If you are asking yourself the question in the title of this article, then the chances are you’re just getting started in eCommerce. This is an exciting time, although there will probably be a number of concerns running through your head. These can include things such as how to effectively source the products you want to sell, how to maximize profit, and how to market your products effectively. As you can probably tell, however, it is impossible to answer any of these questions without knowing what type of product you’re actually going to sell.
Accordingly, one of the biggest mistakes you can make from the off is simply to go with products you think your potential customers will buy. Of course, this should be one consideration, but it should never be the only one. Selling a product needs to be feasible to be profitable and it can only be feasible if you can source enough of the product, if you can deliver it efficiently (and have it efficiently delivered to you), and if the entire process is cost-effective and doesn’t end up costing you more money than you would make from sales. To put it much more briefly, you need to choose well.
Product Diversity
Customers are diverse, and therefore your product inventory should be too. If you are just getting started in eCommerce, then it’s unlikely that you’ll have a large selection of products, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t introduce diversity amongst your products – you just need to do it in a different way. An example will illustrate this well.
Bulk designer sunglasses are an incredibly popular eCommerce product. This is because people use sunglasses for much more than just trips to the beach, they are inexpensive, and they make for a great impulse buy. This is also why they are a popular choice for physical stores too. However, it is very rare that these sunglasses would be presented as lots of the exact same kind. In fact, they are nearly always found as an assortment. And those assorted sunglasses will almost certainly have come from not many, but a single assorted bulk order. Sunglasses wholesalers Olympic Eyewear say that this is a means of offering variety to a customer while technically only selling one product – a great move for those just starting out in eCommerce with limited resources.
Product Ideas
So, what should you sell then? Keeping in mind the above considerations, you can sell anything you like. Here follows some great ideas for those starting out:
Skincare Products
Always in demand and varied in scope, skincare products are usually straightforward to source and will nearly always be a strong seller. The potential for effective branding and marketing is high too.
Fitness Equipment
Relatively inexpensive to source and, again, being a very varied product category, fitness equipment also cashes in the desire of customers to look after themselves – something that never changes.
Water Bottles
Just as the aforementioned sunglasses can be bought in bulk in a variety of styles, water bottles can be purchased as an assorted wholesale batch of several assorted colors, designs, and styles. They have also been steadily growing in popularity in recent years.
Smartphone Accessories
People love their smartphones, which are often among the trendiest and most useful things they own. For new eCommerce ventures, cashing in on this eternal demand by offering varied, useful, and fun accessories is a winning move.
Nobody said business was easy so to succeed, you are going to need to carve out your niche and market effectively. Choosing the right products though will put you on the right track from the start.