Ever bought a watch online? If you have, you might have even bought one from a 17-year-old named Jonah. The young entrepreneur started his own business (with a little help of course) and now makes over $13,500 a month in revenue.
Today, anyone can start an online business, you just need a great idea and a great dropshipping product.
Today’s online shopping reach is higher than ever, resulting in the expected 1.3 trillion dollars by the year 2028 in e-commerce revenue in the US alone.
In a successful business with low investment options, your only concern is how to find great products. With the unstable economy worldwide, online shopping carts have come dangerously close to being at an all-time high abandonment rate.
We’re here to help you learn how to find a product to dropship, even if you are just starting out with online merchandise.
Questions to Ask Yourself When Trying to Find a Dropshipping Product
Before you start stocking products on your store, there are 3 important questions you need to ask yourself about the products you are going to sell.
1. The first question to ask yourself is, “Does this product solve any problems?”.
It is much more endurable in the market to sell a product that solves a problem than a trend-driven one. For example, an excellent solution for a disorganized kitchen cabinet will sell much better than a well-patterned dish set. It solves a specific pain point.
2. The 2nd question is, “What is my product’s unique selling point?”.
Enhance your product and market it with a unique selling proposition, defining what differentiates your brand from other brands offering the same products or services. Having USP threads the needle between the specific product you are selling and how it serves the needs of your target buyer. The message that your product is ‘the best’ or ‘unique’ simply doesn’t cover it.
To create a unique selling point, you must make it argumentative in a way that your competition doesn’t. Center around your customers’ needs, and most importantly, stick to your principles.
3. The 3rd question is, “Does my product look good to customers on my store?”.
A key point to trigger impulse buying is an eye-catching winning product. Since you don’t have the benefit of a familiar brand yet, your products must do all the talking.
On that note, here are the 11 best ways to find dropshipping products.
11 Ways To Find Dropshipping Products
Before we get into the details, we’ve created a snapshot of your path to creating a great dropshipping business that follows 3 simple principles:
This guide is going to help you perfect the first principle: “Find the perfect product to sell”.
When looking for the perfect product to sell, there are many ways to approach this, and each approach will differ depending on many factors, such as your industry, your budget, your store, and even your experience selling online. So there is no once-size-fits all approach that will work for everyone.
In our experience, you can find the best products by doing the right product research and following these 11 steps.
1. Use A Dropshipping Spy Tool
We developed the Koala Inspector spy tool to help you find the best products to sell in your chosen market or industry. With just one tap, it’ll give comprehensive data that helps you answer:
What stores are selling well? Koala Inspector will show you a long list of stores, where your goal is to identify a category or industry that you can really focus on and serve.
What are their hottest dropshipping products? Then, you can dive deeper and check which particular product is popular with their customers. Koala Inspector will show what functions or benefits the customers are trying to get, and where you’ll see market-specific purchase trends.
Why are those selling well? Get into the customers’ minds and analyze their behavior. This is where Koala Inspector will help you understand your target customers and unearth their personal pain points, reasons for purchase, and product expectations.
How can you take advantage of trends? Koala Inspector will point you toward a direction that you can take, where you can carve out a new niche, product, or benefit to further satisfy the customer base. Koala Inspector will also notify you of any trend shifts, like if a product goes out of style.
How can you continue selling the product? With Koala Inspector, you’ll have a full market view and get notified of any shifts (e.g., if your competitors change their products, pricing, or apps). That way, you can make the necessary changes to keep up with seasonality, discounts, and price hikes.
2. Market Research & Trend Analysis
If you succeed in finding the top trending products to sell, you can set yourself up as the number-one dropshipping retailer. Social media listening is the practice of following Facebook or Instagram keywords, competitor brands, and trending products. Recognizing trending dropshipping products can help you align your marketing strategies with the target audience and capitalize on the solid industry report.
A market gap is an area in e-commerce where the demands of the consumers still need to be met. It’s all time-dependant. You must get there before your competition and take advantage of what the others have yet to discover as a fertile market gap. If you analyze the customer’s behavior and feedback, you will understand what consumers seek.
You need to walk a fine line between trends and market gaps. This is where a good tracking tool like Koala Apps comes into play, measuring and reporting interests, clicks, and conversations of potential buyers across the Internet.
3. Leveraging Online Marketplaces For Product Research
AliExpress is one of the best online platforms for easy dropshipping research by keyword. The AliExpress Dropshipper Center is a sourcing place for product ratings, reviews, and the number of orders. Ensure you take some of this information seriously to avoid fake rating boosts and artificial reviews.
With the right comparison of the number of orders of well-rated cheap offers, you will end up with a product that is neither overexposed nor illegitimate. You can take a cheap product from AliExpress, order a sample, try it, and then sell it on Amazon at a higher competitive price.
There are a few ways you can use Amazon for dropshipping inspiration. Amazon Movers and Shakers is a tool that helps you find top unsaturated trending products easily. You can track down marketable new products with Amazon ‘As Seen on TV’ and Best Sellers.
eBay Watchcount helps count the number of times a product has been searched for and considered for purchase. Besides that, eBay shows top-rated sellers instead of products, but its algorithm shows the highest-selling items by itself.
4. Product Research Tools
Since most of your success with dropshipping is based on discovering industry trends, it would be wise to invest in a proper tool for product research. These are software platforms for optimization of the market and keyword research, trending products, their reviews, and competitors.
AliShark provides information on sales performance with a clear focus on filters. Though filters are its only tool option, they go a long way to finding your perfect product per country, niche, or price.
AMZScout is a budget-friendly tool specified for Amazon and equipped with dropshipping extensions. You can use it to scout profitable niche products and generate novelty ideas. Offering a lifetime purchase, it gives you its full features at your disposal, eliminating the trouble of a monthly subscription.
Terapeak is a research tool integrated into eBay using keyword and price analysis and visual aids to explore trends by season. It is focused entirely on eBay, coming for free exclusively for eBay sellers.
5. Social Media Listening & Community Discussions
If you search key phrases like ‘free shipping’ or ‘shop now,’ you can find the latest links to trending videos on Facebook that connect you to top dropshipping websites. You can try similar, commonly used phrases that describe your wanted product.
Click to see ‘videos’ and select the ones posted last month. Likes, comments, and shares sort your top content. You will get more similar content on your social media and more insider information by clicking on the links that appear.
You can similarly take advantage of the Facebook Ads Library. If you know the names of leading dropshipping stores, you can search them in the Ads Library and see their latest ads. Once you have this information, you can aim for related (not overly-saturated) products you want to sell. You will also get ads from Instagram.
TikTok is very popular right now. Following its latest hashtags like #viralproduct or #tiktokmademebuyit will let you see which videos have the most audience engagement. Then, you select to see the most recent videos and again check their likes and comments while being aware of fake comments. These are the ones you want to sell.
When using Pinterest for dropshipping research, remember that most of its users are women so it will be perfect for female-centric products, especially in the US. You can pin your wanted products in your niche if you create an account. The downside is that you will not see the social response to a certain product.
Finally, you can directly communicate with your target audience using online forums. Google, Facebook, and Twitter are good places to find your ideal forum. Community platforms like Reddit are often your best choice to engage with your audience for any specific niche.
6. Influencer Marketing
With Instagram, your best option is to look for influencers who promote products of your interest. They are already doing the marketing for you. Once you do this, you can research their sponsorships and the products they casually use in their reels.
Click on the product and see how it sells. You can easily research people’s opinions on the product by reading the comments on this and other influencers’ accounts. Some of them will express how satisfied they are with using it. If many people ask where they can buy it, it’s obvious that you already have a customer.
7. Google Trends To Check Product Demand
With Google Trends, you can check how a product is doing with popularity growth. You can write your intended product, pick a target audience, and see instant results. You can further filter these results by region or category.
Google Trends is ideal for testing different products or deciding which is selling the best from several similar products from different stores.
8. Dropshipping Supplier Directories
A dropshipping supplier is a company that delivers the product directly to the customer when an online retailer makes an order (as the middleman). This way, the online retailer saves significant money on a warehouse.
A dropshipping directory is an online site that categorizes and groups together pre-verified dropshipping suppliers. They offer contract terms and services for each supplier.
These are some of the most popular:
- SaleHoo: Although they are one of the priciest directories, they provide over 8,000 wholesale suppliers over several categories, such as fashion, beauty, home, and electronics. All of their suppliers are carefully verified, and they offer a member community and great customer support. SaleHoo Market Research Lab is a tool that gives you statistics to determine if you can profit from a particular product.
- Wholesale2B: They have a large selection of over a million products. One of their best features is their detailed order placement and their work system with Shopify and Amazon. Although Wholesale 2B does not offer its own tool, you can use its product list and customer reviews to conduct your analysis.
- Worldwide Brands: Based in Asia, they offer educational materials and a lifetime subscription. All their dropshippers are certified with more than 16 million products.
If you do data analysis on their products, engage with their community, and use their educational resources to your advantage, you can take advantage of their best features despite their lack of an individual research tool.
9. Patent & Trademark Databases
After you have found the database of your target region, for example, USPTO for the United States or the Global Brand Database, you should explore the filters the database uses.
The Global Brand Database uses a search-by-image filter, but you can also explore by country, category, or any other date you have. Patents may come as both granted patents or applications covering different rights. Look at the documents that come out this way, and you will know if a product is unique.
Search for the trademark and discover if a product is branded. Ensure the brand manufactures the product you are trying to sell.
10. Offline Retail Stores & Local Communities
Using local stores for product research can be very useful. By engaging with offline retailers, you can discover the customers’ unmet needs and trends of the region.
People won’t bother using your services if you can easily find the product you are trying to sell at the local mall. This is why your best bet is to find products already in short supply.
Offline retail stores can lead to discovering potential suppliers or partnerships, and so can local community engagement. By communicating with the community, you can advertise your business, get purchaser insight, and learn about any government regulations around dropshipping you might have missed.
11. Crowdfunding Platforms
Crowdfunding is when people financially support other people or businesses through an online platform, and you can use this to your benefit. Since some businesses use crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, there is also a range of business success and product attractions for people who fund them. You can use this to analyze which trends in what categories gain more attraction.
When you see what product is more supported by customers, you can realize what is in demand. People leave feedback and suggestions on Kickstarter, and there are even forums that you can participate in and ask questions. Going through people’s comments can give you important insight.
Key Considerations When Selecting Products to Dropship
Once you find your product, what’s next? Your pricing should be just on point to have financial gain out of it. The products you invest in alongside their shipping rates need to be cheaper than the competitive prices you have determined to sell at. This is how you make a profit.
Considering the profit margins, you should source items that you can sell for 10 $ more than what you paid for them. This way, you cover your expenses, shipping, and marketing strategies. And finally, much of this depends on finding a reliable, affordable, and quality supplier.
Once you’ve researched your competition, you can see if they are selling the product you are after. If you can’t find a good supplier to source this product cheaply and sell it at a competitive price, it’s best to let it go.
For now, build a strong business and a name for yourself. If, down the line, you still want this product, you can come back to it and reevaluate your situation.
Oversaturation can occur when a once-in-demand product is now offered in larger quantities than it can be consumed. Avoid this problem by doing your niche research. The competition here will simply be smaller. However, oversaturation can still occur even if you specialize in niche items. When it comes to this, you can:
– Explore more specific niches.
– Offer the product to a different region.
– Differentiate your brand from your competitors.
Another term you should consider is high-ticket items. These are pricey products that range between hundreds and thousands of dollars. The profit here can be much bigger, but naturally, there is more at stake.
Your supplier must be rigorously verified. Ensure you are dealing with genuine quality products, and think about the customer service that comes with it. Usually, these are items in branded clothing, electronics, or gear.
Dropshipping Product Research Challenges
The dropshipping business model is fairly easy to understand. Simply put, you identify a product that consumers want, sell it to them at a retail price, purchase the product from a supplier at wholesale price, and have the supplier directly ship the product to the customer:
But finding that specific product that customers would want isn’t as easy as it seems. We’ve been through the challenge ourselves and understand what you’re experiencing right now.
When trying to find the best products to sell online, most new players to the game deal with:
- Manually searching for everything. You’re constantly browsing through your store, your customer reviews, and your competitors to see if there’s anything else you can do to improve business.
- Confusion about which product or niche to focus on. You can have an excellent idea in mind, but does the market want that? You can’t just sell everything under the sun, because that’ll create confusion among buyers.
- Getting enough accurate data on competitors. You don’t know what the great ones are doing to achieve such success, and you don’t know what the losers are doing—so you can’t avoid the same potholes.
However, these are the 3 key factors that make a dropshipping business successful when it comes to product research.
Whatever industry you’re trying to carve a path in, you have to know how to use technology for automation and in-depth data. That way, you get the inside scoop about what the market needs, and how you can get ahead of your competition without wasting resources.
Top Industries Thriving in Dropshipping 2024
Here are some of the top dropshipping niches in 2024, and most of them will not even surprise you:
- Beauty Care – with plenty of suppliers to source from, beauty is a steadily growing industry. The facial roller and the blackhead remover vacuum are on a roll.
- Phone Cases – electronic devices and their complementary equipment have a relatively short lifespan. It seems customers seek cases with multiple functions. The mirror flip phone case and the battery charger phone case listened to people’s needs this year.
- Swimwear – there is always room for fashion in dropshipping. There are numerous choices here and plenty of room for further categorizing.
- Men’s Fashion – although it seems as though fashion for men doesn’t make massive revolutions, it is always steadily here and in demand. The newest version of the cargo pants and bucket hat are what is booming this year.
- Women’s Fashion – women’s wants and needs change every season of every year, so the high-waist biker shorts and the thin puffer jacket are what is out there now.
- Bonus Tip: Digital Products. While digital products are not yet the top-performing dropshipping niche, they are expected to make up 26% of all online sales by 2026. So, we urge you to get ahead of the rush and explore digital dropshipping.
Product Validation & Testing
Before investing in a product, you want to ensure this investment is worthy. Comparative testing is researching the market and all necessary platforms to see feedback on the product. Visit Kickstarter, go to forums, and see what people want. Test how two similar products are doing one against the other in comparison. Don’t hesitate to buy samples before you make your decision.
Ask as many questions as possible, start conversations, and conduct surveys. You need to determine who your target audience is. Your product is not for everybody. With crowdfunding platforms, you can tell people about your idea and ask them to preorder it. See if they show any interest. If they don’t like the idea, find out why.
Building a Sustainable Brand & Niche Focus
Building a brand goes beyond just stamping a logo, although there is some importance in this, too. Having your name out there means building a trusted audience that remembers your name every time they scroll down their phones, thinking of tracking down the type of pillow they want to buy.
What is your brand’s personality? Beyond finding trending products to dropship, your brand needs constant communication with its customers. Your brand should ideally complement the personality of your buyers but provide them with a unique service they cannot find with other brands.
Do you already have a vision in mind? There’s no better year than this to invest in a dropshipping startup.
