One of the biggest questions we receive is HOW do I find a profitable product to sell on Amazon as a new or small business? Larger more established Amazon sellers can easily afford to test hundreds of products knowing that up to 70% of them might fail totally. However, for smaller businesses or people just starting on their road to financial freedom, this is often too expensive or time-consuming to be viable.
Instead, we should focus on doing our research, finding one profitable product, and then another, until we grow our listings to the point where we can consider replacing or discontinuing low-profit products in favor of new higher-potential items.
Now let’s get on with pulling apart what makes a profitable Amazon product.
— Not only is product research one of the first hurdles you will encounter as a fledgling Amazon seller, but it’s also one of the trickiest and has a reputation for stopping a lot of people dead in their tracks. We don’t think that’s you though, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. —
Without help, product research can seem extremely frustrating. With a reported total net sales of $178-billion in 2017 and over 560-million listed products on Amazon, it can be difficult knowing where to start. Luckily we are here to give you some tips and tricks to make sure you find a profitable product and take your first leap into financial freedom with your own Amazon business.
At points we will be referencing the product tracking tool Unicorn Smasher. This tool allows in-depth analysis of Amazon product listings, shining a light on the data you need to make the best choice possible. For more information you can check out their site here.
So, back to finding the perfect product. Let’s start with some Do’s and Dont’s.
First, some Do’s…
– Find a profitable product in a popular (but not TOO popular!) niche where there is room to expand and improve as your product grows. –
- Do think about seasonality, the future of a potential product, who it is selling to, and why. Just because a product is popular now doesn’t mean it will remain so next month.
Examples of this can be seen in the seasonal explosion of products such as woolen hats in the winter, and BBQ supplies in the summer.
Nobody wants to have a living room full of unsold thermal mittens at the beginning of July, think ahead and pick a product that people will want all year round or make sure your marketing is in line with the viable timeframe of the product.
- Do consider your ability to keep up with orders. If you pick a product that is selling beyond your ability to restock you will quickly find yourself out of inventory and accumulating debts.
In this case, it will be hard to keep up with the evolution of the product and you will quickly see larger sellers with more capital overtaking you in the rankings.
- Do spy on the competition! What better way to see what works and what doesn’t than to analyze already successful listings.
This information should only be used to learn and inform. We don’t recommend directly mimicking other sellers, if you are always copying other products and improvements you will spend forever chasing the pack and never find yourself leading it!
Amazon sponsored Ads, and product launch sites are both fantastic ways to get a taste for what’s trending in the world of e-commerce, check out www.Vipon.com, our promotional site to see who is launching what in the world of Amazon.
Now for some Dont’s…
- Don’t only focus on sales figures. As we mentioned in the previous section having a product with gigantic sales figures – although alluring – can often cause more trouble to new sellers than it’s worth.
Sales numbers are only one part of a complex product pie that represents the potential for a product to grow. Factoring in competition, shipping fees, and room for improvement is all equally important when assessing an individual product.
- Don’t lose track of your products. Big things can happen quickly with Amazon, it is essential that you always track and maintain your current listings.
As soon as you launch your first successful product you should be monitoring it and maintaining it every day while simultaneously looking for your second. AMZ tracker offers a suit of tools that can help you monitor every aspect of your listings, from negative reviews to sales figures, make sure you have the data you need.
- Don’t give in to product-paralysis. We see countless examples in our emails every day of people paralyzed by their quest to find the perfect products, some might research for months or even years without ever taking the plunge.
Although this whole article is based on helping you to make a carefully considered and informed choice we must also stress the importance of taking action and trying these methods in the real world.
We think that you will only ever truly learn by doing, this reading should be seen as sowing the foundations for the actions you will take — no matter how unprofitable or messy — in your first steps towards true financial freedom.
So how can we help you?
Our software is designed to provide you quick and easy access to the data you need to follow each of these points.
AMZ tracker is a management dashboard that allows you to track keywords, negative reviews, sales, and more on your own Amazon product listings. Keep on top of your business while you nurture and grow it into a successful commerce empire.
Unicorn smasher is a Google Chrome extension that allows you to see detailed information on current Amazon product listings. We can view average monthly sales figures, revenue, price, sales rank, ratings, and review statistics for any search term on Amazon.
With this information at our fingertips, we can patiently and methodically study our potential products, making sure we find a winner every time.
For more information on Unicorn Smasher, you can check out this site.
Product selection is a complex and large topic. We have covered the basics today but plan to write more in-depth and valuable articles in the near future. So if you are loving these Amazon tips stay tuned for more courtesy of AMZ tracker.
Happy Selling Out There!
The AMZ Tracker Team
