- The products you are offering must be truly unique and stand out from other brands. Find the gaps within the industry and see what consumers are searching for, and tailor your merchandise to these trends.
- Merchandise with a lower number of reviews are usually easier to compete with than a product that has 20,000 reviews.
- The key here is to not only follow your passion — you also have to make sure the data supports the opportunity you want to undertake.
by Bradley Sutton
The past two years have been a catalyst for the growth of entrepreneurship. More than five million applications were submitted to start new businesses — a striking jump from the 4.4 million applications in 2020. With U.S. workers still quitting their jobs at record highs, retailers might be wondering what kind of business they should start.
Even if you go with what you are passionate about, passion does not always equal success. If you are looking to grow your brand on sites like Amazon or Walmart, you will need a new approach to see a profit. Analyzing customer demand and keyword research, product reviews, and social media trends will help you get there.
The Hidden Demand and Power of Keywords
In a crowded market like today, the products you are offering must be truly unique and stand out from other brands. Find the gaps within the industry and see what consumers are searching for, and tailor your merchandise to these trends. If you can find a keyword that is searched for at least 1-2,000 times a month but has very little actual results that meet customer needs, then it could be an indication of opportunity.
Next, take a look at the specific words your competitors might be using and reverse engineer their success. Keywords for products on Amazon and Walmart.com are easier to uncover than other retail spaces. Algorithms on these platforms analyze the keywords shoppers use to search for an item and the most-relevant, most-purchased products. Merchandise shown on page one for a certain keyword are usually items that customers buy the most. By using a “reverse asin” tool, you can find all the keywords of page-one search results for a product within seconds.
What Reviews Can Do For You
The reviews are full of valuable information for product research. Merchandise with a lower number of reviews are usually easier to compete with than a product that has 20,000 reviews. If consumers are presented with two unfamiliar products, one with 20,000 reviews and the other only a handful, it is highly likely they will choose the higher-reviewed item if all else is equal. If you find a niche where most of the products have only a handful of reviews, you can bring a new item to the market without this disadvantage.
Of course, the number of reviews only tells half of the story. When looking at the reviews on competitor’s products, consumers will unknowingly highlight what they are searching for, meaning you can use those common words to list a product in the future. Looking at reviews on collagen peptides listing showed that commonly used phrases in Amazon reviews include references to using the product in their coffee. You can use this data by incorporating photos or marketing copy of coffee into your own listing.
Keep Track of Viral Trends
In addition to using social media to promote listings and businesses, it can be resourceful for forecasting trends and further identifying niche audiences. For example, you can find how many “saves” a certain image or product is getting on Pinterest, and what consumers are searching for to add to their virtual vision boards.
The key here is to not only follow your passion — you also have to make sure the data supports the opportunity you want to undertake. See if there is a high demand for a certain product with low or minimal competition, and then if you choose to start selling that item, the second step is to use the data to find what keywords are needed to optimize your listing and focus on in advertising campaigns. With these strategies, you will have a better chance of showing up where your customers are searching: page one of the search results.
Bradley Sutton is the Chief E-Commerce Strategist at Helium 10.