. You don’t need to hold inventory, handle fulfillment, or ship products to your customers. A dropshipping provider does that automatically when a sale is made through your ecommerce store.

Data shows that the cost to start an ecommerce business is around $40,000. However, this varies depending on your business model, digital marketing budget, and industry. If your budget is tight, open a Shopify store for just $1 for your first month.

Handmade items often have the highest profit margins of all ecommerce products. Small-business owners can source materials at low cost, and create high-ticket handmade goods that people splurge on.

It’s easy to open an ecommerce store, but the day-to-day of running of an ecommerce business can be time-consuming. Set aside a few hours each week to source new products, market your store, and connect with existing customers. That effort can compound and result in a profitable online business.

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