How to Find & Sell Private Label Products in 2025

Dreaming of building your own eCommerce brand without investing huge funds?

Want to start your branded product line without a manufacturing unit?

Looking to start a dropshipping business but with some unique product idea?

If your answer is yes to any or all of these questions — “dropshipping private label products” could be the solution you’re looking for. It lets you outsource product manufacturing, fulfillment, and shipping processes to a third-party manufacturer. How?

In this blog post, we’ll cover a step-by-step guide on how to find private label products and build your eCommerce brand with the dropshipping business model. Plus, we’ll share some great options for finding the best private label manufacturers.

Let’s get started!

What Are Private Label Products?

Private label products are “unbranded products” and can be purchased from manufacturers and sold with your own branding.

As a retail business owner, you can source such private label products from third-party manufacturers and even customize them based on your unique needs. They will produce custom products, label them with your branding, and ship them to your customers.

Meaning, essentially you’re completely outsourcing the manufacturing, fulfillment, packaging, and shipping processes. You just need to manage your eCommerce store and customer service.

What’s even more amazing is that the private label business model can go hand in hand with the dropshipping business model — as long as your manufacturer agrees to do so.

So, you can start building your brand by dropshipping private label products with a low budget or investment. And then, once you’ve found the winning product(s), you may also look into buying wholesale inventory or start your own manufacturing unit to produce the products on your own.

Example of a Brand Selling Private Label Products

Amazon Basics is one of the biggest examples when it comes to selling private label products at scale. Amazon leverages its brand name to sell private label products under the “Amazon Basics” branding.

How Does Private Label Work in eCommerce?

If you’re wondering how private labeling works in dropshipping or eCommerce, we’ll make it simple for you. So basically, there are two main parties on the business front that run the show:

1. Private Label Manufacturer: A third-party manufacturer who produces the products with no brand labels of their own. You may find them on online marketplaces, through individual websites, or locally at physical markets — it depends on how you want to go about it.

2. You — an eCommerce business owner: You can outsource the production of a certain product to such a third-party manufacturer and pay the base cost of items produced by the manufacturer.

Now, the purchase and payment terms may depend on the agreement between you and the manufacturer. For example, here are a couple of methods:

1. Dropshipping business model: Pay as and when the order is placed by the customers. That said, some manufacturers may have minimum order requirements to ensure they get ample and continuous business from you.

2. Wholesale purchase: Buy bulk inventory of certain units and keep inventory stored at either their warehouse or yours.

In the private label dropshipping business model — you, as an eCommerce retailer, may follow these steps:

• You set up an online dropshipping store.

• Set up a manufacturer to source products.

• Provide them with branding details to customize products with your branding.

• A customer places an order for a $100 product on your dropshipping store.

• The manufacturer received notification for the order through your admin.

• The manufacturer packages the product with your branding and supplies it to the customer.

• You pay the manufacturer the base price of the product, let’s say, $75.

• You’ll keep the gross profit margin of $25 after paying the manufacturer.

How to Find Private Label Products and Build Your Brand — The Complete Guide

Let’s take you through the step-by-step guide to creating your private label brand by using the best platforms and tools, and finding the best manufacturers and private label products.

Step 1: Set Up Your eCommerce Platform

Now, there’s a reason why we’re starting with this step first. It’s because the eCommerce platform can play a huge role in setting things up with your manufacturer.

Of course, we’ll recommend building your private label brand with Shopify — one of the best eCommerce platforms in the world. It’s not because we’re biased but because Shopify can help you with the ecosystem you need to grow and scale your business.

If you already have a Shopify store set up, let’s move forward to the next step. And if you don’t, start your free trial now, and we’ve got you covered with the complete tutorial as well. 

Learn more: Shopify Tutorial: Everything You Need To Know For Success [2025]

Step 2: Research and Finalize Your Niche and Products

“Riches are in the niches.” — This is a famous quote in the eCommerce world because a niche can help you target a specific audience with clear brand messaging and positioning.

So, you may want to define the niche and the kind of products you want to sell on your eCommerce store. For that, you must research and validate your private label niche and product idea.

• Research on eCommerce marketplaces: Established eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, etc. are great platforms for conducting research on what’s selling the best in the market.

• Use product research tools: Product research tools can help you implement a data-driven approach with analysis of existing data and trends. You can use tools such as Sell The Trend, Dropship.io, Dropship Spy, and so on.

• Consult with a community or experts: Join different eCommerce or Shopify communities to discuss ideas with other community members. This can help you get advice from entrepreneurs and experts who have already experimented with different ideas. Start by joining the GemPages Facebook community.

• Validate the idea with data: Once you’ve finalized a product idea or shortlisted a few of them, you should also validate it with existing (publicly available) data. For example, you can use Google Trends to see how the product has been trending over the years.

Pro tip: Conducting customer surveys is also one of the best methods to finalize a niche and product idea. You can also take it to the next level by gathering insights on what could be done to customize and build a unique product. Create something that solves the customer’s problem or add a delight factor that’s missing on other products. This can help you position your brand better and stand apart from your competitors.

Step 3: Finalize the Platform to Find Manufacturers

Okay! So, you’ve found the niche and product you want to sell.

But now comes another important question — How to find the best private label manufacturers?

To source a private label product, you may need to connect with multiple manufacturers — but to find these manufacturers, you need a platform, i.e., a B2B eCommerce marketplace.

Leverage a wide range of options on the Shopify App Store to find high-quality product manufacturers. Go to the Shopify App Store, search for dropshipping apps, and you’ll find many Shopify apps.

Side note: Apart from B2B marketplaces, you can also connect with individual manufacturers. We’ll cover more about these options in the next section.

For this tutorial, we’ll go with the CJdropshipping app. It has more than 9,000 reviews with an excellent rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Simply click on the Install button and follow the instructions to get the app installed on your store. Within a minute, a whole marketplace with hundreds and thousands of manufacturers or suppliers will be ready to be explored.

Step 4: Find and Shortlist Available Manufacturers

Once you have the CJdropshipping app ready, search for the product you want to sell. Based on the search results, start shortlisting the manufacturers you want to reach out to and inquire about a potential partnership.

For example, let’s say you’re planning to sell watches. In the CJdropshipping app, you can search “private label watches” and you’ll have plenty of products and manufacturers to choose from.

Review the products from different manufacturers and shortlist them based on the available details such as pricing, buyer reviews, product images, and so on.

For example, let’s take this product — "Men's Business Mechanical Watches".

Once you open the product page, scroll down and review all the key information.

Step 5: Finalize the Product Customization and Deal Terms with the Manufacturer(s)

Once you’ve finalized the manufacturer(s), it’s time to move forward and communicate the product customization requirements and deal terms. The reason we’re hinting at multiple manufacturers is because you may want to compare multiple options to make the final decision.

Keep in mind — product customization may not be absolutely necessary step for everyone, but it’s the factor that could differentiate your product. Ultimately, it’s your call whether you want to go for it.

5.1 Communicate the product customization idea

If you need a customized product, you must discuss it with the manufacturer to see if it’s feasible and to what extent. Let’s go back to the same product we checked earlier in CJdropshipping.

On the product page, click on the Customize tab above the product title. Then, click on the Customize button at the bottom.

Now, you can fill in the “Customization Request Form” and submit it to the manufacturer.

Make sure to fill in the customization details precisely to avoid miscommunication. Insert the “Target price” so that the manufacturer can get an idea about the potential for customizations.

5.2 Product negotiation and payment

Negotiate the payment and other terms with the manufacturer. Compare these terms with other manufacturers to see which is the best and most cost-effective option. Make sure to have a robust deal and its terms to ensure a long-term business relationship.

5.3 Complete the sample investigation

As specified by CJdropshipping, you’ll be provided with a sample investigation through a video and the physical product that will be delivered to your address.

Once everything is inspected and good to go, you can have your SKU produced by the manufacturer and it’ll be ready to sell within the committed time.

Step 6: Build Your Website with Solid Branding & Design

Your website design plays a crucial role in creating a brand perception. That’s why you must ensure your website design looks stunning and premium.

Use GemPages — one of the most loved page builder apps for Shopify — to create a website design with professionally designed templates. GemPages has already earned a top-notch rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars from more than 5,000 reviews on the Shopify App Store.

GemPages lets you customize your website with a visual drag-and-drop editor. Design your website homepage, collection and product pages, about page, blog post pages, and much more.

But keep in mind — it’s not just about visual aesthetics. You want your website visitors to convert into your paying customers, right? Well, GemPages also helps you add conversion-focused elements to increase your website’s conversion rate.

Learn more:

Website Branding in eCommerce — a Guide with Examples 

10+ Leading eCommerce Design Trends in 2024 [+ Examples]

How to Build Small Business Branding — Complete Guide

Step 7: Start Marketing for Your Private Label eCommerce Brand<

Once your store is launched, the next big task is to market and promote your products.

While there are a lot of common marketing strategies that you can implement, you should first ensure that you’ve positioned your brand with unique messaging. 

Here are some essential marketing strategies:

• Content Marketing: Create content targeting your audience to bring traffic to your online store.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Build your store with SEO in mind. Follow the SEO best practices to rank your website in Google’s top search results.

• Social Media Marketing: Social media channels are great for gaining quick traction in your brand promotion by creating appealing and engaging posts and giveaways.

• Paid ads: Many eCommerce brands use Facebook ads, Google Ads, and other social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, X, etc.

Learn more:

10+ Top Digital Marketing Trends 2025 [eCommerce Special]

15 Strategies for Boosting eCommerce ROI in 2025 [+Examples]

Private Label Manufacturers for Shopify

As we discussed earlier, we have two options: A. Choose a Shopify app for a B2B eCommerce marketplace, and B. Go with an individual manufacturer offering private label products — outside the Shopify App Store.

Option A: Shopify Apps — B2B eCommerce Marketplaces

Here are some of the most popular Shopify apps to find private label dropshipping products through B2B eCommerce marketplaces or print-on-demand suppliers.

1. CJdropshipping: Much Faster

Rating & Reviews: 4.9 Out of 5 Stars (9,701 Reviews)

2. Zendrop ‑ Dropshipping & POD

Rating & Reviews: 4.8 Out of 5 Stars (10,423 Reviews)

3. Auto DS: AI Dropshipping & POD

Rating & Reviews: 4.9 Out of 5 Stars (11,791 Reviews)

4. Printful: Print on Demand

Rating & Reviews: 4.7 Out of 5 Stars (7,389 Reviews)

Option B: Individual Manufacturers Offering Private Label Product

Apart from the B2B marketplace apps, you could also reach out to individual manufacturers through their websites or in the local market.

One of the main benefits of partnering with an individual manufacturer is that you can find some unique products or persuade them to implement your innovative ideas.

You can simply Google search the product name + “private label” to find the websites of manufacturers in that category. For example, upon searching — furniture “private label” — Google shows specific websites with the keyword “private label”.

As you can see in the example, Ted Scott Designs offers private label furniture products.

Pros and Cons of Selling Private Label Products

Just like any other business model, there are some benefits and drawbacks of private label products. Let’s go through these advantages and disadvantages of private label dropshipping business:

Pros of selling private label products:

Gives you an opportunity to build your brand with a small investment.

The biggest benefit of selling private label products is that you can take it as an opportunity to create a brand with a reasonably small investment. For example, let’s say you want to start a clothing brand. Now, imagine the funds needed to build a production unit, inventory, and fulfillment setup.

The private label business model lets you do all these at minimal cost, and once you’ve found your feet in the business, you can go on to build your own manufacturing unit with an established brand.

Lets you differentiate your brand and its positioning.

In a traditional dropshipping business, it’s highly possible that the “portable blender” you’re selling is being sold by a hundred other dropshippers. But as a private label business owner, you can differentiate your product and brand from other dropshippers or even resellers. It can help you better position your brand with a unique selling proposition and value proposition.

Earn a higher profit margin than reselling branded products.

When you’re selling unique private label products, you have an advantage in pricing too. You can set up premium pricing for high-quality products to earn a higher profit margin. This is not quite feasible when you’re re-selling brand products, because if you do that, other resellers will take away your customer's pricing.

Build a community of brand-loyal customers.

With good branding and marketing strategies, you can create a community of loyal customers. You can create a sense of exclusivity and build your brand loyalty with your unique brand.

Cons of selling private label products:

Finding a reliable manufacturer can take time and effort.

You may want to deliver quality products to your customers, but quality is not completely within your control. You must invest time to find and even test the reliability aspects of the third-party manufacturer.

Dependency on a third party for success, to some extent.

You can do a lot from your end to build your brand, deliver a seamless shopping experience, and offer excellent customer service. However, at the end of the day, if the manufacturer doesn’t deliver on what was promised, it might negatively impact your chances of success.

Potential minimum order requirements can create a risk.

If you’re looking to create a customized product, you may have to be bound by minimum quantity requirements. While this is not as big a risk as manufacturing, you may need to be prepared with some budget and risk factor.

Less possibility of implementing an immediate innovation.

While you can have your product customized with the manufacturer, you may not expect them to implement big innovative ideas. You need to give a lot of time to build and establish your brand before you can come up with a big innovation. 

Final Thoughts on Private Label Business

Selling private label products can be a great starting point for building your brand.

Instead of dropshipping the same products that many other eCommerce business owners are marketing and selling, you can position your brand differently. This differentiator could turn out to be the major success factor in your eCommerce business.

While we’ve covered most aspects of building and launching your private label business, remember that you must put in a great strategy for marketing and promoting your brand.

To learn more about eCommerce marketing strategies, trends, and best practices — check out more resources on the GemPages Blog. Also, join the GemPages Facebook community to network and learn from like-minded entrepreneurs and experts.

FAQs about Private Label Products