Amazon has grown to be a true giant in the e-commerce space, currently clocking in at a net worth of just over 1 trillion dollars. That’s a lot of revenue for one company! The nice part is that anyone can get started selling products on Amazon and earn a slice of that pie, by using the Amazon FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) Program combined with an Amazon marketing strategy to launch your online store.
When you use the Amazon FBA Program, you get to skip the headaches that come with fulfilling orders personally. This is for a fee of course. In return for that fee, Amazon will take on the responsibility of packing and shipping your products out to your customers for you, leaving you free to focus on finding the next profitable product to sell. For many sellers, it’s a great win-win.
However, as sweet as that sounds, there are pros and cons to everything. Selling on Amazon isn’t a cakewalk and you really have to find the right products to turn a good profit. Not everyone is as successful at it as they hoped when first starting out. Finding the right products can make or break you, but luckily, it doesn’t take a master’s degree to find them.
How Do I Find Good Products to Sell on Amazon FBA?
Finding profitable products to sell on Amazon boils down to time and basic research skills. It’s important to understand the parameters that make a product profitable. You want to find trending products with a good profit margin in a space with low competition.
Comb the Amazon Best Sellers Lists
To get product ideas from what’s selling well on Amazon right now, you can look no further than their very own Amazon Best Sellers List. Browse the different categories and make notes on ideas that look viable. It’s a good idea to avoid seasonal items, even if they’re in high demand, otherwise, you may struggle to turn a consistent profit. Some of the top-selling categories on Amazon include books, clothing and apparel, electronics, and toys and games. From there you can drill down and find what products are the hottest sellers.
Use an Amazon Keyword Research Tool
Jungle Scout is one that’s quite popular and can help you narrow down your product idealist. Using a tool like this allows you to use data to make your decisions instead of emotion. You can determine how in-demand a product is and what kind of search volume it’s getting so that you can decide if it’s worth acquiring and selling yourself.
Browse Amazon Reviews
The best way to make money in any market is to serve customers something they are lacking. Every niche has some kind of void that isn’t being filled. It’s up to you to find that void. Browse Amazon product reviews so you can see what customers love and hate about a particular product or brand. That can help you when trying to decide whether it’s right for you to try and sell it yourself.
Embrace the Middle Ground
While it can be tempting to dive into an extremely popular niche, the reality is you will face some very stiff competition. At the end of the day, it may not be worth the time or money invested. However, if you sell products that are too niche, you won’t find buyers as easily. Either way, it’s a recipe for losing money. Better to look for products that are moderately popular on Amazon and focus on those.
Stay Away from Large, Heavy Items
Shipping costs can be a huge cut of your profits. Look for products that are small and light, so that your shipping costs are drastically reduced. It also acts as a safeguard, as smaller items are less prone to damage from careless or lazy package handlers.
Avoid Items that are Fragile
Remember those careless, lazy package handlers? They are also a liability when it comes to selling items that are fragile and easily broken. To avoid this, look for products to sell that are durable and can stand up to some abuse during the packaging and shipping process.
Consider Private Label Sales
Private label sales mean you purchase the right to sell an item and rebrand it like it’s your own. So you’re not reinventing the wheel, you’re selling a product that’s already profitable, with your own branding and spin on it. Just be sure to stick with niches that are evergreen and popular all year long. Hot trends can be fun moneymakers over the short term, but if you’re looking for long term sustainable income, you’ll want to focus on products that never go out of style.
Look for Simply Made Products
When you sell products that are relatively easy and cheap to create, you stand a greater chance of turning a decent project. Selling products that are expensive and time-consuming to manufacture means it’s much harder to make a profit on them. You won’t find as good of a deal on wholesale pricing, and there won’t be as good of a markup when you go to sell it. That means less profit for you and possibly more hassle than it’s worth!
Monitor Google Trends
This tool can help you narrow down some of the top sellers in multiple categories. By following trends, you can find products that are hot sellers and even sometimes get ahead of the curve when putting them out onto the market. If you manage to become a seller of these products before others, your chances of profiting increase.
Finding products to sell items in the Amazon marketplace isn’t rocket science. It does require some due diligence though. Once you find the right products, you need to pick your price, find a supplier, create an Amazon listing optimization strategy, and keep up ongoing management. If you really want to take your business to the next level, you’ll consider enrolling in the Amazon Affiliate Program or Amazon Early Reviewer Program. Remember, in any business you get out of it, what you put into it. Going into the Amazon FBA Program thinking you’ll make some easy money is probably not realistic. While there is easy money to be made, the reality is that you have to do some work to get there. When you do the work, the potential payoffs are fantastic.
