November 25, 2022

What to Sell on Amazon, or How to Find Products to Sell on Amazon

As 63% of all product searches start with Amazon, it is the most attractive marketplace for sellers of all kinds. And it seems fairly straightforward - you set up your listing, fine-tune its looks and content (known as Amazon listing optimization), and wait for the buyers to flow in.

Yet with almost 2 million sellers currently operating on the platform, Amazon is already packed, so Amazon sales are more of a fiercely competitive race.

Sellers tend to focus on things related to generating traffic - from nailing Amazon’s internal algos to driving external traffic to advertising - but as with traditional product launches, the most important thing is picking the right products to sell on Amazon. And this is where sellers and sellers-to-be often get it wrong.

So, how would you go about finding the items to sell on Amazon that will bring you the most money? Beginners often rely on the wrong things:

  • Anecdotal evidence (“product X seems to be getting some Amazon traction”),
  • Intuition (“this product could be the next POP IT”),
  • Global trends (“everyone’s talking about the new Lego collab, I could sell something related to it”)

These are just some of the ideas that might seem good at first but they're not reliable when it comes to how to find products to sell on Amazon.

So, what is the easiest way for beginners to identify things that sell on Amazon? The real Amazon gem can only be discovered with the help of data and thorough analysis of the existing Amazon landscape.
Doesn’t sound that straightforward, after all? It can be - assuming you know where to start your search for things to sell on Amazon to make money and have the right tools at hand.

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What is Amazon Product Research?

To put it simply, Amazon product research is a process of finding things to sell on Amazon to make money. It is the key to discovering a winning product that has high demand and low competition. While many other sellers still rely on hunches and most likely face failed product launches, you can go all data-driven and validate your idea before investing any further.

Done right, Amazon product research should help you find the items to sell on Amazon that have a low overhead cost, a large potential customer base and fewer competitors competing for that valuable first Amazon search result.


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On the Anatomy of a Winning Product

So, how to find products to sell on Amazon? Before we show you how to actually run Amazon product research, let’s mention some of the most important criteria that make up things to sell on Amazon and things that sell on Amazon. You can, of course, shorten the list and pick the ones that fit your business goals.  

High Demand

There's no point in launching any product if there’s no customers looking for it. Your job is to find things to sell on Amazon that could potentially trigger at least 10 sales a day - this is a very good Amazon benchmark. So, the best approach would be to explore competing listings or to rely on search volumes - any items that get over 50,000 Amazon searches each month (including few top related keywords) would also be a potentially good fit

Low competition

While the things that sell on Amazon may be popular among Amazon surfers and buyers, you have to factor in the competition as well. The fewer competitors listed for a given product, the more chances you have at getting top rankings (especially as a new seller).

Mid-range pricing

It may be tempting to go ahead with a high-tier-price product on Amazon and worry less about the sales volumes but try to pick things that sell on Amazon within the $10-$50 price range as you probably don’t have the brand authority to make more expensive products. But don’t go all AliExpress about it and focus on super-cheap things to sell on Amazon - profit margin is a very important factor and you’ll barely have any if you go with things that sell on Amazon below $10.

Use the free FBA calculator in Product Research for Amazon to determine the things that sell on Amazon and how profitable they are.

Simply choose the item you’re interested in, insert the cost of procuring or manufacturing it, and set a price on Amazon. The tool will help calculate your Amazon fees and show you how much money you’ll make from each sale (Net, ROI, and Profit).

Experiment with different products and categories, and find a winning product at no cost.

Product Research for Amazon

Find winning products to sell on Amazon

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Lack of competitor reviews

Customer ratings and reviews are a big part of Amazon’s ranking algorithm, so it can sometimes be easier to beat competitors if their product listings don’t have many customer reviews.

Non-branded or white label products

It’s hard to compete for product sales with a famous brand if you're a new product or brand. It is better to start with a product that has relatively little competition.

Product features: lightweight, compact, and non-fragile

If you’re sourcing your product from China for Amazon FBA, shipping costs can quickly become expensive. To avoid any potential downfalls and challenges, try to pick things to sell on Amazon that are lightweight (under 3 pounds), small-to-medium-sized, and less prone to damage.

Before you make your final product choice, make sure to go through Amazon’s list of restricted products to see if your product is allowed. If it isn't listed - BINGO - you might have found a winning product.  With the right product and Amazon FBA, you can make money quickly.

On the Anatomy of a Winning Product on Amazon

Best Things to Sell on Amazon November 2022

November is a great time to find products that sell well on Amazon. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping days of the year, so look for items that you can promote as part of these events. Currently, products like paints, lipsticks, car cleaning kits, Christmas decor, mouse pads, candles and pore cleansing strips are some of the top selling items on Amazon.

To get a more accurate view of what is selling well on Amazon throughout this month, you can use a tool like free Product Research for Amazon to see which products have seen the most sales and which ones have the potential to make you money. This way, you can see which items are selling well on Amazon right now and create a winning strategy to identify successful products that you can add to your inventory.

So, start researching now to find the perfect products to add to your store!

The Curious Case of Amazon Product Research

Before we dig into how to go about Amazon product research, we’d love to share one story kindly sent by our customer who managed to find a winning product in the most unexpected circumstances.

Quin Amorim, CEO at Prolific Zone, runs a company that manages Amazon Seller accounts for various clients. And here’s his first-hand experience with discovering a winning product:

“Over the years, I sourced hundreds of products, but this particular product was an adrenaline rush from start to finish.

The whole process was different than any other product sourced to date, and to be honest it was a combination of luck, out-of-the-box thinking, and the right timing.

This was late 2016, after Amazon had removed the option to offer the product in exchange for a review.

I was managing a Vendor Central account for a pharma company that had one of the most well-known OTC drugs in North America, and they were unhappy with Vendor, so we decided to move a cold & flu medicine to Seller Central, and do FBA.  

While doing keyword research, we found a search term that was not even closely related to the product, but it popped up constantly - we ranked high for one portable wooden table/tray.

Not only that, but after a while, the tray showed up within the “frequently bought together” space.

Our conclusion was that people who were sick with cold and flu liked to have their meals served to them in bed or on the couch, so a loved one would order these trays.

We researched the demand, checked out the competition (at the time only a handful), and realized it was oversized by a couple of inches. A simple inquiry was sent to the manufacturer, who said he could downsize the exact same tray by 2". This helped us take the product out of the oversized category, and save $4 per unit in FBA fees!

I'm happy to say, the first "test order" was 600 units, and they all sold in 5 days. By February 2017, we had the highest daily sales, with a casino ordering 1900 units in one day to offer trays to their guests for Valentine’s Day.

All thanks to keyword research for an over-the-counter drug”.

12 Ways to Figure Out What to Sell on Amazon

Now that you have a good idea of what a winning product looks like, and how research can help you find relevant data, it's time to take action. Whether you're starting out as a successful Amazon seller or improving your existing business model, there are certain tested and proven ways to figure out what products have the highest sales potential on Amazon.

So, if you're wondering how to find products to sell on Amazon, here are 12 ways to figure out what items or ideas have the greatest demand and are the easiest to pick up.

1. Discover Amazon's best-selling items in a specific category.

Amazon has its very own section for current best sellers, allowing you to easily browse through popular products in a specific category. Take some time to go through this list and take note of which items have consistently been ranked the highest - these are likely to be the ones with the greatest demand that you can pick up and start selling.

Additionally, look for similar searches and keywords to get an idea of the types of products customers are looking for. You can also take a look at the "Customers Also Bought" section to see which items have been purchased together with other popular products - this could give you an indication as to what types of ideas would be best suited for your store.

Discover Amazon's best-selling items in a specific category

In addition to checking customer reviews, you can also take a look at Amazon's trending and most wished-for products in each product category. This will help you pinpoint which particular products customers are looking for and interested in, although it doesn't necessarily imply that the product has top sales.

High wish list numbers indicate high interest among customers, so if you can offer a better deal on pricing or shipping policy, you may be able to win over some of the competition. For a more sales-driven approach, you can also take a look at the trending items on Amazon. This will give you an idea of what products are selling well.

Check Amazon’s trending and most wished-for products

3. Identify successful sellers’ products.

Moving away from product-specific research, you can also look at what the most successful sellers are doing on Amazon. Do a Google search of their store or products and take note of which items they're selling and then you can make a list of the best things to sell on Amazon to make money. This may require some trial and error as not all popular products are equal - you'll need to do some research to figure out which items have the greatest demand.

4. Pinpoint which products are getting the biggest traction among Amazon affiliates.

Another non-product-oriented approach to uncovering the best items to sell on Amazon is to look at which products are getting the most traction among Amazon affiliates. Affiliates work by placing a special link to an Amazon product page on their sites. When visitors click through and purchase the item, affiliates get a share of the products' sales.

Naturally, affiliates will only want to feature the products that get the most sales. This is where tools like Semrush Traffic Analytics can be useful - you can use it to find out which sites are bringing traffic to Amazon and which content features the most popular products.

From there, you can pinpoint which items have been getting the biggest traction and focus your efforts on those for maximum sales potential.

5. Check product profitability.

Once you've narrowed down your list of things that sell on Amazon and have an idea of what items have the most potential demand, it's time to check product profitability.

The Product Research for Amazon tools can help you with this by providing you with an FBA calculator which shows you the cost of producing each item as well as its current price on Amazon. From there, you can also view fees and shipping costs to get an idea of how much money you'll make from each product.

With this information in hand, it's much easier to decide which products have the most demand. That way, you can focus your attention on the products that will give you the biggest returns.

6. Avoid big brand territories (Amazon included.)

It's important to avoid big brand territories when picking the best things to sell on Amazon. While it is possible to make money by selling products from big brands like Amazon, it's often much easier to pick up items that aren't already being sold by a large company.

This way, you don't have to worry about competing with the deep pockets of the bigger companies and have a much better chance of making profits. Selling from smaller brands can also be a great way to diversify your store and attract new customers.

7. Find a gap in the market.

Finding a gap in the market is one of the best ways to decide which items you should be selling on Amazon. This can often be done by looking at what's already out there and then thinking of ideas that could provide a unique product in demand.

This means doing some research into customer reviews and feedback for existing products as well as attending trade shows, following industry news and keeping an eye on trends. You could also take a look at Amazon's own catalog to see what items are being sold the most and which ones still have room for improvement.

8. Find products that don't have too much competition.

Finding products that don't have too much competition is another great way to make money on Amazon. While it's always good to pick things with high demand, if there are a lot of competitors in the market for those same items, you may struggle to make any profits.

This means taking the time to research which areas are underserved and then seeing if there are any products or items you can pick up that would fill that gap. This will also require doing some research into customer reviews and feedback as well as keeping an eye on industry trends.

You can use a tool like News Alerts to stay up to date with your competitors and filter your results based on different keywords. This way, you can set up custom alerts whenever a new competitor appears so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

9. Check Amazon customer reviews.

One of the best indicators of things that sell on Amazon is customer reviews. Customers are often the best way to gauge demand and popularity for a particular item as they're already showing interest in it by leaving feedback. This means taking a look at recent customer reviews, seeing what customers like, don't like and what improvements could be made to the item.

10. Size matters.

When it comes to finding things that sell on Amazon, size really does matter. If you're picking items that are too big or bulky, then they may be difficult and costly to store and ship.

This means looking for products that are small enough to fit into a box and don't need much special packaging for shipping. This is especially important if you're using FBA services as they have restrictions on size and weight. Smaller items are usually the easiest things to sell on Amazon and can be a great way to make money as items that don't need special storage or packaging requirements are more popular as they are easier to ship, store and manage.

11. Monthly refill-based products.

Products that are used up in a month or less can be great things to sell on Amazon to make money. Monthly refills such as toiletries, pet supplies, office supplies, cleaning products and even food items are always in high demand and will ensure that you have a consistent stream of customers coming back for more.

This makes them the perfect products to sell and the easiest to pick up for those looking for things to sell on Amazon. Just make sure you do your research into customer reviews, have a good supply of stock and are always ready to meet the demand for these products.

12. Simplify and automate the entire Amazon product research process with the help of the product research tools.

While all the options we’ve mentioned above can serve as great product idea generators, they all have two key downsides:

  • They require a lot of manual work and research, which is both time and resource consuming.
  • They are unable to deliver the full picture about the product as they only take into account the two main criteria of a winning product - demand and sales potential. It will take some manual effort to see if the product meets all the rest of the criteria - competition, costs, and others.

This is where Product Research tools enters the stage. Product Research for Amazon allows aspiring Amazon sellers to:

  • Find the most up-to-date information about the demand for a given product.

We update this information on a regular basis so you can accurately choose the product that's currently gaining some traction among Amazon shoppers.

  • Discover a winning product right off the bat with the most intuitive and user-friendly Amazon product research tool.

Product Research lets you forget about the learning curve and challenging setting. Thanks to its intuitive interface, the product research process will be as smooth and straightforward as it can be. Even for Amazon newbies.

  • Unwrap the most profitable products.

The tool comes with automatically applied smart filters that factor in competition, demand trends, and pricing - all to make sure you are choosing the most profitable product on the market.

Filters can always be tweaked manually, so you can experiment with the settings and see which products come up next.

  • Estimate your costs and profits.

Product Research will help you estimate the Amazon fees when selling one product over another. You will also see a prediction of the number of sales for each product per month.

The tool’s setup is as straightforward as it can get:

  1. Select as many categories as you like. You can pick one or several, depending on the type of product you’re looking for. You can also use keywords to narrow down your search to specific things that sell on Amazon.
  2. Choose a product price range based on your budget. If you haven't decided on a budget, you can always start with the lowest price range. Experienced sellers recommend starting with low-priced products ($10-$25) to get your feet wet.
  3. Choose the right products based on their characteristics. By default, the tool applies filters that sort out the most profitable products for resale. These filters are applied automatically, but you can cancel them if you prefer your own strategies when choosing a product.
  4. Add the products you like to “Favorites” for further comparison or export the results to Excel.

The tool is completely free.

Over to You

Product research can be overwhelming at first, but with some guidance and the right tools in hand, it doesn't have to be so daunting. These tips should help you become a successful Amazon seller and make more money online.

As you can see, the quest to find that cash-driving Amazon product doesn't have to be a daunting one. With data-driven research methods and the right tools, you can easily uncover the best things to sell on Amazon and make your dreams of financial freedom come true.

So go ahead, give it a try and start making money!

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Read further:

Are you about to establish your business on Amazon and are struggling to understand how to start? Learn how to start selling on Amazon in this article, where we talk about how the marketplace works, the required tools to get started, and finding suitable suppliers.