How To Find The Best Products To Sell On Shopify: Analyze Amazon Trends

Ways to find top products to sell on Shopify

1) Look at Amazon bestsellers

Bestsellers, it’s right in the name. Amazon lets you see precisely which products are selling better than others and ranks them for your convenience. In fact, the Amazon BSR (Bestseller ranking) is one of the key indicators of a product's success. This is based purely on the sales volume of one product in comparison to another. Amazon is so serious about their BSR that it gets updated hourly. You can simply type in Amazon best sellers and see what the top products in each department are. Or you can open up any product listing on Amazon, scroll down and click on the category or subcategory for the product you are looking for, and you can see the top 100 sellers in that subcategory:

This is a great way to browse products by niches and really get a good idea of what type of product people are most likely to buy, as well as the main features of the products in demand.

2) Recommended products

Amazon is organized to display product options that will lead to the viewer making a purchase. This is why when you browse Amazon for a specific item, the site will also show you related items. Amazon doesn’t want you to leave their website without shopping. You can use this knowledge to your advantage and find even more great product ideas for your Shopify store. Recommended products are a great place to do this. If you scroll beneath any listing on Amazon you will see a row like this:

This basically means that if you are checking out a product and it’s not exactly on par with your initial expectations, you can always scroll down and find similar products that are in high demand. Keep in mind, the products showed in these rows are not sponsored. They are simply there because of their high conversion rate and because Amazon assumes that they are likely to satisfy the customer. Amazon is basically doing all of the work for you.

3) Product research tools

Amazon is an endless ocean of products, which means that it is an endless source of product ideas for your Shopify store. However, there’s only so much you can discern with the naked eye. It’s true that the products with higher BSRs are selling more units than the ones with a lower BSR score. However, on top of the information that you can gather yourself, you will need to use a market intelligence tool for more precise insights. Sellers on Amazon use product research tools that help them to gather crucial information that can give them confidence that their investment in sourcing a particular product is a good one.

This Extension can be turned on when browsing any Amazon and reveal all of the information that is hidden under the surface. Users can learn how many sales a product is getting a month, the revenue, the margins, the BSR, and much more. If you’re interested in finding out how a has product performed historically, as well as what the relation between the price, sales, and BSR is, some tools allow you to see that information too:

This is the type of detailed in-depth knowledge that Amazon sellers are able to have at their disposal before adding a new product to their catalog. Since we can confidently assume that Amazon is a decent reflection of the general demand for any type of product, you could use this information as well. Then you would be able to rely less on guesswork or hunches, and use solid data as you are constructing your Shopify product catalog.

4) Keyword research tools

Learning about how many products of a specific type or in a niche are selling is extremely useful information. However, you also need to know what people are searching for. There are tools at your disposal for this purpose as well. These tools can be used for insight into exactly what sort of phrases people are typing into the Amazon search bar as well as how often they are typing them:

This information can go a long way when it comes to optimizing your Shopify store’s SEO. This way you can juxtapose the information you gather from Google searches with the information from Amazon searches. The searches from Amazon can also be used as a guide to know what to look for in Google searches.

What are the characteristics of a good product for your Shopify store?

This is not a question that’s easy to answer, because a Shopify store can be about anything. The beauty of it is that there are no real rules. Your product might be related to a certain lifestyle or set of habits or a certain trend. In that case, you should try and stock the best product that will go well with your consumer's lifestyle. There are many things to consider. When it comes to order fulfillment, it greatly depends on whether you are holding your own inventory, using a fulfillment service or you are using dropshipping. If you are not building a specialized store there are a few “rules of thumb” that might be useful to get optimum results:

Price range

The most suitable product price range would be somewhere between $10-$50. This is because anything more expensive than $50 would be a more substantial purchase that would lead to more second-guessing. You don’t want your customers to wonder if they can afford something that they see on your site. A price tag in this affordable range is not a major purchase, and you can expect that the average person can afford to spend this sum spontaneously. If the sticker price goes up, your customers are more likely to second guess their initial impulse to buy. Also, anything under $10 is likely to have slim profit margins. When it comes to margins, you should be looking at products that cost you between 25%-35% of your selling price.

Size and weight

Whichever fulfillment method you're using, you don’t want to be paying too much for shipping and storage. The smaller and lighter the item, the better. Some items can be well packaged and compressed for shipping, which is why it’s important that you get all of the information you can before deciding on a product to sell. It’s possible for a big clunky product to be packaged in such a way that it doesn't take up too much space and it ends up being deceivingly inexpensive in terms of shipping costs. A good range is 2-3lbs along with the packaging.

Seasonality

You want products that can be sold year-round. This is why the sales history we examined can prove to be detrimental. It’s best to avoid products that are more likely to be used during a particular season or under certain weather conditions.

Wrapping up

In conclusion, eCommerce is an unprecedented phenomenon in human history. There has never been a space where supply has the opportunity to meet demand in such an overwhelming volume. This means that if you are determined to sell anything online, you would be wise to use any and all information at your disposal to make the best decisions. The most important thing is to know where to locate crucial information. You should use tools that will help you access necessary information in an efficient way without getting lost in the minutiae, or becoming overwhelmed. In the end, there is no right answer. It’s your creativity and ability to make good decisions that will make or break your Shopify store. Good luck sellers! Author’s biography Milos is an Amazon consultant with knowledge of all forms and types of Amazon marketing. He shares his own experience through guides, for new and advanced marketers. He is currently a copywriter at AMZScout, a software company that helps maximize growth and revenue.