12 Strategies for Finding Your First Product to Sell

Finding lucrative, trendy items that will sell, whether it's a single product or a comprehensive product line that fills a market niche, is one of the most difficult tasks for ambitious entrepreneurs.

Product ideas are difficult to come up with, and the significance of selling a product that people desire can leave even the most determined people paralyzed by analysis paralysis. It might feel like everything you could offer has already been sold—not to mention the fact that the most popular product categories will have lots of competitors.

Fortunately, there are still wonderful chances out there, as seen by the constant emergence of new items. We've compiled a list of practical strategies to locate things to sell in your online store to assist you in getting started.

Let’s take a look at each of these strategies to find products in more detail.

1- Solve a customer pain point

Solving a customer's problem is always a good strategy to create a product that people want. If headaches didn't pain, Tylenol wouldn't be in business. Meanwhile, abstract client pain concerns are typically about addressing negative or unsatisfactory experiences with the present product choices.

Active Hound is an example of a brand that addressed a market need. The creators, Lucy and Zak, realized that pet owners were always unhappy that the pricy dog toys they were buying lacked the resilience needed to survive the wear and tear of an active pet after chatting to other dog owners at their local park. They were motivated to produce a range of ultra-durable dog toys after hearing about this issue. They've now expanded their product line to include toys, snacks, and a range of other canine items.

When you discover frequent issues with an established product line, it's worth paying close attention. Being acutely aware of the pain points and minor annoyances you encounter daily may be just what you need to come up with your next successful product concept.

2- Appeal to enthusiastic hobbyists

When customers are enthusiastic about a certain trade or activity, they are more likely to spend money to acquire exactly what they want. When considering the prospective possibility of any product or set of products, this willingness to pay might be an essential criterion. (Golfers, for example, are well-known for spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars to drop a few strokes off their score).

Additional benefits may include increased levels of brand engagement and loyalty since passionate customers are more active in the industry and obtain greater value from the items they buy. Let's have a look at some instances.

Hand Band Pro

Hand Band Pro is marketed to CrossFit who want to keep their workouts hard without getting torn or calloused hands.

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Impact Mouthguards

Impact Mouthguards sells dentist-quality mouthguards with wild designs that appeal to their customers' competitive spirit.

Solé Bicycles

Solé Bicycles creates bicycles for riders who see their journeys as a “mobile canvas” on which to express their personality and flair.

3- Go with your personal passion

While picking a specialty based on your hobbies comes with its own set of dangers, it doesn't have to be a formula for catastrophe. Using your expertise to develop and market a unique product might be incredibly lucrative.

Founder/market fit is important since starting a business is difficult, and you'll be better able to stay motivated and overcome obstacles if you're passionate about what you're offering.

Beardbrand began as a blog where Eric Bandholz discussed business and sales strategies. His love of beards gradually seeped into the blog. Over time, he developed a distinct and profitable e-commerce business selling beard-grooming goods from his enthusiasm for the bearded lifestyle.

Moorea Seal is another person who has made a successful internet company out of their interest. Moorea, a full-time artist based in Seattle, became self-employed in 2010 through a variety of creative endeavors, including blogging, owning a jewelry company, freelance illustration, and graphic design.

She took early retirement from design in late 2012 to devote more time to her hobbies and limit her focus. Moorea launched a Shopify store in 2013.

The Moorea Seal shop features a carefully picked range of lovely accessories, many of which are handcrafted by American artisans. Moorea hand-picked each of the designers, and 7% of the earnings will go to charities near to her heart. Moorea Seal has been featured in many websites and magazines, including The Huffington Post, Design Sponge, and Babble, among others.

4- Consider your professional experience

Have you learned the ins and outs of a certain business through working in it? Perhaps you have a skill or a collection of experiences that enable you to know more about a subject than the ordinary individual. Turning your knowledge into an internet business is a clever strategy to join the market with a competitive advantage that is difficult to imitate or reproduce.

Retro Supply is an online store that supplies historical-inspired digital elements for graphic designers and artists. Dustin Lee, a designer by trade, transitioned from running a freelance web design firm to producing more passive income through Retro Supply's digital products.

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5- Capitalize on trends early

Recognizing a trend early on may be a huge advantage for a new company. It enables you to carve yourself a niche in the industry and position yourself as a market leader before your competitors. Furthermore, due to the nature of digital marketing, your sponsored expenditure will most likely be smaller, and possibilities to create long-term SEO traffic will likely be more plentiful.

The challenge is to distinguish between a “fad” and a true “trend.” A fad is anything that has risen to prominence only due to novelty or a gimmick; while fads may provide excellent marketing possibilities, keep in mind that if you built your firm on A trend, the demand will ultimately fade. A trend, on the other hand, is something that meets an existing need in a novel way, which is why it lasts considerably longer than a craze.

With their cardboard VR headsets, Knox Labs was one of the first to market. Taron Lizagub, the company's founder, tested the concept with a shabby splash page, and to his amazement, he was able to swiftly pre-sell roughly 500 headsets—the company went on to achieve almost $3 million in sales in 2015.

Here are a few strategies to keep track of what's hot so you can jump on prospective chances quickly:

Social listening: This might be as simple as checking out the most popular hashtags on Twitter or Facebook topics, or as sophisticated as employing social listening technologies to uncover and track trends over time.

Google Trends: Examine the popularity of subjects over time to determine what's gaining traction.

Trend Hunter: The “world's largest, most popular trend community” identifies consumer insights and new possibilities using data, artificial intelligence, and real humans.

Reddit: Forums on “the main page of the internet” cover almost every subject imaginable. Check out the popular page to discover what's causing a stir.

6- Read customer reviews on existing products

Whether you sell things online or not, consumer evaluations may provide you with a plethora of information.

You can check what consumers are saying about your existing items if you already have an established online business with some momentum. Are there any trends or fascinating bits of feedback that you may utilize to design your future product? Pay close attention to any flaws or issues that are brought up.

If you don't already have a business, check customer reviews for companies and items in the industry you're interested in. What “wishlist” input regarding prospective enhancements to existing successful items is being shared? What are the most often mentioned add-ons or supplementary items by customers?

If you're not sure what business or product area to go into, think about a certain demographic and the brands and items that appeal to them.

7- Find product opportunities in keywords

It's no secret that organic search engine traffic is a valuable marketing channel. Searching for keyword opportunities entails selecting a product based on people's search queries, the number of monthly searches, and the total competitiveness for those searches.

This method may be somewhat sophisticated, and it necessitates a basic grasp of keyword research and search engine optimization. The benefit is that matching product demand to current keywords may be an efficient strategy to gather continuous organic traffic from Google, but it comes with its own set of concerns, such as being unduly sensitive to changes in Google's algorithm if you rely on search engine traffic.

Real product validation only happens after money changes hands.

Andrew Youderian recognized from the outset that the feasibility of the business was more important to him than being enthusiastic about the goods he offered when he initially got into e-commerce. As a result, he took a more technical approach to selecting a niche that he believed would have the best chance of success, based his decision on thorough keyword research. Andrew discovered a way to rank for searches related to fishing equipment as well as CB Radios.

Keep in mind that Google isn't the only site where people begin their searches, therefore it's not the only place to look for keywords. Online markets also include search tools, implying a large amount of keyword data. Here are a few methods you may use to find out what others are searching for, which could help you locate the next thing to sell:

• Keywords Everywhere
• Keyword Tool
• KeywordInspector
• Helium 10
• Sonar
• EtsyRank
• Alibaba Hot Keywords and Industries Keywords

8- Litmus test before you launch

As we've previously stated, true product validation occurs only when money is exchanged, so you won't know whether you're onto anything until consumers swipe their credit cards.

Obtaining any amount of interest and investment from potential clients before shipping, on the other hand, is beneficial. Even the best goods might fail if they are released to no one. If you already have a concept but aren't ready to put a lot of money into it, test the market by creating a landing page to advertise your possible product—complete with a form for interested buyers to leave their email address—and running a few sponsored ads to bring traffic to it.

The success of your campaign will, of course, be determined by a number of elements. However, any degree of initial traction is significant. At the very least, you should think about investing more in your concept.

9- Browse what’s trending on online marketplaces

If you want to sell items through your website, you may still get ideas by looking at what's hot and trending in other markets. Browse sites like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay, then go through listings like ‘What's popular,' ‘Most longed for,' and other categories to see what's in demand right now.' Here are a few resources to help you get 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
• Popular on Kickstarter

You can examine the “Best Sellers Rank” on individual Amazon product pages to discover how popular an item is in its category.

To delve a bit deeper, consider utilizing a tool like Jungle Scout, which allows you to filter by category, price, sales, and other factors to find top-selling products and popular vendors.

10- Research products with higher profit margins

Those with little overhead are a low-risk approach to getting started since bigger profit margins are easier to achieve than products with higher production costs. When pricing your items, you must take into account all of the resources you've invested in the product's sale, often known as your cost of goods sold (COGS).

You must consider not just the cost of the goods themselves, but also the expenditures of promotion, storage, and even shipping. Look for inexpensive things with a significant return on investment (ROI). Keep in mind that lighter products will cost less to transport. And just because a product is cheap to buy wholesale doesn't imply you can turn it around quickly enough to make a profit.

11- Start your search with related products

Do you already have a passion for a certain sector or product category? Look for comparable things or products that people in that segment typically buy together. Amazon is a good place to start because it has multiple places where product affinity is shown.

A. Products customers frequently buy together

B. Other products that customers frequently buy

C. Similar items that Amazon recommends

D. Related sponsored products

12- Always be on the lookout

Keeping an open mind and an open eye is one of the most simple methods you can use today.

New ideas may strike at the most inopportune times, and it's critical not to disregard any stray notions. When it's time to undertake market research for your product concept, make a list on your smartphone or with a pen and paper to refer to later.

Which product opportunities will you find?

Choosing the appropriate product or product category may make all the difference in your business's success. From marketing to shipping, pricing, and additional product development and line expansions, the items you pick will form your whole organization.

Hopefully, these suggestions will get your creative juices flowing and lead you to a product that others want to purchase and that you're thrilled to market.