One of the biggest challenges you will face as an entrepreneur is finding the right products to sell that will in turn make your business profitable. With each passing year, consumers are continuing to spend trillions of dollars online. When it often feels like everything you could possibly sell is already being sold, and that the competition out there seems to be growing bigger by the day, finding the right product to sell gets that little bit harder.

Finding the right product can be extremely time consuming and exhausting. But, if you have the right tools to narrow down your search, you can decide on your product idea in no time. To help you get started, we’ve put together a shortlist of practical ways to find products to sell in your online business.

1. Decide on Your Medium

 To start your online business, you first have to decide whether you want to sell digital products, physical products, services, or all of the above. Choosing which avenue is best for you depends on what you’re interested in, comfortable with, and even how much money you have to spend.

Digital Products

This consists of ebooks, social media templates, songs, photoshop preset filters, fonts, apps, browser plugins, courses, workout plans, and the list goes on. You never have to deal with inventory, there is no limit on how many you can sell, and you never have to worry about the hassle of shipping. However, because they are not “tangible,” they are often perceived at a lower value.

Physical Products

Clothes, jewelry, household items, tools, toys, dog accessories, anything that’s tangible. Physical products typically come with a higher perceived value, but you have to account for shipping costs and inventory management which will make it harder to scale.

Services

The great thing about selling a service is there are no upfront costs. You are selling yourself, and your own expertise, which could be just about anything! You have the freedom to cater your skills to your clients’ specific needs. There will be limitations though as to how many clients you can take on as you are essentially trading your time for money.

2. Find Your Niche

 A niche is a specialized, profitable segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service. Not to be confused with the industry that you chose to get into. For example-

Industry– Jewelry

Niche– Necklaces

Sub Niche– Pearl Necklaces

The further down you go into a niche, the more that will allow you to add value to your customer’s experience.

When you’re passionate about what you’re selling, you will find it much easier to dedicate time to your work. You will also be more in-tune and perceptive to your customers’ needs. If you’re passionate about dogs, you will know what kind of toys they love, and what kind of content will entice your customers.

3. Solve a customer pain point

What are people complaining about? Do you have an awesome way to solve a common marketing problem, a software, or a product idea? You can find these pains by looking at what people are saying online. Go to Facebook or Instagram and see what your community is complaining about. Can you provide a solution to any of their needs?

Another great tool to use is answerthepublic.com. Input your product or niche keyword and look at what people are searching for!

5. Spot a trend ahead of the curve

If you play your cards right and capitalize on a trend before it gets too saturated, you could become the industry specialist. This will maintain your spot and authority in the market. Be sure not to confuse a fad for a trend though. Fads take off fast but fizzle out even faster.

How to spot a trend earlier than most

Stay on top of market research. You should constantly be listening to what consumers are talking about on social media. Look up hashtags or trending topics on Twitter. Check out websites like trendhunter.com and Google Trends.

6. Take into account what you are good at

If you’re selling a digital product as a subject expert, it will ease the buyer’s mind and make the transaction easier.  Are you a photographer that knows all about the best settings for a dark environment? You could sell a guide for that. Make a list of things that you like to do and/or are good at, then see if you can base an online business around one of those things.

7. Find inspiration

When you’re in the brainstorming process of a product, you should constantly be on the lookout. Is there a product you wish was a part of your daily life? Maybe you struggle to keep your drawers organized, you could source a great product for that. Seek inspiration in your daily tasks and be sure to keep a running list.

8. Go evergreen

Evergreen products are products that have an everlasting appeal. Try not to center your product idea around a holiday or special event. Selling snowflake necklaces can be profitable, but you’re not going to see steady sales throughout the year. Look for something that will constantly bring in revenue. You can easily search that in trends.google.com.

9. Research profitability

During your search for what to sell, be sure to take into consideration products that have a higher profit margin. If the going price for your product or service isn’t high enough for your needs, you should consider if it would be worth pursuing.

 Try searching for products that are lower-cost, smaller (therefore easier to ship), and have a high ROI. Don’t forget to include marketing costs in your assessment.  

10. Know your competition

If you have an interest in a particular industry, look at what people are currently selling. Check out similar categories and you may stumble into an idea that you had not yet thought about.

Conclusion

Don’t overthink it! You may always find something wrong with what you want to sell. As long as there is opportunity and passion, you can succeed. Hopefully, these methods will help you nail your online business and provide an offer to people they can’t resist!