How To Source Evergreen Products To Dropship

Forget the exhausting cycle of trend-chasing and inventory panic: What if you could tap into the steady stream of dropshipping products that shoppers have chosen for years and will continue buying for years more? Evergreen products are reliable income generators that prove dependable while flash-in-the-pan trends come and go.

Sure, you may not experience those intoxicating viral sales spikes that make for great Instagram Stories, but you also won’t wake up to find your entire product line has become as relevant as last year’s memes. Remember fidget spinners? Instead, evergreen products can give you the opportunity to pursue steady, consistent growth and build a dropshipping business that isn’t subject to the whims of the trend cycle, says Lucia Cedron, a senior product lead at Shopify.

Read on to learn more about evergreen products, with advice and tips from Lucia about building a business with evergreen products.

What are evergreen products?

Evergreen products are exactly what they sound like: They’re products that maintain steady demand regardless of seasons or market trends. Unlike seasonal products (think Halloween costumes or Valentine’s Day chocolates) or trending items (like t-shirts with pop culture references soon to become outdated), evergreen items appeal to basic human needs and lifestyles that don’t change much over time.

“They have very consistent demand. They have long life cycles. They have a very stable market. In general, these evergreen products tend to have a kind of universal appeal,” says Lucia.

Common categories include wellness products, home décor, pet supplies, and sports equipment. These evergreen niches solve everyday problems—helping people stay fit, care for pets, decorate their homes, or improve their appearance.

“At the end of the day, the main thing is, does the product solve a specific need, and is that need everlasting?” Lucia says. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were many products that solved a need for that specific moment in time—like touchless door openers and button pushers or ultraviolet phone sterilizers—but are no longer as useful in our everyday lives. Other popular COVID-era products, like hand sanitizers, disinfectant spray, and even masks, have become part of people’s everyday use and have gone from time-specific to evergreen.

If you’re building an ecommerce store and want long-term success, supplementing your product lines with evergreen products can be a smart, sustainable strategy, says Lucia.

Advantages of evergreen products

Here are some reasons you may decide to add evergreen products to your product line: 

Recurring revenue 

Since they’re in demand year-round, evergreen products can generate consistent sales. For example, humans are going to be having babies until the end of time, says Lucia. So onesies, baby bottles, pacifiers, and non-toxic baby toys can be sold all year long.

Similarly, she says, consumers are going to always care about their health and wellness. So dumbbells, reusable water bottles, workout clothes, and yoga mats are likely to have steady appeal. “You’re never going to run out of demand,” Lucia says. That means you can more accurately plan ahead without worrying about unexpected sales instability. 

No shortage of suppliers 

Evergreen categories usually have many reliable dropshipping suppliers—on platforms like Alibaba, AliExpress, and Dropship.io—so you’re not tied to one fragile supply chain. More importantly, you can be picky about your suppliers because you have so many to choose from.

For example, a search for ceramic mugs on Aliexpress turns up thousands of search results—because people always need mugs. You can take your time finding the right supplier. Look at reviews from other sellers. Order product samples and test them out yourself. Which mugs feel brittle? Which mugs are the most versatile? Are they finished with non-toxic materials? Which ones are priced to fit your budget and business plan? Explore different niches, like mugs that appeal to specific interests or mugs that have classic designs.

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Disadvantages of evergreen products

Of course, adding evergreen products to your product line isn’t a fail-proof business strategy. Here are some things to consider before you go to market: 

High competition

Due to evergreen products’ universal appeal and low barrier to entry, many other dropshippers are stocking them, which can lead to market saturation. “You really need to do your research. What is the competition doing? How is your competition pricing?” says Lucia. “You don’t want to go into this dynamic where none of your products sell even though they are evergreen, because competition is high and buyers are finding your products elsewhere with better prices and maybe a better narrative.”

You can differentiate your products with strong branding, unique designs, competitive pricing, and superior customer service. For example, Ben Francis, the founder of athletic apparel company Gymshark, started out by dropshipping fitness supplements. He then added fitness apparel to his product lines. The convenience of buying supplements and workout clothes in one place was a key differentiator for Gymshark that helped them branch out and eventually start designing their own clothes.

“One of the main things when you’re dropshipping is the importance of creating a story around why you’re selling the products that you’re selling, why that solves a specific need, and how you as a company are helping the buyer out with this problem that they have,” says Lucia. Since you know your products have lasting appeal, you can invest in a marketing strategy that’s likely to pay out dividends for months to come, rather than one that’s relevant only as long as a new viral craze lasts. Having a consistent message helps you build a stronger, more trustworthy brand. 

Marketing innovation required

In crowded markets where everyone sells identical products, differentiation happens through creative marketing—engaging social media, influencer partnerships, and compelling email campaigns. One goal is cultivating FOMO (fear of missing out): making customers feel they’re missing out on joining an exclusive community or transforming their routine. For example, Dollar Shave Club, which started out as a private label dropshipping company, didn’t just promise razor delivery—it identified two pain points: overpriced, subpar razors and annoying emergency store runs when blades dulled.

Their solution was simple: quality razors delivered monthly, through a subscription model, eliminating both dull blade emergencies and retail markup. No other razor company was doing this at the time, although the men’s grooming industry was already oversaturated with razor brands. They launched the brand with a legendary viral video that used irreverent humor and an unforgettable tagline—“our blades are f***ing great”—to turn a mundane product into an innovative brand.

How to find evergreen products to dropship

• AI chatbots
• Dropship.io and AutoDS
• Alibaba and AliExpress
• Social media
• Amazon Best Sellers
• Google trends

The key to selling evergreen products profitably is researching the right items and validating demand. Here are a few effective methods:

AI chatbots

As a starting point, you can use AI chatbots to brainstorm viable product categories. “With AI, merchants now have an advantage to go a lot deeper in their research and ensure that they have the right strategy for the evergreen products they want to focus on,” says Lucia. For example, you could ask AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini to find pet products that have consistent demand. The chatbot will then produce a list of those products—like, say, dental care products or pet wipes. Use that list to identify promising evergreen products.

You could also ask more specific questions—such as, “If I were to dropship reusable water bottles, what are common search terms associated with them, and would you expect their demand to be consistent or seasonal?” or “If I'm looking for evergreen pet supplies, what qualities should I look for in a dropshipping supplier for those products?”

Remember: Chatbots like these do not provide real-time data, so be sure to cross-reference suggestions with actual dropshipping research tools and platforms. 

Dropship.io and AutoDS

Platforms like Dropship.io and AutoDS let you analyze product catalogs, track competition, and discover high-demand items with low shipping costs.

Dropship.io’s sales tracker, for example, can aggregate data from other Shopify stores and provide real-time statistical information about how products are performing. Use the platform’s product database to identify products you’re interested in. Sort the products by monthly revenue or monthly sales—now, you have an understanding of the revenue potential of that product. More importantly, you can look at specific store data to find successful competitors and study their strategies, from retail prices to marketing.

AutoDS has a tool called the AutoDS Finder that scans data from 40,000 dropshippers on eBay, as well as the suppliers’ sites. It then shows you best-selling products from those stores and allows you to automatically import those products into your store. Remember, if you do that, you still need to differentiate your product through branding and marketing. 

Alibaba and AliExpress

These global marketplaces make it easy to find suppliers for just about anything—from diet pills to wedding items to home decorations. On Alibaba and Aliexpress, you can filter by seller ratings and shipping availability to find the right supplier.

Alibaba also has a free AI sourcing agent that can generate business reports for items you are interested in. You can ask questions like, “What are some beauty products that have consistent demand?” The sourcing agent will then produce a report that includes information on “resilient categories,” the market size, growth, and strategic insights. For example, it may let you know that K-beauty or eco-friendly beauty products are trending upward.

AliExpress doesn’t have built-in AI capabilities. If you already know which category of products you want to explore, you can search that category and then sort the results by number of orders. This will show you the items with the highest order volume. For example, if you generally search for “coffee,” you can then sort the search results to find the top-selling items in that category—it may show you milk frothers or coffee bean grinders. The AliExpress Dropshipping Center also has a section on winning products you can explore to discover new categories and products. Similarly, on AliExpress Business, you can browse top-ranking items in categories ranging from “Biking Essentials” to “Action & Toy Figures.”

Social media

Search platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and other social media sites for what creators and influencers are using in everyday life. Trends may come and go, but many evergreen items regularly pop up in lifestyle content—like reusable water bottles or beauty products. Lucia recommends using social listening tools to gain an understanding of your audience: What are they interested in? How high is the demand?

Scan the feeds of popular influencers and analyze the products they’re using most. You can also search products you’re interested in and explore content that shows up in the results. For example, you can search “milk frother” on TikTok and explore the videos that show up. Do they have a lot of views? Are commenters expressing enthusiasm for the product?

Amazon Best Sellers

You can browse Amazon Best Sellers in categories including camping gear, gaming products, hair products, organizational tools, and kids’ toys. Products with solid rankings over long periods tend to be reliably evergreen. You may see patterns in these categories. In the clothing category, you may notice women’s underwear or men’s boxers are in high demand. White t-shirts also show up a lot. In the coffee and tea category, electric kettles reign supreme. Analyze these categories for products that show up over and over again and think about how they can fit into your business strategy. 

Google Trends

Check Google Trends and verify that the products you’ve selected have consistent demand over time. When you search “milk frother,” you can see that there has been consistent demand for milk frothers for the past five years—but that demand spikes in the winter months, when people are drinking more hot beverages. Google Trends will also show you “related topics” or “related queries,” which can help you find niche products. For example, in the “milk frother” search, “matcha whisk” shows up as a related topic. But when you run a search on “matcha whisk,” you’ll notice that interest in the topic has only spiked recently, in the past couple of years, which may indicate that it’s a trending, not evergreen, product. 

Evergreen product ideas for dropshipping

Here are some evergreen niches and product examples, compiled using the methods listed above:

• Wellness products. Yoga mats, jade rollers, fitness bands, posture correctors, and essential oils appeal to people looking to feel better and live healthier, year-round.

• Pet care supplies. From grooming tools to interactive pet toys, the pet products category is a huge market. Items like pet beds, automatic feeders, and odor removers maintain consistent demand.

• Car accessories. Car care products like seat covers, organizers, phone mounts, and portable vacuums are functional, easy to source, and often involve impulse purchases.

• Athleisure. Thanks to on-the-go lifestyles, clothing items like leggings, sports bras, activewear sets, and performance socks are always in demand.

• Home décor. Home decorations such as LED lights, storage solutions, organizers, wall decals, and cleaning supplies are popular products to sell online. 

• Wedding products. Wedding items like customized invitations, centerpieces, ring holders, and bridal robes have consistent demand.

• Tech accessories. Charging cables, car phone mounts, and laptop stands are practical products with high turnover rates and wide audiences.

• Kitchen tools. Reusable containers, digital kitchen scales, garlic presses, and silicone baking mats make everyday cooking easier and are purchased regularly.

• Baby products. Non-toxic kids’ toys, baby carriers, bibs, and nursing pillows are always needed by new parents. These items are part of a niche market with steady renewal.

• Travel accessories. Neck pillows, travel-sized containers, compression socks, and anti-theft backpacks cater to both frequent flyers and casual vacationers.