It's the one that every retailer dreams of: the product that everyone wants and that will increase your turnover as well as your brand awareness. Contrary to what you may think, it is not an impossible mission, even when many markets already seem saturated. All it takes is curiosity and an effective methodology. In this article, read the comparison between products winner and those to be avoided: a first selection will already be made! Then, we have prepared some resources that will definitely inspire you to find your product winner. You will be surprised by the last one... Enjoy your reading!
How to differentiate a winner from a product to avoid?
Let's be clear about this. Any product can be sold: with effective marketing to the right target group, profit is always possible. However, it is wiser to develop a simple shop at first. The legal, logistical and practical constraints are prohibitive and may even cost you money.
We therefore suggest some criteria on which to base your brainstorming when looking for a new product winner for your catalogue.
The characteristics of the winning product
The winning product is the dropshipping product that sells like hotcakes, minimising your costs and maximising your margin. It allows you to focus on developing your business rather than on solving various problems.
Calculating high margins: the primary benefit of your winner product
Obviously, the product winner is the one that makes you the most net money. From the purchase price, take the time to calculate all the costs involved in selling this product. VAT and delivery costs are the most obvious, but also consider reducing the cost of advertising (such as campaigns on Instagram) and the costs of your Woocommerce or Shopify shop to a single product.
Calculate the total cost of selling this product (from sponsoring on Amazon to hosting your Woocommerce site) and add it to the purchase price. Then, add the percentage of your margin to this price to get the selling price.
You can expect a very high margin on high ticket products. These are items that sell for high prices, such as jewellery, furniture or even art. They are much more difficult to sell and market, but your profit target would be reached in just a few customers. It's up to you to choose your strategy to keep your shop going!
Easy and economical delivery, the peace of mind criterion for your winning product
Your product winner should be easy to transport from the seller to the end customer. So forget about any products that are too heavy and/or bulky, especially when they leave from as far away as China. They will cost you a lot more and you will become less competitive as you will have to pass on this shipping cost to your product . dropshipping.
The WOW effect to boost your sales of winning products
Seeing the product should provoke an immediate physical reaction in your prospect. Surprise and amazement are more likely to lead to compulsive buying! It all depends on the product, but a photo or video presentation will have even more impact on the consumer, as they can project themselves into the product experience. If the objective is achieved, the WOW effect will have a viral effect that can also pay off your Instagram or Facebook advertising budget and convert more customers.
It is therefore essential that you know your target audience well in order to be able to surprise them with the products dropshipping of your Woocommerce shop. This brings us to our last major criterion to take into account to find your winning product.
The main objective of your winning product: to solve a problem
The key to a sale is to offer a product that solves a HARD problem: Painful (emotionally or physically), Urgent (the prospect can't afford to wait to solve their problem) and Recognised (your future customer must be fully aware of their problem). If this article also fits into an under-exploited niche, it's a real gold mine!
Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Again, knowing your target audience's problems will help you find a useful product that winner product that will ensure a comfortable income and high customer satisfaction. Offer products that will "speak" to your target right away.
Product features to avoid for your Shopify or Woocommerce shop
If there are products you should focus on to make a living from your online business, there are also products you should avoid, or risk losing a lot of time and money. What are the product categories you should forget when building your dropshipping site? dropshipping ?
Food and drink
All products that are eaten or drunk have many legal and administrative requirements. The responsibility to your customers is considerable, and you may spend more time sorting out health concerns than making money.
Cosmetics
Cosmetics, hair care and skin care products from China do not have the same strict quality standards as in Europe. You risk a lot by selling products that may endanger the health of consumers. Avoid choosing a product dropshipping in the whole family of skincare and cosmetics, especially on Aliexpress where you can find all levels of quality.
Electronics
If you sell electronic products, you are exposed to many potential concerns. Most of these products do not meet European CE conformity standards. You have no assurance that these items work and are not dangerous for the user. Your liability could be involved in case of a complaint. In addition, the legal guarantee can be very complicated to obtain from the supplier located in China.
Fragile products
Because they require long transports in conditions you cannot control, your products should not be fragile. If they are, you will literally have to pay the price for this initiative... The only way to ensure that your fragile items arrive in one piece is to choose expensive delivery services. In any case, selling fragile products is a money pit.
Heavy and/or bulky products
If you want to find your winner, you should definitely avoid heavy and/or bulky products. The cost of delivery is proportional to the size and weight of the items you send. Even if your customers are willing to pay huge delivery costs, you will have to give up part of your margin.
Clothing
You may be surprised to see clothing listed as a product to avoid when building a viable business in dropshipping. However, when you know that the average return rate in the textile industry is 9%, it is easy to see the problems of returns and refunds that are looming. Your profitability will be seriously challenged. This is not a good idea for a product that is easy to sell and will guarantee customer satisfaction.
Ultra-niches
Don't limit yourself to the very narrow market that defines ultra-niches. You will have too quickly circled the potential catalogue. The greatest quality of the ultra-niche is also its greatest flaw. It is a very small market, so it is easy to narrow down and market. On the other hand, you will quickly notice the limits of development of this type of product. If it sells well, it is not very scalable, you will reach a sales ceiling very quickly.
Branded products
They are eye-catchers, that's for sure. Cartoon, franchise or manga goodies seem to be the ideal niche, just look at the bestsellers on Amazon. But if you don't invest in licensing rights or choose unscrupulous suppliers, your customers will most likely receive counterfeit dropshipping products. Legally, you could lose everything and have to shut down your Woocommerce site in addition to dealing with major issues.
Analyse your competitors
To find your winning product, your first instinct should be to take inspiration from your competition. Not with the idea of copying them without a strategy, but precisely to know where to start. They have a head start because they already know the persona, they have probably already built their catalogue after a testing period. The Woocommerce or Shopify shops of your competitors should be the starting point for your reflection to find the winning product, because they know what sells best. How can you effectively monitor your competitors? What actions should you take and what tools should you use to keep up with them?
Survey their product catalogue
This is the most obvious solution. Check out their listings: which products are most prominently featured on their website and social networks? What niche do they specialise in? You can also look at their upsell products on promotion to deduce a trend. If you stay long enough to observe their content, try to notice which products disappear and appear in the catalogue and make your own deductions to build your e-commerce offer.
Monitor their Facebook advertising library
Did you know that you can access all of your competitors' active Facebook ads for free? In the Facebook Ad Library, you can see exactly which ads your competitors are placing.
This way, you will find out what kind of products they spend their advertising budget on: it will certainly be your neighbour's products. winner your neighbour's products. Think about taking the analysis a step further by exploring the launch dates and scores of these ads. Then you can use this list as a guide to see what works and what doesn't. The next step is to launch your own strategy by starting to test your catalogue based on all your findings.
Subscribe to their newsletters
Obviously, going behind the scenes of your competition will give you access to promotions, industry news and insight into the copywriting used. As well as giving you an extra chance to find your own products winningyou will discover your competitors' tricks, innovations and processes .
Be inspired by bestsellers on marketplaces
Maximise your horizons by browsing all the marketplaces. By definition, these platforms set the trends with the products that thousands of sellers offer. How do you use this great, cutting-edge database? Explore the different product categories and investigate by filtering by number of sales and popularity. You will then have access to results that will serve your future product winner on a silver platter! Which marketplace sites will help you find your winning product?
Amazon
It needs no introduction. Much more than a marketplace, Amazon is a real search engine in the field of digital marketing and e-commerce. Remember to browse privately (or even with a VPN) to avoid having your results distorted by your previous visits, or clear the cookies in your browser options. Conduct your survey as described above and also browse through current promotions.
Aliexpress
The results on Aliexpress will be even more obvious as you can even find your future suppliers by searching for your winning product. As stated in our article on the subject, take the time to analyse both the products and the number of orders and ratings of the products and sellers.
Read the article: " dropshipping with Aliexpress, it still works"?
Ebay
Lose yourself in the pages of E-bay and discover the latest trends. Also find tomorrow's gems to inspire you in the construction of your product catalogue winner.
Cdiscount
On this marketplace, too, you will have the opportunity to gather valuable information on the sales trends of your direct and indirect competition. Whether it is in the listings or in the sales tips provided by the site, a huge source of inspiration awaits you on Cdiscount.
Rakuten
You don't think about it so much, but Rakuten is an excellent search engine to find your product winner. You may have heard of it when it was still called Price Minister, it has been around for over 20 years! But Rakuten has progressively imposed itself in the microcosm of marketplaces. Put it on your watch list.
Use advertising analysis tools
Want the power of the Facebook ad library in XXL? Use the best ad analytics tools. How do they work? Artificial intelligences analyse all the existing ads on networks like Instagram for example. All you have to do is set the filters according to your curiosity and strategy. Engagement, virality... Run your own tests to directly find complete lists of products that could meet all the criteria of your product winner. Chances are you'll come across ads from external sellers who are well aware of the trends and know what to sell at the time you want to launch your catalogue.
Minea
Minea is of course the first tool of this type that comes to mind. The most famous dropshipper himself promotes it, that's saying something! The site's message is explicit: " find the products winners of all traffic sources and launch them on unsaturated markets and channels ". Minea offers an exploration of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other social networks. Plus, it's available in French!
Adspy
Adspy is a tool that offers advanced analysis of the data it collects from social networks. Keywords, social networks, comments, demographics... Explore this goldmine with its very precise filters to find your new product winner!
"Pro-Tips: Filter your search to ads that were launched less than 2 weeks ago in the US market (they are often trendsetters) and add a filter to keep only those that generated the most engagement!
SellerPulse
Complementing your own search, Seller Pulse gives you the best ofAmazon andAliexpress, in French and English. Designed by Abdel Webseller, this application has its own easy-to-use Chrome extension. This tool scans all the global marketplaces of the two giants mentioned. This means that you can also spot a trend in the USA before it arrives in France, for example.
Dropispy
Considered as the most serious competitor of Adspy, it is also cheaper. Develop your dropshipping business by finding your winning product with Dropispy. This tool studies many criteria such as demographics, virality, countries reached, etc.
Follow influencers in your niche
Influencers, or content creators, make a living from product placements on Instagram or Youtube. Our final tip for finding your winning product is to find the influencers in your preferred niche. This way, you can follow the trends, get inspired by the products promoted on social networks to build your catalogue. Later on, you may even want to use these same influencers to complete your sales channels!
Armed with all these methods and tips, you will soon find your winning product, that's for sure! Think about delegating the creation of your e-commerce site to concentrate on this research, our specialised agency will be happy to help you.
