Focus on products: Selecting products that sell

Choosing products to sell in your online is one of the most important and exciting steps in selling online. It’s a decision that will influence how your site looks and who your audience will be – you will live, breathe, eat and sleep these products once you’ve launched.

In this article we will answer:

What is a product line?
Why is your product line important?
How do you research the market?
Key considerations when deciding on a product
Which tool can tell you which products are hot?
How do you know it’s time to add more products?

What is a product line?

A product line is a list of related products created by a manufacturer. The phrase could also be used to describe the products that you sell in your online store, whether you manufactured them or got them from third party suppliers.

These items are essential to your success as an online retailer. If you don’t pick goods that sell well, your business will struggle. Finding hot products that fly off your digital shelves will send you well on your way to success.

The decision of what products you’d like to sell will affect lots of parts of your business. It will affect your pricing, you website design, your target audience, your shipping costs etc. so it deserves plenty of attention.

You must be passionate about your product line – you will be dealing with it everyday so choosing something you believe in and want to become an expert in is important.

Researching products to sell online

When trying to find the best possible products to sell online you need to conduct some market research. The same method of research can by applied to individual products one you have decided what kind of products you’d like your store to sell.

Is there are market for the product?

If you are planning to sell something you need to know there is a market full of buyers waiting and willing to purchase from your site. How big is the demand? There are a number of ways you can discern this information.

Google Keyword Tool will tell you how much a product is being searched for. Create a list of the ideas you have for which products you’d like to sell and use the keyword tool to see what the search volume is like for all of these products. You want to go with something that is being searched for regularly.

Look to see if there are a lot of competitors in that market. The chances are you will be up against competition regardless of what you sell but getting a balance between high search rates and low competition is ideal.

“When we are interested in stocking products we always research the competition first,” says Ravi Karia, CEO of Universal-Textiles.com. “If you see that there are a lot of people selling something it can seem like a downside but we see it is good because it proves that the market is there.”

If you do go for a market that is already served quite well – make sure you have something to offer customers that they aren’t getting from your competition. For example you could offer free online tutorials on how to use the product or discounts on related products.

“Just because others are selling something doesn’t mean you can’t. You need to give people extra though, better service or offers,” says Karia.

Key considerations:

Think about who your target customer is with each product. Do these people spend a lot of time online? Your target audience will dictate how you market your product – some audiences are easier to reach than others so this should be a consideration when you are deciding on products.

You should also consider your mark-up when looking at various products. What will you be able to buy something for? How much will shipping costs be? How much can you realistically sell the product for online? These questions should give you some idea of the profit you can make on something. Obviously getting this right is essential.

How easy will obtaining your products be? Is there are limit to the number of suppliers selling your product? Do they have to travel a long way to get to you? If your products are going to be hard to get hold of this could cause trouble down the line. You must weigh up your options.

If you are intent on selling something that is hard to source (competition is likely to be quite low so that would be good) try and have a range of products that are a little easier to get your hands on also.

How can you tell if products are hot at the moment?

If you manage to stock products that have an increasing interest from your market, you are likely to do quite well. You can gauge how popular products are by the way that others are selling them – are people putting them on the homepage or in the sale section?

But another potentially more accurate tool is Google Trends. By searching for a particular product on Trends you will be able to see if something is being searched for more over time, or if the product has had its spike in interest and is on the way down.

You can also see which countries are showing an interest. For example something may have peaked in interest in Japan but only be starting to take off in the UK – making is a good prospect still.

When is it time to add more products?

Your online shop will be an ever changing entity. You must keep it looking fresh for your customers and you must react the market. This will mean adding new products.

There is no hard and fast answer as to when is the right time to add more. A good way of doing it is testing your existing products for a few months and then stepping back and looking at your analytics. What have been your best sellers? Perhaps you should look at selling some related items and increasing your offering in that area.

As well as keeping an eye on your analytics you should be keeping an eye on the market. You should know your niche inside out. Has your supplier brought out new products? Have other products come to market which are generating interest?

Have your competitors added new lines? These are the questions you should be asking yourself. If the answers are yes then it must be time to add to your offering.

“We have regular visits to our suppliers so see if they have added any new products,” says Karia.

“If they have new products that are similar to products that have sold well for us then we consider taking them. Offering lots of new products give you a chance to sell more – we make a lot through cross-selling. If someone comes to our site to buy socks, they often leave with extra goods.”