How I Built a Profitable AI Shopify Store in Under 1 Hour (For Just $1)

You’ve probably seen the claims online. People are apparently making thousands of dollars every month in passive income, all by dropshipping products from AI-built Shopify stores. It seems like anyone, anywhere in the world, can do it. But honestly, I’ve always wondered: is this all too good to be true?

Well, today, I decided to stop wondering and find out for myself. I wanted to put this whole idea to the test by building my own Shopify store using only free AI tools to see what I could really accomplish.

To make it a real challenge, I set three simple rules for myself:

1. I must use free AI tools and keep the total cost of creating the shop under $1.

2. I have to do everything from my laptop.

3. The entire setup must be finished in less than one hour.

Okay, let's start the timer.

My 1-Hour, $1 Dropshipping Game Plan

I had a clear to-do list in my head: find a free AI tool, customize the store, set up a free Shopify account, find winning products, make final tweaks, advertise the store, and hopefully, make some sales.

The first, and most crucial, step was finding the right AI tool. After doing a lot of research, I settled on a platform called Build Your Store. It claimed to be able to build a fully optimized Shopify store that lets you sell other people's products without ever needing to hold inventory or handle shipping yourself. The idea is simple: when an order comes in, the product is shipped directly from the supplier to the customer. This allows me to make a profit without any of the logistical headaches.

If you want to follow along, you can find the link to the tool I used right here.

Step 1: Choosing a Niche and Customizing the Store

Getting started was incredibly simple. I clicked "Build my FREE store," entered my name and email, and chose a password. The next screen asked me to pick a niche. The options were Fashion, Pets, Electronics, Home & Garden, and Sports & Fitness.

Now, a lot of people would just pick something they're personally interested in, but I believe it's better to approach this with a business mindset. What market do I know has a large, passionate audience? For me, the answer was Sports & Fitness. My son is always boxing, running, or at the gym, so I know there’s a huge demand for these kinds of products, especially among younger people. I’ve even heard Gen Z are now meeting people at running clubs instead of nightclubs, which is a world away from my day!

With my niche selected, the AI asked me to choose two homepage banners. My goal was to appeal to both men and women, so I picked two images that felt inclusive and inspiring—one of a couple stretching and another of them working out against a beautiful sunset. These banners are the first thing customers see, so creating a positive impression is key.

Step 2: Integrating Shopify & The $1 Investment

To let the AI work its magic, I needed to set up a free Shopify account. The platform guided me through this seamlessly. It opened a new tab where I signed up for a free trial. Shopify asked a few setup questions, but since the AI was handling most of the work, I just skipped them to save time.

Shopify’s trial is free for three days, and then it’s just $1 for the first three months. While I wasn't paying anything at that moment, I knew this $1 fee would eventually kick in, so this became the official cost of my store creation.

Next up was finding products, which can be the most time-consuming part of dropshipping. To automate this, I registered for a tool called AutoDS. This is where I spent my 99 cents. AutoDS is incredible—it finds winning products that are already proven to sell, handles pricing, uploads professional photos, and even ships orders directly to customers once the sales start rolling in.

I signed up using the same email to keep everything linked and selected the "Starter 500" plan. For just 99 cents for the first 30 days, it was a no-brainer. This was the only money I spent.

Step 3: The Big Reveal and Final Touches

With everything connected, it was time to publish the store. I clicked "Create My Custom Store," and the AI got to work. A few moments later, it was done.

Honestly, the result was far better than I expected. The website looked clean and professional. The banners were in place, the navigation was simple, and the product pages were well-designed. The AI had even written all the product descriptions and added relevant emojis, which was a huge time-saver. It had also set up all the important pages in the footer, like Shipping Policies and Terms & Conditions, which adds a layer of trust.

The only thing that needed changing was the domain name, which was just a random string of characters. Luckily, Build Your Store offers a free .store domain for the first year. I chose this over a .com because studies have shown that .store domains get significantly more traffic and rank higher on Google for e-commerce. It just makes sense—customers see it and immediately know they're on a shopping site.

I went with tilburyfitness.store. It’s simple, and let's be honest, who wouldn't want to buy from a store with my name on it? After connecting the new domain, I spent the last few minutes on the clock making final tweaks, like filling in my contact details in the footer.

And just like that, with seconds to spare, it was all done.

The Marketing Push & Results

A couple of days later, with a few sample products in hand to check the quality, it was time to advertise. I decided to use micro-influencers. Why? Because they have a much higher engagement and conversion rate than massive celebrities. They feel more authentic, and their audience trusts them.

I reached out to a couple of fitness creators I know, the Grays Brothers. They have around 15,000 followers on Instagram and create fun, high-energy content. They were the perfect fit. I sent them one of the products—a breathing trainer—and they created a short, wacky video for their Instagram story. It was attention-grabbing and showed the product in action, which was exactly what I needed.

The Final Tally: Did I Actually Make a Profit?

After 24 hours, the results were in. We made sales! In total, we sold 12 breathing trainers. (Okay, two of those were me, just for testing purposes!) But that means 10 genuine customers made a purchase.

Here's the breakdown:

• Total Revenue: $170.80

• Product & Shipping Costs: $39.50

• Influencer Video: $50.00

• Shopify Subscription: $1.00

• Total Costs: $90.50

That leaves a final profit of $80.35.

Now, I know $80 might not be a life-changing amount of money, but let's put it in perspective. This entire project was done with minimal effort, using AI tools, a budget of just $1 for the store, and a small $50 marketing spend.

Imagine scaling this. If I promoted 20 different products and they all started making regular sales, this could easily turn into thousands of dollars in profit every single month.

The experiment was a success. It proves that with the right AI tools and a smart, low-cost strategy, it is absolutely possible to build a profitable online store from scratch, and you don’t need a huge budget or weeks of work to get started.