Drop Shipping Update: My Recent eCommerce Adventure Using Google Shopping Ads [LNIM199]

Mark shares the real results from his month-long Google Shopping ads dropshipping experiment. No hype, no inflated numbers. Just an honest breakdown of the business model, what worked, what did not, and the lessons every aspiring ecommerce entrepreneur should know.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why Google Shopping ads are fundamentally different from Facebook ads for dropshipping
• The step-by-step dropshipping model Mark tested
• Common problems with traditional Facebook-based dropshipping
• How to select winning products for a Google Shopping dropshipping store
• The testing methodology for deciding which products to keep or cut

Episode Summary

Mark had been experimenting with dropshipping and shares his honest findings. He starts by laying out the problems he encountered with the traditional dropshipping model that most people teach:

• Shipping products from China to the US meant unacceptable delivery times
• Impulse-buy products locked you into a low price range with thin margins
• Facebook advertising was fickle because of targeting issues

As Rick Mulready put it, Facebook advertising is “some science and a lot of art.” Mark discovered a different approach through a training program that used Google Shopping ads instead of Facebook ads. The difference was dramatic. Google Shopping ads are significantly easier to manage, and they are powerful because the person seeing the ad is already searching with commercial intent keywords.

Here is how the model works:

1. Set up a Shopify store with a domain name
2. List products with compelling descriptions. Your acquisition and shipping costs need to be less than half your selling price
3. Use Google Shopping ads to drive targeted traffic from people who are already searching for what you sell
4. Select products carefully: they need to ship from the US, have strong search volume, and good reviews
5. Test products ruthlessly: if a product fails, cut it immediately and stop spending money. If it performs, keep running it
6. Find your winner and scale it. The game is about testing until you find that one product that sells consistently

Mark emphasizes the most important lesson: the biggest reason for failure in internet business is quitting too soon. If you want to succeed with dropshipping or any online business model, you have to grind it out and do the work.

Key Takeaways

• Google Shopping ads target people with commercial intent, making them more effective than Facebook ads for ecommerce
• Use US-based suppliers to ensure fast shipping times that customers expect
• Your product acquisition and shipping costs must be less than half your selling price
• Test products quickly and cut losers fast. Do not get emotionally attached to a product that is not selling
• The dropshipping game is about systematic testing until you find winning products
• Most people fail because they quit too soon, not because the model does not work

What's Changed Since This Episode

Mark recorded this episode in April 2020. The dropshipping landscape has evolved substantially since then. Google Shopping has become even more integrated into Google's search results, with free product listings launched in 2020 making it possible to get organic traffic alongside paid ads.

Shopify has continued to dominate the ecommerce platform space and has deepened its integration with Google Shopping, making the setup process Mark described significantly easier. Shopify's built-in Google channel now handles much of the product feed management automatically.

The dropshipping model Mark described, using US-based suppliers with fast shipping, has become the standard approach. The old model of dropshipping cheap products from China with 3-4 week shipping times is largely dead. Platforms like CJ Dropshipping and Spocket now specialize in US warehouse fulfillment.

Competition in Google Shopping has increased, driving up cost-per-click in many product categories. Successful dropshippers in 2026 typically need stronger product research skills and better margins to remain profitable.

Rick Mulready, mentioned in this episode, continues to be an authority on paid advertising strategy for online businesses.

Resources Mentioned

• Rick Mulready — paid advertising expert
• Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts
• Late Night Internet Marketing on Spotify

Related Episodes

If you found this episode helpful, you might also enjoy:

• LNIM194 — Drop Shipping Basics: What Is Drop Shipping And Why Is It A Big Deal?
• LNIM202 — Realities Of Working At Home And Amazon Commission Changes

Listen and Subscribe

Listen to Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Have a question for Mark? Call the digital recorder at 214-444-8655 or drop a comment below.