Finding a product that sells is tough. The process is complicated and time-consuming.
Most entrepreneurs think this way – everyone today wants a smartwatch or maybe mobile accessories, and hence I must sell those products.
Well, it’s not entirely an incorrect approach; but when you want to build a successful business, you need to dig deeper.
Apart from figuring out what’s in demand, customers’ common frustrations with existing products are worth paying attention to. It’s worth recognizing a trend early.
Because that is how you carve out a niche for your brand in the market.
For instance, the founders of Hush Blankets came up with this amazing product – weighted blanket. When placed on you, it helps reduce anxiety and insomnia.
Within one year of launching the first version of the blanket, the brand had 3.4M in sales and placements in over 200 retail stores.
The trick is to find something that will make a difference for your end customer and allow your business to scale. To help you get started, we have prepared this guide on how to find products to sell online.
We share some strategies that will help you find trending products and talk about potential niches that you can consider.
How to find trending products 2021 – An Overview
- Begin with What You Already Have
- Look for Trends That Have Greater Opportunities
- Search the Right Way on Marketplaces
- Find a Product that Solves Customer Problems
- Consider Products That Are Impulse Buys
- Source for Ideas on Social Curation and Social Media Platforms
- Turn Your Expertise into a Profitable Business
- Check Customer Reviews to Find Best Products to Sell
- Search for Products that Appeal to Specific Audience
- B2B Marketplace, Consumer Trend Publications, and Such
Begin with What You Already Have
Sometimes, the best product idea doesn’t come from intensive research but could be an entrepreneur’s passion or hobby like making jewelry, DIY crafts, handcrafted clothes, etc.
It could even be your family’s special delicacy that you can sell or set up a second-hand book store if you have a library. Here are a few examples to inspire you.
Family Recipe Inspired Pickle Jars
When Bob McClure and his brother Joe were kids, they would spend their summers making pickles with their grandma, Lala. They would go to the farmers’ market to bring fresh produce and prepared pickle jars in a small kitchen.
(Family Recipe Inspired Products by McClure)
Later, they turned this pickle legacy into a profitable business by starting McClure’s Pickles. They hardly knew anything about business and manufacturing, but they had a solid product.
Today, you will find McClure pickles at stores in different countries, including the UK, Ireland, and South Korea. They have extended their product line to pickle-flavored chips, merchandise, ready-to-drink Bloody Mary mix, and more.
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Turning Passion for Ancient Techniques into Best Selling Jewelry Products
Loren N. Teetelli began her career as an archaeologist. She worked as an archaeological lab technician and conservator in the Anthropology department of the American Museum of Natural History.
To understand the materials she was conserving, she took up courses in ancient metalsmithing. Her curiosity and passion led her to gather more knowledge about ancient jewelry techniques. This drove her to lay the foundation of Loren Nicole.
She launched her first collection of ethically sourced gemstones and gold jewelry. Her jewelry pieces are beautifully handcrafted and depict a blend of ancient civilization and modern technology. For instance, this is a gold ring carved into the shape of Heket, an Egyptian goddess.
(Amulet Ring by Loren Nicole)
So, if you ever had an excellent product idea but brushed it off for some reason, or maybe your family keeps telling you that you are a fantastic baker, it’s time to reconsider it. Once you have a product or niche that you are interested in, the next step is to validate the demand for that product.
How to Validate Product Ideas
It is exciting to start a new venture, but nothing is more painful than spending time and energy on something that doesn’t succeed. Hence, research about products to sell. Start with the go-to person for all questions – Google.
Search for popular products to sell, and Google will give you insights by showing top-ranking pages. You will get an idea of what people are searching for. However, this is just the surface. You want to gather more information about top selling products and if they will deliver a return on investment.
Google Trends is a helpful tool that helps you track the search volume of a specific term over time. For instance, I searched for the term handmade soaps in the US for the past year.
You can see the fall and rise in the interest over time and how it started gaining traction after falling at the end of May. With Google Trends, you can even compare products, look for related queries, etc.
(Use Google Trends to Find Products to Sell Online)
Other tools for evaluating market demand for products are Google’s Keyword Planner tool, SEMrush, and Ahrefs. You can even check the demand on social media and other marketplaces. We will discuss these points in the upcoming sections.
Start your online store today with an added USP of product customization. Let’s get in touch!
Look for Trends That Have Greater Opportunities
Do you remember fidget spinners? These little gadgets were everywhere in 2017. But soon, the demand dropped.
As shown in the below image, at the start of 2018, the craze slowly disappeared.
(The Rise and Fall of Fidget Spinners)
Fidget spinners were not a trend but a fad. For new entrepreneurs, it is crucial to know the difference between the two.
Unlike a fad, trends are not short-lived. They have a lasting impact on customers buying preferences and present profitable opportunities for businesses.
For instance, athleisure wear is a popular trend that is getting mainstream. Brands like Alo Yoga, LuluLemon are bringing innovation and carving out new niches in this segment.
Even high-end luxury brands have started creating their athleisure lines. As health awareness becomes a greater part of our society and culture, this trend won’t slow anytime soon.
The Growing Trend of Customized Products
The demand for customized products is at an all-time high. As people are increasingly becoming conscious about what they buy and seek to promote individuality, brands across the globe are responding to the demand.
Businesses from apparel to automotive and even consumer packaged goods enable their customers to create their own unique designs.
Introducing customizable products can give your startup an edge over general products in the market. People will immediately notice your brand because unique products are often a great conversation starter.
For example, July Luggage allows its customers to add a personal touch to their travel bags by imprinting their initials on their luggage. Athan Didaskalou is the CSO of July Luggage, told Forbes in an interview:
“Customers tell us all the time that people stop them in airports and on trains to ask where they got their suitcases. People are intrigued by the idea of their initials on their suitcase, and when they learn they can choose the color palette too, they get excited.”
The easiest way to sell customized products is by starting a print-on-demand business. With minimum set-up cost and zero inventory, you can start selling online. Print on demand is a process where you work with suppliers to customize white-label products and sell them under your brand on a per-order basis.
So, you need not hold any inventory. Additionally, your POD provider will take care of everything from printing to shipping.
Related Resource: Start A Print on Demand Store in 5 Steps
Once you build your online store, you can offer an added USP of product customization by integrating a product designer tool into your store. PrintXpand can fulfill all your needs for customization with our design tool.
You can integrate our tool with any eCommerce platform like Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, etc. Our tool comes with tons of features that make product customization fun and easy for your customers. It works with any product with a printable surface, such as t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, shoes, bags, cards, and more.
The best part of the tool is that it is entirely customizable. You can configure the tool’s UI to match your brand. As an admin, you get complete control over the tool’s backend, where you manage functionalities the way you want. For instance, you can adjust the design area, manage image effects and colors, control object editing, and more.
Start selling customized products and unlock success with the PrintXpand product designer tool.
Search the Right Way on Marketplaces
Google is not the only place to choose a product to sell. Marketplaces like Amazon and eBay are a goldmine for finding the best product ideas.
With millions of products, you need to search like a pro there, and here’s how to choose products to sell online.
Start your Search with Amazon
You will get an idea of trending products to sell from the top categories on Amazon. Once you click on a category, you will be able to see other sub-categories.
(Amazon’s Top Categories and Sub-categories are a Goldmine for Product Ideas)
Also, do not forget Amazon’s best sellers page. There you will find the hot selling products that will appeal to your target market. You can even check Amazon’s trend report card. It will give you insights into trending products on the platform.
(Check Amazon’s Best Sellers Page, and Narrow Your Search by Picking Sub-categories)
Another way to find trending products to sell is by analyzing your competitors. You can find your primary competitors on the best sellers page. Check their product listings and website if they have one.
Also, focus on Sponsored and Customers Also Bought This section to get better insights.
All top products that you see on Amazon are based on current sales. So, you never know if a product is in trend or just a fad. Hence, it’s always a good thing to research more before you make your final decision.
Take Help of Tools to Search Better
Manually searching the best sellers list and analyzing your competitors is time-consuming. Many product research tools will help you find products to sell.
For example, AMZScout. Though it’s a complete toolset for selling on Amazon, its database will help you find profitable low competition products to sell.
(Easily Find Products to Sell Online Using Search Filters like Price, Reviews, etc.)
Once you find products to sell, you can validate the demand using tools like Jungle Scout. Jungle Scout is an Amazon research tool that helps you find the best products to sell, estimate sales, know keywords, analyze competition, etc.
(Know Search Volume for a Product with Keyword Scout – Image Source)
Use WatchCount to find Best Sellers on eBay
WatchCount reveals the most-watched/popular items on eBay in real-time. The results on WatchCount are produced by eBay that tracks votes by users when they add an item to their watch list.
For instance, I searched for the keyword ‘sports t-shirts’ and got the following results. You can have an idea of hot selling products by the number of people viewing a product.
(Use WatchCount to Choose a Product to Sell)
According to WebInterpret (eCommerce solutions provider for marketplace sellers), trending products right now on Amazon are personal care items, fitness clothes, and products, home accessories, electronics accessories, etc.
Once you find the most profitable products to sell online, you need to develop a solid business plan that includes information like where you will source your products? How will you sell? What tools you need to get, etc.
Take your eCommerce from the ground off by choosing the right tools. Find out how a product customization software can make all the difference.
Find a Product that Solves Customer Problems
The most vital component to the success of any business is customers. Happy and satisfied customers result in higher retention rates and a lifetime relationship.
The first step in finding top selling products that lead to satisfied customers is knowing their pain points and solving them. Addressing customer problems will get people to sit up and notice your brand.
Opena is an iPhone case with a slide-out bottle opener. It was launched on the Kickstarter project in 2011. It successfully raised $28,303 (surpassing its initial $15,000 target.) People were willing to buy it when it was just a prototype.
How did this happen?
Opena worked as a solution to a problem for opening bottles without the need to carry bottle openers. iPhone cases are plenty, but practical ones are rare. And that’s what made this product stand out from the rest.
(Opena iPhone Case with Slide-out Bottle Opener)
Belayshades is another example of how solving a potential problem can turn into a successful business. Daniel Blis, a postal worker, launched his eCommerce business making $4,000 a month.
Daniel started his business by solving his problem. He is a rock-climber, and it hurt his neck to look up while he was belaying (standing on the ground helping the climber above him).
(Daniel with Author Tim Ferriss)
He wanted to buy glasses to make his neck hurt less. All the glasses in the market were $99. So, he figured there had to be a way to make and sell cheaper glasses. And that’s how belayshades.com started.
How You Can Identify Problems to Solve
First, come up with a list of products that you have researched or are passionate about. For each product, come up with three or four pain points that you can help solve.
Let’s say you decide to sell vegan food products. Ask questions like what pain points customers might have?
Maybe they do not want to place an order every month for the essential supplies. In this case, you can offer a subscription service where you deliver products per their requirements every month.
Once you have pain points in place, it’s time to research your competition. There are chances someone might already have a solution for that problem. While you research, look for businesses that have failed. Reasons for their failure will give you an idea about what you should avoid.
If there’s a business that deals in the same industry/niche you are interested in, see if they lack something, ask yourself how you can serve customers better. Examining the market and asking the right questions will guide you in the right direction.
Consider Products That Are Impulse Buys
How many times have you bought something online without putting much thought? You saw a product, liked it, and bought it.
Impulse buying is a common shopping behavior today. Products like hair accessories, tote bags, shoes, crafts, artificial jewelry, clothing, cheap home essentials, etc., are such that shoppers won’t spend much time deciding.
If you are thinking about finding the best selling products, you can even consider selling t-shirts. T-shirt printing is perhaps the most sought-after business idea.
If you look at the latest reports, the trend for custom t-shirts has grown tremendously. The global custom t-shirt printing market size is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7% from 2021 to 2028.
Related Content: How to Start T-shirt Business
Once you choose a market niche, you need to decide how you want to sell t-shirts. Do you want to develop a website or start with a ready-to-use web to print store?
With PrintXpand web to print store, you can launch your online business in no time. Our B2B and B2C storefront come with all the features you need to manage a store. With industry-standard themes, you can customize your website as per your business needs.
It is fully integrable with ERP solutions that will enable you to streamline your day-to-day print operations and manage inventory and orders. Additionally, the storefront is fully compatible with a product designer tool to offer a seamless customization experience to your customers.
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Source for Ideas on Social Curation and Social Media Platforms
Social media-based feedback and comments are a great way to research what products to sell. Look at social media platforms you already use to get information about products customers are interested in buying. Here’s how you can search on social media to find popular products to sell online.
Reddit is the world’s largest discussion forum, and that’s what makes it a rich source for product ideas. Reddit has niche-specific subreddits that include different topics. You will find thousands of subreddits’ lists.
If you do not want to go through the list, you can search the specific industry or idea you are looking for. There are also product-based threads like Best of Amazon, Weird stuff on Amazon, etc.
The most helpful subreddit is Buy it for life. Here, you will find practical products that Reddit users have used, and they recommend others.
Instagram is a visual platform. Hence, it becomes easy to scan through pictures and get an idea of some of the best products to sell online based on the likes and comments a product has received.
You can search for posts on Instagram by using relevant hashtags. Take a note of those ideas and save the hashtags. If you decide to go with that product idea, the hashtags might help you with marketing.
(Search on Instagram Using Relevant Hashtags)
You can even check industry leaders and influencers in a niche you are interested in. Their profile will inspire you with new ideas.
Quora
Quora, as the company says, is the place to share and gain knowledge. Users on this platform ask and answer questions on any and every topic.
You will meet entrepreneurs like you who have tried niches and industries you are interested in. And you can get detailed information about products or industry-related stuff.
(Ask Question on Quora to Gather Insights from Fellow Entrepreneurs)
To use this platform to find top selling products to sell, you need first to create an account. Like Reddit has subreddits, Quora has topics that you can choose from to add to your feed. Once your feed is ready, you will discover Q&A that inspires you to find great ideas.
Related Content: 5 Online Business Ideas to Start
Turn Your Expertise into a Profitable Business
If you already have specific professional skills, you can sell them online. It could be paintings, illustrations, or services like writing, coding, designing, etc. That’s what Cat Seto does. She is a San Francisco-based artist, author, and founder of Ferme à Papier.
Her studio represents unique goods from different designers. The stationery that she sells landed her partnerships with brands like Gap.
(Card Collection by Ferme à Papier)
You can even create and sell an online course. Online learning is showing significant growth. Selling online courses will be a great business opportunity. All you need to do is decide on a topic, invest in good equipment like a camera, editing software, green screen, etc., and find a platform where you can sell.
Here too, you will need to do in-depth research and market evaluation. Suppose you are planning to sell your designs. You need to figure out what white-label products are on which you can print your designs. Are notebooks trending or tote bags? Will you develop a store from scratch or get a ready-made store?
Check Customer Reviews to Find Best Products to Sell Online
Reading customer reviews on existing products directly exposes you to customer pain points. You will get an idea about the challenges people face using products and potential improvements they expect from an existing product.
To know what popular products to sell online, check Amazon reviews. You will get a first-hand look into what people love or hate about a product.
For example, below is a customer review on a wallet. It shows one pain point that credit card slots are too small. You can consider such information when you decide what products to sell.
(Check Customer Reviews to Get Insights into User Pain Points)
Checking reviews is a time-consuming process. So, a good idea is to shortlist products and use such complaints to modify your product.
Search for Products that Appeal to Specific Audience
One of the biggest advantages of finding a product that caters to a particular audience is that these are the type of customers actively looking for your products.
For instance, pet owners need essential pet supplies. They will invest in getting the best quality products or services for their pets.
Thus, finding a niche market will help you attract and retain more customers and create products that stand out against the competition.
Here are some niche market examples that are in demand right now. It’s up to you what you want to choose. You can explore the following markets or drill down to find other niche opportunities within each category.
Health Enthusiasts
Fitness is an evergreen niche. Even if you look at Amazon, fitness equipment for home and fitness wear tops the list. But like other niches, fitness is broad. If you want to start a business in this sector, you need to be more specific. Consider narrowing your focus to a specialized area such as personal and group fitness training to cater to specific needs and build a dedicated customer base.
The subgroup of fitness products includes home gym equipment, muscle recovery products, eco-friendly sportswear, etc.
Day/Won is the first fully size-inclusive activewear brand in the US. Its products are for everybody with sustainable practices. They use recycled polyester and deadstock for most of their collection. All their prints are digitally constructed and never water dried.
(Day/Won Perfecting the Niche Market with Size-inclusivity and Sustainability)
Food Products for Vegans
Vegan food products have been rising for the last few years, but they grew three times faster from 2018 to 2020. You can meet this growing demand by selling plant-based food products like vegan protein powder, plant-based milk, etc.
Subscription boxes are one way to provide these products to your target market. An example of this is A Kind Mama Vegan Bakery. Their monthly subscription box consists of vegan-friendly sweet treats and they also offer DIY baking kits with all dry ingredients and a recipe card.
(A Kind Mama Catering the Vegan Market with Bakery DIY)
Skin-care Enthusiasts
Skin-care, as a market, is growing faster than any other segment in the beauty and wellness industry. There is so much that you can do in this sector. One option is selling cruelty-free products.
The Global Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Market size is estimated to reach USD 10 billion by 2024. Launching into this niche is undoubtedly a profitable opportunity. Another area is the personalized beauty market. Personalized beauty brands offering skin-care and hair care products are cropping up everywhere.
Kura Skin, for example, is for all beauty lovers. They run a subscription-based business model where they customize products based on shoppers’ skin conditions and preferences. Their pricing plan starts at $99 for three months, and customers can even buy products individually.
(Kura Specializing in the Personalized Beauty Market)
Plant Lovers
Gardening retail has seen an upward trend in the year-on-year growth rate. The revenue graph had increased from 4.2% in 2018 to 8.79% in 2020. Selling gardening supplies can be a profitable idea.
If you decide to start an online store in this niche, you need to find out the best-selling products. Are they plant tools or plant fertilizers? You can even have a business model like Neverland.
Neverland is a startup that aims to be a marketplace that connects mom-and-pop gardening shops that connect amateur horticulturalists. Using AI, Neverland helps users optimize their garden based on their geographical location and what customers want to grow.
Gamers
Another profitable niche where you can find trending products to sell is the gaming industry. Technologies like AR/VR are fueling the growth of this sector. The market is expected to reach a CAGR of 9.5% during the forecast period of 2021 – 2026.
(Custom Gaming T-shirts by Raven GG)
You can drill down on product ideas like accessories for mobile gamers, customized t-shirts referring to the gaming culture, etc. For instance, Raven GG is an esports apparel design and manufacturing company. Shoppers can design their custom esports gaming clothing, including hoodies, jackets, and t-shirts.
Let’s help you make your eCommerce store more enticing by integrating a product designer tool.
B2B Marketplaces, Consumer Trend Publications, and Such
To find best-selling products, look for trends in brick and mortar stores. See if there is an idea that you can replicate online.
For instance, we are seeing a surge in offline book stores going online. Earlier, readers would find used books only in physical stores or at metro stations. But used booksellers like Thrift Books have started operating online.
You can look at product categories in your local store. In local communities and newspapers, you will find information about interesting online concepts that people are talking about.
Another place where you can find products to sell is online articles. Many bloggers, affiliate marketers, or consumer lifestyle websites recommend trending products. You will be able to find the best products to sell online from the top-ranking pages.
Consider products that most articles talk about. To find popular articles, you can check the number of likes, comments, or shares the content has received.
(Check Online Articles to Find Best Selling Products)
Consumer trend publications are another place where you can find best-selling products. For instance, Trend Hunter is the world’s largest trend platform that uses data and AI to identify consumer insights. Other trend publications are: Trend Watching, where professionals report on worldwide trends, and PSFK that helps entrepreneurs develop new products and services.
Our list is incomplete without talking about direct sources – wholesalers and manufacturers. You can check supplier directories like Alibaba, Oberlo, etc. These B2B websites introduce you to thousands of products.
Alibaba is one of the biggest marketplaces that have a huge online wholesale and manufacturer database. You can search for items either based on suppliers or products. Type a keyword, and you will see a list of products. You can filter results by product sub-categories, price, supplier country/region, production certificate, etc.
(Search for Products to Sell on B2B Marketplaces Like Alibaba)
Another option is Oberlo. It is a marketplace owned by Shopify. Browsing through available products and reading reviews will help you find trending products. Other B2B marketplaces to find products to sell are Global Sources, Wholesale Central, and TradeKey.
So, What’s Your Plan?
All these strategies will ensure that you can find a product that allows you to win the market, get customers’ attention, and slowly emerge as a leader. No matter what you decide to sell, no business becomes successful without creating a fantastic website, a solid marketing strategy, and rendering an impeccable customer experience.
In our 14+ years of experience, we have helped budding entrepreneurs like you leverage the power of personalized offerings. We are on a mission to break the notion that one size fits all. In an era of individuality, where customers are picky about what they want, our product designer tool can be a perfect companion that lets shoppers design their products.
Our fully functional tool, which is integrable with any eCommerce platform, is all you need to turn your online store into a design studio. We even offer other web to print solutions like a ready-to-use web to print storefront, inventory manager, print job manager, and more that help businesses streamline their day-to-day operations. There’s even more – we assist you in your marketing campaigns to help reach the right audience.
Our team is ready to help you build a successful business and be the most reliable tech partner that you need. Drop us a message, and we will get back to you.
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