What to Sell Online: How to Choose Products (2018)
Alright, so you’ve been thinking about starting an online store.
You’re ready to get out of the rat-race and escape the 9-5, or at the very least,
start a side-hustle that you can call your own.
You’re willing to learn about marketing and driving traffic, and making sales but...
There’s just one problem…
you don't know what to sell.
Hey, what’s up world, I’m Tommy Walker with Oberlo, and today, we’re going to talk
about how to find and evaluate products to sell online.
If you have any questions, or want to share your experiences, drop them in the comments
below, and I'll be sure to get back to you
And if you like what we’re talking
about here, consider subscribing, so you can get new videos every week.
Ok, so first, not knowing what to sell is is totally normal.
I’ve talked with hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years, and this is without a doubt
one of the most common barriers to entry, even the most successful people I’ve met
have run into when they’re first getting started on a new thing.
Second, it’s not even really that big of a problem, especially once you have some tools
and strategies to guide the product ideation and evaluation process.
It actually becomes really easy to figure out what products you want to sell and whether
or not those items will be profitable.
So let’s start with one of the most obvious ones.
[Brainstorming] Ok, so I know “brainstorming” might sound
a little cliche, but hear me out.
Good brainstorming sessions aren’t just about catching ideas out of thin-air and putting
them down on paper or in a google doc, but rather are guided by questions that will put
your mind in the right direction.
When figuring out what you want to sell online, you should ask yourself:
What hobbies do you have and what products are needed to support that hobby?
What kinds of non-utility type products do you find yourself buying for indulgence or
leisure?
What “utility-based” products - like phone cases or usb cables - do you buy to serve
a specific function.
What kinds of products do you think are cool, but you don’t have the lifestyle to justify
supporting it.
I’d highly recommend keeping track of your different ideas in a spreadsheet or a real
life notebook, so you can look at it later and identify any themes that may emerge.
Another question you should ask yourself honestly at this stage too is:
Do you want to sell things you would buy yourself OR do you just want
to sell products that you know people will buy, without concern about what those products
are.
I’ve known entrepreneurs who fall into both camps, so I’d be interested to hear your
thoughts in the comments below.
Ok, next.
Ok, so by now you should have different product
ideas, or have found a specific industry - like men’s fashion, or office essentials has
caught your attention.
Once some themes have started to emerge from your brainstorming session, you’ll need
to do some research to find out how many other brands are selling and competing in the same
space.
If there is a specific product or product type you’d like to sell, search around online
to see how other websites are pricing, advertising, and marketing the same product.
How do they position it?
What kind of photography do they use?
How are they writing their product descriptions?
What other products do they sell that complement that item?
You see, for most people, marketing and sales is something that happens to them.
There’s almost a disconnect in our minds that when we see products featured on a shelf
at a store or on a website, that these were the deliberate choices made by another person
with the sole purpose to get someone to buy.
But, when you take a critical approach to analyzing and dissecting these choices when
you’re trying to figure out what to sell online, you can develop an appreciation for
how an inventory is selected for their complementary attributes, and how the overall aesthetic
of the store ties everything together.
An exercise worth trying is finding a niche store in your city or town, and simply take
notes on how different products are grouped near each other.
One example is how surrounding this modeling clay at my local craft store, you’ll also
find various sculpting tools, project books, and accessories that enhance the sculpting
experience.
It’s also important to realize, especially when you’re just starting out, that you
don’t need to go too big to begin with.
You don’t need to start a craft store, if you want to specialize in selling a handful
of sculpting materials and educational materials really well.
Websites like Instagram and Pinterest are
fantastic for finding niche products to sell and to validate whether or not those products
generate a lot of interest.
For example, I personally have an obsession with journals.
By simply typing in “journals” in Pinterest, you can see a wide variety, from marble covered
journals, to classy leather bound journals, productivity journals, pocket journals, to
journals that look like they’re straight from a fantasy world.
With just a single search, it’s easy to see not just how many varieties of journals
are out there, but how each style of journal may also lend itself to it’s own kind of
store.
For example, this traveler’s journal would feel at home in a store that specializes in
selling travel products and accessories.
This fantasy journal may be part of a store that sells role-playing game items or specializes
in selling this specific style of journal.
And this artist’s journal may pair nicely with various art supplies.
On Instagram, you can also search keyphrases related to the products you’re thinking
of selling, and see if there are any influential accounts that sell similar products, or look
like targets for potential partnership.
Also, if you’re still unsure of what to sell, spending some time researching the hashtag
#ad can reveal different kinds of products instagram influencers are being paid to promote.
Ok, so this is where the product plug comes
in, you ready?
Oberlo Supply is a great place to find various products from multiple categories that you
can sell online through trusted dropshipping suppliers.
Many of the suppliers in the Oberlo supply network have products that are themed and
related, making it easy to pick and choose which products you’d like to carry on your
own website.
Once you’ve found the products you’d like to sell, simply click add to import list,
and all of the product details, images, and descriptions will be added instantly to your
Shopify store for you to edit.
Oberlo supply is one of the fastest ways to find products to sell online, and you can
start adding products to your website in minutes when you sign up for the forever-free plan.
If you want to learn more about Oberlo Supply or want to start finding things to sell right
away, check out the link in the description to sign up for an account today.
And if you want to know more about how all this works, or what dropshipping is, click
on the card to learn more about dropshipping.
Now that you’ve been doing this research on what to sell, let’s see if we can find
some ways to gauge the demand for your products.
[ Google Trends]
Google Trends is an under-appreciated tool by Google that allows you to see the trends
in search volume for different keyphrases over a long period of time.
Typing a phrase into Google Trends can give you an idea of whether a phrase is part of
a rising trend, part of a fad, has steady long-term interest, or has a strong seasonality
to it’s interest.
For instance, a search for the phrase “matcha tea” reveals a trend that’s been steadily
on the rise since 2011 with interest peaking near the beginning of every year.
This gives you an idea that the matcha tea market may be a good one to enter if the trend
continues to rise, but since the trend has been rising for several years, expect strong
competition, and a lot of extra work to stand out from other matcha tea sellers.
The phrases Fidget Spinners and Hoverboards on the other hand reveal a sharp increase
and decline in interest in a short period of time.
That’s because these products were part of a buying fad, and consumers couldn’t
get enough of them.
Many dropshipping merchants are constantly on the lookout for these kinds of buying trends,
because if you can identify the trend early enough, you can cash in by being one of the
few early sellers of a product that’s in high-demand.
The counter to both of these trends however are fairly steady trends, such as the phrase
“diary”
Notice how the trendline is fairly stable even over several years?
That’s a pretty good indication that the market for diary products has reached maturation,
and has proven itself over time.
There are pro’s and cons to a steady trend.
In the pro column, you’ve got a product that has a fairly steady demand, so there’s
a fairly good chance it’ll sell.
In the cons column, because the market has been validated to the point of steady search
trends, there’s likely a lot more competition, meaning you’ll have to work twice as hard
to make sure the product and your website as a whole stands out, and the audience you’re
marketing to is unique.
And finally, there are downward trends such as the phrase “USB Flash Drive”
Now, while it may seem like selling a product that’s on a downward trend is a bad idea,
it’s may be a mistake to write the product off entirely.
Similarly to being first to sell trending products, selling products that are on a downward
trend could provide you with the “last one standing” effect, where your customers are
happy to buy from you, while saying “I can’t find these anywhere anymore!”
Are there products you should avoid selling?
There are really two camps of thought on whether or not there are certain products you should
avoid.
In one camp, there are dropshippers that will recommend to be always be on the lookout for
trending or fad products like fidget spinners or hoverboards, because there won’t be as
much competition in the beginning, so you can potentially tap into a big money maker
before everyone else.
In the other camp, there will be dropshippers who recommend that you operate in stable markets,
like fashion, fitness, phones, and beauty because they’re proven money-makers and
will often have trending products that generate a lot of interest and demand.
Really, neither of these approaches to product are better than the other, and what comes
down to is your own tolerance and skill.
If you know you’ve got the skill to turn something like a fidget spinner into the “next
big thing” than you should absolutely cash in.
If you’d rather only sell “safe” items like , sunglasses, watches, and bracelets
knowing you can make your products stand out over the millions of other options available,
then that’s the route you should go.
The only things you should absolutely avoid are selling copyrighted items, or items that
are restricted, banned, highly regulated, or blacklisted by your payment processor.
For a complete list of blacklisted products, follow the link in the description below.
Generally speaking, just try and make it easy on yourself, and find products that don’t
require a ton of extra work to sell.
Ok, and finally…
You may have noticed I didn’t mention any
specific products you should sell right now, and that’s because the list of top selling
products is always changing.
And just as a quick reminder, Oberlo gives you access to millions of products you can
sell online in minutes.
If you’d like to find the best products to sell online right now be sure to check
out the links in the description below.
And I’m serious, I’d really like to know, do you want to sell things you would buy yourself
and feel connected to OR do you just want to sell products that you know people will
buy, without concern about what those products are.
Alright, that’s all I’ve got for today.
Hit that subscribe button and notification bell if you’d like to be the first to know
when we release a new video.
We’ll be adding new dropshipping videos each week where we’ll be sharing some of
our best secrets!
Thanks a lot for watching and, until next time, Learn Often, Market Better, Sell More.