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Amazon Product Research: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide

Amazon product research is the key to competing with people who are already making money by selling online.

It’s a data-driven, research-backed approach to identifying and launching a successful, profitable product. You’ll need to:

• Identify in-demand items
• Analyze competitors
• Build a sales strategy.

Without this research, you’re setting yourself up for missed sales, poor inventory management, or financial loss.

This guide will show you how to find a product to sell on Amazon, and how to position yourself for a successful launch.

What is Amazon Product Research and Why is it Important?

Amazon product research involves identifying trending and popular products in a category.

On average, US-based sellers are selling 8,600 products a minute on Amazon , amounting to more than $250,000 in average annual sales per seller.

Without doing your research, you risk investing time, resources, and money into products that may be over-saturated with competitors.

Amazon also reports that more than 60% of sales come from independent sellers, which are mostly small and medium-sized businesses.

So there is a chance to make money.

Amazon product research is your validation of whether or not your idea is good enough.

You’ll find the answers to questions like:

• What do sales numbers look like for my product? Is it seasonal? Is this an emerging product?
• Are customers satisfied with the current product offerings? How can I be better?
• How much does this item sell for? What’s the profit look like after everything?

So, how do you start gathering this info?

Instantly Analyze Any Market

Step 1: research product demand.

Even if you have a great product idea, it won’t matter if there’s no demand for the product on Amazon .

Start by doing keyword research to understand what potential customers are searching for.

You can use the Semrush E-commerce Keyword Analytics tool to identify the keywords people are using on Amazon related to your product.

Enter keywords related to the product niche you’re considering, such as “office desk organizers” or “eco-friendly kitchen soaps”.

Find out how many shoppers are searching for your product and what their behavior looks like.

Next, you’ll be able to dig into data like search requests, product clicks, add to basket, and orders on keywords across major retailers, including Amazon.

Comparing “add to basket” data and “orders” is a great way to see if people are searching for your product, but maybe aren’t committed to ordering it.

This could help you focus your research as to why this is happening. Or you might find that people are relying on other retailers for your product, which might not make it the right candidate for your Amazon venture.

If you click on the "Related Keywords" tab in E-commerce Keyword Analytics , you’ll discover keywords that are similar to your search term.

This can also reveal trending keywords in your niche.

From here you can filter the list to display only Amazon results.

You might even consider filtering by conversion to focus on the best keywords.

Pay close attention to historical data here. You’ll need to understand if there’s any seasonality to the keywords related to your product.

You’ll want to determine if the interest in your product is a long-term trend or a temporary spike.

This data combined will help you to find trending products on Amazon . You’ll get information on the best time to launch your product, as well as manage your inventory and projected sales based on seasonal trends.

Exploding Topics can also help you to predict trends and anticipate demand for Amazon products, as well as highlight data surrounding the growth in interest, revenue, and even customer ratings.

Our trending products tool allows you to gauge consumer interest in a variety of DTC products through multiple data points and views.

Here you can:

• Filter the trends database by category and date to identify untapped markets.
• Search for trending brands to discover product gaps that your target audience might be interested in.
• Identify a product category 6 to 18 months before it becomes widely popular.
• Examine Amazon metrics like Best Seller Rank (BSR) and estimated revenue.

Once you’ve identified a product with high rankings, positive reviews, and steady revenue growth, you can click within the database to view more in-depth data.

This includes metrics like search volume, growth rates, and even TikTok views.

One last aspect of demand is figuring out whether a product is a one-time purchase or a recurring purchase for customers.

For example, items like furniture and even clothing are one-time purchases, whereas consumable items like car wash soaps or household cleaning supplies would be recurring purchases. Think about how this might play a role in your business setup.

Step 2: Research the Competition

Once you’ve found a product with demand, it’s time to check out the competition. Too many competitors or well-established brands can make it tough to break into the market.

The Semrush Product Research Pulse tool is helpful during this stage of your research.

You can compare various online retailers, including Amazon, to see whether the competition is high, medium, or low for your desired product.

Amazon’s Best Sellers Rank (BSR) comes into play here as well.

To find BSR on an individual product, go to any product on Amazon and scroll down until you find the “Product information” section. There you’ll see a box like this:

BSR takes into account current and historic sales, product price changes, and sales trends. The lower the BSR, the better it’s selling.

Note: Amazon updates the BSR hourly, so it’s always changing. It’s more important to look at trends rather than focusing on specifics.

The right BSR target depends on your niche, but there are tools that can help you put into perspective what different BSRs might mean for your profitability, which we will discuss later on.

For now, we just need to know where to find this and what it means.

Next up on data you will need to gather to understand the competition is Buy Box data, now known as Featured Offer by Amazon.

The Buy Box is the box on the right that allows customers to add your product to their cart. It looks like this:

Buy Box data provides insights on what sellers are competing for the Buy Box and the average prices for your product.

Understanding this data will help you know how to price your product competitively. The lowest price isn’t necessarily the best price to earn the buy box.

When you’re researching competitor pricing, you should also look at reviews for their products.

Jungle Scout, a tool for Amazon sellers can help gather quick insights here.

Its review analysis will break down product reviews and themes within them.

This is a great way to figure out how you can differentiate your product from the competition.

This tool will even provide some insights about consistent themes within the comments, both positive and negative. It can provide recommendations for how you can differentiate your product based on the reviews from buyers.

Step 3: Understand Your Eligibility

Are you thinking: what can I sell on Amazon as a new seller?

Amazon has specific requirements for some categories, which may require additional approvals or registrations.

You’ll also want to make sure you understand whether or not your product is trademarked.

You’ll need to meet all of the eligibility requirements to sell in your chosen category.

You can start this process by logging into your Amazon Seller’s account and selecting “add a product” from the inventory menu.

Then, enter the UPC of the product and then Amazon will tell you if you’re eligible.

If you are eligible to sell, read through and find out how easy or difficult your product is to source.

Step 4: Profitability

According to Jungle Scout, 13% of Amazon businesses aren’t profitable yet. But, 57% of sellers are seeing profit margins of more than 10%, with 28% seeing margins above 20%.

In the same study, Amazon sellers reported profitability within their first year of selling on Amazon.

To get started with crunching the numbers, you’ll need to find a supplier.

Helium 10 features a Chrome extension to make this process simpler. This tool will help you understand how much your product costs to manufacture as well as vendor reviews.

But, this tool exclusively partners with Alibaba for suppliers.

You can also find suppliers through Jungle Scout .

Their tool lets you search by your product’s ASIN and even save and organize quotes from various suppliers.

When you’re comparing providers you’ll want to:

• Contact Multiple Suppliers: Always request samples from several suppliers. You should compare product quality, pricing, and see how responsive the suppliers are to your questions.
• Compare Costs and Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs): When you get quotes, make sure to pay attention to the MOQ each supplier requires. Some suppliers may offer lower prices but demand higher MOQs. That could require you to hold more inventory, which could cost you more.
• Negotiate Terms: Don’t be afraid to negotiate. You might be able to get better pricing, more flexible payment terms, or even shorter lead times.

Once you find a supplier and identify how much your product will cost to source, you can start figuring out pricing models for your product.

Amazon’s revenue calculator is extremely helpful at this stage in your research.

Here you can see see how different fulfillment methods might affect your profits based on:

• Inventory levels
• Estimated sales
• Amazon’s services.

It compares Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to self-fulfillment.

But you can’t just price your product for the highest profit. If you set it too high, you’ll lose sales to competitors.

This is why understanding buy box data for your product is important.

This research will give you your cost of goods sold (COGS), which is the cost of materials, labor, and packaging.

Once you’ve determined your COGS, you can use Amazon’s FBA calculator to calculate costs like shipping, fulfillment fees, and storage costs to find your exact profit margin.

Throughout this process you’ll need to understand:

• Monthly Sales Volume: Check the average number of units sold per month for similar products. Ideally, you want to target products that sell at least 10 units per day, or about 300 units per month.
• Sales Rank (BSR): Look at the Best Seller Rank for products in your niche. Products ranked in the top 5,000 tend to have strong sales.
• Seasonality: Use Exploding Topics and Semrush to figure out if the product is seasonal. Seasonal products can still be profitable, but they’ll need specific inventory management to account for periods of high and low demand.
• Size and weight: The dimensions and weight of your product are going to impact storage fees. Smaller and lighter items will be cheaper to store than large, heavy items such as furniture. You need this when you estimate your costs using the Amazon profit calculator.

Tip: When figuring out profit margins for specific products, a general guideline is to aim for 20% or more.

Best Amazon Product Research Tools

Product research can be time-consuming. Fortunately, there are many Amazon product research tools to help you.

Keepa tracks the price history for Amazon products.

These historical data points help identify the best times for you to start selling, and even hint at when supply costs might be lower.

Some of the helpful features include:

• Price History Charts: View how a product’s price has fluctuated over the last month, year, or longer.
• Amazon Price Comparisons: Compare sales data across different sellers.
• Sales Rank Tracking: Keep an eye on the product’s Best Seller Rank (BSR) over time to monitor how well it’s performing in its category.

AMZ Scout is a tool that helps with identifying product opportunities and suppliers.

Some of the features include:

• Learning resources: There’s a lot of information from the experts at AMZ Scout to help you get started.
• Product analysis: Compare product competition and pricing, as well as gain insights into profitability.

Of course, Amazon has valuable resources to start your journey.

Once you have an Amazon seller’s account, you can access tools from your dashboard.

You can look up your product and see data around search volume, product growth, units sold, and pricing.

This is a great resource for reliable data since it comes directly from Amazon.

Tip: If you’re looking to use AI for Amazon Product Research, just gather the data you need from Semrush . Then you can save time with AI: use popular AI tools like ChatGPT to analyze it for free.

Start Your Amazon Product Research Today

Amazon product research is essential to your success as a seller. It helps mitigate your risk as a seller and helps you identify the best opportunities that will actually turn a profit.

To successfully launch your product you’ll need to:

• Identify the highest potential keywords to find profitable products.
• Analyze the competition and find a way to differentiate your products from the rest.
• Know the costs associated with your product manufacturing, storage, and fees from Amazon.
• Price your product based on data and profitability, knowing you’ve made an informed decision.

With this research in place, you’ll be well on your way to launching a successful Amazon product.

Exploding Topics and Semrush can help you get the best data so you can identify your next opportunity. Both tools are essential in giving you the best chance of success.

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Amazon Product Research: Methods to Discover Winning Products

Arishekar N

Did you know that selling on Amazon comes with a potential failure rate of 80%-90%? However, the 10% that do end up making it, make it big! Like they really kill it. One of the core reasons why they make it is their ability to conduct effective Amazon product research.

They fundamentally understand that only decisions backed by data result in success.

After all, in the ever-evolving world of e-commerce business , consumer preferences can change in the blink of an eye and successful sellers have no choice by to adapt by staying ahead of the curve.

Use various methods to dive deep into the needs and desires of your target audience, understand their pain points, identify gaps in your competitors’ products, and ultimately, zero in on lucrative opportunities that can propel your business to new heights.

While it can be tempting, simply finding a product you like, creating a listing, and hoping for the best can be ineffective in the long run.

Therefore, we’ve put together this comprehensive Amazon product research guide with effective tips to streamline your Amazon product analysis and research journey.

Let’s jump into it!

Here is a quick peek into the article:

What is Amazon Product Research?

• Four Elements Influencing Your Product Research on Amazon
• Ways to Discover Good Product Ideas

Final Thoughts

Amazon product research refers to finding a “winning product” that could turn a hefty profit when sold on Amazon. Unfortunately, you cannot rely solely on gut feelings or passion when it comes to selling a product on Amazon.

For example, you could spend several hundred hours of time and resources coming up with a proprietary product that you think is amazing.

However, if there’s no market demand for it, then your product simply won’t sell on Amazon. Additionally, highly competitive products result in saturated niches that can be extremely hard to break into.

To effectively zero in on a profitable product, you’ll need to deploy a range of strategies to gather data, and thoroughly analyze and validate its potential for success.

Specifically, you need to consider various metrics such as BSR, estimated daily orders, estimated daily revenue, category and subcategory information, and much more. Of course, manual methods of product research may not result in gathering the same level of information as Amazon product analysis with a specialized third-party research tool.

By understanding this data, not only could you find opportunities in a non-competitive niche or the subcategory of a saturated niche. For instance, breaking into the water bottle niche can be challenging. However, there may be potential in the sports water bottle subcategory.

Four Factors That Influence Product Research on Amazon

To effectively validate a product and find lucrative opportunities, you need to consider the following factors:

Competition

Profitability.

Understanding the demand for the product is extremely important. As mentioned earlier, you could potentially lose a significant amount of money trying to sell a product without any demand or by trying to break into a category with high competition.

Therefore, without understanding the demand, you won’t be able to gauge the success of your product.

Here are some key factors that can help you identify demand for a product:

A minimum of 10 estimated daily orders

Find a product that has a higher average unit sales per day. As a baseline, we recommend you keep it to a minimum of 10 estimated orders per day.

This essentially implies that the product that you are trying to sell should have already been sold by at least one other person and should generate a minimum of 10 sales per day. This would also suggest that the product has a good demand with at least 300 orders a month on average.

Of course, there’s the question of profitability as well. Let’s assume that two products are selling at $30. Product A has an average daily order of 5 and product B has an average daily order of 10.

Now, let’s assume that both products have a profit of $10 after the Amazon FBA fees , shipping, Amazon seller promotions , etc. Essentially, the gross sale you make per month in Product A is $30* 5 units * 30 days = $4,500, and in Product B is $30* 10 units * 30 days = $9,000

The profit you make for Product A is = $10 * 5 units/ day * 30 days/ month = $1,500 per month, and Product B is $10 * 10 units/ day * 30 days/ month = $3,000 per month.

As obvious as this may sound, products with higher average sales units per day have better profits. Therefore, aim to sell a product that can at least bring in 9000-10000 in gross sales and at least 3,000 in profit.

A BSR of 5,000 or less in the category

Understanding the sales frequency of a product can be complicated without the right tool. However, you can find the best seller rank (BSR) for free on the ecommerce platform. Most importantly, the BSR can help you understand the sales performance of a product within its category.

Fundamentally, a lower BSR suggests higher sales. For instance, a product with a BSR of 20,000 has significantly fewer daily sales than the same product with a BSR of 2,000 in the same category.

Therefore, avoid selecting a product with low sales potential even if it has found its way to the top pages.

When zeroing in on a product, it’s advisable to have 3-5 products in the main category with a BSR rank of around or below 5,000. The more number of products you have with a low BSR, the better your chances of success.

Note : When examining the BSR, focus on the main category rather than subcategories. Keep in mind a product with BSR #100 in the Electronics category wouldn’t necessarily generate similar sales as a product with BSR #100 in the Pet Supplies category.

We recommend you use SellerApp’s Product Intelligence Tool to find products that can sell on Amazon . Specifically, use SellerApp’s unique “Opportunity Score” feature, which analyzes the product and gives a score based on the following criteria.

• Demand : It calculates the demand for the product in the category
• Revenue Potential : It estimates the monthly revenue of the product in the category
• Competition : It shows if the competition is higher or lower than the category average
• Overhead Cost : It estimates the overhead cost and shows if it’s higher or lower than the category average.
• Profit Margin : It shows you the estimated profit margin of the product compared to the category average
• PIS Index : This metric measures the scope of improvement in the product.

A high Opportunity Score indicates that the product can be highly profitable if you choose to sell, and vice versa.

The product has keywords with good search volume

Another effective method to gauge the product demand is to understand the various keywords, search volume, and search frequency for those keywords. If the product keywords already attract substantial search traffic, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

As a rule of thumb, see if the top 2-3 product keywords have at least a cumulative search volume of 10,000+ to effectively understand the demand for said product. Of course, this may vary based on your product type and niche.

Note : Stay away from a product with a very high search volume, as this niche might be too competitive to capture a portion of the market share and make a decent profit.

We recommend you use the SellerApp Reverse ASIN tool to find all top-performing keywords and search volume for the product.

Log in to the SellerApp dashboard . Go to the , and add your competitor ASINs. Here you can analyze the keywords based on search volume.

A product that promotes repeat purchases.

Selling a product that encourages repeat purchases like cosmetics paper products or packaging materials is a great way to improve customer lifetime value and your profits.

Additionally, selling these types of products can also help you build a brand and even customer loyalty.

Recurring purchases also indicate customer satisfaction and trust. They are also less likely to switch to competitors or substitutes. Most importantly, choosing to sell such a product also results in lower acquisition and marketing costs as you don’t have to spend so much money attracting new customers, as you already have a loyal customer base.

An evergreen product

Unfortunately, you need to consider seasonality as a factor when choosing to sell your product. As you can imagine, the product’s demand can fluctuate depending on the type. For example, demand for snow gloves drastically increases during winter and is non-existent in the summer season.

Some product demands also increase during specific holidays. For example, Halloween costumes or decorations.

Therefore, we recommend you get a general idea of the seasonality of the product using Google Trends. Specifically, to identify if the keyword search volume data of the product is steady across the year.

But if there’s a periodic spike in the search volume, it shows seasonality.

A business built around seasonal products may be profitable for a day or a season but wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run.

Review customer feedback

However, we recommend digging far deeper into the reviews than simply glossing over 3-5 reviews.

One of the best ways to track demand and understand the effectiveness of a product is to head to the customer review section and read the feedback.

Use the SellerApp Chrome Extension and gather all the reviews on Amazon for a specific product. You can filter by verified purchases to gather insights from the actual buyers and filter the reviews by star rating, text/video/image reviews, and even geography.

More importantly, use the Product Scanner Feature to gather the average ratings and reviews for all the products at the category or subcategory level to understand the overall demand.

Monitor pricing and track competitor inventory levels

Another way to understand product demand is to track competitor pricing and inventory levels. But by understanding the price wars between your competitors to win the buy box or even the fluctuations in selling price, you can understand the demand for the product to a certain level.

Although not amazingly insightful, you could still understand a certain level of demand by tracking your competitor’s inventory level and understanding how often they’re low in stock. Of course, this can take a significant amount of time, which is why it should ideally be an ancillary method to gauge demand.

In addition to Demand, you must deep dive into the niche and understand customer sentiment to understand your product has potential.

Look for Products with a low review count (About 2-3 Products With < 50 Reviews on Page 1)

Studying reviews is a necessary part of product research.

With this research, you can understand whether the product is effectively solving the customer’s pain point but it will also help you understand gaps in the competitive landscape that you can take advantage of.

For example, if you keep reading that Product X would be more easier to use with Feature Y. You could implement Feature Y into your product and sell it to capture market share from your customer.

Of course, reviews also help in more a straightforward manner. By reading the reviews you can understand if there is demand for the product. The number of sellers and the number of reviews split across them also give you insight into the difficulty of entering the market.

A good rule of thumb is to make a list of the top ten keywords for the product and check the top 10 products for each of those keywords. The product is likely to sell successfully if the top 10 products have less than 100 reviews.

However, if there are more than 1000 reviews, it’s best to move on to another product. When it comes to choosing the keyword go from broad to phrase and then to exact.

Identify the Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Analyzing the product reviews and Q&A section can give you insight into not just the weaknesses and gaps with the product but also help you understand the strengths and unique selling points of the product.

Usually, if the top products already have 4.5+ ratings, there’s a high chance that these products are already “perfected”, and it will be difficult to identify gaps in the product.

But for products with less than 4.5 ratings, you can identify some negative reviews and understand the gaps in the products. Use these gaps to improve your products and tailor your product messaging.

Of course, this isn’t an absolute. You could always try to find opportunities to improve a nearly “perfect product” and launch a new one with additional features or improvements.

Other than Demand and Customer Insights, you must also thoroughly understand the competition. After all, there is no point in spending time and resources on launching a problem, only to be drowned by the competition.

Here are some key factors to consider when it comes to understanding the competition:

The barrier to entry should not be low

Don’t select a product that has a low entry barrier.

As obvious as it may sound, it’s important to understand that everyone can see the potential in this product and you will run into several new competitors, negatively impacting your business.

On the other hand, the more difficult to enter a new market, the fewer new sellers will pose a threat to your product. Therefore, look for products that require a relatively high capital investment, unique features, or strong differentiations from other products.

These types of products can help you avoid direct competition and create a niche market for yourself.

No Big Brands in the product category

Entering a product category dominated by big brands will always put you at a clear disadvantage. Here’s why:

• One, you will need to compete against their large marketing budgets and brand recognition . Capturing market share would be harder than going to the moon. Ok, maybe not. But the point still rests.
• Two, winning customers who are loyal to these brands can be significantly challenging. And if you try to work around their market share, you might be targeting a super narrow demographic, which would restrict your growth and profitability.

If you still want to compete against such dominant brands, ensure that you have a solid marketing strategy , a good product, a great brand story/mission/values, and exceptional customer service.

The Number of Sellers

Tracking the number of sellers should be a no-brainer – it can indicate the level of competition and the demand for that product. Generally, if there are too many sellers for a product, it would mean that the product is highly competitive, and you may have difficulty breaking into the market or succeeding once you’re in.

On the other hand, if fewer sellers exist in the category, it would mean less competition and more growth potential.

Once you’ve evaluated a product’s demand, competition, and customers, you need to ensure that the product you sell is profitable.

Here are some factors to gauge the profitability of a product:

Look for Products Between the $20-$50 Price Range.

Products priced at $20-$50 lie in the impulse buying decision range. Fundamentally, the higher the price tag, the more a consumer thinks about spending the amount.

Meaning, that they’ll conduct more research and try to understand if they need the product, while with less expensive items, they won’t spend as much time comparing them to others.

Additionally, there is an extreme on the other end as well as shoppers may associate the product with cheap quality.

Sellers often tend to get into a black hole when trying to find the right pricing strategy for their products. Ultimately, while the impulse purchase range does have its benefits, it’s important to note that the product price should be set after calculating the expenses and profit. Most importantly, it should address the customer’s perceived value.

For example, a great example would be portable chargers like the famous BlendJet. The cost of manufacturing the product may be less than $10. However, with marketing and branding, you could build a perceived valuation of the product and potentially elevate the cost to $50-60.

Look for Lightweight Products

Yes, the size of the product is important. Especially, since there can be additional fees associated with shipping or storing the product. Therefore, it’s always advisable to look for small and lightweight products , as these types of products can keep your shipping and storage fees down, which usually are based on the weights and dimensions of the product.

For example, it would be much cheaper to source and sell a small product, such as a necklace, versus wooden furniture.

While wooden furniture may be in higher demand, the logistics cost will be humongous, which can eat up a massive chunk of your profit margin.

Key Tip : Don’t go for too light or heavy fragile products, like glass or electronics. Pick something sturdy and easy to ship.

Choose a Product With a Decent Profit Margin of 25-35%

The ultimate goal of your business should be profit.

Unfortunately, there are a ton of fees associated with selling on Amazon. So, it’s not a simple calculation of product cost and selling price. You will also need to factor in multiple factors such as subscription fees, selling fees, advertising fees, storage fees, shipping fees, etc.

Whenever you conduct product research, calculate the gross profit margin to specifically understand the earning potential of the product.

There is no particular profit margin to aim for, as it’s subjective. However, we recommend at least a 25-35% gross margin as this would help you build a successful business with long-term potential.

This will leave you with enough room for your advertising budget to stand out from the competition.

You can easily find the profit margin of a product by using the SellerApp FBA calculator.

Just go to the product listing on Amazon , open the SellerApp FBA Calculator tool , and provide the following information:

• Cost of Goods Sold

And the tool will automatically calculate the profit margin for you.

Amazon Product Research Checklist

Here is a quick checklist to help you easily pick the right product to sell:

• Product prices should fall between the range of $10 and $50
• Products should make at least 10 sales a day
• The product should have a minimum best-seller rank of at least 5,000 in the main category
• The top 3 related keywords have 10,000+ monthly searches on Amazon
• Choose evergreen products instead of seasonal products
• The product must have at least 2-3 competitor products with less than 50 reviews on the first page of the Amazon SERPs
• Small and lightweight products (under 2 to 3 pounds)
• No brand names or trademarks associated with the product
• A product can be set up for 25% or even less than the sale price
• Proper room for product optimization and improvement of present listings. Take advantage of SellerApp’s Amazon Description Generator to help you create effective bullet points.
• There should be multiple product-related keyword opportunities
• The product should not be fragile
• There should be a potential to expand the brand with related products
• Can make a superior product over similar products in the market
• The product encourages repeat purchases
• The product should not have any legal or compliance issues

Techniques to Discover Good Product Ideas

Now that you’ve learned the four factors to consider when selecting a viable product, let’s look at some effective methods to discover the products.

Amazon Marketplace

Amazon is the first place you should research to identify good product ideas. Amazon has different categories like Bestseller lists, Movers and Shakers, Most Wished For, and Gift Ideas section, public wishlists all of which can offer countless product ideas to you.

First, visit Amazon’s Best Sellers page. Here, you’ll find the best-selling products for each category . Don’t stop your research in the top category. Go deep into subcategories to identify unique product ideas.

Additionally, you can also look at New Releases, Movers & Shakers, Most Wished For, and Gift Ideas tabs. These products will have high demand but less competition over the best-selling products.

Let’s say in the “New Releases” tab, you go for “Sports & Outdoors.” Now, this is way too broad a subcategory to identify product ideas. But you can go deep into subcategories to identify product ideas that you’ve never thought of.

For example, Sports & Outdoors > Exercise & Fitness > Cardio Training > Exercise Bikes.

Under the “Exercise Bikes” subcategory, you can look through many product types.

Speak with Your Current Supplier

If you’re already an Amazon seller, the best and easiest way to do product research is by simply asking your suppliers what products are trending and selling like hotcakes now.

Your supplier should already have the information and might happily give it to you if you have a good relationship with them.

You can also make it worthwhile for the suppliers by giving them bulk orders for the new products.

Looking at eBay’s Trending List

Even if your target marketplace is Amazon, other marketplaces like Walmart , eBay, and AliExpress can still be valuable sources for identifying product ideas.

Usually, if one product sells well on other marketplaces, it’s more likely to sell well on Amazon too.

So, head over to other marketplaces like eBay or Walmart and view all the trending products in your favorite categories.

Not all products will fit your criteria, but you’ll get a rough idea of the product in demand and brainstorm from there to find a product that makes the perfect sense to you.

Visit Retail Stores

Visiting your local retail stores can also be a great way to discover new product ideas to sell on Amazon.

These local stores often sell unique products that are not available online. These shops also serve as a real-time platform for identifying current trends and conducting price comparisons, which can provide you an edge over the competition.

Additionally, physical retail stores allow you to do a detailed quality assessment and help you make more informed decisions about the products to sell.

Use Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer

If you’re already an Amazon seller, use the Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer tool on Seller Central to find new products.

Log in to your Seller Central account, and navigate to Growth → Product Opportunity Explorer.

Use the search box to enter a broad keyword related to the product or niche you’re interested in.

Alternatively, you can browse niches by category or use the example niche recommendations based on your current product offerings.

The tool will display relevant niches, associated search terms , and key metrics such as customer needs, top search terms, search volume, units sold, average price, and price range.

You can use these metrics to filter and narrow down your search to avoid low-quality products.

Not just that, utilize the Customer Review Insights section to identify improvement opportunities within a product and niche. It shows you all the positive and negative reviews for both niche and product levels.

With this Product Opportunity Explorer tool, you can narrow down profitable product ideas backed by data and are less likely to fail.

SellerApp also offers a comprehensive Product Research tool that helps you research products on Amazon.

Just log in to the SellerApp Dashboard, go to the Product Research tool, and search with a seed keyword. The tool then gives you a list of products based on your search query .

You can filter the keywords based on multiple metrics to narrow your search to the most relevant products.

There you have it, a comprehensive checklist for Amazon Product Research!

As you can see, there are many aspects to consider to conduct thorough FBA product research, Following the steps given in this post will help you get started with your Amazon product analysis.

However, if you’re looking for an efficient way to accelerate progress, consider signing up on SellerApp Dashboard. It gives you free access to invaluable features such as product analysis and tracking to help you find the best-selling products for your next launch .

Leave a comment below and let us know what Amazon product research strategies you use in your business!

Was this post helpful?

Related posts:, a complete guide to finding best selling amazon products.

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14 comments on “amazon product research: methods to discover winning products”.

SellerApp blogs are a wealth of knowledge for sellers. You cover everything from product research to marketing, and I’ve been able to improve my sales as a result.

I’ve been able to improve my product research and sourcing thanks to the information provided in SellerApp blogs. They have really helped me find profitable products to sell.

Glad you liked.

Daniel Patrick

The information provided is Really valuable.

Clare Thomas

Thank you for your support.

Michael David

Appreciate the details. This blog explained the methods for product research very well.

Glad to hear this article is helpful.

Sophia Anne

Fantastic tips! Helps a lot.

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Thanks for the useful information, Must read content for a amazon seller.

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Last Updated on 4 months by Dave

Amazon Product Research 101: The 8-Step Checklist to Maximize Success

Discover tactics to make sure your sales are headed up and to the right with these proven amazon product research strategies .

• Amazon Advertising
• Selling On Amazon
• March 26, 2024

Brian R. Johnson

Amazon’s massive online marketplace is perfect for entrepreneurs wanting to succeed in ecommerce. To take the first step and compete in what’s become an increasingly challenging ecosystem, you need a great product.

Amazon product research that helps identify items with high demand from potential buyers, and low competition from competing sellers is the obvious answer.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. After all, you’re not the only one with the same idea! 

Experienced Amazon sellers talk about a lucrative sweet spot that exists where there’s “enough” volume to be profitable, but not so much that EVERY ecommerce seller is going after the same niche product.

The question is how to find those relatively unexplored product opportunities.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the best Amazon product research strategies to help you supercharge your ecommerce journey, and tap into these “hidden” product opportunities.

Thinking About Hiring an Amazon Management Agency?

Canopy’s Partners Achieve an Average 84% Profit Increase!

1. Know Your Amazon Target Market and Customer

To succeed on Amazon, you absolutely NEED to know WHO you’re trying to sell relevant products to.

This knowledge will help you identify the type of products that cater to your audience’s needs and preferences. Consider factors such as demographics, purchasing behavior, and pain points when defining your target market. 

Once you have a clear picture of your ideal customer, you’ll be better equipped to identify a product category that will appeal – directly – to them.

Only then can you stand out in an overcrowded Amazon marketplace.The Amazon ecosystem is littered with failed product launches of perfectly good products. Before you begin your product research, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your target market and customer. 

You might have a great product idea, but if you don’t know who your potential customers are, it’s still not going to work.

2. Take Advantage of Amazon’s Best Sellers List

If you’re looking for answers, why not go right to the source? Amazon’s Best Sellers lists provide valuable insights into products that are currently popular among Amazon’s own base of customers.

Browsing through the Amazon product ranking – paying close attention to quality products with great product reviews – helps you focus on real-time demand. Make sure and pay particular attention to emerging trends or seasonal items that might be worth exploring.

While it’s important to consider top-selling products, be cautious about entering highly competitive markets. Lucrative, overly fought-over niches are also home to aggressive, occasionally unscrupulous sellers.

Finally, analyze the competition to determine whether you can offer a unique selling proposition that sets you apart from the rest.

3. Get Your Amazon Tool Belt Out

It’s no secret that artificial intelligence and machine learning are having a moment. As an entrepreneur, you’re probably aware that ecommerce has become ground zero for much of the advancements that have been made.

Product research tool software from companies such as Helium 10, Jungle Scout, and SellerApp are using AI as a springboard to offer increasingly sophisticated ways to find profitable products to sell. Many of those software tools are focused on the ability to conduct in-depth research into the two pillars of ecommerce, highly-searchable keywords and great Amazon products.

The exponential advances to artificial intelligence allow the Software as a Service (SaaS) companies listed above to fine tune the results they can offer online sellers. Whether it’s metrics such as historical sales data, sales history, or estimated sales, product research tools will simplify the process of finding best selling products.

Amazon Keyword Research Tools

Amazon sellers know that online-selling success begins with lists of keywords. Keywords (the popular search terms that prospective customers are using to find products like yours) are what’s going to allow you to make money on Amazon, or not.

Keyword research tools such as Jungle Scout’s Keyword Scout, and Helium 10’s Magnet can provide valuable keyword data and search volume estimates. Utilize these tools to gauge the demand for specific products and identify potential opportunities based on search trends.

Veteran Amazon sellers often say that “the riches are in the niches.” 

Be sure to analyze long-tail keywords to get a closer look at niche markets with lower competition. By targeting these niches, you can carve out a space for your product and potentially achieve higher rankings on Amazon search results.

Amazon Product Research Tools

Once you have your keywords sorted out, it’s time to concentrate on a profitable product. Product research tools can help you streamline your Amazon product research process by providing key data on sales, revenue, competition, and more. 

Product research tools often provide a range of filters that allow you to narrow down your search based on criteria such as price, reviews, and sales velocity.

When using these tools, consider the following factors:

• Sales and Revenue: Analyze the estimated monthly sales and revenue for a given product to gauge its market potential.
• Reviews: These give you a peek behind the curtain. Look for products with relatively low review counts, as this can indicate lower competition.
• Sales Velocity: Want to know what’s trending? Examine the sales velocity to determine how quickly a product is selling. This can help you identify trending items or potential evergreen products.
• Listing Quality: Analyze the quality of existing product listings, including images, titles, and descriptions. Because they’re often an indicator of a less-than-professional seller, poorly optimized listings may present an opportunity for you to create a better listing and capture market share.

4. Know Your Competition

You’re not going to be out there all alone on Amazon’s marketplace. Every day it’s getting a little more crowded. When considering a product, it’s crucial to analyze your competition to determine whether you can effectively compete.

Use positive reviews and Amazon product rankings to see the top sellers in your chosen niche. Then, assess their strengths and weaknesses. Consider factors such as pricing, product quality, brand reputation, and customer reviews.

By identifying areas where your competitors are lacking, you may be able to capitalize on these shortcomings and offer a more appealing product. Additionally, this analysis can help you determine whether there is enough room in the market for your product to succeed.

If the niche is overly fought over, that might be a signal to do a little more research, or drill down into a slightly less competitive niche.

5. You Need to be Able to Make Money

As exciting as entrepreneurship and ecommerce can be, for 99% of us, this is about making money. Profit margins are a crucial factor in determining the success of your Amazon business. 

When researching potential products, calculate the estimated profit margin by subtracting the cost of goods sold (COGS) and Amazon fees from the selling price.

When calculating profit margins, consider factors such as manufacturing costs, shipping fees, Amazon referral fees, and FBA fees. Keep in mind that some products may have higher return rates or require more extensive customer support, which can impact your overall profitability.

6. Why Make Just One Sale?

This seems like an obvious one. Once you’ve done all the work to bring a shopper to your (virtual) front door, why stop at just ONE single sale. Product bundling is an effective strategy for increasing your average order value and at the same time, it’ll help you stand out in Amazon’s crowded marketplace.

Offering complementary products as a bundle allows you to provide customers with added value and convenience, potentially leading to increased sales. With so many Amazon products mirroring each other with their “sameness,” virtual bundles is one more way to stand out.

When researching potential bundles, consider products that naturally pair well together and cater to a similar target audience. Additionally, ensure that your bundled products offer a clear benefit to customers and align with their needs and preferences.

7. Verify Your Product Ideas

One way or another, we’ve all had our own version of can’t-miss ideas. The Amazon ecosystem is full of stories of entrepreneurs that were SURE that they had a great product idea. Even their close friends and family agreed with them. 

Unfortunately, that’s not the same thing as receiving feedback from real, live Amazon shoppers that vote with their credit cards.

It’s essential to validate your ideas before committing to a substantial investment. This process can help you avoid costly mistakes and ensure that you’re pursuing a viable product with a strong market potential. 

Some validation methods include:

• Surveying potential customers: Collect feedback from your target audience to gauge their interest in your product and identify any potential pain points or concerns.
• Analyzing Google Trends: Use Google Trends to assess the search interest for your product over time, identifying any seasonal trends or fluctuations in demand.
• Running a test launch: Consider launching a small batch of your product to gather initial sales data and customer feedback. This information can help you refine your product offering and optimize your listing before fully committing to the product.

8. You Need to Think About Amazon SEO

Before you pull the trigger, and put that great new product up on the Amazon marketplace, how are you going to use Amazon SEO to optimize your Amazon product so that it makes it to the top of the page?

To successfully sell on Amazon, you can’t be on page three or four. You need to be on page one!

Amazon search engine optimization (SEO) and l isting optimization both refer to the process of attempting to rank as highly as possible in Amazon product searches.

To do that you need to enhance every aspect of your product detail page, including:

• Images and Video
• Product Title
• Key Product Features
• Product Description
• Backend Search Terms

Selling on Amazon isn’t for the faint of heart. Challenges such as addressing a negative review, or getting your product price correct are par for the course. Making sure your Amazon SEO is as good as it can be is one way that you can actually put your finger on the Amazon scale!

How Canopy Management Can Help

We’ve all heard stories of Lamborghini-driving Amazon sellers that rode a brief, but powerful wave of ecommerce sales to life-changing riches.

To maintain your competitive edge, it’s essential to monitor market changes and adapt your product research strategies accordingly. Keep an eye on industry news, competitor activity, and customer feedback to identify any shifts in demand or emerging opportunities.

The problem is that selling on Amazon is taking more and more time to get it right.

To succeed in such a competitive marketplace, you need to be able to combine the latest strategies with deep marketing experience. For many top Amazon sellers, Canopy Management’s full service account specialists have become the X Factor allowing them to move past the competition.

Canopy Management is a full-service marketing agency for Amazon and Walmart sellers. Our team consists of former Amazonians, multi-million dollar sellers, and award-winning experts.

When you consider the many ways that Canopy Management can help you grow your business, you’ll see why selling on Amazon is much easier “under the Canopy.”

• Strategic Growth Planning
• Listing Copywriting Optimization
• Listing Photography
• Product Videography
• Advertising Management
• Customer Service
• Demand Side Platform (Amazon DSP)
• Amazon Posts
• Full Service Management
• Amazon Review Aggregation

Ready to Grow Your Amazon Business?

About the author.

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How To Perform Realistic Amazon Product Research For Beginners

Evaluating the market and choosing the right product is a hallmark of a successful Amazon seller. Any product you launch must be both profitable and sustainable.

Thorough Amazon product research is therefore vital before going 'all in' on a product or an entire brand launch.

For many beginners, this process can be mentally and emotionally draining, but don't despair! Just about every professional Amazon seller has been through this grueling process to validate product ideas.

And yes, it does become less overwhelming through time and experience .

There are many elements to a successful product launch such as profitability, FBA fees, branding restrictions, return rates and much more. Additionally, finding profitable products to sell on Amazon requires much more active involvement in 2022 than it did in 2015.

So in this guide, I'll be assisting you in your product research on Amazon using proven principles, plus crucial things to watch out for.

Let's begin.

What Truly is Product Research?

Effective Amazon product research is analyzing the current market and choosing profitable products that sell year-round. Some use the phrase 'winning products' which refers to products that gain a home run within weeks of launching, and then continue to perform for multiple years.

The basic premise is to find products that are sourced for cheap enough where you could on sell for at least 3x your cost of goods sold, but preferably 5 to 7x. The higher your multiple on the landed cost, the more margin you have to spend on PPC and to hire influencers.

Not only should you aim to find the 'winners', but they should be able to gain a portion of reviews organically and have a low return rate.

Key Elements of a Successful Amazon Product

So what criteria make for a successful product on Amazon?

Quite simply:

• Strong and sustainable demand. Use Google trends with both your primary and secondary keywords. Avoid any 'trendy' products that are likely to plummet next season, such as fidget spinners.
• Low market competition. If the first few pages of a product has a flood of competition, particularly from China, then steer well clear. Ignore the revenue FOMO and simply find another profitable product.
• Sold for $25 or greater. Products $25 or more qualify for free shipping for non-FBA buyers which may be more attractive to buyers when compared to product + shipping listings. The higher price also provides some margin for you to spend on PPC or influencers.
• Room for improvement. Look at your competition and see what they have missed. Can you increase the quality? Add bonuses? Increase or decrease the size and weight?
• Minimal seasonal changes. You'll want products that will sell year-round, especially if your FBA income will become your primary income. Additionally, sustainable businesses are more attractive to aggregators.
• No trademark/parent/branding violations. One of the quickest ways to get kicked off Amazon is via copyright violations. There may be a very real reason why no one else is selling that same product - it's because they can't. Some things to stay well clear of are Disney, Velcro and Bluetooth which are all trademarked.

In addition, it's best (but isn't a deal-breaker) to steer towards small, lightweight and unbreakable products if you're just starting out. I recommend keeping things simple early on and simply using these products to springboard towards more complex products, should the need or desire arise.

5 Quick Ways to Verify Product Research

Demand is important when launching a product. Even if it has high margins and minimal competition, there is little value if very few people are seeking out your product.

Here are 5 ways to verify your product has demand:

1. Year-Round Product Demand

A product that's consistently bought throughout the year leads to a more sustainable business rather than the peaks and valleys of a seasonal business.

To see if your potential product is seasonal, simply head over to Google Trends and enter the main keyword(s) for your product. Provided the product has enough monthly search volume, Google will provide some brief insights how often customers are searching for the particular product, such as soccer gloves:

While it isn't necessarily 'bad' to choose a more seasonal product, you might get stuck with unsellable products in Amazon's warehouses, such as winter snow gloves over the summer months.

2. 5 Sales Per Day Minimum

5 sales per day minimum is necessary to ensure you can enjoy consistent sales, but 10 sales per day is more sustainable. These averages should be based on a 12-month trend to account for slumps and sales spikes.

Keep in mind that this applies to Amazon US only, and you may attain an additional 10 sales/day on Shopify alone, plus Amazon Europe too. 30 sales per day at $10/profit leads to a full-time income for most sellers, with a 6-figure business valuation.

3. 50,000+ Monthly Searches 5 Keywords

Analyzing customer interest is mostly a matter of finding search volume, as the volume of searches is a great sign that there is consistent demand.

Your top 5 keywords should be gaining around 50,000 searches combined, and tools like SellerApp can help you through that process.

4. Little To No Big Brands Competing

You may think that seeing big brands competing for product keywords is a good thing, but often it isn't. Buyers have a tendency to trust known and established brands over new brands and products, including yours.

If you see mostly unknown brands competing on the first page for primary keywords, then that's often a great sign. You'll gain a higher click-through rate and likely a higher conversion too. But on the flip side, if the page is full of cheap overseas sellers, it's a product worth avoiding .

5. Competitors Typically Have <100 Reviews

The volume of reviews on page 1 is one metric to help you understand sales volumes and lack of competition. It's certainly not the most important rule (hence I've left it last in this list) but can give some estimates if you're not using FBA research tools.

It's widely considered that 1-2% of customers leave reviews meaning that 50 to 100 sales are achieved for each review, assuming these are 4 to 5 stars.

Unusual Ways To Find Killer Products

There are numerous unconventional ways of performing effective Amazon product research. Some require the use of tools, but the following ideas are free:

New Amazon Hot Releases

Amazon curates its own hot releases that are not only new to the market but are already selling well. Keep in mind, however, that some of these can be very seasonal or holiday-specific, such as unique Halloween costumes. It's also worth checking out the Movers & Shakers section which showcases products who have gained huge sales ranks over the past 24 hours.

Amazon Wish-Listed Products

Another way to find killer products with demand is via most wished products . These are products that customers have saved in their wish-list to buy at a later date. That said, these may often be novelty items, hopeful gift items or simply 'nice to have' rather than products that will actually sell. Customers often wait for Prime Day to checkout on these products.

Use Exploding Topics

One of the best tools I've come across in recent years is Exploding Topics , which is far more focused upon the present time than Google Trends. Take for example the swiss cheese plant:

Interest in this plant has sky-rocketed in recent years. What do owners need for their plants to thrive? Planters, organic fertilizer, UV lights and more.

Spot Poor Listing Optimisations

I'm forever spotting household brands whose Amazon listings are poorly optimized with minimal keywords, often just one photo and very brief listing content. However, they have the strength and reputation of their brands available to create conversions.

When you spot unknown brands making these same mistakes, yet still gaining sales and reviews, that's a good sign that a market exists there. Not only that, but it's possible to organically outrank them or win the buy box through improving the product listing.

Check Volume of Affiliate Sites

There are thousands of SEOs who build niche and authority websites that direct traffic to purchase products on Amazon. The best part? They are often are excellent at keyword research off Amazon and can analyze search volumes and expected revenue.

If you spot several sites targeting and ranking for your top 5 keywords, this is often a great sign that a strong search volume exists. Try paying $50 to these sites in exchange to see their Amazon Associates affiliate revenue for your competitors. You can then go back to these sites and collaborate for promotion opportunities.

Use Amazon's Marketplace Guidance Tool

A lesser-known tool is Amazon's own Marketplace Guidance Tool . It's only a few months old, and unlike most Amazon's tools, it's actually a helpful tool which uses 600 data points:

The objective? To help you as the seller see gaps and opportunities in the market. These are personal recomendations designed for established sellers to launch additional products, using real Amazon data to help you succeed unlike 3rd party tools.

Going 1-Up on Competitors' Products

Let's say you find a number of profitable products that have potential. You can increase the revenue of these products and get past your competitors on page 1 by:

• Creating variations. You may be able to offer additional sizes, colors or weight variations that appear to have some demand. Read your competitor's reviews to see if are any repetitive requests for a new product launch.
• Bundling with other products. You may want to include a beneficial accessory to your main product which presents more value to the customer, hopefully for the same price.
• Unique packaging. Customers seeking to present your product as a gift will value high-quality packaging. The product may also have greater appeal on Instagram and Shopify.

Amazon is forever becoming a competitive landscape, so take any chance to 1-up your competitors with your value offering.

Risky Amazon Product Categories

While some categories are excellent such as outdoors, gardening and fitness , there are equally some you should avoid at all costs. Specific categories can be too complex and might have you regretting your life choices. 😔

These include:

• Electronics. These have too many moving parts, needs constant upgrades, can be unreliable and this category is essentially owned by cut-throat Shenzen-based sellers.
• Appliances. Like electronics, appliances can require year upgrades and often have a lot of moving parts. They can also have a higher manufacturing cost and may be subject to trademark or copyright issues.
• Consumables. Any type of product that goes on the skin or is injected, such as pills or creams, comes with many liabilities. All sellers require insurance, and while Amazon usually doesn't monitor most sellers, they pay close attention to products that can be ingested by a customer. The catch here is that most product insurance brokers won't touch consumable products.
• Baby. For the same reasons why consumables are risky, baby goods can be difficult to get insurance. Harder still is the consumer who is often emotional, time-poor, sleep-deprived and with no tolerance for product failure.

This doesn't mean you can't enter these categories in the future, but for your first few products, you should aim to keep things as simplified as possible.

Worst Amazon Product Research Mistakes

Before you pick a product and order samples, let's look at what not to do. These mistakes have cost other sellers thousands of dollars and time wasted, so it's best to avoid these.

Selling Me-Too Products

It isn't 2015 anymore and simply grabbing a popular product off AliExpress won't lead to any notable gains. The saturation is real and margins are very tight here.

Products that aren't differentiated aren't just competitive, but the business itself is harder to sell. Avoid the common items that are easy to manufacture and sell by China-based sellers like baking pans, steering wheel covers and bathroom towels.

Choosing Very Tiny Niches

It's not just the product you need to choose, but the market itself. Your job isn't to sell a product but serve a market and solve their problems. The profits come later.

By going super niche, it's harder to get noticed and therefore sold. These obscure product categories may not have any decent competitors since the sales volume is too low. Examples of very tiny niches include recumbent trike parts, antique boat cleaning supplies and vegan hiking shoes.

Miscalculating Profit Margins

I always laugh when sellers share 7-figure sales screenshots in Facebook groups. Sales and profits are two very different things and the freight costs of the last 12 months has meant that most sellers are breaking even at best.

Amazon's fees have also increased in recent years where around 30% of your retail price could be eaten by FBA fees. Always ensure you have used Amazon's product calculator before getting too excited and ordering product samples.

Going Into High-Competitive Battles

Some niches can be a cutthroat battle with sellers racing to the bottom on prices. This is a capital-intensive strategy with minimal profits. Likewise, some niches have been untapped but two sellers compete directly by simply lowering prices.

This is an excellent way to sabotage your income and potential for an exit, and may reduce the perception of your brand if your prices become too cheap. Avoid pricing your products simply for what your competitors have listed theirs, and instead, consider the type of customer you're trying to attract.

Amazon Product Research Checklist

To summarize this article, our 20-point checklist for beginners will make your job of elimination and shortlisting infinitely easier in the US marketplace.

Feel free to screenshot this:

• $25 to $70 retail after discounts and coupons
• 5 sales per day minimum but ideally 10+
• 5,000 Best Seller Rank in main product category
• 50,000+ searches/month for top 5 keywords
• < 100 reviews for at least 3 products on Page 1
• 3x retail price on landed cost but ideally 5x to 7x
• 20% margin but ideally 30% to 50% after FBA costs
• 5 pounds and under, and below shoe-box size
• No trademark, copyright or patent infringements
• Can be sourced easily from China, Taiwan or India
• Non-breakable and won't require complicated packaging
• Allows you to expand your brand with relatable products
• Potential to create a superior product against competitors
• Has numerous related keyword opportunities to rank
• Can be marketed through influencers away from Amazon
• The product can lead to recurring purchases and upsells
• Isn't likely to become saturated by Chinese sellers
• Can be also sold easily via Shopify or WooCommerce
• Doesn't fall under Dangerous Goods classification
• Isn't a dangerous product that could lead to lawsuits

These aren't necessarily hard-fixed rules as they can be adjusted to suit your unique situation. For example, you may want to switch to Fulfilled by Merchant if you're able to fulfill orders from home and therefore increase your profit margins.

There are many questions about proper product research, but many of the answers can be acquired through your own direct experience in the field. I have learned the most through spending hours in the evening looking for products and analyzing potential with tools such as Helium10, Zonguru and JungleScout.

To keep things simple, here are three high-quality questions:

What are some Amazon products that don't get many reviews?

Effective product research requires finding products that will gain reviews which lead to healthy conversions. However, there are several types of products where customers aren't as likely to leave a review.

• Common household items where customers care very little about the product or brand. These include tissues, plant pots and cardboard boxes.
• Controversial or taboo products where the reviewer could be identified by friends or employers. These include adult toys, enema kits and medical goods.
• Gift items that are given to an extended family member. Some examples include kids toys and anniversary gifts which are also seasonal.

In most cases, these types of products should be avoided if you're just starting out.

How much time should I spend doing Amazon product research?

In 2022, I recommend 50 to 100+ hours of research to come across profitable products on Amazon for your first launch. While that might seem excessive, you'll come away more confident and assured that your product is likely to perform well.

After all, you don't want to blow your hard-earn money on a product that flops.

As time goes on, you'll better spot opportunities and can easily ignore products that you believe will flop. Subsequent product launches will require 20 to 30 hours of validation, plus time with suppliers, freight forwards and listing optimization.

Where can I get my research and ideas validated?

It can certainly be hard to know if your product will actually be a winner. However, there is a concern that Amazon sellers might have their deep research 'stolen' by an Amazon FBA coach or consulting company seeking to profit off their work.

Sometimes ordering a smaller quantity of 100 to 200 units will give you some initial product validation and a chance to remedy issues. Should you absolutely need someone to poke holes in your Amazon product research, we can recommend Amy from Amazing at Home who runs a helpful Facebook group and podcast.

Can I just outsource my product research?

No. While you may be bombarded with ads on social media with catchphrases and bold promises stating "We'll build your Amazon store for you!", in many cases these will fall short of expectations, and with a hefty price tag too.

By doing your own product research, you'll gain a huge amount of experience while being 100% responsible for your outcomes. Researching the first few products can be tricky and overwhelming, but all gets easier from there onwards.

No successful Amazon seller achieved their success by luck. Even in years prior, product research was necessary to minimize downsides, even with the previously higher profit margins.

Today in 2022, product research is even more important, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming. I've attempted to make this guide as simplistic as possible, but here's the truth - you'll learn a ton through practice . That's it.

It may seem emotional but don't overcomplicate this early process. Sign up today to some free software trials and use their research tools over the next few weeks.

Once you're established, use Bindwise to monitor your Amazon listings 24/7 for the Buy Box, hi-jacking and more. Start your free trial today.

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Amazon Product Research

What is amazon product research.

Amazon product research is the process of gathering and analyzing information from the market, to help arrive at ideal products to build or source for a business that wants to sell on Amazon.

It’s also the first step towards starting an Amazon FBA private label business .

Amazon Product Research Approaches

A lot of merchants do such product research by looking at what is already selling well on Amazon. While this is a good starting point to understand what is doing well on the platform, the findings of such process will result in products that are already visible and in high competition. Instead, we want to list other approaches that retail & CPG companies use to spot new product ideas that are still away from the competition.

A business might choose one or more of those approaches to apply in their product research.

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Analyzing Market Trends

One of the successful approaches to take to find new product ideas is to analyze market trends. This does not only mean looking at product-specific trends, but rather looking at wide market or lifestyle trends, that can be a great source of ideas for new products.

When everyone is digging for gold, be the one selling shovels

During the gold rush in California, the first people who made money out of that “trend” were not the diggers, but the merchants who sold them shovels and picks. Similarly, any big shift or trend in the market or the lifestyle of people, will be a great opportunity for merchants to make or source products for that trend and capitalize on it.

• If there’s a big shift towards working from home, then consumers are going to need special gadgets and stationary to setup a home office
• If a new device, like a Virtual Reality headset, was to come to the market, buyers of this device will need specialized accessories for that device
• Whenever there’s a diet trend, such as “High-protein diet”, it can result in demand for specific consumer packaged goods related to that diet; such as protein bars

In this video, we show how Trader Joe’s founder used information he found about a certain shift happening in the society to inspire new product ideas and an entire new concept in the convenience store category.

Serving a Specific Target Market

Another approach that a business could take to come up with product ideas, is to focus on a specific market segment and try to cover its needs for certain products.

In this approach, the business defines the specific target market it wants to serve, by conducting market segmentation based on different criteria, and then choosing the most lucrative segment or the one most aligned with the company, and then building products that its research shows customers of this segment are looking for, and positioning those products to appeal to such target market.

Note : Trader Joe’s also used this approach while defining its target market and coming up with product ideas.

BRANDING & POSITIONING

• Building & managing brand equity
• Positioning brands & products in consumers' minds
• Real-life cases from retail brands

White Space Analysis

In this approach, the market already exists and different competitors and players are already serving it, but here, you try to look for certain gaps or “white spaces” that are not covered by your company or the competition.

For example, there could a product in the market with a lot of features, but because of all those features the price is high to certain market segments. Your research revealed that those market segments do not need all those features, and so a stripped down version of such product at a lower price point could appeal to such segment and there will be enough demand for it; despite having less features.

This is the same concept applied by budget airlines. They found that a lot of people don’t really care about all the frills and the experience, and just want to fly from point A to point B on a budget.

RETAIL GROWTH & EXPANSION

• The different strategies to grow a retail business
• Market & product assortment expansion
• Business model innovation

Criteria to Analyze

Using the above approaches will result in different product ideas or concepts for new products. Now you want to validate those ideas, by analyzing certain criteria to make sure that making this new product will be feasible for the business.

The first piece of information that the process tries to arrive at, is whether or not there is enough demand for a certain product or product idea in the market.

Want vs. Demand

It’s important here to be able to differentiate between want and demand. A lot of consumers might express that they want a certain product or wish they would have it, but in reality they cannot afford it. So in this case, such a want does not translate into a demand.

Demand is a want backed by the ability to pay for it.

That is, if they want it and are not able to pay for it, it is not considered demand.

This is important to understand while doing product research, because a lot of people try to measure demand based on data points that do not measure it correctly, such as consumer interactions on social media.

If a picture of a new luxury car gets a lot of likes, comments or interactions in general, this could be an indication that people like it or might want it, but it’s difficult to measure through the likes how many of those who liked actually have the purchasing power and intention to buy this product.

Types of Demand

Another aspect to pay attention to is the different types of demand.

For example, a product could be seasonal, so in this case the demand would exist, but it is considered to be an irregular demand .

In such case, a merchant could still source or make the product, but try to complement their product assortment with other products that drive sales during other seasons, to reduce the effect of seasonality on the overall business. Or build the entire plans of the business on the fact that it is seasonal, and only expected to generate sales during certain months of the year, and see if those sales are enough to make the business profitable all-year-round.

Tip : Take our Foundations of Marketing Course and Foundations of Economics Course and learn about the different types of demand , and the relationship between supply, demand and price , and how to apply this knowledge to your buying, pricing and merchandising strategies.

2. Industry Rivalry

The second aspect to study is the rivalry of the industry or category the product belongs to.

Rivalry does not only mean direct competitors, but rather the overall rivalry that is defined by the threats and bargaining from the different players in the industry, including:

• Substitutes
• New Entrants

Understanding rivalry will give you an idea of how attractive an industry or product category is.

For example, an industry where suppliers have high bargaining power and control the market, will tend to have lower margins for the merchant. The same could happen when buyers have a high bargaining power due to high competition in the market and everyone competing for their dollars.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

• Conducting a Strategic Audit
• Understanding Alternative Strategies
• Strategy Formulation

3. Competition

The third aspect is direct competition. Who are the other brands and sellers offering the same or similar product? And if there aren’t many competitors, how difficult would it be for others to copy your product and start competing with you?

In other words, what type of competitive advantage would you be able to establish, that would make it hard for existing and new sellers to compete with you.

Competitive advantage can come in many different forms, such as:

• Having proprietary technology or formula, secured with patents
• Having a trusted brand with high brand equity
• Having the lowest production cost in the market, due to economies of scale

It’s important to understand that in the absence of such competitive advantage it could be hard to sustain the profitability of the product for long, as once it shows signs of high demand on the platform, other sellers will start copying it, including Amazon itself.

Read more on the AmazonBasics brand

4. Profitability

The final aspect is profitability.

It’s important for any retail business to succeed that all the numbers would work together, and at the end generate profit for the owners. This means, the product should have reasonable gross margins, low fulfillment and fixed costs, and high enough sales, to be considered a good opportunity.

Read more on Success Factors for an Amazon FBA Business

Free Amazon Product Research Tools & Resources

Here’s a list of free tools and resources that can help you in your product research process:

• Trend Hunter
• Google Trends
• Amazon Keyword Tool by Ahrefs
• Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer
• Amazon Best Sellers
• Amazon Movers & Shakers
• Amazon Hot New Releases

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More Resources

• Amazon FBA 101
• How Much Inventory to Buy?
• The Amazon Buy Box Explained
• Category Management Courses

FEATURED RESOURCES

CONNECT THE DOTS

If you want to manage a retail or ecommerce business end-to-end, or advance into senior management roles later in your career, the key skill to acquire is the ability to connect the dots of the business. 

Our training program is specifically designed to help you do just that!