Find products to sell with Oberlo

by Dropshipping U Admin August 16, 2017

I recently did a Reddit AMA on dropshipping. The most frequently asked question was “What should I sell online?” So I decided to write a guide on how to find products to sell online and drop shipping ideas. And, I mean literally to sell, not to just have in your store. In this article, you’ll learn a few drop shipping ideas, information about Google Trends products, and how to find products to sell online.

You can import dozens of Google Trends products from AliExpress into your store in just a few minutes. The tricky part is knowing how to find products to sell online that you should use in your marketing campaigns, or products for your store’s homepage.

These Google Trends products that you’re going to focus on are called ‘Alpha Products’. These are the products which draw lots of traffic to your store. After you know the Alpha Products, it takes no time to fill in the rest of the store with cross-sell, upsell, and related products.

I have structured this article into two to parts: Generating drop shipping ideas, and filtering products.

My goal is to provide a roadmap for brainstorming dropshipping ideas and then filter out the ones which aren’t worth testing.

This article will be useful for all eCommerce start-ups, small businesses, and medium-sized businesses who are looking for new drop shipping ideas.

Brainstorm Dropshipping Ideas

You never start with a blank page. Your head is already full of good dropshipping ideas: your hobbies, products you like such as Google Trends products, and newly discovered passions.

Write everything down that comes to mind. It doesn’t matter if you think the product will be a best seller or not. Don’t skip this.

Browse Other Shops

Back in the 1980’s, Sam Walton was arrested for crawling around stores on his hands and knees. He later told a friend he was measuring the spaces between product shelves to determine how they displayed their products.

At the time, Walmart was making $400M+ in sales, but Walton knew that there was more he could learn.

When you browse other stores, look at their offerings, best selling lists, and promoted products. Many stores have a tremendous amount of data and employ entire departments to organize their sales and pick their products. Use that information to your benefit, it’ll help you come up with some great drop shipping ideas.

Browse a lot. Browse frequently.

Here is a link list that is worth spending time researching:

Add any of these drop shipping ideas which seem interesting to your list of potential products.

There are over 100 million products on Polyvore and 30 million on Wanelo. Add in Fancy and Pinterest, and you now have a very large number of products from around the world which can easily be sorted by popularity, trends, categories, and more.

People often overlook these sites in their research, but they are valuable.

Set up an account at each one of these websites. Subscribe to different categories and lists. Follow what people like the most and add it to your list. When you’re constantly surrounding yourself with ideas you’ll quickly come up with some ideas for the best dropshipping products.

Ask Friends for Dropshipping Ideas

The next time you have coffee with friends, ask their thoughts on some Google Trends products. Don’t limit yourself — talk with friends of all ages and backgrounds to get a wide variety of drop shipping ideas. When you’re talking about what you’re doing you’ll get new drop shipping ideas and it’ll make your ecommerce store better.

Look Around for Products to Dropship Online

Look around your house, your work, and your life. Are there any products which you can’t live without? What products would make your life easier? Is there anything that is hard to find in the supermarket?

Howard Schultz came up with his coffee shop idea on a trip to Italy and later called it Starbucks. The founder of Inkkas brought his idea from Peru, where he saw great shoes he thought that people in the US would like.

Stay alert and spot opportunities. You see hundreds of products and dropshipping ideas each day. Also, be observant, carry a notebook, and remember to write everything down.

Drop shipping ideas often come to mind while traveling. However, it’s equally possible to spot them locally, in every day life. When you’re being active with your ideation you’ll quickly come up with a list of the best dropshipping products for your store.

Sites to Avoid for Drop Shipping Ideas

I suggest you don’t look at sites like SpringWise.com or TrendHunter.com. It’s not that they are bad; they are great; but Product Trend Sites publish the ideas that are out of the majority reach. They’ll provide you with good drop shipping ideas, but they might not necessarily be the right for your store. For example, how would you get and promote Wearable Sleeves that Help Stroke Victims Recover or Herb Inspired Fragrances in your store?

Next Steps for How to Find Products to Sell Online

Once your list is full and there is nothing left you can add to it at the moment* — continue to the second part of this article. There, you’ll narrow down your dropshipping ideas list so it only contains the very best dropshipping products.

*Your dropshipping ideas list will never be full! Keep making additions!

Filtering Google Trends Products

Drop Shipping Ideas – Niche Filter

With the rise of dropshipping, niche shops have become the trend.

It quickly turned from an eCommerce novelty to a proven, successful strategy.

Don’t fight the big stores. Avoid categories which are too broad or general. The masses are already exposed to thousands of offers daily.

Look to supply niche products that are underserved by larger players. For example, there is no specific interest group for a normal belt, but you can easily tell that cycling gear will resonate well with cycling enthusiasts. Find your niche. If you can come up with a niche drop shipping idea you’ll have a good chance for finding successful products.

Drop Shipping Ideas – Stay Away Categories Filter

It may overlap with Niche Filter, but it’s essential to narrow down your product selection by excluding the ‘stay away’ categories.

Some product categories have grown significantly over the last decade and there are already many strong players and smaller shops out there supplying these products.

Just look at the eCommerce growth rates: books sales are flat and the jewelry market is shrinking. 80% of Americans say they’ve bought electronics or apparel online in the past three months, which means they already have their choice of trusted store.

Cross off the following general categories from your idea list: books, jewelry, electronics, and clothing — you’ll need to be more specific and find a niche.

Please note: I don’t suggest crossing out these categories entirely. You could sell plus size women’s clothing, men’s clothing, custom hiking/cycling electronics gear, or jewelry hidden in candles. I suggest you pay more attention to finding an interesting subcategory that will make your store unique. Don’t fall into the trap of selling in general categories.

Dropshipping Ideas – Price Sweet Spot Filter

Andrew from eCommerceFuel says the perfect eCommerce product price is from $100 to $200. Richard from ABLS argues that it’s $75 to $150.

In my experience, my sweet spot price is $40 to $60 (at a 200% mark-up).

There are a few general rules to remember: the lower the price, the better the conversion rate. The higher the price, the more support you’ll need to provide.

With a $40 to $60 price range, the profits are relatively high and you can still cover the marketing costs of up to $20 per sale. The conversion rate is usually higher because the purchase requires less consideration on the part of the buyer. There is also less support.

You increase the odds of the success of your store in the developing markets. With Chinese dropshipping, you can sell everywhere in the world. Although $30 may not be much to people living in the US, but it could be a lot for someone in South America or Eastern/Central Europe.

Bonus Secret: You should definitely try selling in developing/neglected markets. Lower advertising costs and competition equals a higher ROI. Don’t worry about the language barriers.

Look over your list and cross out dropshipping ideas that are more than $60.

Marketing Channels Filter

After you learn how to find products to sell online, you have to think about your marketing strategy before you even launch your store. You must have a plan for the products you sell online dropship.

To put it simply, different marketing channels are great for different Google Trends products. Once you pick the product, you have to figure out which marketing channel will be best for it.

Advertising an $800 hoverboard on Facebook might not be the best idea, but you might succeed in advertising it on Google Adwords. A hoverboard is not a spontaneous purchase, in most cases people will Google it to learn more about it and find which stores sell it.

I spent many hours looking at how other people pick their marketing strategies and didn’t find anything that would meet my needs.

I liked Rand from Moz’s tables representing the ROI, effort and cost of each marketing channel, but it seems to be outdated (published in 2009). There are also a lot of explicit guides and lists of all marketing channels, but none of them position marketing from an inventory standpoint.

So I decided to do a product evaluation / marketing table myself. Its design is similar the one from Moz’s blog but based totally on personal experience and random thoughts from the internet.

There are dozens of other marketing channels out there, but I doubt that PR Stunts, co-branding opportunities, or video marketing will be the right channel for anyone just starting their business. However, you might want to consider affiliate marketing in the future, so it’s something to keep in mind.

Remember, think about your resources (time, money, knowledge). Select one or two marketing channels. Next, cross out all drop shipping ideas that don’t suit those channels.

Google Trends Products & Keyword Tools

Google Trends Products and Keyword Tools are a must if you’re going to use Google Adwords or if you’re trying to grow organic traffic. It helps you see what Google Trends products are trending. Also, you can check the demand of your product drop shipping ideas.

Keyword Tool

Go through your product ideas. Next, enter each product name and variations into the Google Keywords Analysis tool.

Then, select then Keywords Ideas method and look at how many searches each Low Competition Keyword receives.

Let’s say you could get all of that traffic and 2% of them would buy at your store. Would this demand be enough?

Google Trends Products

Go to trends.google.com and do the same. Enter each of your product ideas into the search and determine what the trend is. Is the trend increasing or decreasing? Are there any patterns? Do you see any spikes?

What Does It All Mean?

In general, you should avoid product categories that have little or no search traffic (less than 500 monthly searches). If you are planning to grow organically, you should dismiss all product ideas that have high competition according to the Google Keyword Analysis Tool.

How to Find Products to Sell Online – Seasonality Filter

Avoid seasonal Google Trends products like Christmas decorations. Furthermore, you can check product seasonality trends at Google Trends.

Unfortunately, by focusing on seasonal items, you’re reducing your sales cycle. Most Christmas decoration sales take place in autumn and winter. These are likely some of best drop shipping products for this time of year, but you’ll need core products in your store which will sell all year long. Take some time to think of drop shipping ideas for your store which aren’t seasonal.

How to Find Products to Sell Online – Copyrights Filter

Be careful when you’re sourcing branded products for your store. It isn’t easy to find suppliers which sell copyrighted products. If you’re sourcing copyrighted products from little-known suppliers, there is a chance that you’ll be selling fake products. Build your own brand instead, it’s more sustainable in the long run.

How to Find Products to Sell Online – Competition Filter

By crossing out broad categories, you avoid giant retailer competition. However, don’t think there are only a few shops out there who sell niche products.

Evaluating your competition is an endless task. However, you need to check whether the product you’re about to start advertising is already widespread among other websites.

Here’s a simple trick:

Google a product and try doing a product image search. Look at how many shops have similar products.

If you’re dropshipping, most store owners will likely have the same images.

Find your competitors. Then, check their pricing strategy, popularity/traffic (on sites like Alexa.org or SpyFu.com), and what marketing channels they are using. Finally, cross out all products ideas that already have huge competition.

How to Find Products to Sell Online – Conclusion

As an ecommerce entrepreneur, you need a clear product selection process in place to get the best results. Unfortunately, people often pick drop shipping ideas on a whim which wastes a lot of time and effort and yields no positive results. Take the time to properly research which are the best drop shipping ideas for your ecommerce store, and test them out. We know you’ll do well.

Note: This article is curated from Shopify Blog.