“The NEW WAY to Find Winning Dropshipping Products in 2025” by Andy Stauring.
- CA Bhavesh Jhalawadia
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- Posted on
According to the video, most dropshipping stores fail because they focus on finding “winning products” the wrong way. They look for products based on features, quality, or price by spending hours scrolling through TikTok or using product research tools to find the next viral hit. However, this approach is flawed because a product’s success is not determined by its features but by something else entirely.
The video uses two phone case brands, Element Cases and Casetify, to illustrate this point. Element Cases focused on creating a “perfect product” with military-grade protection and premium materials but has very low website traffic. In contrast, Casetify, with a less feature-focused product, generates millions in monthly revenue by understanding a more powerful concept. The video’s author, Andy Stauring, learned this lesson firsthand after failing to find success with a high-quality phone case store.
The Core Argument
The video argues that the conventional approach to dropshipping product research—which focuses on a product’s features, quality, or price—is fundamentally flawed and is a primary reason most stores fail. Instead, it proposes a new framework for success in 2025 based on identifying and selling to passionate communities. The core idea is that a product’s success is determined not by its inherent qualities, but by its ability to serve as a vehicle for a customer’s identity, passion, or lifestyle.
Key Framework: The Three Elements of Success
The video breaks down its proposed framework into three essential elements:
- Community Passion: This is the most critical element. The strategy involves finding markets where people are already deeply engaged. The video provides several indicators of a passionate community:
- Shared Identity: Members proudly share their collections, projects, or results.
- Enthusiastic Engagement: Comments show genuine interest, expertise, and a willingness to help others.
- Community Lingo: The group has its own specialized language (e.g., “cop” for sneakerheads).
- High Spending: Members are already willing to spend significant money on their passion. The video highlights how the Casetify brand succeeded by tapping into a lifestyle identity, while the “perfect” Element Cases failed. Similarly, the author’s first successful product was a phone case for sneakerheads, a community that spends hundreds of dollars on shoes.
- Content Creation Potential: A product must be shareable and visually appealing. The goal is to create “I need to share this” moments for customers. This means the product can be showcased in clean, aesthetic shots that tell a story and are easily paired with other items the target audience already owns. The best ads, according to the video, are often simple, showcase-style videos.
- Scale Opportunity: For a dropshipping store to achieve real growth, the product must be scalable. This is achieved through:
- Product Extensions: Offering multiple variations of the product (e.g., different designs, colors).
- Upsells: Creating bundles or complementary products (e.g., phone cases and AirPod cases).
- Logistics: The product should be lightweight and easy to store, which helps maintain high-profit margins by reducing shipping costs.
The New Method for Product Research and Validation
The video provides a systematic, three-step process to implement this new framework and avoid wasting money on testing products.
- The Feed Conditioning Method: Instead of mindlessly scrolling, the user is instructed to actively “train” their social media algorithms (specifically on Instagram and TikTok) to show them product ads. By engaging with ads (clicking “Shop Now,” adding to cart, saving posts), the algorithm learns to identify the user as an “engaged shopper,” leading to a feed filled with products that are actively being sold and advertised. This helps the user discover potential markets and niches.
- Product Validation: Once a potential product is spotted, the video outlines a three-step validation process before investing any money.
- Community Check: The user must check for authentic community engagement by looking for specific signals (pride, expertise) and avoiding red flags (generic “where to buy” comments, no specialized hashtags).
- Market Size Validation: The user should use a tool like Similarweb (even if just a free trial) to check the monthly website traffic of competing stores. A good signal is a store with over 100,000 visitors a month, while a red flag is a store with low traffic despite running many ads.
- Competition Analysis: The user should use the Facebook Ad Library to find what successful competitors are doing. By studying their active ads, the user can understand their marketing angles, creative strategies, and what content is performing well for them, particularly if ads have been running for more than 30 days.
Contrasting Examples
The video effectively uses two main case studies to illustrate its points:
- Casetify vs. Element Cases: This contrast shows how a company that built a lifestyle brand (Casetify) succeeded with a “basic” product, while another brand that focused on features and quality (Element Cases) failed to gain traction.
- The Wubles: This example of a successful company selling crochet kits demonstrates all three elements of the framework. They solved a problem (the frustration of learning to crochet), built a passionate community, and had immense scale potential through product variations and collaborations with major brands like Marvel and Harry Potter.
In summary, the video’s analysis is that success in dropshipping is no longer about finding a “hot” product, but about finding a passionate community and creating a product that serves as a tangible expression of that community’s identity.