Thinking of starting your own e-commerce store this year? It can be a great way to earn some extra income on the side. There are various platforms you can sell on, but many sellers typically choose Amazon for its established customer base and potential to generate profits.
While the e-commerce site offers substantial benefits, success falls on your ability to know what to put on the market. Being an Amazon seller isn’t about listing an item and hoping to make money overnight. You need to implement the right tools and strategies to bring in long-term profitability.
The question then, is, “What are the most profitable items to sell on Amazon?” We’ll answer that and more in this article, so you can begin your 2024 on a lucrative note.
Is Selling on Amazon Profitable?
Yes. It can be profitable for you, your friend, anyone. The key is to select the right items to sell. When deciding on a product offering, be sure to do your research and take the following factors into account.
Customer Demand
More demand means more opportunity to drive sales. Aligning your offering with what your targeted audience wants can ensure a greater chance at profitability.
Competition
Consider the competitive landscape for a product. Leverage Amazon seller tools like Competitor Intelligence from Viral Launch to get real-time alerts on changes in your competition’s prices, reviews, and sales rank. By performing a competitive analysis, you can identify unique selling points, set appropriate prices, and ultimately set yourself apart from others.
Margins
A sustainable business model on Amazon includes selling high-margin products. Think about an offering that allows for sustainable growth and adaptability in the online marketplace—things that help you maximize your profits. For sellers in the FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) program, try our free profit calculator. It’s a great resource for calculating expenses and fees upfront, so you can understand your profit margins and cultivate financial success.
The Anatomy of a Profitable Product
Take a look at the Best Sellers in the Bedding Sets & Collections and Chair Pads categories below. Can you pinpoint what gives these top-selling items their competitive edge? Think it over before scrolling for the answer.
Believe it or not, all of these top products possess specific qualities that contribute to their profitability.
- Evergreen
Seasonal items are great for supplementing your earnings, but for steady sales, selling something evergreen is the way to go. Personal care products and office supplies are just two examples of items that can provide you with a reliable income stream, as they cater to a broad and enduring market year-round.
- Durable
Non-fragile products such as cooking utensils or workout equipment ensure your inventory is less prone to damage during shipping. Opting for these types of items will reduce the likelihood of returns, disgruntled customers, and lost profits.
- Easy to Ship
Keep your product costs down by selling small, compact items that don’t cost a fortune to send out. That includes things like puzzles, basic apparel, and phone accessories, but it’s up to you to decide what will work best for your business.
- Minimal Competition with Established Brands
Going up against a well-known brand can be tough on your profit-earning potential. Avoid this scenario by selling more niche or specialized products within a broader category. We will get more into this subject later on in the article.
- Reasonable Price Points
Your goal as an Amazon seller is to set a price that stays in the Goldilocks zone. Nothing too low that you can’t maintain healthy profits, but also not too high that it dissuades customers from buying your products. A decent price range to go by is anything between $20–$200, but this will depend on the category you’re selling in. However, it’s a good starting point in ensuring that whatever you’re selling rewards you with a high profit margin.
- Opportunity to Cross-Sell
Offering a catalog of products that can be bundled together can help increase your profits. If a customer intends to purchase one item, you can suggest they explore and add complementary products to their order.
EXAMPLE: Encourage customers buying a reusable water bottle to also get a reusable straw and water bottle holder.
Understanding the traits of a profitable product is crucial whether you plan to sell niche items or private label products. This knowledge will help you make well-informed choices about what to sell, a topic we’ll discuss next.
Amazon Product Categories with High Profit Margin Items
In a post-pandemic world, consumers have prioritized purchasing items that promote healthy living, self-care, staying connected, and redefining the concept of home life. This shift in spending has put the following product categories on the map for sellers looking to add high-margin products to their portfolio. Check them out below.
If you’re still unsure which niche is right for your business, read our article on the top 5 most profitable Amazon product categories. We examine the ones creating significant waves in the market and share tips on how you can make the most out of those trends.
How to Find the Best Products to Sell on Amazon in 2024
Figuring out what sells best on Amazon can be a challenge if you go the manual route. That’s why we recommend using tools designed for e-commerce sellers. This type of software will not only aggregate large amounts of data for you, but also help you identify which markets to pursue.
The best part is that you can do all this in a few easy steps with Viral Launch. Here’s how:
Step One: Create a List of Product Ideas
This is your chance to get creative. What’s currently missing in the market? What types of products do you want to see? How could you improve an already existing product?
If you’re not sure where to start, you can draw inspiration from the following sources:
Amazon
What better place to get ideas than Amazon itself? Pay attention to the Best Sellers, Movers & Shakers, and New Releases sections to get insight into some hot-selling Amazon items.
Product Finder
Leverage a tool like Product Discovery from Viral Launch to discover untapped product opportunities. Search by product, keyword, category, or brand to get ideas on what to sell, fast. For more focused results, use the advanced filters and watch how easy it is to gather key data on the competition, demand, and more.
There’s no need to stress about remembering which products to monitor, either. You can keep a running list of your ideas with the Pinned Products feature.
Step Two: Validate Your Product Idea
Before selling a product, first determine if it’s a good idea to begin with. What does the competition look like? Is there a lot of demand for it? Does the product you want to sell have the potential to be an Amazon Best Seller?
You could spend hours on Amazon looking for answers or you could find what you need in seconds with Viral Launch’s Market Intelligence. The tool provides real-time sales data on a variety of elements, which we’ll get into below.
Market Overview
Get the latest data on your competition in an organized table, as well as the estimated search volume for what you want to sell. That number will help you decide if there’s enough customer demand. In this case, “crochet kit for beginners” has good demand since roughly 130,000 people are searching for this item on Amazon.
You’ll also receive a product idea score, located at the top of the page. This value gauges the potential within a specific market. Looking at our example again, “crochet kit for beginners” has a 3.5/5 score, indicating that the idea has promise.
That doesn’t mean you should always disregard product ideas with lower scores, however. Any of those ideas could be great for your Amazon business depending on your goals.
Keywords
Research other relevant, high-volume search terms that could serve as primary keywords in your market. Going back to our example, “beginner crochet kit,” “crochet kit for beginners adults,” or “crochet beginner kit” could be viable keywords to look into further before you get into product sourcing.
Seasonal Trends
Leverage historical data on sales, average price, and average review count to identify the best times to sell your product. With “crochet kit for beginners,” we can see that the product tends to sell better during the holiday season.
Analysis
In this tab, Market Intelligence will analyze the data pulled for your product idea and come back with insights, tips, warnings, and alerts.
Let’s revisit “crochet kit for beginners” again. The tool flagged it as a seasonal item. If your business goal is to maintain year-round sales, it might be worth considering a more evergreen product to sell.
Integrated Calculator
Evaluate potential profits per sale, assess initial market entry costs, and estimate ideal order quantities. You can even customize the settings for more precise calculations.
Step Three: Check Out Other Resources
You’re not alone in the quest for finding the best items to sell on Amazon. In fact, there are numerous tutorials, guides, and other content created by fellow sellers and e-commerce experts to help you become successful. Here are a few you can reference:
- 3 Steps To Finding Your Next Great Product: A free ebook from Viral Launch that gives practical advice on determining which products are right for you.
- What to Sell on Amazon—5 Tips to Find a Profitable Amazon Product: A comprehensive article that helps you decide what to sell on Amazon to make money.
- The Seller’s Edge Podcast: A show packed with information on what it takes to sell on Amazon. Hear stories, learnings, and key takeaways from Amazon sellers themselves.
- BONUS: Connect with Amazon experts in person or online in forums and groups to gain insights into upcoming trends and product opportunities.
Demystifying Niche Product Categories
When it comes to finding the most profitable items to sell on Amazon, don’t immediately dismiss niche markets. Despite their seemingly small scale, these markets present some serious sales potential for turning a profit. Let’s explore why below.
- Less competition: Establish your business more easily without having to go up against other e-commerce stores in your space.
- Targeted audience: Increase the likelihood of connecting with customers by tailoring your product line to a specific group. For instance, if you’re selling to health-conscious pet owners, you might sell pet food made with all-natural ingredients.
- Higher margins: With minimal competition and a segmented audience, you can command higher prices and sell products with the highest product margin.
- Brand loyalty: Catering to a niche market can foster strong connections since consumers tend to be passionate about their interests.
So how do you find a profitable niche? For starters, you can peruse the many product categories and subcategories on Amazon. This will give you a rundown of up-and-coming trends and help you decide which areas to delve into.
As mentioned earlier, the Best Sellers, Movers & Shakers and New Releases pages are all good places to look for niche but popular items to sell on Amazon. Make sure to browse the Most Wished For and Gift Ideas sections, too.
Once you’ve found your product idea, remember to validate it. You can do this on your own, but again, we recommend using Market Intelligence or another product research tool. It will speed up the process and clear up any lingering uncertainties using real-time data.
A Quick Recap: Your Path to Profit on Amazon in 2024
In the vast realm of e-commerce, the product reigns supreme. It can make or break your online business, which makes it that much more important to choose your offering and selling strategies wisely.
Luckily, you can always take advantage of the capabilities offered by Amazon seller software, such as Viral Launch. Besides Market Intelligence and Product Discovery, our comprehensive toolkit provides you with data-driven solutions that help you anticipate future trends and profitable niches, craft optimized product descriptions, automate your PPC, and much more.
It’s now up to you to take these tools and what you’ve learned, and apply it to your business. Do your product research, find your high-margin product, and go out there and sell it. You’ve got what it takes to create a profitable future for yourself.
Additional Resources
For even more information on tools and discovering profitable products to sell on Amazon, click on the following links.
How New Amazon Sellers Can Master Product Discovery and Market Intelligence
Market Intelligence Chrome Extension
