Success leaves clues… and winning products seem to fit into a certain criteria.
In this blog post we dive deep into what the ‘winning criteria’ is, and what to look for and what to avoid when identifying a product.
What Are The Main Considerations When Choosing A Product?
The first thing you need to understand is there is no such thing as a perfect product, our rules herein are really made to be broken! So take them with a grain of salt but try to take all things into consideration when you are searching for a great product on Amazon.
Why The Price Should Be The First Thing You Get Right
The very first thing you need to get right is the price. There is no point in launching a product if you can’t make a decent margin on it.
We like to mark up our products by at least $10. To be able to do that you need to be able to sell for at least $15 or more. In fact that would be at the very low end of the scale.
In reality you are probably going to be looking at products which are upwards of $20 or more. Bear in mind if you buy something for $5, you want to be able to triple that to have a sell price of about $15, that’s normally what we tend to see.
So if you’ve got a raw cost for an item, for example a photo frame and it costs you $10, for that to be viable, you’re going to want to sell that for at least $30 because by the time Amazon has added its fees and things like that, you’ll have a bit of room for some margin.
TIP: If everyone else is selling at $15, it doesn’t mean you can’t sell at $30
Analyse Your Products Using Reviews
Reviews are an indicator of competition so when you are analysing your products, you want to have a look at each keyword and see how many products listed for that keyword on page 1 have less than 400 reviews.
Bear in mind 400 is just a guiding number, you don’t have to use that. We personally like to see 5 or 6 products on Amazon having 400 reviews or less.
Why The Physical Size And Weight Of A Product Matters
The physical size of the product matters, the smaller and lighter the product is, the easier and cheaper it’s going to be to actually ship that product to Amazon and maintain low storage fees and things like that.
That’s not to say that you can’t sell a big heavy item, we’ve got some that we sell in one of our brands which are quite sizable and quite weighty but that’s fine because they’ve got decent margins and mark-ups, so we can afford to do it, but if you’re selling something bigger, then just keep in mind that if you’re shipping it, it’s going to cost more.
Again, as in size, if you’re selling something heavier, then it’s going to cost more to ship, especially if it’s going by air shipment.
So the key thing here in an ideal world, the lighter the product the better, we recommend ideally less than 3lb (1.5kg or less).
Checking For Complexities
Ask yourself, is the product simple to use? Will people know how to use it or when they get it to their house do you think they’ll open it up and have trouble using it and think it’s defective? When in reality the product may not be defective, they’re just not using it correctly.
Also, in terms of complexity, if it’s some kind of a gadget that’s got lots of moving parts, it could be something that breaks, i.e., durability, so not just breakage during shipping, but breakage in every day use.
We personally would not want to sell something made of glass for example because it could easily break during shipping.
Why You Should Stay Away From Size And Color Variations
Try to stay away from size variations because it can get confusing and some times people measure things in different ways.
So let’s say you were selling t shirts, and you’ve got small, medium and large, some people might think they are a medium when in reality, they are a small. This happens all the time for people that are selling products that have lots of different variations on Amazon.
Color variations will complicate things even more, and complicate things more on your marketing, and also sometimes things look different. For example one blue that someone sees on the internet might not be the same blue they see when the product arrives.
TIP: Keep it simple and avoid color variations where possible
Understanding Liability Issues
Try to avoid selling potentially dangerous products, so things like knives, lawn darts for example, things that could lead you into potential legal issues. So we don’t want anyone to get hurt using the products that we sell.
The same can be said for restricted products, you want to make sure you avoid selling anything that’s a restricted product.
That’s not to say you can’t or shouldn’t sell a restricted product, you absolutely can but bear in mind you’ll have more hoops to jump through.
For example if you’re selling some hazardous material or chemical then you’re going to have to get approval.
You can find out more about which are the restricted categories by using the following link:
Categories Requiring Approval Amazon Categories
Trusting Your Own Gut Feeling
Finally, trust your own gut feeling, go with what your gut is telling you!
- Is this going to make a good product?
- Is this something you could be happy with?
- Is this something you would like to be selling?
Remember, you don’t have to be an expert in the product you are selling.
When it starts selling and you start making money, you’ll quickly become quite interested in it so don’t worry about being an expert on day 1!
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Tehmina Zamir is a Content Manager at Blackbird Suite. With 5+ years experience in the multiple-niche industry, she writes action driven marketing sales copy to help millions of Amazon sellers grow their business at a rapid rate. She is also an author of Global Patient Transfer, Gooline Space, Healthwiz360 etc.