How to Make Money with an AI-Powered Shopify Dropshipping Store (Under $1!)

Have you ever seen YouTube or TikTok videos where people claim they make $500 a day with a simple online store—while sipping coffee on a beach?

Well, it’s not just hype anymore.

With the rise of AI tools and dropshipping, ordinary people are launching profitable Shopify stores without any inventory, experience, or startup capital. In fact, you can now create a fully functional dropshipping store for under $1, thanks to automation and free AI tools.

In this blog post, we’ll show you step-by-step how to launch your own AI-powered Shopify store using only free or low-cost tools. We’ll also cover how to find winning products, attract customers, and scale your income over time.

🚀 What Is Dropshipping and Why AI Makes It Easier Than Ever?

Dropshipping is a business model where you sell products online without keeping any inventory. When someone buys from your store, a supplier ships the product directly to the customer. You make a profit on the difference between the selling price and the supplier cost.

Here’s where AI changes the game: it now builds your store, finds trending products, sets prices, and even writes your product descriptions—all automatically.

Benefits of AI-Powered Dropshipping:

✅ No coding or design skills needed
✅ No upfront investment in products
✅ Store setup in under an hour
✅ Run the entire business from a laptop

🧠 Step-by-Step Guide: Start Your Dropshipping Store with Free AI Tools

Let’s walk through the exact steps used in a real-life case study to build a Shopify store using only free tools—and keep the total cost under $1!

🛠️ Step 1: Choose Your Free AI Store Builder

Start by using a free AI tool like Build Your Store (external link). This tool creates a complete Shopify store for you and allows you to sell dropshipped products without holding inventory.

Why Build Your Store?

It’s beginner-friendly
No design or coding required
It integrates directly with Shopify

After signing up, choose a niche. Good options include:

Fitness & sports
Pet accessories
Home & garden
Electronics

In this case, the store owner picked sports and fitness, a niche with huge demand, especially among Gen Z.

🎨 Step 2: Customize Your Store’s Look

Your store needs to make a great first impression.

Build Your Store gives you a selection of banners to choose from. Select a banner that:

Matches your niche
Appeals to both genders
Has vibrant visuals

Example: A banner with athletes working out at sunset creates energy and relevance for fitness buyers.

Remember, you can change banners later, so just pick a clean, professional option for now.

🛍️ Step 3: Create Your Free Shopify Account

Now it’s time to connect with Shopify. Go to Shopify.com (external link) and click “Start Free Trial.”

Sign up with your email
Choose “I don’t want help setting up” (AI will handle it)
Select the Basic Plan (you won’t be charged during the 3-day trial)

💡 Pro Tip: Shopify charges only $1/month for the first 3 months, so it doesn’t count against your $1 setup budget until the trial ends.

🔌 Step 4: Install the Build Your Store App

Once your Shopify account is ready, go back to Build Your Store and install their app.

Click “Create My Custom Store” and let the AI build everything—product pages, collections, homepage banners, and navigation. It takes just a few minutes.

This is where the magic happens. You’ll soon have a live store ready to sell!

🧲 Step 5: Add Winning Products Using AutoDS

Now you need products that actually sell.

Register with AutoDS (external link), a tool that finds high-converting dropshipping products for you. It also automates:

Product uploads
Pricing
Product descriptions
Shipping & order fulfillment

AutoDS offers a 30-day trial for just $0.99, which is the only cost required in this entire setup.

Pick the Starter 500 plan, which is great for beginners and includes enough features to start making sales.

🌐 Step 6: Launch and Optimize Your Store

Once the AI store is complete and products are added, go to your Shopify dashboard and make it live:

Go to Settings → Preferences
Uncheck “Password Protection”

Your store is now accessible to the public and ready for traffic!

Before you promote, do a quick manual check:

Ensure banners are aligned
Make sure buttons link to the correct product collections
Tweak product titles and descriptions for clarity

📈 How to Attract Traffic and Make Sales

A store is only as good as the traffic it gets. Here are 3 fast ways to start generating sales:

1. TikTok Organic Videos

Create short videos showing your products in use. Many dropshipping stores go viral with this method. Use trending sounds and hashtags like:

#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt
#FitnessGear
#HomeGymEssentials

2. Instagram Reels

Post daily product highlights, customer reviews, and motivational quotes. Link your store in bio.

3. Pinterest SEO

Pinterest users are always looking to shop. Create keyword-rich pins like:

“Top 5 Must-Have Gym Accessories for 2025”

📊 Can You Reallhttps://moderntrend.co.uk/start-a-free-store-with-ai-win-100000/y Make $500 a Day?

Absolutely—but not overnight.

While some people make $500–$1,000 per day, most begin by earning their first $50–$100/day consistently. Over time, with optimization and scaling (e.g., adding more winning products or running ads), your income can grow fast.