Dropshipping is the process of fulfilling an order through a third-party retailer’s website.
It is like circumventing the retail supply chain since the retailer does not need to have a warehouse. What he does is place the order to the manufacturer or wholesaler, who will then fulfill it and send the item to the customer.
However, running a dropshipping business is not for the faint of heart. That’s because you need to find the products that can help you earn tons of money.
In this post, we will walk you through the eight ways of finding winning products for your dropshipping store.
1. Google Trends
Most of the time, Google Trends is used to find out if a topic is growing or declining in popularity. However, you can also use it to find the best products that you can dropship.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Plug in the product’s keyword on Google Trends.
- Customize the data points that are relevant to you, such as country and year (Note: 2014 – present allows you to see the bigger picture).
- Check how the keyword is trending in the past 12 months or so.
The trend is a good indication of whether it makes sense to capitalize on a particular item or not.
2. Your Competitors’ Best Sellers
There is a big chance that other dropshippers have a public list of best sellers.
You do not need to find the exact products. All you need to do is to study their product collections. Look for patterns to discern which items are trending at the moment.
Let’s say you are selling women’s apparel. You may notice from competitor #1 that a plaid shirt is included in her list of best selling products. The same thing goes with competitors #2 and #3. This means, adding a plaid shirt in your product list could generate revenue.
You’re understanding their buyers’ behavior to your advantage. As Nicole Ferreira points out, “The more you look through competitor websites, the more you’ll find patterns and connections among top brands. You can incorporate these patterns as you build your product collection.”
3. Top Performing Ads
Just because the ad you saw on Facebook has a mediocre copy and product page does not mean that it is not a winning product. Sometimes, it is also good to look at an ads’ engagement.
Thousands of likes. Comment after comment. Even users are tagging their friends on the comment section.
These are signs that people want whatever product is on the social media ad. Therefore, it’s a winning product.
When you get a lightbulb moment like this, the next thing you need to do is find a similar product on popular online shopping sites like Amazon or eBay.
However, just because it was a hit on social media does not mean it will rake in tons of revenue for your dropshipping business. There are so many factors to consider when selling a product:
- It should not be widely available on retailers
- Your ads should target the right market
- You need to convince your site visitors to buy now
- And more!
4. Amazon Best Sellers
Amazon has a bestseller list for virtually every category. Not to mention that it gets updated by the hour.
Here’s how you can leverage Amazon for your dropshipping business:
- Look for the best selling items from a category that is relevant to you. If you sell women’s apparel, you can check out the women’s fashion category on Amazon.
- See if the item is available on other online retailers. The key here is using the keywords. We are not talking about the brand name, but more about the product description (i.e. “comfortable drawstring pants”).
If you see the same item on another online shop, and it happens to be their bestseller, there is a good chance it could be the same for you.
Just remember not to use the manufacturer’s product name. It is best to spend some time coming up with a unique product name. That way, you can make it difficult for your competitors to find the item.
5. Unicorn Smasher for Chrome
Speaking of Amazon, the Unicorn Smasher for Chrome lets you see the best-selling products on Amazon for free. Also, this Chrome extension helps you find the prices, bestseller rank, reviews, ratings, and estimated sales of a product provided that you are on the .com domain.
PRO TIP: You will know when an item is a winning product for dropshipping when there are a lot of sellers for that particular item.
6. Wish’s Winning Products
Similar to Amazon, Wish also lists their best selling products.
When dropshipping from Wish (or from other popular online retailers), it is best that you look into the numbers. How many bought the item? How many left a positive review about it?
The number of buyers and good reviews is a good indicator that an item can be your winning product.
Another thing to keep in mind is that best selling product on Wish are meant for an impulse to buy, which means that it can do well on visual platforms like Instagram.
Ferreira shares some tips on how you can identify an impulse buy product on Wish:
- Its colors stand out as visually appealing
- Evokes an emotion such as “This is so cute!”
- Features a unique or different style from other similar products
7. eBay Watch Count
The eBay Watch Count allows you to see what is popular on the online retailer.
You can use specific keywords to see photos that are trending at the moment. On the other hand, broad keywords allow you to find the best sellers in a particular niche.
When using Watch Count, the number of views is a good indicator of a winning product for your dropshipping business.
As for the photos, there are always multiple products shown. This is something you can adapt to your dropship platform. That way, your customers can see the whole selection before seeing the product page. This may even entice them to buy since there are more options available.
8. Oberlo
Oberlo lets you access data on various products on AliExpress, allowing you to discover items that have had sales and those that have not. But other than the order volume, here are some factors that you can check out:
- Star rating. You should opt for anything that has 4.5 stars or higher. But if there are more than 100 reviews, anything that has 4 stars or more is good.
- Page Views vs Total Orders. Divide the orders from the past six months against the page views, and see the percentage you get. If it is more than 50%, you are likely to have a winning product.
- Orders in the last 30 days. If the orders in the last 30 days are higher than in the previous six months, you are likely to get a product that is meant to boom in the next couple of months.
It All Boils Down to Research
When it comes to finding the winning product for your dropshipping store, it all boils down to research.
Sure, it is tempting to add random products on your site just because they look nice. However, your goal is to create an online store that sells best-selling products — products that could help you earn a lot.
Thus, it is imperative that you do your homework and have a strategic process. That way, you are only a few steps away from that winning product that you can put on your store.
