What is Ghost Commerce? And why its rising
Let’s picture this: you want to start an entrepreneurial adventure. Twenty years ago, you had to find a place to build your business, acquire products, manage inventory, and pay rent or buy a location. Now, none of that is necessary anymore. A new business model has emerged and its here to stay: Ghost Commerce
Ghost Commerce is a business model where entrepreneurs act as digital intermediaries between consumers and suppliers, without needing to manage inventory or shipping. Instead of selling products directly, these businesses focus on marketing strategies and traffic generation to redirect customers to affiliate platforms or direct suppliers. Sounds interesting? Let’s dig in.
Types of Ghost Commerce
1.Dropshipping
This is the most popular form of ghost commerce, it revolves around partnering with a suplier who will handle the products storage and distribution to your clients.
2. Affiliate-Based
This model focuses on promoting other companies’ products through affiliate links. Entrepreneurs earn a commission for every sale made through their referral.
3. Print-on-Demand
With this model, you design custom products (t-shirts, mugs, posters) that are only produced and shipped when a customer places an order, eliminating the need for inventory.
4. Digital Products & Services
This involves selling digital items like eBooks, courses, templates, or subscriptions without handling physical goods.
5. Lead Generation
Entrepreneurs capture leads (potential customer information) and sell them to businesses in need of qualified prospects
6. Whitelabeling
With this you take an existing product and rebrand it as it were your own, you don´t make the product yourself but it is your brand. This is common in online clothes shops.
Pros of Ghost Commerce
Low Startup Costs
No need to invest in inventory or warehousing. As you won´t have any physical location and the product manadgement will be made for you by the suppliers.
Scalability
As you don´t have to manage stock or shipping this type of business is easily scalable as it not demands you further infratructure
Automation-Friendly
Many aspects can be automated, such as customer service with tools like klaviyo, market research with Selspy leading to passive income.
Flexibility
Since there is no physical locations and no storage, you can work from wherever you want, with your own schedule and at your own pace
Cons of Ghost Commerce
Highly competitive
The growing popularity of Ghost Commerce means more entrepreneurs are entering the space, making it harder to stand out. Success requires a strong marketing strategy and knoledge in the field
Dependency on Platforms
Your income relies on external platforms like affiliate programs, social media, and ad networks. Any policy changes, algorithm updates, or account suspensions can significantly impact your business, making diversification crucial to long-term stability.
No Control Over Inventory or Shipping
Since you don’t handle logistics, you’re dependent on suppliers and fulfillment services. Delays, stock shortages, or poor product quality from third parties can lead to negative customer experiences, which can impact your reputation and conversions. So you have to choose carefully your suppliers.
Tips for Succeeding in Ghost Commerce
The best platforms for Ghost Commerce
You have to choose carefully wich platform you are going to use, since its desing options, and its optimitation are key for your success. Here are some of the best examples for different types of ghost commerce.
- Affiliate Marketing: Amazon Associates, ClickBank, ShareASale, Impact, CJ Affiliate
For affiliate marketing platforms like Amazon Associates are the best ones to start your ghostcommerce without too much trouble. Printful can help you to start your print on demand business, you can sell digital products and courses through platforms like Gumroad or Teachable and lastly platforms like Selspy can help you with product analysis and research if you want to start dropshipping.
Tools for optimal success
Google trends: Knowing the trends around the world it’s crutial for being ahead of the competition, with this you will know the evolution of your niche to help you plan your next move.
Google analytics: Another crutial piece of information it’s to know what is happening on your website, with this you will have all the metrics that you need.
Selspy: With our tool you can know the most interesting products to start selling and the target to sell them with just one click.
Conclusion
Ghost Commerce is a powerful, low-risk way to generate online income. By following these steps—choosing a niche, researching competitors, optimizing SEO, monetizing traffic, and scaling with automation—you can build a successful business without handling inventory or logistics. Now that we have seen everything that we need to know about Ghost-commerce we want to help you with the first step with our 7 days free trial to use Selspy to start with the right track.
