When it comes to sourcing dropshipping products, Spocket and Aliexpress marketplaces are two of the best choices. Both platforms look promising that deciding between them becomes a challenging task.
So Spocket vs AliExpress, which one should you go for?
Well, this article should give you an adequate understanding of both platforms.
Let’s dive in.
What is Spocket?
Spocket is a tool and marketplace for dropshippers to discover quality products from verified (mostly) US & UK suppliers and add them to their stores with a single click.
The tool is a game-changer. It allows you to find quality products from vetted suppliers, and automatically fulfill your orders. You can be confident that products will be delivered to your customers between 2 – 5 days.
All these activities can be automated through the Spocket platform. This means you can call Spocket an all-in-one tool perfect for dropshipping.
I also love to add that you can integrate Spocket with almost all the eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, and more.
Spocket has a lot of benefits for dropshippers and I will get there soon. If you want, you can read this detailed Spocket dropshipping review.
What is Aliexpress?
Aliexpress is a marketplace that consists of thousands of products from tons of suppliers. The majority of dropshippers use Aliexpress to fulfill orders and deliver products to their customers.
If you want to operate your dropshipping business manually with Aliexpress, it’s quite easy. You just need to copy products from its marketplace and add them to your store.
Spocket vs Aliexpress: Feature Comparison
Ease of Use
Both Spocket and Aliexpress are easy to use.
To start using Spocket, you need to sign up for their 14-day free trial (no credit card is required) with either your personal details or proceed with your Facebook or Google details.
Once the tool is active on your site, you will find its interface easy to navigate. The layout is clean, and the functions are adequately organized. Spocket is very beginner-friendly. You don’t need any special skills to use it.
Also, there is a 4-step onboarding tour guide on Spocket’s dashboard to help new users understand the ropes of the platform.
After getting familiar with the tool, you can proceed with searching for products for your dropshipping business. Finding products is stress-free because they are all arranged categorically by industry.
Just like Spocket, AliExpress is also very easy to use. Once you sign up and create an account, you can start buying products immediately. AliExpress has products in almost all categories.
It’s unlikely that you don’t find a product on AliExpress.
Related: Spocket vs Shopify
Product Catalog
It’s not news that quality products are key to any successful dropshipping business. Both Spocket and AliExpress consist of thousands of products for dropshippers to choose from.
Spocket runs quite an extensive product database showcasing different categories from fashion, health, technology, and more. In terms of quality, Spocket is very strict by making sure only worthy products are listed in its product catalog.
Another fact to note is that around 60% of products listed on Spocket are manufactured by suppliers in the US and Europe. This could be bad news for dropshipping merchants targeting customers outside the US and Europe.
But looking at the brighter side, this means dropshippers will be able to serve customers from Europe and the US efficiently. Spocket even gives you the privilege to choose suppliers whose warehouses are closer to your customers.
Also, Spocket gives you the chance to order product samples before making a bulk order. This will help you to physically assess any product before deeming it fit for your dropshipping store.
AliExpress, on the other hand, contains thousands of products to choose from. You can browse through several categories to find the products you want.
Unlike Spocket, AliExpress isn’t quite strict with product quality. You may encounter tons of mediocre products if you are not careful.
But there are several ways to authenticate the quality of products on AliExpress. For example, you can check real customers’ reviews or even order a product sample for a thorough assessment.
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Another thing to keep in mind is that the majority of AliExpress products are manufactured in China, this might make it hard to efficiently serve customers that aren’t from that region.
Product Suppliers
Before buying products from Spocket or AliExpress, you need to know the kind of suppliers they accept.
Spocket is very strict with their suppliers, they don’t randomly accept new entries without passing them through several stages of verifications. All their suppliers must meet strict requirements on various parameters, including product quality, pricing, availability, and many more.
In some cases, the Spocket screening team schedules interviews with suppliers to further evaluate their products.
So any product or supplier you find on the Spocket marketplace is worth it.
Aliexpress, on the other hand, does not take strict measures before approving suppliers.
This is why it’s possible to come across several low-quality products on Aliexpress. Although I am not disputing the fact that there are serious suppliers selling quality products on Aliexpress, you will need to be tricky to find them.
This is why many dropshipping merchants prefer to buy a done-for-you store from Alidropship so they don’t have to find suppliers themselves.
Overall, the chances of finding mediocre products on Spocket is zero but high for AliExpress.
I should also add that Spocket suppliers generally have great return policies. And in the situation where something is incorrect, unfairly damaged, sent to the wrong address, or late, Spocket can over their suppliers’ policies.
On the other hand, when customers return items on AliExpress, they are lost sales because it will be hard to reach a resolution with your supplier. Your only option will be to open a dispute with AliExpress.
In essence, Spocket is built for dropshipping while AliExpress is suitable for personal shopping.
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Importing Products
Importing products to your online store from Spocket and Aliexpress is easy.
You can use the “one-click” import on Spocket to import products from its marketplace to your store with a single click. Once you click the import button, products will be added to your import list.
This is a very robust feature to simplify your dropshipping business. It saves you the time of manually downloading and importing product images to your store.
To import products to your store from Aliexpress, you can either do it manually or use an expensive one-click import plugin. The latest update to Spocket is that it now supports importing AliExpress products with a single click.
So if you have some fantastic products you are already dropshipping from AliExpress, you can migrate to Spocket and still continue to sell them. This means you now have access to 2 marketplaces to source products and more robust features to facilitate your e-commerce business.
Shipping Time
One of the most vital features you should look out for in Spocket and Aliexpress is their shipping time.
Spocket delivery time is usually between 2 – 5 days, and this is enough reason to pick it over any other options as a dropshipper.
When you are looking for products to buy or import from Spocket, you have the option of picking suppliers closer to your customers, and this is why the delivery time is so short.
I love to add that the delivery time depends on the suppliers used, the product sizes, and the current subscription plan with Spocket. The best part is you can check the estimated time it takes suppliers to deliver goods to customers from the product page.
Spocket also gives you a tracking ID to follow up with the product and know exactly how it’s being shipped.
Meanwhile, it takes weeks to deliver products dropshipped with AliExpress, especially if you are shipping to countries not close to China. However, you can leverage the ePacket shipping option which allows products to be shipped within 14 – 30 days.
If there is one reason you should switch from AliExpress to Spocket, it should be because of the shipping time. Imagine your competitors delivering goods to their customers in 2 – 5 days, while yours is taking 20 days.
You will definitely lose most of your customers to your competitors because shoppers can’t wait that long. You will also be experiencing high number of returns, which means your business is slowly dying.
Related: How does Spocket work
Product Customisation
It’s very easy to customize products on Spocket. You can add tags and change titles for SEO benefits. It’s also possible to change your images, and add “alt” text to the image to enable it to show up on search engines like Google. Finally, you can add well-optimized product descriptions to increase the chance of your products showing up on Google.
You will need to do it manually with AliExpress except if you are using a plugin like AliScraper that allows you to import AliExpress products to your store.
Order Fulfillment
A smooth order fulfillment process is essential to dropshipping business’s success.
If you are using Spocket for your dropshipping business, you can easily automate your order fulfillment. When a customer makes an order, you can send the orders to the supplier with one click.
You will get a notification once the order is being shipped, and you can also see information like current location and stats, for tracking the order from your dashboard.
No such thing on AliExpress because it’s a marketplace, not a dropshipping platform. Except if you use a tool like the Alidropship plugin.
Price Markup
This feature allows dropshipping merchants to set a pricing formula for products added to their store. Both Spocket and Alidropship support this feature.
Once you integrate Spocket with your store, you can automate the entire pricing process. You don’t have to manually set the price for products you import to your store.
You can pick from tons of options, including price multiplier, percentage, or a fixed price for the entire store.
Assuming you use the multiplier to set a 1.5 markup on products, a product price of $10 will automatically change to $15. This is a time-saving feature available on both Spocket and the Alidropship plugin.
Branded Invoice
Spocket allows you to generate a branded invoice that carries your logo and brand name. But this option is not available when you buy products from Aliexpress.
When customers buy products from your store and see your brand name, logo, address, email, and a personal note on the invoice, it will increase the trust they have in you.
Support
Both Spocket and AliExpress offer great support to their merchants.
The support you get with Spocket depends on your plan. With the free plan, you are open to only email support. While users on the paid plans are allowed to enjoy live chat, email, and phone support.
You can also follow their social media pages and join groups to enjoy free support from active users.
Also, If you buy items directly from AliExpress, you can contact their customer support when the need arises.
Winning Products
Both Spocket and AliExpress allow merchants to find winning products.
Once you paid for a plan on Spocket, you will have access to carefully-selected premium products that are proven to lead to high conversion and offers heavy discounts.
If you know how to run it, you can also manually find winning products on AliExpress. However, if you want to automate the process, you need to rely on the AliDropship plugin.
Alidropship has a package that gives you access to winning/hot products.
You can start gaining access to unlimited premium products at any time by subscribing to the plan, which costs $39 per month. This means you don’t have to look for products to sell, create product descriptions, look for customer reviews, or waste money on testing products and ads.
Once you subscribe to this package, they will do all the hard work to find you winning products you can start selling. It cost $39 per month to subscribe.
I guess you are saying $39 per month is expensive? Yes, I agree.
Once you subscribe to a paid plan on Spocket, you instantly get access to the premium products and every other feature, depending on your plan. You don’t have to pay separately to access them.
Spocket vs Aliexpress Pricing
If you choose to dropship products manually from Aliexpress, then it’s completely free. You don’t have to pay a dime. Now, let’s compare Spocket vs Alidropship pricing.
Spocket Pricing
It’s worth mentioning that there is a 14-day free trial on Spocket to test-run their services. But the four pricing plans on Spocket are:
Starter plan ($24.99 per month) – This plan is just for testing the water, it isn’t the best plan for dropshipping. This is what you can get with this plan:
- shipment tracking number
- global pricing rules
- currency exchange
- real-time inventory update
- premium 24/7 chat support
- unlimited orders
- 25 unique products.
Pro Plan ($49.99 per month or $33 per month when billed annually) – This plan supplements the features on the starter plan with:
- premium search
- exclusive deals
- premium 24/7 chat support
- branded invoicing
- 25 premium products
- unlimited orders
- 25 unique products.
Empire Plan ($99 per month or $69 per month when billed annually) – This plan combines features on the Pro plan with:
- premium 24/7 chat support
- 10,000 premium products
- unlimited orders
- 10,000 unique products.
If you want to know more about the pricing, read this Spocket Pricing guide.
Alidropship Pricing
One of the reasons Alidropship stands out is the pricing.
You can get the Alidropship plugin by paying a ONE-TIME FEE of $89. While you can buy a done-for-you custom dropshipping store for a $299 one-time payment too.
The custom dropshipping store plans are:
All the packages are one-time fees.
The only recurring payment on the Alidropship platform is the hosting package, which is normally a yearly plan. This is as cheap as $48 per year including a free SSL certificate.
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Spocket and AliExpress Pros and Cons
Pros of Spocket:
- Fast delivery times. You can be confident that your customers will receive their orders in 2 – 5 days.
- Spocket is really easy to use that even beginners can operate the platform seamlessly.
- Automated inventory and pricing updates so you never run out of stock and to maintain your profit margin
- 60% of Spocket suppliers are from the US and Europe
- Fantastic support and reliable return policies
- Vetted suppliers and tested & reliable products
- Flexible product customization
- Automated order fulfillment
- Custom invoicing to boost your brand visibility
- Extensive product catalog in various categories
- Automated price markup
- No credit card required 14-day free trial
Cons of Spocket:
- The free plan is almost useless
- Users on the higher plans have access to the best products
- Slightly more expensive than its competitors
- No customized packaging
Pros of AliExpress:
- Easy to get started
- Wide range of products
- Thousands of suppliers
- Integrate with almost all e-commerce platforms
Cons of AliExpress:
- Poor product quality
- Slow shipping time
- Unclear return policies
- Can’t work alone as a dropshipping platform
In Conclusion: Spocket or Aliexpress?
From all indications, it’s clear that Spocket is a game-changing, supplier and product sourcing app to take your dropshipping business to the next level. It offers a lot of competitive advantages you can leverage to outperform your competitors.
Who doesn’t love selling better products, faster shipping times, personal branding, and great customer support among others?
All the features listed above are what make an e-commerce business succeed.
It seems like the team behind Spocket carefully pinpoint the problems of AliExpress dropshipping and solved them with their platform.
Spocket supports many platforms like WooCommerc, Shopify, Wix, and more. It also has better products and suppliers than AliExpress.
This marks the end of this Spocket vs AliExpress comparison. Any question?
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