Remember shopping malls? Fewer and fewer of us do as e-commerce becomes an increasingly popular way to shop. Why venture through traffic and crowds when you can find and buy almost anything from the comfort of your own home? In this new digital marketplace Amazon, without a doubt, has emerged as the pinnacle resource for online shopping. With millions of customers and over 12 million available products, there’s simply no other place like it. If you’re looking to buy or sell, Amazon offers the broadest reach, most visibility, and the most extensive selection of products.
As an Amazon seller, your products can be seen (and hopefully purchased) by millions of potential customers. To increase sales and grow your own little corner of the digital marketplace, you should always be on the lookout for the next great thing, the next great product that will make your sales soar. Of course, this is a lot easier said than done. If you’re looking to grow your product listing with the most profitable items, it can be challenging to know where to begin. In the world of e-commerce, where you can buy a pair of shoes and a boat all within a couple of clicks, how can you tell which products will actually translate into profit? Here, we take a look into identifying some of the most profitable products on Amazon.
WHAT MAKES A PRODUCT PROFITABLE ON AMAZON?
What makes a product sell? With the seemingly endless amounts of products offered on Amazon, it can be a struggle to figure out how to stand out above the crowd. One way to find financial success on Amazon is stocking up on profitable products—products that are proven to sell (and sell often). But how do you determine this? How do you predict then next big product on Amazon? There are many different methods, including following seasonal trends, striking on what’s hot, or performing your own market research.
To save you time, we’ve done a little research of our own to determine what products are profitable on Amazon. Generally, profitable products on Amazon will fall within the 25 to the 50-dollar range. Anything less suffers from small profit margins. Anything more is usually harder to sell. You also want to think about shipping logistics. Products that are easier (and therefore cheaper) to ship are often more profitable. This is true for the manufacturing stage as well, as simpler (and thus, quicker to produce) products also turn out to be more profitable. Keep seasonality in mind, too. While certain products, like swimsuits or skis, might spike in certain months, you want to focus on products with year-round appeal.
MOST PROFITABLE PRODUCT CATEGORIES
When seeking out the most profitable products, it often helps to start broadly and then narrow it down. Start by considering what category of product you want to sell first. Some of the most profitable categories for Amazon products include electronics, baby items, jewelry, and even books. Yup, traditional print books are still valuable on Amazon, due to their considerable profit margin and the fact that people still love reading. Some studies have shown a gradual increase in book sales, despite digital e-readers. In 2019, over 689 million print books were sold in the United States alone. With so many used bookstores, it’s also easy to pick up print books at low cost and then turn around and sell them online for a significant profit.
Anything baby-related also sells well on Amazon. Think about it: populations continue to grow and the demand for baby clothes, diapers, toys, strollers, and everything else will only grow as well. Baby products also have consistent, year-long popularity. Plus, with young children growing so quickly, the turnaround for new toys, clothes, and care items is set at a rapid pace. As many would expect in our day and age, electronics is also a very profitable and popular product category on Amazon. Consistently ranked as the most popular product category, almost half of Amazon shoppers purchased at least one electronics item in 2019.
HOW DO YOU FIND PROFITABLE PRODUCTS?
Now that you have a better idea of what types of categories and products to consider, how do you go about finding the specific products that will reap you the highest profits? First, you’ll want to browse the bestseller list for any category you’re interested in. Under each category, products will be ranked on sales and each is assigned an Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). Next, you’ll start researching individual products that catch your eye. Remember to avoid large-scale competition here. Look for products with few sellers—especially avoid products already sold by Amazon or a large number of FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) sellers.
Then, research the product supplier. Most suppliers can be found with a simple web search and should have available contact information. Once you’ve found their information, contact the supplier directly and inform them that you’re interested in selling their products. Generally, if the talk goes well, this transaction is finalized with some form of a distribution agreement. This agreement, once completed, will allow you the rights to sell their products on Amazon. And then you’re there—begin selling the product, but don’t kick your feet up quite yet. For any new product in your inventory, keep a sharp eye on its ASIN and performance. Give your product a few months and measure its success while looking for ways to optimize each product listing. From there, hopefully, you’ll be generating a profit and can begin the process all over again.
The sheer size and scope of the Amazon marketplace is a double-edged sword. While providing a platform that allows you to reach millions of potential customers, it can also be challenging to rise above the competition and stand out. On Amazon, over 2.5 million active sellers are offering up a selection of over 12 million products? How will you manage to turn a profit in this ocean of e-commerce? To start generating profit, it’s essential first to know what to sell before you can even worry about anything else. That’s why you should stock up your inventory with products that are not only high in quality and competitive in price but designed to make you a profit. Remember on Amazon, it’s not just how you’re selling your products, but what you’re selling.