dropshipping is not saturated, but at the same time dropshipping how its promoted by gurus, which is create a shopify store, use product winning software, find it on Ali Express, run fb ads, sell, and scale, is not very profitable, and its not as easy and goldmine-ish they want to make it seem.
A lot of stores on Ali express are dropshippers, they dont own the items, they just buy them if they get a sale, thats why shipping times can take months.
There is also covid, a pandemic which makes it even slower, while amazon offers same day delivery.
many dropshippers went out of business in 2020, also dropshipping companies that invested millions, and multiple millions
Clients are usually not super excited to get a weird little package from China with a mega low quality item, if the shipping it delayed they can ask for a refund, and you can lose your stripe and paypal acount,and your FB ad acount.
If they do receieve the item, and its ok quality, and it clearly has the chinese suppliers company name, they wil never buy from you again, and just buy from the supplier.
And the money is not in the first sale, its repeat clients that really help make your business profitable
Also one of the biggest dropshippers in the world, which was founded by the person who helped create google ads.
had multiple billions in funding, is still not profitable ( wish.com )
So dont expect massive profits. or no profits at all, most likeley invest and losses. for some time untill you maybe break even, or get funding.
it is ok to do for the learning process, but the learning curve especially fb ads can be costly.
Ecommerce in general can def be lucrative, shopify and amazon both had an amazing year, but again both companies have massive budgets. things get a lot easier then. Shopify back in the days, before they went public wasnt very exciting at all.
and Amazon pretty much owns E-tail, and its also 20 years + of hard work
You can use Dropshipping/ Print on demand ( which is also dropshipping ) as a way to test products/ niches, and once you have a email list/ pixel data of buyers you can switch to manufacturing/ or creating a white label.
Thats more sustainable.
Or work with domestic supliers, same!
But dont fall for the get rich quick guru pitches on youtube, they are just ppl trying to sell courses.
The small majority of all dropship gurus actually are sucesfull dropshippers, and succesfull dropshippers hardly sell courses. maybe 1% of them