Conducting proper Amazon product research can mean the difference between a business’s failure and success. There’s a lot of money to be made on Amazon.
But as an Amazon seller, to earn such profits, you need to know the right way to perform the market evaluation. Whether you’re new to the Amazon marketplace or have been trying to become successful for a while now, this blog is full of Amazon product research tips and tactics.
# Why Is Amazon Product Research Important?
# 4 Tips For Amazon Product Research
# Amazon Product Research FAQs
Why Is Amazon Product Research Important?
The use of Amazon product research has been proven extremely important for third-party sellers to make the right choices when it comes to selling on the marketplace. Analyzing current market trends to discover what products are generating high sales is what Amazon product research looks to achieve.
How can you expect to rank high for an Amazon listing if you don’t understand what you’re going up against? How can you rank #1 on Amazon without a game plan?
The product research phase for Amazon sellers allows you to gauge market demand before making a sizeable investment. A whole lot goes into ensuring your Amazon listing is a success. You won’t be able to gain all of the required user data without proper Amazon product research to help you create a marketing strategy (including keyword research strategies).
Conducting such research makes you better prepared when it comes to what niche you should invest in and how you can make your listing stand apart from competitors.
4 Tips For Amazon Product Research
Now that you have a better understanding of why product research is important, let’s talk about execution. Below, we’ll break down four of our top tips for conducting Amazon product research effectively and efficiently.
1. How to Find Products to Sell on Amazon
For you to conduct effective Amazon product research, you need to know where to search for products to sell. Here’s a list of additional marketplaces to reference during your product research.
- Alibaba
Alibaba, a Chinese-owned marketplace, is the go-to for many people wanting to begin their product research journey. For those who might not be familiar, Alibaba is a massive database of international wholesalers. It’s a great place to find affordable alternatives, in bulk, to some of the best-selling items on Amazon.
Along with Alibaba, you can use DHGate.com, Global Sources, 1688, and AliExpress, too. You might be surprised, but eBay has Trending lists that can prove helpful.
- Wholesale markets
Local wholesale markets are another great way for you to learn about exciting possible products to start selling. You can do a simple Google search to find local wholesale markets near you. As a new Amazon-seller-to-be, going out and interacting with wholesalers face-to-face will give you a useful real-world, tactile experience.
- Retail stores
If you’re thinking of becoming a retail arbitrage seller, or are just curious to start researching and sourcing products, a helpful technique can be to walk into local retail stores, see what’s on clearance and observe what’s selling on Amazon.
- Social Media
Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and especially TikTok can influence shopping trends. So, spend a little time to see what’s selling and if a particular niche is a good option for you. It doesn’t need to be a long-lasting commitment. If you are able to, you should select a viral product, make a small investment, and gain useful experience that will help you in your long-running endeavors as an Amazon seller.
2. Differentiate Your Amazon Products
Sometimes new sellers will ignore standard Amazon marketing wisdom, fighting to enter highly congested or dominated Amazon product categories. Unless you have a significantly unique, outside-the-box product or a substantial leg up on a page or keyword listing, many categories are not worth competing for as a beginner Amazon seller.
The key is to narrow down the list to the ones that are worth competing for and to hit those categories hard. Sometimes when a product is written about or mentioned in the press, a bandwagon way of thinking occurs. Suddenly a stampede of sellers will find themselves fighting for a category to cash in on a trend.
However, oftentimes the best products to sell on Amazon are with niches least covered. A less competitive category may have ample opportunities where you can offer a coupon or a product launch that stands out from the crowd.
The stealthy seller will learn how to operate under the radar – finding and capitalizing on categories overlooked by competition and other product listings. Sometimes these products are not always the most exciting, and this ties back to the first mistake of only focusing on products you’re passionate about. If a product’s pricing is too high, or the competition is not delivering, enormous opportunities could exist for alternative items.
3. Pay Attention To the ‘Customers Also Bought’ and ‘Frequently Bought Together’ Sections
As an Amazon seller, you need to be in tune with customer trends. You need to research what they are buying. Amazon has a helpful way of showing this. So, remember to go over the ‘Customers Also Bought’ and ‘Frequently Bought Together’ sections displayed on Amazon. You can find these sections below the main listings.
These sections are a useful way to get an idea of the customer’s thought process and how you can benefit from it. For example, if you are unable to sell a particular item, you can look into selling the items that customers frequently buy together with the main option.
Also, products frequently bought together on Amazon can be combined into one amazing product that could become a best-seller. So, if you’re selling an item, but customers are also buying a related item from another Amazon seller, you can think of selling the same or similar item or maybe even creating a unique product bundle.
Keep in mind, products that you see customers also buy are likely to be hugely popular and can be researched further in their own right and either added to a ‘bundle’ or sourced and sold as a stand-alone product.
There’s a lot of potential for earning a profit if you conduct Amazon product research the right way!
Use An Amazon Product Research Tool
Using the best paid or best free Amazon product research tool can help make the entire process as easy as a few clicks. Third-party research tools can do a lot to assist with finalizing which niche you should enter and how you can ensure your listing ranks at the top.
Conducting Amazon product research manually can take up a lot of time. Not only that but not having an idea of how to do such research the right way can give you data that can harm your business. There are millions of products being sold on Amazon. Do you really have the time to narrow your parameters and find the links between millions of products? Wouldn’t it be better to have a reliable Amazon FBA keyword tool for product research?
One such tool is Helium 10’s Black Box. This particular tool gives you access to smart filters to uncover winning product ideas based on your exact needs, niche, and preferences. With Black Box, you can go ahead and search by product category, estimated monthly sales revenue, price, weight, review rating, number of images, the number of sellers and resulting competition, untapped niches, and a lot more.
All of this in-depth research can be yours in a manner of seconds instead of sitting in front of your computer and using up hours to create product research lists. With Black Box, all it takes is a few clicks, and you will be in a better position to be the competitor you deserve to be as an Amazon seller.
It’s all about making better decisions with strategic data, and that’s precisely what you will get through Black Box. All of the data can be easily saved, sorted, and organized for future reference.
Amazon Product Research FAQs
What are common Amazon product research mistakes?
- Only Focusing on Products You’re Passionate About
Finding your niche is a good thing to help create a brand for yourself on Amazon. However, narrowing your parameters in such a manner means you’re excluding tons of other opportunities to make a profit on Amazon. Don’t ignore a profitable item because it’s not something you won’t personally use.
Sell what sells, not just what you want to sell!
If you look at Amazon’s top sellers, you will notice that they have wide portfolios of products spanning many categories. Such broad parameters for what they sell allow these top sellers to cover numerous markets without limitations, enabling these entrepreneurs to harness opportunities where they may otherwise have blinders on.
Such a wide approach is advantageous because Amazon is a fluid marketplace with a constantly updating algorithm, new competition, and new possibilities. Take note; the notion of a completely passive income on Amazon (especially with a single item) is a myth – to stay profitable, you’ll find that you’re constantly tweaking, updating, changing, and competing with other sellers. A wider sales parameter increases your chances of more sales.
- Not being flexible
It was Heraclitus who once said, “The only constant in life changes.” Even when you find a great product, create a listing, begin selling, and are seeing success, there will always be unforeseen changes to your business.
Changes in Amazon’s algorithm, the entrance of new competitors to a product category, and changing inventory availability require successful sellers to be able to pivot and adapt rapidly to stay ahead of the curve.
Taking advantage of various resources, including Amazon’s own support can be invaluable when changes or updates take place – as they inevitably do. Learning how to adapt means learning how to thrive.
So, don’t be stubborn about changing your product descriptions, finding new competitive keywords, etc., to continue leading the pack.
- Assuming a lack of opportunities
Oftentimes when people begin selling, they can feel overwhelmed by the amount of commerce, and the resulting competition, already taking place on Amazon. It can feel hopeless at first, as though everything is already taken. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, even categories with high competition often have overlooked elements. A color variation of a popular product could remain untapped, or perhaps a category has a supplementary offering that’s being ignored.
- Not including the proper Images
An appealing image can help your product stand apart from the rest. Countless niches and specific categories exist where listings are not optimized, often without high-quality images, even if your competition offers a solid product. Make sure your product images look great to help increase sales. High-quality images can also help you start selling on Instagram.
- Competing/researching congested categories
Don’t ignore standard Amazon marketing wisdom, especially if you’re a new Amazon seller trying to enter highly congested or dominated categories. It’s recommended that you rethink your strategy and stay away from highly-competitive niches as a beginner.
As a new Amazon seller, the key is to narrow down the list of niches to find the areas worth competing for. Once you have narrowed it down, you have to hit them hard. A category with less competition can have untapped potential for major sales.
Why is Amazon product research important?
You can’t have a stable footing in the competitive Amazon landscape without proper Amazon product research. Conducting such research allows you to gauge market demand before making a sizable investment as an Amazon seller. Product research helps you stay ahead of seasonal trends and determine which niche would work best for you.
Where can I find other resources for Amazon product research?
There are numerous Amazon product research tools and resources available. However, you need to be careful about which tools and resources you use. Not selecting the right one can result in you wasting a lot of time, energy, and money. Helium 10 is a reliable Amazon-centric software that covers product research, keyword collection, reverse ASIN lookups, and everything else you require to optimize your Amazon listings and increase Amazon FBA businesses exponentially.
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