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Ghost commerce lets you run an online store without keeping inventory or running a physical storefront. Instead, ghost commerce businesses market an online store featuring products from third-party suppliers, who handle tasks like developing, manufacturing, storing, and shipping them.
The ecommerce business model can reduce your upfront costs, but it doesn’t eliminate expenses. Supplier charges, shipping fees, and marketing expenses can all reduce the amount you keep from each sale. Understanding these costs can help you set prices and decide whether ghost commerce is right for you.
This guide explains what ghost commerce is, covers its benefits and drawbacks, and lists tips for running a ghost commerce business.
What is ghost commerce?
Ghost commerce is an informal umbrella term for running an online business with no physical storefront for shoppers to visit and no physical inventory to store.
The term can include affiliate marketing, promoting third-party products and earning a commission on attributable sales; and dropshipping, a fulfillment method in which a third-party supplier ships products directly to customers.
IMARC Group’s dropshipping market report values the dropshipping market at $405.7 billion in 2025 and $492.5 billion in 2026. With dropshipping, you sell or promote products or services online without investing upfront in product development or establishing an order fulfillment process for shipping products to customers.
Key characteristics of ghost commerce businesses include:
- Selling through an online store or promoting products through affiliate links and content
- Offering products that third parties make
- Relying on third parties to fulfill orders
How ghost commerce works
Ghost commerce is a type of ecommerce where the seller markets products without developing, manufacturing, storing, or shipping them. Traditional ecommerce businesses produce their own products, handle warehouse logistics, and fulfill orders by packaging and shipping products to customers.
Dropshipping, print on demand, and affiliate marketing each follow a different basic process:
- Dropshipping. A dropshipping store lists a supplier’s products at prices the store owner sets. When a customer places an order, the store forwards it to the supplier, who packages and ships the product directly to the customer. The store owner remains the customer’s point of contact for returns and refunds.
- Print on demand. A print-on-demand seller adds designs to products from a print-on-demand catalog and lists them in an online store. When a customer places an order, the store sends the order details to the print-on-demand company, which prints the product, packs it, and ships it directly to the customer.
- Affiliate marketing. A business gives an affiliate a unique tracked link. The affiliate places the link in their content. When a customer clicks the link and buys from the business’s store, the tracking platform attributes the sale to the affiliate, and the affiliate earns a commission once the order is approved.
The table compares where customers buy, who handles the product, and how the seller earns in each model:
| Model | Where customers buy | Who makes, stores, and ships the product | How the seller earns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropshipping | The seller’s online store | The supplier produces or sources the product, stores it, packages it, and ships it. | The profit margin between the supplier’s price and the seller’s price |
| Print on demand | The seller’s online store | The print-on-demand company prints the product after an order, then packs and ships it. The seller supplies the design. | The sale price minus the print provider’s fees |
| Affiliate marketing | The business’s store or platform, reached through the affiliate’s tracked link | The business that sells the product. | A commission on each approved sale, set by the program’s terms |
Ghost commerce vs. ecommerce
A ghost commerce business doesn’t need its own online store. Some sell through one, and others promote products through affiliate links and content, with customers buying from the partner business’s store.
Traditional ecommerce businesses produce their own products. They fulfill orders either in-house, by storing, packing, and shipping products themselves, or through a third-party logistics (3PL) company that stores, packs, and ships products on their behalf.
Benefits of ghost commerce
In ghost commerce, third parties produce or source the products, store inventory, and ship orders. This section covers three benefits:
Low barrier to entry
Store owners using dropshipping or print on demand don’t buy or store inventory, and a supplier or print-on-demand company packs and ships each order. Dropshipping reduces upfront costs because the supplier holds the inventory and ships the product to customers.
Store owners still handle part of the process. Suppliers fulfill orders for multiple retailers, so inventory levels can change unexpectedly, and store owners manage those changes in their store. Dropshipping store owners also remain the point of contact for shipping delays, delivery problems, returns, refunds, and customer service.
Print-on-demand sellers remain the point of contact and set shipping expectations with customers.
Affiliate marketers promote or recommend specific products to buy, while the business that runs the affiliate program handles both fulfillment and customer service for their affiliates’ referral sales.
Flexibility
Dropshipping store owners don’t hold inventory, so changing the product catalog leaves no unsold stock. When a supplier stocks a new item, the store owner can list it for sale. Stores can also trial sales of a dropshipped product before committing to buying inventory.
Print-on-demand sellers can compare designs and products to see which customers prefer. Affiliate marketers can promote multiple products across different programs.
Automation opportunities
Dropshipping apps automate product listing updates and can forward orders to suppliers who pick, pack, and ship each order. Print-on-demand apps connected to a store send order details to the print-on-demand company automatically, and affiliate platforms track clicks and calculate commissions.
Shopify Flow is an ecommerce automation platform for automating tasks and processes within a store and across apps. Store owners install the free Shopify Flow app from the Shopify App Store, then build workflows from triggers, conditions, and actions.
For example, a new order could be the trigger, a condition checks whether the order total is over $200, and the action adds a tag to the customer’s account.
Automated steps don’t need manual setup for each order, but they don’t make ghost commerce hands-off. Store owners still run marketing campaigns, manage supplier stock changes, and handle customer service. Affiliate marketers still create the content that promotes products.
Drawbacks of ghost commerce
In ghost commerce, third parties make the products and handle fulfillment. This section covers three drawbacks of this model:
Lack of control
Dropshipping comes with reduced control over the customer experience. Beyond ordering samples, store owners have little influence over how suppliers manufacture products.
They also remain the point of contact for shipment delays, delivery problems, and product defects, which are outside their direct control.
Some print-on-demand services don’t let sellers set shipping costs or customize the delivery experience. Sellers remain the point of contact for customers throughout shipping, and sample orders placed through the store let them check the product and the delivery experience.
A business running an affiliate program can change commission rates, discontinue the program, or change product quality, and affiliates don’t control any of those decisions. If a program shuts down, the affiliate loses that income stream.
When choosing a dropshipping supplier, verify the supplier’s order processing efficiency and look for dedicated customer support teams.
Competitive market
The accessibility of dropshipping can lead to intense competition as businesses undercut each other. Packaging and delivery also leave little room for personalization.
Print on demand and custom branding give sellers ways to make products distinct from what other stores offer. In print on demand, the seller makes the designs, then uses a third-party supplier to create original products for niche customers.
Many suppliers offer branded invoices and custom packaging, and some print-on-demand services offer options for adding the seller’s branding to the unboxing experience.
Low profit margins
Margins vary by how each ghost commerce model pays the seller.
IMARC lists margin compression in competitive niches as a restraint, because sellers compete mainly on price while sharing the same supplier networks.
Dropshipping store owners earn the difference between the supplier’s price and the price they charge customers. High competition can lower profit margins as businesses undercut each other.
Print-on-demand sellers earn the sale price minus the print provider’s fees. The model can have smaller profit margins because sellers don’t buy items in bulk, so each item costs more per unit.
Affiliate marketers earn a commission set by the program’s terms, not a markup. Amazon Associates sets standard commission rates by product category. The rates are 10% for luxury beauty, 4.5% for physical books and kitchen, and 1% for grocery and health and personal care. Some categories like alcoholic drinks earn 0%.
Tips for a successful ghost commerce strategy
Here are some tips for running an effective ghost commerce operation:
- Choose a niche
- Optimize your online store
- Find reliable partners
- Focus on targeted marketing campaigns
- Prioritize customer service
Choose a niche
A niche market is a focused segment of a broader market with its own distinct needs, preferences, and buying habits.
Aim to select a niche that isn’t oversaturated and define your target audience.
To research a niche:
- Search Google for a broad product category, then explore related searches.
- Check Google Trends for search interest over time.
- Use Google Keyword Planner, which requires a Google Ads account, to see keyword search volume.
Affiliate marketers can also consider their interest and experience in the topic, whether affiliate programs exist in the niche, and whether an audience is searching for it.
Before committing to a niche, list a small selection of dropshipping products and run a marketing campaign aimed at the primary audience, then gather feedback from early customers.
John Murphy, founder of eBike Generation, narrowed his dropshipping store to hunters. It was “a lot easier to talk on a deeper level to one demographic, than trying to be everything to everybody,” he said on a Shopify Masters episode.
He removed foldable e-bikes designed for city streets from his inventory, changed product photos and descriptions, and wrote content for hunters. Within three years of learning ecommerce, he ran a company that posted $3 million in revenue.
Optimize your online store
Dropshipping and print-on-demand sellers list products and take orders through an online store. Shopify themes let store owners customize an online store to match their brand and business needs, and the Shopify Theme Store has free and paid themes.
To customize a theme, go to Online Store > Themes in the Shopify admin and click Customize next to the theme.
Shopify Payments is built into Shopify and accepts cards, wallets, installments, and crypto, in more than 130 currencies. The Analytics page in the Shopify admin displays key sales, sessions, and fulfillment metrics across all sales channels for any date range, so store owners can compare data across time periods.
By relying on suppliers for fulfillment, store owners can avoid inventory management and focus on tasks like marketing and branding. Affiliate marketers choose a channel to publish content on instead of building a store.
Find reliable partners
Dropshipping sellers source products from suppliers, and print-on-demand sellers use print-on-demand apps.
There are two types of suppliers available through Shopify. One is print-on-demand apps, which print and ship products when an order is placed. The other is supplier marketplace apps, which act as directories of products to add to a store.
Affiliate marketers review each program’s commission model, attribution window, payment schedule, and allowed promotion methods before joining.
Most legitimate suppliers don’t charge monthly fees and don’t sell to the general public. To find reliable suppliers, place test orders to evaluate:
- Order handling process
- Shipping speed
- Tracking information turnaround
- Packing quality
- Fulfillment time
- Defect rates
- Communication responsiveness
Shopify Collective connects a store with Shopify brands that act as suppliers. A retailer imports a supplier’s products and routes orders to the supplier at checkout. The supplier then ships the order directly to the customer. Shopify Collective is free to use with any Shopify plan for eligible stores.
To sell supplier products as a retailer in Shopify Collective, a store needs:
- An active Shopify plan
- A business based in a supported country, with a supported store currency
- Shopify Payments activated, with active payouts
- A Shopify Payments payout currency that matches the store currency
- Acceptance of Collective’s Terms of Service, plus compliance with Shopify’s Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy
- Shopify Network Intelligence activated
To connect with a supplier, a store must be in the same country as the supplier’s store and use the same currency. Businesses in the UK or EU also need Shopify Tax, Basic Tax, or a third-party tax app, and Shopify can ask stores to complete ID verification.
The Help Center lists the supported countries and currencies, and the Shopify Collective app shows which requirements a store still needs to meet. To supply products, a store must be active on the Shop app and meet the Shop Merchant Guidelines.
DropCommerce is a Shopify App Store app that sources products from suppliers in the United States and Canada. Shopify’s dropshipping guide lists three- to five-day shipping within North America for DropCommerce suppliers.
Focus on targeted marketing campaigns
Marketing and finding customers top the list of Year 1 challenges, according to a Shopify Survey of Store owners.* Marketing strategies differ by business model. Dropshippers’ primary goal is to drive traffic to an online store, often through Google, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Affiliate marketing strategies include formats like comparison articles, hands-on reviews, and tutorials to match how people research products in their niche. Search engine optimization (SEO) content can take time to rank in search results.
Shopify Messaging lets store owners build email campaigns from ready-made templates that pull branding, products, and prices from the store. Store owners choose recipients from customer lists or customer segments, preview each email before sending, and view open rates and sales in reports. It’s available on all Shopify plans, with up to 10,000 emails per month free and $1 per 1,000 additional emails.
Shopify Messaging automations send emails when a trigger occurs. Ready-to-use automations like welcome, winback, and upsell emails come with preselected conditions, triggers, and actions, and custom workflows let store owners set the trigger and conditions and add conditional logic or wait steps.
Prioritize customer service
Shopify’s print-on-demand guide recommends accounting for printing time in shipping estimates and outlining shipping terms on an FAQ page or a dedicated Shipping page. Retailers in Shopify Collective set the rules for returns and refunds processing, using a third-party app or the Shopify admin.
For ghost commerce businesses with an online store, Shopify Inbox is a free app that lets store owners chat with customers who visit their store. Store owners manage conversations with their staff, who respond to messages and send product links, discount codes, and images from the Shopify Inbox desktop, iOS, or Android app. Inbox settings include notifications, quick replies, and availability hours.
Store owners can also turn on an Inbox agent, which is opt-in and answers customer questions about products, shipping, returns, sizing, and store policies using the store’s product catalog, store policies, Knowledge Base facts and files, and published storefront content.
Conversations stay with staff until the store owner turns the agent on, and the Help Center has pages on setting the agent’s persona, training it, and reviewing its performance. Affiliate marketers send customers to the partner business, which handles customer service.
*Based on a November 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.
Ghost commerce FAQ
What are examples of ghost commerce?
A dropshipping store that uses Syncee or DropCommerce is an example of ghost commerce. The apps connect the store with suppliers, who store, package, and ship products directly to customers. The store owner handles marketing and customer service, and the supplier handles physical fulfillment.
How do I get into ghost commerce?
Getting into ghost commerce starts with choosing from dropshipping, print on demand, or affiliate marketing. Dropshipping and print-on-demand sellers set up an online store and connect it to a supplier or print-on-demand app. Affiliate marketers pick a channel to publish on and join an affiliate program.
Can you really make money with ghost commerce?
Ghost commerce businesses make money through margins or commissions, and what they earn depends on the model. Dropshipping store owners earn the difference between the supplier’s price and their selling price.
Consider the sale price, print provider fees, and order volume when estimating earnings. Shopify’s affiliate marketing guide says reliable earnings averages are difficult to establish and that income depends on commission rate, traffic quality, attribution rules, and content lifespan.
Is ghost commerce legal?
Ghost commerce is legal when sellers follow the laws that apply to their business. Store owners must comply with the laws of the regions where their store is located and where they sell. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission requires affiliates to clearly disclose their relationship with brands.
Are ghost commerce jobs real?
Salaried jobs exist in affiliate marketing, one of the ghost commerce models, but ghost commerce itself is a business model whose income comes from margins and commissions.
Salary data for those roles, like managing influencer marketing campaigns, often don’t reflect what an independent affiliate earns in commissions.
