Did you know that three-quarters of consumers shop online at least once a month? eCommerce has established itself as a powerful trend driven by the advancement of the Internet and mobile technologies coupled with breakthroughs in online payments and logistics. So, it’s the best time to start your own store and sell online.
To do so, you’ll need to build an eCommerce website, advertise it online, and most importantly, populate it with products that buyers love and need. The chances are you find yourself struggling to select products that sell well.
Statistics point at clothing as a category driving purchases by the largest percentage (53%) of U.S. online buyers in 2022. It’s closely followed by shoes. And around 30% of online shoppers buy consumer electronics, books, movies, music, and food and beverages.
In fact, fashion-related products are expected to account for $205 billion in consumer spending in the U.S, generating 22.6% of the expected total revenue of eCommerce in 2022.
Taking into account the huge variety of products and suppliers available, it may be challenging to identify the right offerings to include in your online store.
Ready to get started? Let’s look at the fundamental question: What can you sell online?
Types of products to sell online
If you’re just starting out with your online business and are looking for a product to sell, the choices can be overwhelming. To help you figure out which kind of product to sell first, let’s break down the different types.
Physical products
Physical products are the most common type of product to sell online. This is a large category that comes to include the following subcategories.
Niche products
Niche products are goods that appeal to a narrow audience. Examples are items, such as scented candles or custom-made knives for chefs.
Niche products are often the best choice when you’re just starting out. They’re easier to sell because their market tends to be less competitive. Also, they have lower overhead costs as you don’t need to have a warehouse or hire a large staff.
However, if your niche product isn’t unique enough or doesn’t offer great value, it might not be worth selling at all. For example, if you want to sell custom-made knives for chefs, there’s plenty of competition online and in brick-and-mortar stores.
To succeed in selling niche products, you’ll need to offer something special that sets your business apart from others.
Commoditized products
Commoditized products are mass-produced items like t-shirts, hats, sunglasses, coffee mugs, tumblers, toys, and home decor items that appeal to a larger audience. Note that the market for commodities is incredibly competitive.
Almost anyone can sell commoditized items online, so you’ll have a hard time making money unless you can differentiate yourself from the competition in some way.
Digital products
Selling digital products online is a great way to make money from home. It’ll give you the freedom of working from anywhere, being your own boss, and setting your own schedule.
Digital items are delivered instantly once purchased and there is no shipping cost associated with them. This makes them easy to sell. There’s a great variety of products you can offer, including:
Ebooks
Ebooks are short guides or manuals that provide information on a certain topic. They can be downloaded directly and read at any time, even offline. Ebooks are one of the easiest digital products to create and sell online because they don’t require any special equipment or software to produce.
Video tutorials
Video tutorials are similar to ebooks but they’re made up of videos instead of text only. You can create them using screen recording software like Camtasia Studio 8 or ScreenFlow.
You can show your audience exactly what you want them to do in each step of the process without having to type out instructions for them.
Digital courses
Digital courses are usually created by experts in their field who want to share their knowledge. You can sell memberships to communities or courses on platforms like Teachable or Udemy.
This is a great way to apply your skills, knowledge, and experience and let others learn from them while making money – the perfect win-win situation.
FAQs on products to sell online
Is selling eCommerce products online profitable?
Absolutely! In fact, it’s estimated that online sales in the U.S. alone will exceed $1.3 trillion by 2025.
How can you determine good product opportunities?
The first step in determining good product opportunities is to understand your customers’ needs. This is what drives them to buy your product.
Here’re some questions you should answer to help you determine a good product opportunity.
- What problem does it solve?
- How is it different from what’s already out there?
- Why should people buy it?
- Who’s your target customer?
Once you have the answers to the questions above, you can begin to brainstorm ideas for how you can fulfill those needs. Note that, a good product opportunity is one that has the potential to solve a problem, preferably in a new way.
How do you source products to sell?
The first thing you need to do is figure out what type of product you want to sell. Once you have your product category figured out, you need to find suppliers for those products.
There are two ways that you can source products: online and offline. Online sourcing is done through online wholesalers like Alibaba and Global sources. Offline sourcing, on the other hand, is done by visiting trade shows and sourcing events where manufacturers will be selling their goods directly from their booths.
Check out our dedicated blog on how to source products to sell online for detailed information.
What are the stages of product development?
The stages of product development are:
Idea generation
This is when you come up with a new idea for a product or service. You might brainstorm to generate multiple ideas of items that provide solutions to a specific problem.
Idea screening
This is the process of evaluating your ideas and deciding which ones to pursue further. You can use methods like business model canvas or customer journey map to analyze how well an idea will fit into your existing business model and whether it’s something customers want.
Concept development
This stage involves exploring:
- What the product will look like
- How the product will function
- Identifying its components and features
- Creating prototypes
- Running tests with potential customers to see if they like it.
Product development
In this stage, you build physical products according to your concept designs and test them again with potential customers (or beta users). If necessary, you may also need to redesign parts of the product based on feedback from these tests so that it meets customer needs better than before.
What are the best ways to sell products online?
The best way to sell products online is to build your own eCommerce store. There are many options available like Shopify, Bigcommerce, Magento, WooCommerce, etc. What’s more, eCommerce stores are quite easy to set up and they allow you more control over how your site looks and how people interact with it.
Another option you have is selling products on Amazon and eBay. Check our dedicated blog on the best eCommerce platforms to gain a deeper understanding and get practical tips.
