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$80k-$150k Per Month Thanks To Dropshipping Sites: Africa ROCKS The Business!

By Yaroslav Nevsky

drop shipping Africa

One of our active forum contributors, Daniel from Africa, tells a fantastic dropshipping success story and shares his experience. He runs 12 dropshipping sites which are bringing him about $80k-$150k per month. Let’s ask him how he achieved it.

Hi, please introduce yourself. 🙂 When did you start an online business?

I am Daniel Mickoh, an Internet Marketer focused on mainly on Facebook. I live in Kampala, Uganda. I have been involved in the internet marketing space 7 years now.

Before you started you AliExpress dropshipping sites, did you have any previous experience in eCommerce, or in trade, or in online sphere generally?

I was running eCommerce on Amazon as an affiliate, I have done niche stores, which I still do till today and now I started dropshipping with AliExpress (I was already hiring a lady who was doing this for me). So I already have a number of dropshipping sites.

Why did you choose the dropshipping business model, after all? How did it all begin?

I choose the dropshipping business mainly because I found it easy to start without inventory and because of my skills in Facebook marketing which offered a huge market.

What ecommerce platforms do you use? Do you use any automated solutions to manage the dropshipping sites? How exactly do they help you run the business?

10 of my dropshipping websites run on Shopify and others on WordPress platform. We use automated solutions including emails and messenger automations.

How many websites do you have now? What is their performance?

I have 12 dropshipping sites, they gross between $80k-$150k per month on average.

drop shipping Africa

Please note: this is a screenshot from a Shopify store Daniel emailed us.

How did you choose the niches?

I came to choose these niches, especially for 5 of stores from a niche business I was running by selling products in digital marketplaces. The other stores were mainly product research for trending products. But I also spy a lot on competitors. I spend usually the biggest part of my time checking other dropshippers’ ads, best sellering dropship products and new markets.

How do you find the products and suppliers for your online stores? Do you have any strategy of adding new products from time to time? How do you set the prices?

I mainly use 3 criteria to choose products namely; the number of active users on Facebook interested in the product, the number of product reviews and orders from a given dropshipping supplier and the trends for the product in the last 12 months.

When choosing a supplier, I usually consider the buyer ratings on the store, how many units he has sold, and how fast the supplier responds when contacted.

I usually set prices to cover mainly my ad costs and store plans and still make at least 50% if possible in profits.

Do you remember the first sale made from your dropshipping site? What have you done to achieve it? How soon did it happen?

The first sale came after testing with Facebook ads for 4 hours. Then we made 4 sales in 24 hours.

How do you promote your stores? How did you understand who’s your target audience? Which channels are the most efficient for you? Did you have to give up some channels? On average, how much does it cost you to promote your stores? (per month)

I promote my store mainly on Facebook and Instagram and SEO by growing huge fan communities, I create engaging content for the fans and use messenger to engage with our audiences and remarket to them later.

I also use a few ninja tactics, most of which I have learned from following the guy who started 10beasts and Brian Deans SEO that works.

How much time does it take you every day to manage your stores? Which task(s) demand more time than others? What are the most difficult challenges? How do you deal with them?

I have a team of virtual assistants who help to manage these stores, fulfilling orders and responding to customer queries.

How do you deal with difficult customers (if you have any)? Do you have any funny/sad stories?

There will always be good and bad customers, but the worst cases have mainly been fraudsters. For the dissatisfied customers we usually offer refunds on their purchases.

Our business is legally registered in the United States, that’s my fashion label, but initially, I was using friends to help me out in other countries. But of recent, I have chosen to register another LLC for the dropshipping and online business. The other is an offline business, and didn’t want any issues that can crop up with dropshipping to jeopardize the other business.

What are your plans for future?

To create major brands for 3 of our stores and also start selling digital products along with physical products.

What can you advise our readers – those who already run their stores and those who didn’t start the business yet?

My Advice lies in three works. Start, Keep Standing, Keep Working it.

Start your store now, look for winning products from competitors and lower prices and sell those in countries they are not targeting, test 10 different products at a time and when you find a winning one, scale that up and get more in that line.

There is more money in email lists than anyone can tell. So keep your customers happy.

We admire Daniel’s achievements and wish all our readers the same successful performance of their own dropshipping sites!

You might also like the following success stories:

avatar
By Yaroslav Nevsky
Yaroslav is a founder of AliDropship Community helping people worldwide to start and run a successful dropshipping business.
66 Comments
Femi 6 years ago

Hi Daniel, congratulations on your dropshipping success. I wish you many more successes in the future.

Please I would like to know what payment gateways you use and how you got approved by them since you are based in Africa (Uganda). Thanks

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

Hi Femi,
Thnks for the comment, I didn’t even know Yoros had published this story…previously I was using friends and family, but now I am using stripe, I got in using stripe Atlas, another solution that YOROS gave me was myllc.com (Seemed the cheapest option to have an LLC) and Payoneer.

Peace 5 years ago

Hi Daniel lot of courage me to interested in drop shiping for the moment trying to have more détail informations about. Congrates

Shameka 4 years ago

Hey Daniel can you contact me at the email I left above? I would like to speak with you about a few things pertaining to starting a successful business i’m having trouble with marketing. Please email me at mekakee77@gmail.com or send a message at 2523125524

Lirio Villa 6 years ago

How can you sell in other country without any custom issues?

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

I am not sure I have a straight outta the door answer to this, as I think each country has its own rules. But I have not faced any issues with customes up until now.

Kien Vu 6 years ago

Hi, Yaros! Thank for sharing! I was wondering how he setup payment gate for his 12 stores? Can you explain! Thank so much!

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

You don’t need many payment gateways, I only have stripe and paypal. [If you are outside countries supported by Stripe, then you are good to go with stripe atlas] or incorporate an LLC in the states using myllc.com

carine 6 years ago

Hi daniel first I wanted to congratulate you for your success in dropshipping. yet I am in Africa and willing to start a dropshipping activity. I am a total newbie . I am looking for a friend who can share his experiences with me. Could you help me with some advices while accepting my friend request ? Hope you are still doing your best there.

Armstrong 6 years ago

That is so kind of you Daniel! I want to ask how to have stripe account when it is not supported in your country. Like me, in Rwanda. Thank you bro

steph 5 years ago

You can use Stripe Atlas (https://stripe.com/atlas) its global

Lukasz 5 years ago

Hi Daniel
Thank for a nice article
I have just started with my droppshiping on my wordpress website
Can you reply for my message. I have some questions connected with dropshipping and I hope you will help me )
One of them – I am importing the products from amazon to my wordpress website and that work fine, but what about cost for shipping? that doesnt import from amazon automatic? because in my products is always shipping free….

Many thanks
Lukasz

Adra 6 years ago

just amazing!

Stephen Turner 6 years ago

Hi Daniel
Thanks for sharing this awesome story…Keep up the good work and best of luck amigo..

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

Thanks Steve, I appreciate. Will be starting a new case study this month, some time next week

Ivan 6 years ago

How do I analyze the competitors and see what they target?

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

There are many tools to spy on competitors, shopyspy, product reveal, Adsviser etc, depends on what it it you are going after. And what you are spying, it could be products or ads.

Theekruger 6 years ago

Daniel,

You are an inspiration my friend, keep killing it!

Sincerely,
Chris Kruger

hugo 6 years ago

Er why on earth is there a screenshot from shopify??

Olga L. 6 years ago

Hello Hugo,

If you read Daniel’s thread on our forum (the link is provided at the beginning of the interview), you’ll see he shares the identical Shopify screenshots as he runs his stores BOTH on Shopify and WordPress.

There are 2 reasons why we asked him for an interview:
1) The experience of any drop shipping store owner, regardless of the platform he/she uses, is valuable for people who are at the very beginning of their own journeys. Whatever technical solutions are used, the mechanics of the business, the daily management routine, and the promotional strategies are basically the same. On our forum, we encourage people to share their business insights, and we welcome entrepreneurs with every possible type of technical solutions in use.
2) The commercial success of a drop shipping store does not depend on the platform used. The platform itself is just an instrument allowing you to manage your time more efficiently. When the processes of adding products, contacting sellers and processing orders, etc. are automated, you have more free time to carefully evaluate the niche’s potential, the products in demand, and the best marketing/promotional strategies – which, as you know, ARE the main components of a profitable drop shipping venture.

Thank you for the question! I hope I made it clearer for you.

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

Thanks for the reply, to add to that, many cry outta the gate that they dont have money, and therefore usually get the 14 day, 45 day or 60 day trial with shopify.
Convenience is why I used shopify, 80% of my sites are wordpress, but I have to optimize for speed to make sure everything is working well. I prefer wordpress to shopify, though when it comes to convenience, I just tend to use shopify.

Eddy African 6 years ago

I am still a struggling dropshipper in Uganda. it’s over 4 months and havent made any sale. Thanks Daniel for sharing. We can talk more on skype edrisa2005

Tafari 6 years ago

This is marvelous and very very inspiring!

Louis 6 years ago

When you ask questions they should be One at a time!! Daniel did not answer all of them and some of the answers I would have liked to know.

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

I have answered to the majority Louis, trust me, I have been responding to close to I think 60 questions a day since putting up this case study.
I will always try and answer to them all.

Stratton 6 years ago

Hi Daniel, I am Stratton,
Thank you very much for success story.
I am from Rwanda, kindly writte to me, I am to start dropshipping business in Rwanda, I think you may help me very much.
Whataspp :+250787282698
Email:strattonkgb90@gmail.com
Thank you
Br,

Hussein Shariff 6 years ago

Hi Daniel,
Am a Tanzanian guy currently residing in South Africa. Am interested to start a dropshipping store but have neither marketing skill nor eCommerce experience. I need help on these two issues. Would you be able to mentor me if you can. I would highly appreciate it. My e-mail is: sagaff68@gmail.com

Yemi 6 years ago

Congratulations Daniel. Thanks for sharing with us also. It inspired us not to give up at all.
I wish you more successful business.
I would like to connect with you to learn at more and ask few questions as it regards Africa business environment.

Lateefah 6 years ago

Well done and thanks for sharing! What a great inspiration for us in Africa!
How many articles do you post on your affiliate niche sites before it starts generating money for you and which content writing service do you use?

David 6 years ago

Hello Daniel! I’m really inspired by your success story. I’m an internet marketer in Nigeria, and I’ve just recently set up my own dropshipping site using WordPress and Alidropship. I’d love to have a chat with you to get some more light to get my store selling. Pls, let me know how best I could reach and chat up with you.

Thanks!
davidsegunmoses@gmail.com

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

Sure…join the group here: https://web.facebook.com/groups/1782383678699757/
also..pm me on the forum here I am available now…was off working on a few projects

Louis 6 years ago

Hello Daniel,

Congrats !! Keep going.

I am planning to start few websites specially for Amazon Affiliation Program kind. I am from India. Do you please suggest more Affiliation Programs than dropshipping.

I meant, just display the products in my portal and get commission once bought.

With Regards
Louis

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

well, depends..if they are high ticket, I would do that…meaning, am making off $80-100 off each sale

Liang 6 years ago

Hi Daniel, Thanks for your sharing!
I am curious about the following questions:
1. How do you find out how many active FB users on a product?
2. How do you work on Messenger Automation, could you mind share with us how to do it?
3. What do you spy on your competitors?

Thank you for your reply in advance.
I would love to learn from you if you don’t mind to chat with me more. 🙂

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

TO find active FB users, I look at competitors products and their ads…I have Ads and store spy softeware I use.
As for messenger, I have a script that was coded for me…so it’s what I use..I will be releasing it soon to a few of my students…but there are others out there..like many chat etc..only problem is that they can get costly at times as your leads grow….

hussein 6 years ago

thank you so much my brother for the sharing. am a beginner in drop shipping in uganda and i sell via ebay. i will be glad if i can connect with you
thank you so muh

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

Find me on Facebook https://web.facebook.com/groups/1782383678699757/ or drop me a message on the forum here…

Tarry 6 years ago

Hi Daniel.
Congratulations on all your achievements, you’re truly inspirational. You have given me hope. I’ve been trying to enter the drop-shipping market in Africa for a while now, but like most people here, getting to grips with the tricks of the trade or “ninja tactics” as you termed them 🙂 is quite a challenge. I’m sure we would all love and appreciate the chance to make you our “Sensei” and mentor in ninja tactics. I personally wouldn’t mind even paying for classes from you…another business opportunity for you maybe?
Thanks though for the info. Please email me should you choose to accept or get a chance macfilda.tc@gmail.com
Thanks again 🙂

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

https://web.facebook.com/groups/1782383678699757/ you can get FREE mentorship…for paid, just donate to my favorite charity and I will help you

Daniel 6 years ago

Hi Daniel
Congratulation on your achievement, I am also in Uganda, I have been hearing about dropshipping business and I was doing my research that’s when I came across this post. therefore, Daniel, I want your mentoring in starting drop shipping business. your help will highly be appreciated, God bless you my Email is
ocdani242@gmail.com

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

please, join the group here, am spending most time there…https://web.facebook.com/groups/1782383678699757/

Leah Fombuena 6 years ago

Hi Daniel, thank you very much for sharing your story with us. I was just wondering how much capital did you start up with? Like promoting your ads, registering your stores to shopify etc… TIA

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

Fortunately for me, I started with $60 for the store, went and did a lot of Influencer outreaches and manual customer outreach in the first 30 days…contacted about 1500, made off about $1000 in sales, and $580 in profits, then wen ahead and invested $250 in ads, and thats where things blew up. I have done a lof of FREE videos in a facebook group here..: https://web.facebook.com/groups/1782383678699757/

Awele 6 years ago

Hello Daniel,
I am motivated by your story, and I intend to use the Alidopship plugin but I have a concern – fast shipping at lower costs. My customers are based in Nigeria, and I intend to sell simple and cheap items in the fashion niche. How do I get these products to customers fast, without overcharging them for such simple products. Olga, please feel free to chip in too.

Daniel Mickoh 6 years ago

Whenit comes to shipping, I usually check for epacket first and foremost…if epacket is expensive for an individual product, you might want to invest in getting those products to your country wholesale then running promotions to them…and hopefully, you will have picked the right ones..coz it can become a big issue if you pick the wrong products…so if epacket is expensive, and FREE shipping by China post mail takes forever…then I leave that product unless I have enough money for buy in bulk.

I am also currently doing a lot of free videos here, you might want to join in https://web.facebook.com/groups/1782383678699757/

Alyssa Baum 6 years ago

Why do people so often talk in gross income and not net? like who cares about gross if we’re trying to get an idea of whether this is a viable income stream? gross doesn’t really matter. it has nothing to do with what you get to keep and gives me NO idea of what kind of living you make. Net is what matters.

Guruprashad Singh 6 years ago

Hello Danile, It’s Great to read your success and get motivated. .. can you guide me on which virtual assistants you sued to manage the stores, fulfilling orders and responding to customer queries. Thanks!

Esosa Favour O 6 years ago

Hello Daniel
Thanks for sharing your story, I have been looking for dropshipping that is about africa. good thing I found this. Great work

kateeba Bernard 6 years ago

Hello Daniel thanks for that contribution am in Uganda and I want to start drop shipping which supplies do you use and do they ship or deliver products within Uganda.

Matt 5 years ago

Hi can you please send me an actual link to a successful dropship store?

Peter Okachi 5 years ago

Hi Daniel,
Its good of you to share your experience. Am from Uganda and was wondering if you have physical place someone can meet you to share more.

Thanks

Adeyemi 5 years ago

Hi.
Congratulations on your success. I’m just a newbie in this dropship business and I need to know how to get started. I’ll be glad if I can get someone to help me out.

Robinson 5 years ago

How did you get to set up paypal in your country? In Nigeria we can only send but cant receive payment.

Juliah Muchiri 5 years ago

I leave in Kenya and would love to start the dropshipping business but i still cant understand it well.need your help

Olga L. 5 years ago

Hi, thank you for your interest! Our designated team members will get in touch with you shortly.
Meanwhile, please, watch these videos:
https://alidropship.com/alidropship-plugin-review-video/ – it explains how to make a dropshipping store yourself with the help of our plugin
https://alidropship.com/buy-dropshipping-store/ – it explains how to get a fully ready dropshipping store individually prepared by our team

valdez 4 years ago

hello, my shop page is showing 404 error , page not found and my Aliexpress plugin is demanding an update but when i click to update, it keeps demanding. I have been writing Aliexpress for close to 48 hrs now but no one seems to have my time. right now my entire shop page can not be found. no product found. just 404 page not found.
my website is megahopesales.com

Olga L. 4 years ago

Hi, thank you for your feedback!

Please, write to AliDropship support team at support@alidropship.com

James Musisi 4 years ago

I am from Uganda. I am so happy to have a Ugandan guy doing this online business.
I have tried with several times to start but I still get some challenges especially in payment gateways here in Uganda and also registering the business.
I wish Daniel could allow me meet him face to face to advise me.
I am a 56 year old retired teacher.

RAMATH PHILOSTHENE 4 years ago

why on earth not even one of these people commenting on Danielle testament say they choose to create their store with Alidropship and they have succeeded and at the same time in need of Danielle for further help?

Aristide 4 years ago

Hi,
I am from Cameroon. I learned all comments here but i don’t understand how i could have succès with dropshipping in my country. There is a big potential to make money but there is also many problems to solve before stating.
1-) The paiement getaway (Limited in Camerron for many costumers and 1/4 have not a Bank accountt)
2-) The shipping (In aliexpress the shipping cost to Cameroon are sometimes three times higher)
I really want to have advices on how to solve these problems. Sorry for my bad english, i am french speaker.

Thanks

Olga L. 4 years ago

Hi, thank you for your interest!

The easiest option for you is to dropship to some other country, with quicker shipping and more payment gateways. You’re not limited by your country of living: you can sell the items to any destination you like.

Henry Nii 4 years ago

Hi Daniel, thanks for sharing your experience with us. I must say, dropshipping and e-commerce looks easy on paper, but its no joke to implement. There’s so so much to learn.

Daniel, I have a problem I wish you to help me fix, I’ve tried linking up with you on the Facebook forum but it seems my request to join hasn’t been approved yet.

Now, to my problem: I’m a newbie dropshipper from Ghana. I used to live in the US and UK, but ive relocated to Ghana almost permanently for the last few years.

I’ve tried to set up my dropshipping business for the Ghanaian market, but ive come to realize that the e-commerce/dropshipping business model does not fit Ghana well.

The Ghanaian economy is a cash economy and it seems that less than 5% of the Ghanaian adult force use e-commerce.

Due to that my business seems to be stillborn. What should I do?

I want to change the registration details of my shopify account to the US or UK and start retargeting my audience……..will it work?

The problem I see with the above scenario is my mobile number (which is now a Ghanaian one will still be Ghanaian since ive been in Ghana for a while and my US phone number has become defunct for lack of usage, whilst my other address etc can still revert to my US address, since my siblings still live there. Do I necessarily need my Ghanaian land/mobile line to communicate with my customers or I can survive without the Ghanaian local line?

What should I do? Whats your advice?

I’m confused, and your advice will be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Cheers

Ayele Israel 4 years ago

Hi Daniel
I’m an African too with a dropship site..jizydeals.com..
How do you spy on others why do you spy and alsowhat do you use the items you spy on to do

ivan joel 4 years ago

Hello Daniel
Am Ugandan too, My Inquiry is which payment gateway do you use so that you can be able to receive payments in US,UK and related countries and still be able to withdraw directly to Uganda with ease. Most payment gateways I have tried have hardened the process and end put saying they do not support such. Advice me please ..

Olga L. 4 years ago

Hi, thank you for your interest!
You might consider DusuPay: it’s compatible with AliDropship original plugin and supported in Uganda.

Waseem 4 years ago

Hi Danial
I Want Setup dropship store can you tell me your website link i want learn From it??

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