How To Find The Right Product To Sell On Shopify

About 95% of new products fail.

It's an unfortunate truth that some of your products likely will not get in. The ones that do make it, that earn you revenue and clout, come up from the same place as your failed products: an idea.

As an ecommerce concern, you lot continually want to test your limits and come up with new product ideas to stay competitive and profitable.

Coming upward with a great idea for a product to sell online will occasionally strike when you least expect it. Many times though, it's something yous need to be proactively on the lookout for.

The web contains a wealth of ideas and inspiration, just as a new entrepreneur, where do you begin? Frantically searching online volition only get you lot so far, so we've compiled a list of the all-time resources to give you direction and become y'all started, footstep past stride.

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In less than twoscore minutes, let us walk you through how to notice product ideas, how to validate them, and how to sell the product one time yous have an idea you desire to pursue.

Considerations for brainstorming production ideas

As yous go through all the resource listed in this postal service, information technology's vital to keep two things in listen:

While searching for new product ideas, brand certain to wait beyond the products themselves. Information technology may sound cliche, but in that location is heavy competition in the about common and popular product categories.

Choosing a different or unique angle tin can be instrumental to your success. Try non to just look at products—rather, look for potential in the product category. Consider new markets, new features, and new ways to utilise the products.

Don't exist afraid to look at smaller product categories and niches. Even though a niche is a smaller subset of a larger category with less potential customers, it makes upwardly for that by way of less competitors and a more than targeted audience. Less competition makes it easier to become to the top of Google, and information technology can be more than toll effective and efficient to advertise to your customers.

In this post, we'll go into detail about the all-time places to look for loftier quality product opportunities and ideas, whether it's for a line extension or a make new store. We'll offset with some broad ideas to get your head in the right space to start your search, and so become into more than specific resources closer to the end of the post.

17 places to detect profitable product ideas

Equally you go through this post and the list of resources, it's all-time to capture all of your ideas on paper. Once you have all of your brainstormed ideas recorded, y'all volition exist able to return to them later and evaluate them for viability and potential.

1. Start with what you lot have

Before you lot begin searching the depths of the web for minor concern ideas, products, and niches, it's always best to start with the ideas you already have.

Possibly it's a product or idea you've had for years. Maybe it exists in a half-written business programme sitting in a folder somewhere on your computer. Even if you lot've discounted information technology at some point prior, it's worth taking a fresh look at it. At one point you thought it was a great idea, right?

Here are a few questions to consider when making your list of internet business ideas:

What products, niches, or industries are you particularly passionate about or interested in?
What products, niches, or industries are your friends passionate near?
What hurting points do yous have in your own life?

Identifying issues within your inner circle is a smart style to brainstorm adept product ideas. Michelle Ebbin, possessor of Jettproof, a sensory clothing brand, finds product ideas through life's everyday needs. The brand creates calming clothing to assistance kids and adults with autism, sensory processing disorder, Downwards's syndrome, ADHD, and other weather that bear on the sensory organisation.

"Some Jettproof staff have family members with sensory conditions," Michelle says. "When we brainstorm for new product ideas, we ask what their loved ones need for different seasons, circumstances, and activities."

"When the COVID-nineteen pandemic hit and confront masks became essential, 1 of our team members came upwardly with the thought of sensory face masks using our proprietary calming fabric, Calmtex."

The product idea was a success. Now, people with sensory conditions could comfortably wearable face masks when visiting therapy centers, clinics, hospitals, and workplaces.

My best tip for finding product ideas is to look from your inner circle starting time. Consider what your loved ones need and can apply to office well inside their families and communities comfortably.

If in that location'due south a trouble, solve it. Consider which hurting points you accept in your life, or even the pain points of those around you lot.

Say, for example, you stepped in to solve the challenge of dog toys that were hands chewed and destroyed. Dog owners would become frustrated with unreliable products, and the expenses could chop-chop add upwardly. The market for indestructible canis familiaris toys would exist based on this ane specific hurting point.

two. Your local community

Sometimes you don't demand a new idea at all. Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses have been around much longer than their ecommerce counterparts. Paying attention to trends in brick-and-mortar retail and adapting them to ecommerce can be just the ticket you demand to create a assisting and unique cyberspace business idea.

Expect around your customs and have notation of what new or interesting retail concepts people are talking about. You can check out different sources for inspiration such as:

Newspapers
Craft fairs
Local markets
Community events

3. Online consumer tendency publications

A bully place to start your search for product ideas is top consumer product tendency publications. Following trend publications helps give a sense of the direction consumer products are going and the trending product ideas other entrepreneurs are introducing to the market.

Following these publications can also betrayal y'all to new product categories and industries that you lot previously didn't know about. Post-obit what'southward trending can aid you dream up new goods, services, and experiences for your online business.

There are several popular tendency publications online including, but not limited to, the following.

TrendWatching

TrendWatching is an contained tendency firm that scans the globe for the most promising consumer trends and insights. TrendWatching has a squad of professionals in locations similar London, New York, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney, and Lagos who study on worldwide trends.

Trend Hunter

Trend Hunter is the globe'southward largest, virtually popular tendency community. Fuelled by a global network of 160,000 members and three one thousand thousand fans, Tendency Hunter is a source of inspiration for aspiring and curious entrepreneurs.

Jeremy, the founder of Tendency Hunter says, "Like many of us, I was an entrepreneur at centre, but I didn't know what idea I wanted to pursue. I chose careers that I thought would pb me to my business concern idea … simply after years of searching, I was still hunting for inspiration. It was then that I started Trend Hunter—a place for insatiably curious people to share ideas and get inspired."

PSFK

PSFK is a business intelligence platform that inspires creative professionals as they develop new products, services, and experiences across retail, advertizing, and design. Information technology analyzes research-based consumer trends and insights that yous can use as a jumping-off indicate and validation for ecommerce business ideas.

A cracking example of someone who noticed a trend from some other state and brought it home is Dan Ben-Nun, creator of the product Inkkas. Inkkas are cute, unique shoes made of authentic South American textiles.

The idea for Inkkas came to Dan when he noticed the fashion of shoe trending in Republic of peru. Determining it was a cracking product that would too do well in the North American market, he brought the idea home and successfully launched a Kickstarter campaign, raising over $77,000 in pre-orders.

four. Manufacture leaders

If you know the industry or niche marketplace you would like to be in, you can use various tools to discover the influencers in that manufacture. Following the correct people on social media tin can help inspire new ideas through a constant stream of carefully curated content from people in the know. It's up to y'all to uncover the opportunities.

In that location are several online tools yous can utilise to discover the influencers online for a particular industry or niche:

Followerwonk
BuzzSumo

v. Production and trend discovery sites

Product review and discovery sites can also exist a fantastic source for production and internet concern ideas. Sites like Uncrate (men's products) and Pattern Milk (luxury products) are great ways to see new curated product trends daily. What better way to become inspired than with a daily glimpse into the new and interesting products other entrepreneurs are bringing to the market.

Here are but a few examples of popular consumer product blogs to go you started:

Uncrate
Design Milk
Bless This Stuff
Cool Material
GearMoose
Werd
HiConsumption
Firebox

Don't just await at the large and popular sites but explore niche review sites besides. Consider what types of products and niches you lot're particularly interested in and search for consumer product review blogs in those niches.

half-dozen. Social curation sites

Image curation sites can be a goldmine for product and niche ideas. Many of the images contain interesting, new, and trending businesses and consumer products. Using the congenital-in social signals, you can sometimes get a sense almost immediately of their popularity. This could be your starting time inkling if there is a marketplace for the production or niche.

Several of the larger social curation sites that may inspire niche concern ideas include the post-obit.

The Fancy

The Fancy describes itself every bit part shop, part magazine, and part wish list. Use The Fancy to discover a gift for whatever occasion and share your favorite discoveries with all your friends.

Wanelo

Wanelo (Desire Need Love) describes itself equally a customs for all of the world's shopping, bringing together products and stores in a Pinterest-like product-posting format.

seven. B2B wholesale marketplaces

What better way to get product ideas than right from the source? This has been a popular choice amongst ecommerce entrepreneurs for a while, and this listing wouldn't exist complete without information technology.

Wholesale and manufacturer sourcing sites expose you to thousands of potential product ideas. It can be like shooting fish in a barrel to get overwhelmed with the sheer corporeality of products available, so take information technology slow.

Alibaba

Alibaba is 1 of the biggest ecommerce companies in the world, up at that place with Amazon and eBay. The platform connects consumers with wholesalers and manufacturers from Asia.

With over five,900 categories of product offerings, there's non much y'all can't find on Alibaba. Alibaba dropshipping products span all types of categories and niches, so at that place's plenty of room for inspiration.

Although it's generally accustomed that Alibaba is the largest online wholesale and manufacturer database, at that place are many other sites similar to Alibaba you can utilise for inspiration and to find product ideas.

DSers

DSers is a marketplace where yous tin can buy products on AliExpress to sell on Shopify. These suppliers provide automated order fulfillment services, and so it'south a popular turnkey option for many entrepreneurs deciding what to sell on Shopify. Scan what's available and review Oberlo'southward trending products to help you come up upwardly with your own ideas.

Some other B2B wholesale marketplaces include:

TradeKey
Global Sources
Made-in-China
Wholesale Fundamental

8. Online consumer marketplaces

Another rich source for product ideas are online consumer marketplaces. Millions of products is probably an understatement, so you may want to brainstorm your market inquiry with some of the pop and trending items and branch out into other interesting categories that take hold of your eye from at that place:

eBay: eBay is the largest online consumer auction site. Cheque out eBay's bestselling items to find some of the most popular product categories on eBay.

Amazon: Amazon is the largest internet retailer. Amazon Best Sellers shows Amazon'southward most pop products based on sales. Amazon Movers & Shakers displays the biggest gainers in sales rank over the past 24 hours. Both are updated hourly.

Kickstarter: Kickstarter is the largest crowdfunding website. Browse all projects past popularity, funding, staff picks, and many other options with Kickstarter Observe.

Etsy: Etsy is a market place for handmade items. Look upward what's trending to find the near popular listings.

AliExpress:AliExpress is Alibaba's consumer wholesale marketplace. which allows yous to order in smaller quantities. AliExpress Popular reveals the near-bought products.

nine. Social forum communities

Reddit is the largest social media news aggregator. It describes itself equally the forepart page of the web and is enormously influential. Reddit has thousands of "subreddits," which are sub-sections or niches that cater to different topics and areas of interest. It's within these subreddits that you tin can find lots of inspiration for your next production or business organisation thought.

If you accept an idea for a particular manufacture, niche, or product category, it'due south worth doing a search and finding a suitable subreddit community to join and actively become a part of.

There are also many production-focused subreddits that are packed with ideas.

Here are a couple of examples:

Buy Information technology For Life: For applied, durable, and quality-made products that are congenital to last.
Shut Up And Accept My Money: Interesting, clever, useful products that people desire—badly.

If you're agile on Reddit and pay shut attention, occasionally y'all tin can come up across interesting posts like this one, which asks commenters to share their best purchases for under $50.

No thing which approach you lot take, Reddit has been and continues to exist a valuable source of ecommerce business ideas and inspiration, coupled with a dandy and supportive community.

Quora

Quora is a customs question-and-answer site—"A identify to gain and share knowledge," equally the company says. Essentially, users come to Quora to inquire and reply questions nigh pretty much anything and everything.

Like Reddit'south subreddits, Quora has topics you can cull to add to your ain customized feed. Consider adding some product- or industry-related feeds, too as anything else inspired by online business concern.

Quora also shows which topics and questions are trending, as well equally a count of the full number of answers (each with a number of upwardly votes and down votes from the customs).

Once you lot populate your feed, y'all'll showtime discovering questions and answers that may inspire ecommerce concern ideas. Here are a few:

What is the best gift you've ever received?
What's your favorite product?
Do you buy products from Amazon?

Industry and niche forums

Depending on the industry y'all're targeting, there may be niche forum sites you can tap into for production ideas to sell. Gaming is i industry that has an active online community, and you lot tin can check out forums similar GameFAQs or NeoGAF.

Here are a few other industry forum sites for niche product ideas:

The Fashion Spot
Nerd Fitness
Geeks to Go

10. Social media networks

There are a few ways you can apply social media to search for production and niche ideas.

Hashtag. If you have a particular interest in a production category or industry, you lot can try searching for applicable hashtags. Another cracking option is to do a search on social media for hashtags that indicate buyer involvement and intent, like #want and #buy.

Production curation accounts. There are many accounts on Instagram that post curated product content. Similar many other examples above, yous'll likely want to search for and find accounts within the niches you are particularly interested in.

Audience insights. If you already accept a business concern page on one or more social media platforms, yous may be able to use your audience data to find ecommerce business ideas. Sympathise which pages, hobbies, interests, and other characteristics they accept in common, and begin products based on those insights.

Instagram

Instagram isn't just pictures of nutrient and dogs—information technology's too an interesting option for inspiring product and ecommerce business organization ideas. Because information technology's photo based, information technology'south easy to scan through many ideas and photos quickly.

Facebook

Facebook still has the well-nigh active users out of any social media platform. If there'south a market yous're trying to attain, there'southward a chance they're on Facebook.

In addition to hashtags, trending topics and popular pages, check out which Facebook groups are popular in your niche. Dawn LaFontaine, founder of Cat in the Box, joins and engages with members of Facebook groups relevant to her niche: cats. Dawn says, "I of these pages, called Purrtacular, has an extensive and very active following.

"Cat lovers everywhere mail not but fun photos of their pets, only ask insightful questions nigh their wellness and beliefs. These questions, and answers from group members, often provide a window into the kinds of struggles cat guardians are facing." These struggles are where Dawn gets product ideas from for her online store.

The boilerplate order value of sales coming through Pinterest is higher than any other social channel. This indicates that Pinterest users are browsing, shopping, and ownership, making it an ideal spot to research popular products and trends. Another visual platform, it's easy to scan and detect inspiration for ecommerce business ideas.

Snapchat

Especially ideal for a younger demographic, Snapchat admittedly has more limited capabilities in terms of identifying trends. Use the Observe selection to detect out what the Snapchat customs is talking about and follow influencers in your niche to gain more insight into their needs and motivations.

Twitter

Twitter trends will be helpful in finding new ecommerce business ideas. You lot'll be able to see what'southward popular in your network or a chosen location. You'll find these trends on the left-hand side when you lot log in at twitter.com, or look for the Explore pick when yous're on the mobile app.

TikTok

The brusk video app announced in 2021 that it had surpassed i billion users and was the almost downloaded app of 2020. TikTok is known for trip the light fantastic challenges, viral moments, and a place for sellers to proceeds production awareness. TikTok is full of trending sounds, memes, and challenges. You'll never detect yourself short of inspiration for new production ideas.

Niche social media sites

If you're searching for niche product ideas, social media sites dedicated to related topics and hobbies are another mode to gain insights into new product ideas. Hither are a few, as examples:

Houzz
MapMyFitness
Untappd
Care2
WAYN

Our main source for product ideas is our social media post-obit. We frequently create polls to ask what custom products they would like to run into next.

11. On-site and third-party customer reviews

If you already have a business (online or brick-and-mortar), check out your own customer reviews. Savvy entrepreneurs consider customer recommendations and the motivation backside them, and respond accordingly.

If you don't have any reviews of your ain to consider, look at reviews of companies and products in your niche. Identify commonalities (paying conscientious attention to customer complaints), and determine how you can create a product that will address those concerns. Amazon is an specially great place to observe honest customer reviews.

12. SEO analytics and insights

Search engine optimization (SEO) insights can show you lot what'southward trending on search, globally or targeted to specific geographic locations. Google has a number of costless and paid tools you can use:

Google Trends . Find out what's trending, globally and regionally, and choose from specific topics similar business concern, health and sci/tech. Yous can also scan top stories to meet what's nigh popular. If you lot take a specific market or thought, you lot can research keywords to find common related searches, as well as anticipated peaks in search book (which can help dictate timing for your production launch).

Google Keyword Planner . Keyword Planner will help you find boilerplate search volume and related keywords to your chosen phrases. You can too look at Google Ads competition to gauge whether someone else is bidding on your targeted phrases for your ecommerce business idea.

Google Analytics . If you already have a website, utilise the data from Google Analytics to find out which terms users are searching to find your site. Volume isn't always important: there may exist a longtail, descriptive search phrase that makes you remember of your next big idea! Y'all can also use information from your onsite search to detect the same insights.

Google search . Google.com is an often-forgotten tool to use in your SEO research. In that location are a few fundamental areas to expect at when you're performing a search on Google.com: predicted text (as you lot type your query in the search bar), paid ads at the height and on the side rails, suggested searches (at the bottom of the page), and Google Shopping results. Remember to bank check out images and news, too.

13. Consumer lifestyle publications

Consumer-facing publications in your industry can reveal a lot near a market segment and what's trending. Consider what these publications are talking nigh and which manufactures resonate virtually with the audience. To detect out which manufactures are nearly pop, look at how many comments, social media engagements, or social media shares the content has received. The more popular articles could inspire niche market ideas.

xiv. Your competitors

Learn from the successes of your competitors and popular businesses in your chosen industry. Which products have they launched with the most success? Why were they then successful? Sometimes, brands will share the why and how backside new products.

Beyond your competitors' products, examine their community. Who is their audition and why do they beloved those products? Await at what the brand is saying to consumers, as well every bit how customers are interacting with them online. Place gaps in your competitors' production offerings and expect for ways to fill those gaps with your new product.

Stephen Low-cal, CMO and co-owner of mattress brand Nolah, doesn't offer new products constantly. The brand has a tight range of products, and a new product is offered only if the make feels information technology adds huge value to its existing product line. When Nolah does decide on a new product, it meets at the intersection of its mission, audience's needs, and the competitive landscape.

"We recently launched new eco-friendly mattresses and bedding considering we saw a hole in the market for a truly natural, sustainable mattress," Stephen says. "Eco-friendly products are something consumers are demanding more and are safer for the Globe. We also wanted something that would further our mission to create mattresses that don't utilize unsustainable traditional memory foam."

While Stephen believes that innovation is an fantabulous goal, "it's meaningless if information technology's non backed past hard, accurate client and market information." He says, "New products accept to be born from the aforementioned bottom line as any other: solving a real problem or coming together a real need for your audience. Focus on what you know about the competitive landscape and consumer pain points, and work to fill the gaps."

New products accept to be born from the aforementioned lesser line as any other: solving a real problem or coming together a real need for your audition. Focus on what you know nigh the competitive mural and consumer hurting points, and work to fill the gaps.

xv. Customer surveys and feedback

Surveys are one of the best ways to go qualitative and quantitative insights into an audience. Arts and crafts questions most the problems and challenges they face, which products they honey most and why, and what they wish they had to enhance their everyday life.

Proceed a mix of multiple option and open-ended questions that will let you inside respondents' heads. Use this information when you lot begin your ecommerce business organisation ideas.

Hither are some tools yous can use to create and distribute your survey:

SurveyMonkey
Google Surveys
Alchemer
Zoho Survey
Typeform

Another fashion to go feedback is through a private Facebook grouping with your VIP customers. It's a tactic that KeySmart's CEO, Michael Tunney, recommends for finding new product ideas. After gathering feedback, the brand "takes the ideas from all of those sources and and so creates product mockups to present to our staff and tiptop customers to see what they think will be a success."

16. Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing works along similar lines every bit surveying, except when it comes to crowdsourcing, you're asking for ideas more than overtly. Lego Ideas is a prime example of a brand that uses crowdsourcing to detect new product ideas to sell.

Consumers tin can submit their ideas for Lego sets, and the site besides features pop and successful ideas. Create your own crowdsourced ideas or look to those hubs for inspiration.

If you desire to organize your own crowdsourcing campaign for product ideas to sell, check out the following:

InnoCentive
Chaordix
IdeaConnection

17. Look to the past

One way to learn is from the past. Through examining history and sometime trends, y'all can come up with a listing of revived product ideas to sell. This is ane tactic that Dogfish Head Craft Brewery used when it came up with its product series of Ancient Ales, which uses old-schoolhouse brewing techniques.

Simply history doesn't necessarily mean historical events and techniques. Information technology'south also about pop culture trends. In fashion especially, we often see the resurgence of trends, and consumers love nostalgia. Choker necklaces have made a comeback, and countless movie and Television receiver show reboots take created renewed interest and passion for consumers.

You lot can evoke this sense of nostalgia through a production that is no longer available or highlights a seemingly forgotten subject likely to inspire fond memories.

What production ideas are in high need?

Here is our list of the top trending product ideas based on Shopify sales data.

Toys
Shoes
Pens and pencils
Decorative bottles
Drills
Cutters
GPS navigation systems
Bras
Motor vehicle parts
Office chairs
Projectors
Kitchen towels
Digital artwork
Eyebrow enhancers
Neon signs
Tablet computers
H2o bottles

Just forty% of developed products make it to marketplace, and of that 40%, merely threescore% volition generate any revenue at all. Selling products that are in demand can brand or break your concern, particularly in the early on days. You don't want to waste coin building a product no one will purchase.

Utilise the above list to add these products to your store through a dropshipper like DSers. Or you can innovate on these products and create a version special to your make mission, audience needs, and competitive landscape.

For more even inspiration, cheque out our listing of the summit trending products to sell.

Coming up with the all-time product ideas

Whether yous're an ecommerce startup or an industry vet, information technology's important to come upward with physical and digital product ideas based on your target market. Fantabulous product ideas will make product development easier, proceed you ahead of the contest, delight your customers, and earn more sales.

Now yous're equipped with resources to help you come up upward with a groovy list of winning product ideas to outset. Leave there and start exploring!

Illustration by Pete Ryan

Product ideas FAQ

How practice y'all develop a production idea?

You lot can find inspiration from your local community, online consumer trend publications, industry leaders, and client reviews. In this blog postal service, we get over 17 ways to come up with and develop product ideas.

How practise I get products for my business?

You can brand your own products or source them externally. You can get products for your concern from wholesalers, dropshippers, manufacturers, markets, local artisans, and more.

What products are in high demand today?

Current high-demand products are by and large centered around habitation life and health and health. Home office items, self-intendance, loungewear, and habitation gym items are pop right now. Other popular items are face masks, hand sanitizer, and digital products.

What do people buy the well-nigh?

In terms of frequency, people buy groceries, hygiene products, and other necessities on a regular basis. Do keyword research and social listening to find out which products are pop at whatsoever moment.