Photo by Mark König on Unsplash
Product research is crucial to your dropshipping business. Uploading tons of products to your store won’t make you sell. Instead, you will waste money on ads. But with good product research, you will be able to fill your store with high-demand products.
What makes a good product? What are the key attributes we should look for in the product? To help you source products that are hot selling, trending, and have growth potential, we have prepared this guide to make your product research easier. Please read on!
First of all, a good dropshipping product must fulfill these two must-have criteria:
Make sure your product can solve the problem of your customer. If you can identify something that your customers need, then you can sell to them. A useful item that can solve an everyday problem for your customers is in strong demand. It doesn’t need to solve a big problem, but it should be convenient to use and save the customer’s time and effort.
Remember that if your profit margin is too low, you may not be able to pay expenses and running costs such as marketing/advertising and site maintenance. So, it’s much safer to select a dropshipping product that you can sell for a high profit margin. Ideally, we should pick products that allow us to gain $15-25 profit aside from covering the product cost and marketing cost. This means you’d better choose products no less than $15 because otherwise it makes it harder to make profits and requires you to sell a lot of stock to make our investment worthwhile.
If your product ticks both of these two factors, you’re off to a good start. But only these two filters will only make your product a qualifier, not a winner. Make sure to look for additional key indicators outlined below to determine your winning products.
Look for gimmicky and amusing products with “wow” features that catch someone’s eyes when they pop up in their feed. It’s when a product is so cool that people would stop what they were doing and start checking out how to purchase it. It should be something not easy to find in local retailers. These wow factors will make the customers willing to pay a higher price.
Products that appeal to customers’ emotions are more likely to trigger a strong desire to make the purchasing decision. It should be something that has some uniqueness in the design or function that resonates with customers’ emotions. For example, during the pandemic, people spend more time at home with their pets. The emotional connection someone has with their dog would be the reason why they pick up dog paw necklaces.
You’ve probably heard of someone telling you that you need to find your own niche market to avoid fierce competition. Yes, it’s partially true. Broad would see a bigger audience. For example, an innovative phone case would find broad market appeal potentially reaching a much higher audience, since anyone you sell to probably has a phone. On the other hand, however, niche also brings in a passionate audience. For example, an innovative dog collar would be a big seller in the engaged and passionate dog owners' niche. So it really doesn't matter whether the product has a niche appeal or broad market appeal, just make sure there is an audience for the product.
Does the product have a high perceived value that is worth the money? Even though you source your product at a cheap price, the value it provides to the consumer should be high enough to sell for a $20+ markup. This value can be from solving a problem or having uniqueness in the design or function. In addition, products with good quality images/videos can also increase the perceived value of a product.
When you’re deciding what to dropship, look for products that are small and lightweight so you can be sure you won’t run into any shipping issues. Shipping is critical in the E-commerce business. It is critical to consider the size and weight constraints to avoid potential hazards. The rule of thumb for the dropshipping product is that it should be able to fit inside a shoe box.
Avoid selling “common” products. Only selling products can’t be easily found at the local Walmart. For example, products like screen protectors are essential, but they don’t have a wow factor and will be easy to find anywhere.
Now we have covered 8 factors that help you identify what can be great products you want to sell. When doing product research, remember that you will need to understand both the product you’re looking to sell as well as your target audience. then you can effectively predict what your potential customers may need.
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