How to Find Products to Sell on Shopify. 13 Effective Strategies (2023)
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With the majority of small businesses, the most touchy reason for failing to hit their goals is that they more often than not stumble out of line with their strategy.
Or, worse still, never concentrated on developing a strategy, to begin with.
Admirably, the top Shopify stores out there have numerous things in common—the apps they use, the quality of their designs, and their utmost dedication to the customer experience—however, the major thing they all do is concentrate on a winning strategy, (including painstakingly seeking for a winning product), and execute it.
As a thorn in the flesh to most e-commerce store owners, the online market is only getting extremely crowded and competitive. It is therefore needless to point out that new store owners have to use the best strategies to stand out and grow.
One of the greatest challenges aspiring entrepreneurs have to deal with is finding profitable trending products that will register good sales, whether it’s a single product or a full product line that covers a niche in a market.
To be as honest as a mirror, creating product ideas is admittedly very tricky, and the significance of selling a product people want can render even the most highly motivated people stuck in analysis paralysis. The nagging yet unwanted feeling that everything you could possibly sell is already being sold—not to mention the truth of the matter that there will be abundant competition in the most popular product categories.
Luckily, you need to heave a sigh of relief as there are still excellent opportunities out there, the reality of this being that brand new products successfully launch all the time. To give you an upper hand in helping you get started, we’ve carefully put together a shortlist of practical ways to find products to sell in your online store and establish a recognizable, outstanding, and memorable brand.
Basic Facts about the real market situation Currently,
To begin with, selling online via Shopify can make you rich! However, that can only be realized if you sell high-demand products that are captivating to people's tastes. Customers have grown extra sensitive to what they purchase.
Secondly, it would be necessary to go for products with low or average competition. This is because selling highly-competitive products reduces your chances of hitting a home run. Why?
First, you have to have to brave your way through an oversaturated market – everyone has resolved to sell stuff online these days.
Then there exists an ever-fluctuating consumer taste and preference to worrying about.
Finally, prepare for a fierce battle in market competition.
Techniques to Find a Product to Sell Online via Shopify
- There is a need for you to solve a customer pain point
As a business owner, your ultimate goal is to win the trust of more customers. Therefore, providing a solution to a customer's pain point will always be an effective way to develop products of people's preference. The theoretical customer pain points, meanwhile, are all to do with addressing poor or disturbing experiences with the current choice of available products.
Take hiccups, for instance. They are something everyone has practically faced, which is what contributed to the founder of HiccAway to generate a drinking straw that assists in getting rid of hiccups quickly.
Although experiencing repeated hiccups isn’t necessarily painful, it is a mammoth pain point, for children and adults across the board.
According to HiccAway’s founder, “how to prevent hiccups” is one of the highest common medical searches on Google. One of the greatest reasons he opted to create a solution was because it was so overlooked.
It’s painless paying attention every time you notice common annoyances with an existing line of products. Being actively aware of the pain points and small frustrations you come across in your own life could just be what you need to create with your upcoming profitable product idea for your e-commerce brand.
- Always appeal to enthusiastic hobbyists
Whenever consumers are thrilled about a particular trade or hobby, they’re in most cases more determined to invest money to get the exact product they need. This willingness to pay can be a crucial qualifier when analyzing the potential opportunity of any product, or line of products.
For instance, golfers are highly known for investing hundreds or even thousands of dollars to decrease their scores by a few strokes. This is why having knowledge about your target market is crucial.
Besides, commoditized as well as niche products can often be the most outstanding route to go when selecting products to sell online.
Other merits can include increased levels of engagement and loyalty with your brand, as thrilled customers are generally more involved in the industry and as a result get more value out of the products they buy. Let’s look at a few instances from online stores.
Impact Mouthguards
Impact Mouthguards deals in dentist-level quality mouthguards that come in unique designs that fully capture the competitive spirit of their customers.
Solé Bicycles
Sole' Bicycles makes products for cyclists who view their riding taste as a “mobile canvas” to showcase their personality and style.
- Be led by your personal passion
Whereas there exist inherent risks in selecting a niche depending on your own interests, it surely should not be a recipe for calamity. Using your expertise to come up with and position a unique product can be overwhelmingly profitable.
Being equipped with market fit matters because it takes determination and hard work to build an eCommerce store.
So, you need to be better equipped to stay inspired and overcome the hurdles if you are deeply invested in what you are selling.
Eric Bandholz started Beardbrand as a blog talking about business and sales strategy. Gradually, his love for beards crept into the blog. Eventually, he shifted his passion for the bearded lifestyle into a separate and fruitful e-commerce business selling beard grooming products.
Moorea Seal is another example of someone who shifted their passion into a successful online business. In 2010 Moorea, a full-time artist residing in Seattle, became self-employed through a wide range of creative pursuits–blogging, running her own jewelry business, freelance elaboration as well as graphic design.
In late 2012, she retired early from design to use most of her time on her passions and lowered her focus. In 2013, Moorea officially launched a store on Shopify.
The Moorea Seal shop is a systematic selection of beautiful accessories that beautifully display handmade products from artists in the United States. Each of the designers has been carefully chosen by Moorea herself, and 7% of all proceeds benefit nonprofits that she has great compassion for and is close to her heart. Moorea Seal has acquired great success and has been featured in many blogs and publications, including HuffPost, Design Sponge, and Babble.
- Let your professional experience be put into consideration
Have you gotten enough experience in a particular industry which you have worked for? Maybe you have a noticeable skill or a particular set of experiences that make you better than the average person on a particular topic. Converting your expertise into your own online business is an excellent way to enter the market with a leg up that isn’t easy for others to duplicate or copy.
Let's take the case of Retro Supply, which is an online shop that sells digital assets for graphic designers and illustrators inspired by history. Founder Dustin Lee, a designer by trade, Shifted from running a freelance web design shop to creating more passive revenue through Retro Supply’s choice of digital products.
- Ensure to capitalize on trends early
Spotting a trend early enough can be a crucial win for a new business. It permits you to carve out a place in the market and builds yourself as a leader before others have an opportunity to. And courtesy of the nature of digital marketing, your paid spend will perhaps be lower and opportunities to build long-term SEO traffic may be more plentiful.
The critical thing here is to not confuse a “fad” with a genuine “trend.” A fad is something that has trended into the limelight depending purely on novelty or a gimmick., Whereas fads can present ideal marketing opportunities, you shouldn't forget that if you build your business on a fad, the demand will subsequently fizzle out. A trend, on the contrary, is something that accomplishes an existing need in a new way, which is why their demand remains active for much longer than a fad.
Below are some ways to keep an eye on what’s trending so you can promptly act on potential opportunities:
Social listening: This can be as basic as seeking the trending hashtags on Twitter or strands on Facebook, or as complex as using social listening tools to spot and monitor trends with time.
Google Trends: Assists you in identifying the popularity of topics over time, and see what’s hitting a spike in interest.
Trend Hunter: This is the “world’s largest, and most popular trend community.” It uses data, artificial intelligence as well as real humans to spot consumer insights and new opportunities.
Reddit: this is “The front page of the internet”, and highlights forums about almost every topic under the sun. You can simply dive into the Popular page to see what people are buzzing about.
- You Should Read customer reviews on existing products
Be it the fact that you had already sold the products online or not, customer reviews can be your hidden secret to creating product ideas without necessarily investing a dime.
If you are lucky enough to have already established an online store with a bit of traction, you can attest to what customers are saying about your existing products. Are there any emerging trends or eye-catching bits of feedback you can use as motivation to enhance your next product? Make sure to pay special attention to the disadvantages and complaints being shared.
In case you currently lack a store, take your time to have a look at customer reviews for other brands and products in the industry you want to put your focus on.
What “wishlist” feedback is being shared about possible adjustments to already successful products? What add-ons or additional products do customers steadily bring up?
If you’re unaware of the industry or product category to explore, settle on a specific demographic and carefully concentrate on brands and products that those individuals gravitate toward.
- You should Seek product opportunities in keywords
It’s needless to point out that organic traffic from search engines is an essential marketing channel. Searching for Keyword opportunities is tantamount to strategically seeking a product depending on the search queries people are using, the number of searches per month, and the whole competition for those searches.
This approach can be fairly complicated and requires at least an intermediate understanding of keyword research, as well as search engine optimization. The important part of it is that pairing product demand to existing keywords can be a convenient way to capture steady organic traffic from Google. Nevertheless, it comes with its own set of risks. For instance, if you depend on search engine traffic you’ll be extremely exposed to changes in Google’s algorithm.
When Andrew Youderian first made his way to e-commerce, he knew from the beginning that the feasibility of the business was more significant to him than being passionate about the product he sold. As such, he braved his way for technical approach in coming up with a niche he felt would have the greatest chance of success due to the fact that he based his selection on painstaking keyword research.
Eventually, Andrew got a rare opportunity to rank for searches in the fishing equipment industry as well as for CB radios.
You should note that Google isn’t the only place where people can carry out their searches, and because of that it isn’t the only place to mine for keywords. Online marketplaces also possess their own search functions, which means the existence of numerous keyword data as well. Apart from Google, here are some tools you can use to get popular search terms, which in the long run, might help you to find the next product to sell:
- You should litmus test before you launch
As we had already stated initially, factual product verification only happens when money changes hands, so you can’t be certain you’re onto something until people swipe their credit cards.
Nevertheless, securing some degree of preference and investment from potential customers before you launch your e-commerce business is undoubtedly prestigious. After all, even great products can flop when they are not launched by anyone.
If you already have an idea, but you’re not yet ready to invest heavily in it, reduce your upfront investment and test the market by creating a landing page to promote your potential product—with a clear way for interested customers to leave their email—and run a few paid ads to drive traffic to it.
Of course, there is a wide range of factors that will dictate the success of your campaign. But any degree of initial traction says something. You might, at the very least expected, want to consider investing further in your idea.
- You should browse what’s trending on online marketplaces
If you would mind selling products on your own online store, you can still gather inspiration by checking to find out what is popular and trending on other marketplaces. Get great inspiration by browsing sites like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay, and browse lists like “What’s hot,” “Most wished for,” and other numbers of categories that showcase current customer demand.
Below are some links to get you started:
- Amazon Best Sellers
- Amazon Most Wished For
- Amazon Movers & Shakers
- Etsy Most Wanted
- Etsy Best Selling Items
- Etsy Most Popular Item
- Trending on eBay
On individual Amazon product pages for instance, you can clearly see the “Best Sellers Rank” to find out how popular an item is in its catalog.
To give you more insight, consider using a tool like Jungle Scout, which assists you in identifying top-selling products and popular sellers by making it possible for you to filter by category, price, sales as well as other attributes.
- You Should always be on the lookout
One of the greatest straightforward strategies you can implement today is remaining hawk-eyed and with an open mind.
New ideas can crop up at the most unexpected moments, and it’s crucial not to dismiss any opportunistic thoughts you may have. Maintain a clear list on your smartphone or with a pen and paper to refer back to later when the time is mature enough to conduct market research for your product idea. Take note of any patterns or unique discussions you have with family and friends. What are the best popular online retailers or major online marketplaces to concentrate on?
- You should research products with higher profit margins
Products with little skyward offer a low-risk way to get started since it’s relatively simpler to attain higher profit margins compared to products that are more expensive to produce. When giving prices for your products, you need to include the total resources that you’ve put in to sell the product or your cost of goods sold (COGS).
You have to consider not only how much it costs to come up with the product, but also how much it costs to advertise, hold, and even ship. Therefore, go for low-cost items that can generate a high return on investment (ROI). Never forget that lightweight item will be cheaper to ship. And simply because a product is inexpensive to purchase wholesale, doesn’t actually mean you can turn it over for the highest ROI.
- Go for products that match with existing Competition
You should select a product idea that actually possesses some competition. By the way, isn’t competition a bad thing? Shouldn’t you just concentrate on developing a product that is completely unique from anything else on the market?
The answer to both of those questions should be no!
Introducing a completely unique product to the market can be definitely challenging. Not only do you have to apply great efforts to convince people that this problem even exists and that they need it solved, but you also have to make them believe that your product is the most convenient solution to the problem.
Besides, with completely new products, you are not even sure if there is a market for the product.
Nonetheless, having a competing product that already sells well offers some verifiable proof that there really is a market for your product. You can treat a competing product as upfront proof that a market is already in place for your product.
With that being said, still you don’t want too much competition either as it will do your business no good. If you think for instance that you’re going to compete with the likes of Amazon or Apple, it is like you’re going to get eaten for breakfast. I bet that’s not something you ever want to be part of!
- You Should Start your search with related products
Do you already have an existing preference in a particular industry or product category? If so, be sure to check out related items or products that customers frequently buy together in that niche. Amazon is an ideal resource for this since there are numerous locations where the site highlights product affinity.
Final Thoughts
The factual value may be in the execution process. However, it all starts with the idea. You need to be sure you are putting your valuable time, money, and effort into a product that has the perfect chance of success.
Just in case your product idea isn’t the best idea to pursue, wouldn't you better know it now instead of later? You need to always be in a position to pivot as fast as possible. The more you know, and the earlier you know it, the better!
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