Product Research With High Demand & Low Competition
Third-party seller traffic has increased drastically from $2 billion to $80.5 billion on Amazon since 2014. The widespread unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also seemed to inspire a wave of new sellers, with over 250,000 new sellers signing up with the service just in the first quarter of 2021. There are currently over 6 million Amazon sellers worldwide.
Imaginably, the platform is densely populated in many product categories because of the sheer volume of sellers, and coincidentally, the oversaturation can make it difficult to find a profitable product with high demand and low competition. We are here to tell you that, yes, finding these products is harder than it used to be, but it’s far from impossible.
What is Considered “High Demand?”
High demand items are items that a large number of consumers are looking for. Often and generally speaking, we determine the demand of a product by looking at its sales. However, not only sales are indicative of a product’s demand.
Looking at this trend based on customer desire goes beyond just looking at what was sold. It is important to consider what people are looking for, because what they’ve searched for might not exactly align with what was sold – especially if they didn’t find what they were looking for. Some of the greatest areas of opportunity can be discovered by looking within the search data and analyzing what people are searching for and how often.
When you are looking at software and applications such as Helium10 or Seller.Tools, you can uncover the number of times a keyword was searched. A good rule of thumb to finding high demand products is to find keywords that are searched 30-50k per month. Keywords that are searched more often might be too saturated of a market, and those that are searched 1,000 times or less per month might not have enough demand.
Evaluation of a Strongly Competitive Market
While there are plenty of high demand products, the trickier part is determining if the product is too competitive for the market. This is why you should always analyze the margins, reviews, and listings of your competitors.
One way to weed out the highly competitive products is to simply search the product on Amazon and study the yielded results. If you see several listings of the same product, with the same image and low price point, that is indicative of an overly saturated market. If everyone is selling the same item, chances that you’ll be successful in sales are slim. Look for products where the listings have higher price points and are all different products with unique images. This market isn’t oversaturated with the same competition, and you will have better luck selling products within this niche.
We Must Learn to Walk Before We Run
Why the Niche Comes Before the Product
You will run into obstacles and blocks in research and discovery if you are trying to go straight for brainstorming specific product ideas based on your own interests or personal habits. In order to find a product that isn’t in an oversaturated market, step back and focus on the overall market and consumer trends, and then narrow your search from there.
A niche is a specialized segment of the market that focuses on particular products connected by a cause, trend, or a lifestyle choice. Niche products are not found universally and not all consumers are looking for these products. Instead, specific groups of consumers are looking for these products for specific reasons. While commoditized products are high-demand products that are essential and universal, niche products cater to a specific group of people.
When you are looking for a niche, you are looking for an untouched segment of the market whose consumer needs perhaps have not yet been met. This is where the opportunity lies. Because these segmented markets are not well-known or widespread, you have the ability to be among the first to discover and serve these markets and become highly profitable.
Tips For Finding High Demand & Low Competition Products
Identify a Problem
When your product solves a problem that your customers are having, you eliminate the need to advertise your product aggressively. Your product will sell itself because you’re selling the solution. Don’t forget, there’s always room for improvement; hence, listening to what your consumers are saying is a great way to identify a problem.
A lot of the information you need is right in the product listings. For example, check the reviews of your competition in niches you might be interested in. Consumers of a specific niche might be looking for a different variation of what is already on the market. If there is a common issue with the products or price, you might have an opportunity to make an improved or more reasonably priced version of a competitor’s product.
Listen to the conversations around the product. Review social media, blogs, and forums where customers might be discussing the product. You might find questions they are asking, or issues they are trying to solve. Your product should aim to solve a problem along with being easier, better, purchase and use-efficient. When your product is on Amazon, these are the points upon which you will market.
Find Customizable Products
In a world of copycats, consumers want nothing more than to be different. When you offer consumers the ability to customize the products you sell, you open your market to new segments. Customizable products typically make the best gifts, and people enjoy buying and receiving custom gifts for occasions such as birthdays or weddings.
When you offer product customization, your cost may be higher, but your price point can then be exponentially higher as well. Many sellers are reluctant to offer customizable products because of the cost. Nonetheless, a consumer review conducted by Deloitte found that 1 out of every 5 consumers is willing to pay 20% more for a personalized product. Overall, 46% of consumers are even willing to wait longer to receive their products if they are customized. The cost might be slightly higher, but the demand is there, so your price point can be higher too!
Customizable products are also self-marketing. When your consumers use your customized products, the products will stand out and be noticed for being different. They may have friends and family who will notice the uniqueness and ask where they can get one. How many times has someone stopped you and asked you where you got those shoes, or where they can find sunglasses like yours? If neither of those were customized, imagine what custom products can do.
Keyword Research
“Keyword” is the key word. Amazon’s A9 algorithm uses keywords and performance to rank their products in search results. In order to appeal to a wide range of people looking for your product, you need to be familiar with using various relevant keywords. Effectively determining the highest number of relevant keywords for your product is crucial for initial product research. If you learn what keywords are related to the product you’re selling, you can then use those same keywords for your product to maximize outreach.
Sometimes you can find a high demand product or market by digging deeper into keywords. When you find a product that you want to sell, check the product out on platforms like Helium 10. There you can access keywords that are related to your product. Oftentimes, these related keywords have high demand but yield little results on Amazon. This could mean that the sellers are not using ideal keywords to sell their products, which makes this a prime area of opportunity for you. If you discover a great product that is already successful but isn’t using the right keywords, you have the potential to sell your chosen product.
Stay Ahead Of the Trend Curve
If you want to take advantage of a rising market, stay up to date on product trends. Follow celebrities and big brands on social media to identify what might be influencing consumers’ taste and decision-making. Read blogs and forums to discover what products consumers are talking about and what issues they might have. Check Twitter for trending hashtags and topics. Sites like Pinterest and Etsy can provide early signs of what consumers are looking for or shifting towards. Digging into the highly pinned and saved items on Pinterest, for example, will give you insight into consumers’ wishes so that you can be one of the first to fulfill those wishes.
If you’re able to identify upcoming niche products at the beginning of the trend curve, you will have an opportunity to dominate that specific market. Your keyword optimization will also have an advantage as you’ll be ahead of the curve enough to utilize SEO keywords. You can capitalize on your products, knowing that there is a demand for them before they reach peak popularity on Amazon and other ecommerce platforms.
I Want to Be a Seller But I Don’t Trust Myself to Choose a Successful Product
If extensive research like this isn’t your thing or you believe your skills are more valuable elsewhere, the Ritz Momentum expert team of Amazon Sellers will be more than happy to do it for you.
To learn more, visit https://www.ritzarm.com/ . We were all beginners once. If we could do it, so can you!
‘Till later!
Ritz Momentum