SHOPIFY PRODUCT SELECTION GUIDE

BY SANTREL MEDIA
Finding a Home-Run Product................................................................................................................. 3
Landscape of Online Stores in 2024:...................................................................................................3
Best Niches:.........................................................................................................................................4
Worst Niches:...................................................................................................................................... 7
Key elements of a winning product:.....................................................................................................8
Demand:........................................................................................................................................ 8
Priced as an impulse purchase:.....................................................................................................9
Margins........................................................................................................................................ 10
Competition:................................................................................................................................. 11
Low Returns:................................................................................................................................13
Minimal Liability:...........................................................................................................................14
Wow Factor:.................................................................................................................................14
Shipping Time:............................................................................................................................. 16
Seasonality:................................................................................................................................. 16
Case Study #1: Shopwithpalo.............................................................................................................. 17
Delighting the Customer:................................................................................................................... 17
Operating in a Higher Margin Niche:................................................................................................. 18
Pricing:...............................................................................................................................................18
Case Study #2: The Quencher H2.0 FlowState................................................................................... 19
Demand for the product:.................................................................................................................... 19
High Margin Market:.......................................................................................................................... 19
Wow Factor:.......................................................................................................................................19
Case Study #3: Mini Wireless Printer...................................................................................................... 21
Very Niche Market:............................................................................................................................ 21
Consistent Demand:.......................................................................................................................... 21
Targeting Customers with More Discretionary Income:..................................................................... 21
Case Study #4: Pet Water Bottle.......................................................................................................... 22
An Obsessed Niche:.......................................................................................................................... 22
Cheapness of the Product:................................................................................................................ 22
The Shipping Properties of the Product:............................................................................................22
The 5 Step Plan to Find a Product:...................................................................................................... 24
Top Product Ideas to Jumpstart Your Brainstorm:............................................................................. 24
Finding a Home-Run Product
Landscape of Online Stores in 2024:
The projected largest markets for online shops, according to Shopify, are:

• Fashion: $745.4 billion (CAGR: 2.9%)

• Electronics: $637.6 billion (CAGR: 3.95%, between 2024-2029)
• Food: $470.6 billion (CAGR: 3.81, between 2024-2028)
• DIY and Hardware: $323.8 billion (CAGR: 2.58%, between
2024-2028) • Beverages: $294.3 billion (CAGR: 14.22%, between
2024-2027)
• Furniture: $261.1 billion (CAGR: 4.1%)
• Media: $193.6 billion (CAGR: 7.7%)
Some other relevant stats on e-commerce:

• There are currently 4.3 million active Shopify stores (link)

• The Global E-commerce Market is $6.3 trillion (link)
• The E-commerce market is set to grow 8.8-9.4% in 2024 (link)

Takeaways for running your own store:

With over 4.3 million active stores, you need to stand out. Assume that consumers
have a lot of other ways to get their needs met than just your store because they do.
However, because online shopping is such a large market and growing quickly,
if you can find a winning product, the upside is tremendous.

How are you going to stand out? When thinking about finding a winning product, view
it as part of an effort to make someone buy from your store rather than the millions of
others they could. Think about things like the wow factor, ease of shareability, and
others listed in this guide.

Consider factors such as the speed at which a niche is growing. While the fashion
market may be bigger than the beverage market, with a Compounded Annual Growth
Rate (CAGR) of 14.22%, the beverage market may be a better market to enter.

Focusing on the landscape of niches before you start your store can help you
choose a product in a potentially faster moving and larger market.
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Generative AI prompts you can use:
Do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you get your search started for the
right niche for you (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting place for your ideas – it's your
critical thinking that will make your store great):

• "What're the best Shopify niches to enter in [WHATEVER YEAR YOU'RE

READING THIS]? Take into consideration factors such as current size, growth
rate, and ease of sourcing supplies."

• You'll need a model with internet access for this one (Gemini is a good free option
for that): "Compile a list of the most competitive and least competitive markets
for online Shopify stores right now."

• If you're trying to decide between a few niches that you're interested in: "Compare
 [NICHE X] and [NICHE Y] niches for my online Shopify store, evaluating across
factors such as ease shipping, fragility of products in the niche, and current
market demand for that niche.”

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Best Niches:
The best niches are those in which:
• Customers have significant disposable income
• Customers are obsessed with the niche (i.e. when you search this on YouTube or
TikTok, does it fill your feed? If so, the algorithm knows it is a sticky topic - e.g.
pets, golf, etc)

Disposable Income:
The best niches to target for an online store are those in which the audience has
significant disposable income. Not only does this raise the likelihood that the average
transaction amount is larger, but it also raises the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
An interesting way to view it is through a hypothetical example: whenever a
blockbuster movie comes out, lottery ticket sales fall. This is because the pool of
discretionary income is diverted away from the lottery ticket and towards the movie
ticket; they are competing for the same pool of resources.
Categories of goods with a customer base with high discretionary income:
• Luxury goods: Goods that have a brand name attached to them. Though
possible for e-commerce, it might be harder to go into since luxury brands
usually control how customers get access to their products very tightly.
• Hobbies and activities: by far one of the best categories of goods to list on an
e-commerce platform. The amount that someone interacts with their
hobbies/interests means that you have a lot of opportunities to reach them: their
social media feed, their search results (the Google Ads you can pay to put in
front of them), their free time (the videos they watch online, the books and blogs
they read, the podcasts they listen to), the apps that they use (AllTrails, Strava,
Picture This). Also, people with hobbies typically have more discretionary income
than the average person.

• Personal care and wellness: this category is usually aided by people's

willingness to spend more on goods that genuinely improve their quality of life.
Spending in this category helps you also avoid the trap of people diverting their
income to other products, as people prioritize their health! And if you offer a
 product that genuinely helps, people are always willing to pay more to be
healthier.

Obsessed with the niche

Social media platforms use algorithms to personalize the content users see. If a topic
consistently generates a lot of views, likes, and shares, the algorithm will likely show
it to more people.

So, by looking at what kind of content goes viral on platforms like YouTube or TikTok,
you can get an idea of what niches are currently trending and hold promise for an
e-commerce business.

How to test this:

• Make a list of potential niches: make a list of niches that you could see
yourself selling in the future. Track all of your future research in a centralized
place (like a spreadsheet, Word Doc, etc.) so that you can pick the best niche.
• Try out Google Trends: to get a 30,000 ft. view of the niches, search them in
Google Trends to see the general interest in each topic right now. An example of an
insight that could inform picking your product that we'll discuss later is its seasonality.
Look
at the search interest in Golf and its seasonality!

• Do your own exploration: explore communities on the internet that pertain to

your potential niches, like Reddit communities (subreddits), Facebook groups, or
Discord servers. Try and pick out what products come up again and again in each
location. Try and see if there are any trends picking up or any dying fads to avoid.

Your goal here is to try and find what the algorithm is favoring. This means that
your listing is more likely to get pushed, and that the good that you're selling is
 what people are looking for.
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Generative AI prompts you can use:
Do your own research as well. Below are some AI prompts that may help you get your
search started for the best niches (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a
starting place for your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you select the right
niche):
• "What sectors attracted the most discretionary spending in [YEAR IN WHICH
YOU'RE READING THIS]." (if demurred by the LLM, it sometimes helps to follow
up with a prompt like "I know that your figures are an estimate. Using your best
judgment and citing what sources you can, give me dollar figures for the sectors
that attracted the most amount of discretionary spending.")
• "Using sources like Google Trends, what are some of the most popular online
market niches right now?" (you might need to follow up with a similar follow-up
to the one above)
• "Give me a list of online communities (such as on Reddit, Facebook, or similar
platforms) that are centered around a consumer product that I could
potentially drop ship." (you might, again, need to keep on asking it, expressing
that you realize its figures are estimates).
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Worst Niches:
If the best niches are ones with lower competition for people's disposable income,
the worst niches are those with the most competition for the least amount of
disposable income.

You can also do a Google Trends search on the topic to see if interest in it has died
down recently; you probably don't want to enter the fidget spinner niche right now.

You also want to make sure that the niche you're working in has a market size that
makes sense for what you're wanting to sell. Consider the following factors:

• The price of the products in the niche: High-dollar figure products are fine, but
they require more convincing to sell. If the only access to the customer you
have is through ads, then maybe avoiding niches with hefty price tags is wise.
• The volume of the products in the niche: some products are purchased
frequently (toilet paper) and some get used fairly slowly; if the niche you're
operating in has low volume and low price tags, perhaps treat that as a red flag.

And finally, some other things to keep in mind are:

 • Heavy or bulky products: shipping costs can start to eat into your profits. •
Fragile products: the increased cost to make sure they are properly wrapped
can eat into your profits, as well as any negative experiences customers might
have if they receive their product broken.
• Perishable products: bananas might not be the best idea…

Market size = price per item sold x number of items sold. Bad niches are those in
which either one of the variables is small.

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Generative AI prompts you can use:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you avoid
getting into the worst niches (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting
place for your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you avoid the wrong
niches):
• "I am thinking about starting a Shopify store in the [ENTER A MARKET
YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT OPERATING IN] niche. Give me a list of the
top competitors, market size, and average margins in that market."
• "I am thinking about starting a Shopify store in the [ENTER A MARKET YOU'RE
THINKING ABOUT OPERATING IN] niche. When did the first products in this
niche come around, and what are the general trends in the industry?" (the older
the industry, the less of a trend it is and the longer you are likely to enjoy profits)
• "Give me a list of online communities (such as on Reddit, Facebook, or similar
platforms) that are centered around a consumer product that I could
potentially drop ship." (you might, again, need to keep on asking it, expressing
that you realize its figures are estimates).
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Key elements of a winning product:

The following elements contribute significantly to finding a winning
product: • Demand
• Priced as an impulse item
• Margins
• Competition
• Low returns
• Minimal liability
• Wow factor, easily shareable, trendy/potentially trendy
 • Shipping time
• Seasonality

Demand:
Listing a product that is in high demand solves more problems than you might think;
your margins are typically better, marketing costs are typically lower, and market
research is generally easier as well. In addition, you can make a lot more mistakes in
running your store, and since people WANT your product, you can still survive and
learn from those mistakes.

Alongside some of the tips we've already included in this guide, some more ways to
gauge demand are:

• Create an MVP and test it: depending on how far along you are in your Shopify
store, it could help a lot to create the very basics for a specific product/niche
you want to test/validate and spend some money on ads to see how it does.
You can even list the product for pre-orders only if you want no monetary risk.
• Consider seasonality: though we'll touch on this more later, the demand for
some products is higher at different times of the year. Setting up an ice cream
shop in the middle of December is not a great idea…
• Try the “Mom Test” on friends and family: the "mom test" is a technique to find
out if people actually like your product by asking questions in such a way that even
your mother would tell you what she didn't like about it. You can find out more about
it here.

Having people who really want your product solves a lot of problems, but by
doing proper market research and validating your product you can raise your
chances of getting a home run product.

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you validate
demand for your product (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting place
for your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you gauge demand for your
product):
• "What're the current sales for the [PRODUCT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT
SELLING]? Use current market data to give me an estimation if you can't find
an exact figure." (you might need to keep on asking it expressing that you
 realize it's figures are estimates)
• "What're tangential products to [PRODUCT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT
SELLING]?" (can help you find some products you never even thought of)
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Priced as an impulse purchase:

Since the primary way you're going to reach your audience will be through paid
advertising, you want to make sure that the price tag is low enough to close a deal.

To put this in perspective, think of the last time you bought a car or house from an
Instagram ad. Now think about the last time you bought something sub $20 from
Instagram or TikTok.

Some techniques you can use to help are:

• Charm pricing: ending prices with “.99” or “.79”

• Pricing decoys: you can create the illusion that your product is more reasonably
priced by placing a more expensive product next to the one you're trying to sell. •
Pricing ladder: much like Apple does with their products, you can move people up
your pricing ladder by staggering your prices such that it always makes more sense
to buy the next most expensive item in your inventory. You can learn more
about Apple’s pricing ladder here.

Make sure that your product is priced such that someone coming from Instagram
can comfortably complete the transaction on their couch without remembering they
did so the next day.

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you price
your product perfectly (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting place
for your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you come up with the best
price for your products):
• "What's the average price for [PRODUCT THAT YOU'RE PLANNING ON
SELLING] on the market right now? I'll recognize that your answer is just an
estimate and not a firm figure." (you might need to keep on asking it expressing
that you realize it's figures are estimates)
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Margins
You want to make sure that you're making comfortable margins of each product
sale, enough, at least, to justify running your store.

If you're operating in a commoditized market (such as oil, gold, or silver), your price is
fixed by the market, and margins are razor-thin. This is why hobby products are great.

Because people like their hobbies for reasons other than economic gain (for the most
part, if you're reading this you most likely fit into a different category!), they're
comfortable buying the premium version of a good, thus boosting your margins. Some
useful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to keep in mind for margins are:

• Gross Margin: the profit you make after subtracting Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
• Profit Margin: the profit you make after subtracting all business expenses, not
just COGS.
• Profit Margin Per Sale: you want to make sure that each sale is making
enough money so that if you suddenly scale, you're not going broke to fulfill all
the orders. Take into account costs such as shipping and packaging.

The most important thing is to figure out which margins matter the most for your
business and to track them to make sure they are trending in the direction you want
them to.
The most important thing is to figure out which margins matter the most for your
business and to track them to make sure they are trending in the direction you
want them to.

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you have
healthy margins (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting place for
your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you come up with margins that
help your business thrive):
• "What KPIs might be the most important for my Shopify store selling [THE
PRODUCT YOU'RE LOOKING AT SELLING]."
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Competition:
And it's almost impossible to have healthy margins if competition is fierce. As Peter
Thiel says, "Competition means no profits for anybody, no meaningful differentiation,
and a struggle for survival" (this is a quote from his book "Zero to One").

You want to avoid markets where there is a lot of competition and undifferentiated
markets. Some examples of such markets are oil, commodities (gold, silver, copper),
airline flights, and grocery staples (like Apples and Bananas).

Companies that have done a great job of fighting off competition and expanding
their margins include Coke, Visa, and Apple because they all offer differentiated
products.

What this means for your Shopify store is that you want to enter niches where you can
sell differentiated products to capture a large percentage of the value you create.

Markets with little differentiation and lots of competition:

• Fidget toys: it's a fad. Because it's a dying market, there is a lot of excess
capacity, introducing a ton of competition willing to sell their product at dirt-cheap
prices. • Clothing in general: if you want to dropship clothing, try and focus on a
specific theme that gets people coming back to your store (like athletic clothing for
a specific demographic of people); clothing by itself is far too broad a category. •
Consumer essentials: again, consider products like food, mass market
pens/pencils, and folders to be off the table. Because everyone needs them, and
because "a pen is a pen is a pen", growing your margins in such a competitive
and undifferentiated market is difficult.

Markets with lots of differentiation and less competition:

• Print-On-Demand (POD): you can create unique items that are differentiated
based on their design very easily. If you want an excellent video on POD, you
can view this excellent (and free) video here, which includes the 5 key steps
needed to start a POD store.
• Markets that you know a lot about: your knowledge in a certain market is a
competitive advantage you can use to build a differentiated product. If you know
that pet owners care primarily about quality and design for their pet supplies,
rather than low cost, then you can make a store catering to the high-end pet
supplies market. Decide what market you know the most about, or which you will
 learn a lot about, and then decide how you can stand out in it. Your
differentiation is your knowledge.

Look at products in markets where you can differentiate your product. You can try
and enter a niche market, or enter markets where you have a knowledge
advantage.

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you have
healthy margins (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting place for
your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you come up with margins that
help your business thrive):
• "Are there more specific niches in [ENTER MARKET YOU'RE INTERESTED IN]
where there is potentially less competition?"

Useful Exercise: Think about what you enjoy learning about a lot. Since you’re
reading this it’s safe to say that you enjoy going the extra mile and learning as much
about a field as possible. Double down on a specific topic and chances are you’ll find
markets where there is an unmet need.
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Low Returns:

Returns are not only a hassle, but they also kill your profit. Some ways to keep returns
low are to:
• Focus on products that aren’t fragile:
o Glassware
o High-end electronics (cheaper headphones may be fine, but as the price
tag and complexity increase, so do the likelihood and consequences of
returns) o Artwork
• Make sure you test out the product before you list it on your store
• Set realistic expectations for your product through clear descriptions and high
 quality photos

The main points to keep in your mind to keep expenses as low as possible
are: 1. High quality products
2. Products that are difficult to break
3. Products where little could go wrong if they do break

Look at products in markets where you can differentiate your product. You can try
and enter a niche market, or enter markets where you have a knowledge
advantage.

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you lower the
number of returns you get (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting
place for your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you come up with ideas to
lower the return volume you get):
• “What’re the biggest potential failure points for [PRODUCT X]? Consider
factors such as shipping.”
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Minimal Liability:
Make sure the products you're selling have a very limited downside; even if selling
kerosene online was an excellent niche with high margins, you likely wouldn't remain
outside of prison long enough to enjoy your profits.

Some of the biggest risks to keep an eye out for are:

• Flammability
• Swallow-ability (small parts that might get swallowed by a child)
• Sharpness (knives, saws, blades)
• Chemical dangers (consider the batteries on the Samsung Note 7’s) •
Allergens (if you are selling a product, make sure ALL of the ingredients
and potential allergens are CLEARLY listed)

Monitor all of the above when possible to keep liability as low as possible.
 While more risk means more reward for most things… it does NOT apply to
legal or physical risk! Keep your products safe for your consumers.

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help protect your
customers (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting place for your ideas
– it's your critical thinking that will help you keep your customers safe):
• "List ALL the potential safety liabilities that are associated with [YOUR
PRODUCT]. Be creative – come up with as many as you can.”
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Wow Factor:
One of the best forms of marketing is word-of-mouth marketing; you want to sell
products and create a shopping experience that exceeds your customer's
expectations.

You're imputing your brand with each sale you make and each time a customer uses
your product. Make sure to pay attention to:

• The quality of the product: if you're operating in a market where the

general product is low quality, see if you can find high-quality alternatives.
• The shipping experience: if you can ensure that your products get delivered
on time, in undamaged packaging, with EXACTLY what the customer
ordered every time, your customers are more likely to trust you and come
back in the future.
• The layout of your store: customers are all too used to crappy stores where it
takes too long to find what they want. Making your store dead easy to use,
browse, and checkout, you ensure your customers are happy!
• Products that have a natural wow factor: if you do want to sell products that are
in competitive markets, you can stand out by selling products that are different from
the pack. If you're selling coffee, you can focus on selling coffee with unique
and funny packaging (consider Bankroll Coffee), or a unique roast.

If you can offer a superior product with a superior experience, you increase the
chances that your customers will talk about your product and boost your sales
organically, accelerating your growth and boosting your gross margin.

Keep in mind products that are:

• Unique
• Funny
• Beautiful
• Different from the other products in their category:
o You wouldn’t necessarily buy Bankroll Coffee because it’s coffee, but
because it’s at the intersection of coffee and having a good time with
its funny and creative packaging.

Every touch point a customer has with your company/product is imputing your
brand. Go OUT OF YOUR WAY to find products that WOW your customers.

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you absolutely
WOW your customers (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting place for
your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you impress your customers):
• "What are modern customers looking for with [ENTER YOUR PRODUCT]." •
"What're good complementary goods for [ENTER YOUR PRODUCT]? Like a pair
of free socks with a mug, what free, cheap item can I ship to my customers to
really wow them?"
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Shipping Time:
To ensure a great customer experience, focus on getting your shipping down to a
science. Some factors to consider in doing this are:

• Weight of the thing you're selling (the lighter the better)

• Size of what you’re shipping (the smaller the better)
• The durability of what you’re selling (shipping things that DON’T break is a lot
better than things that do)
• Shipping restrictions of certain goods (like Lithium Ion batteries)
 One way to enhance your product's reception through shipping is to make sure
that shipping is as fast and cheap as possible.

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you make
your shipping experience just that much better (keep in mind that AI should only be
used as a starting place for your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you
improve your shipping):
• "List all of the potential ways to reduce the shipping cost for [PRODUCT X]." •
"What are some ways in which you see product [X] breaking during shipping? What
are ways I can prevent this potential damage?"
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Seasonality:
Seasonality can either really hurt you, or you can use it to your advantage. If you're
starting an online beach supplies store, don't start it in September. Remember the
graphic above, if you're selling Golf supplies it might be a good idea to concentrate your
ad spend on the times of the year when interest in golf is at its highest.

All consider the secular trends for the market you're entering. While AI is a growing and
vibrant market, markets like fidget toys and slap bracelets might not be the best markets
to enter right now.

Find products that are either evergreen, selling year-round, or seasonal to

your advantage (you want to sell ice cream in the summer, not the winter).

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GENERATIVE AI PROMPTS YOU CAN USE:
Also, do your own research. Below are some AI prompts that may help you find
evergreen products (keep in mind that AI should only be used as a starting place for
your ideas – it's your critical thinking that will help you ensure your products are
selling year-round):
• “What’re trends in [THE MARKET IN WHICH YOUR PRODUCT SELLS] that I
 can take advantage of?”
• “What’re the peak sales times for [PRODUCT YOU’RE PLANNING ON
SELLING]? How much do sales decrease on it’s ‘off season’?”
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Case Study #1: Shopwithpalo

Aperture™ - The Original Camera Lens Coffee Mug + FREE Socks – Palo
(shopwithpalo.com) Shopwithpalo is an online store that sells novel and unique goods.
The homerun product we're looking at here is the "Aperture – The Original Camera
Lens Coffee Mug + FREE Socks". The reasons for its wild success include the
following: delighting the customer, operating in a higher margin niche, and pricing.

Delighting the Customer:

As you will notice with the title, the product not only just ships to your house, but you
also get a free pair of socks with an order of the mug. This leans into a key point in
this document: delighting your customer.

Think about how iPhone boxes (used to) open extremely smoothly, or Chewy sends
birthday cards for pets' birthdays, or even Amazon's obsession with making the
customer experience as smooth as possible from fast delivery to free returns.

By including free socks with the customer's order, the customer is getting something
they didn't expect, helping to differentiate the product from being just another mug and
making it a pleasurable shopping experience.

Operating in a Higher Margin Niche:

Coffee mugs would typically be a pretty cutthroat market to operate in; not only can you
get one from Target down the road, but you can order some for as low as $5. Not to
mention, you're competing with every drinking device on the market. However,
Shopwithpalo has been able to get out of the cutthroat mug market by offering a novel
product.

If Shopwithpalo had offered a relatively normal mug with maybe just some printing it
might have flopped. However, the novelty of the product moved it into a higher margin
niche; they could charge more because of its uniqueness. This allows them to operate
with less competition and higher margins.
Pricing:
And even though Shopwithpalo is charging a little bit more for their mug, they aren't
charging too much more. The price point that they've fixed their mug at makes it
accessible for someone to complete the transaction and not remember having done so
the next day; the holy grail for an impulse purchase product.
Because of its commitment to delighting the customer, its operation in a higher
margin niche, and its pricing, the Aperture mug was a homerun product for
Shopwithpalo.
Case Study #2: The Quencher H2.0
FlowState
The sudden appearance of Stanley mugs on the market has created a massive market
opportunity for those willing to take advantage of it. The key characteristics of this
product that make it a home run product are that it is very much in demand right now, it
is a high margin market, and the wow factor it can have.

Demand for the product:

The best type of product to sell is the one that people want (you'd be surprised by how
many people get this wrong). Using some of the skills that are taught in this guide, you
can see the demand for these Stanley Mugs is insanely high right now.

While this may not always be the best product to sell, as demand will surely
fluctuate, selling it now while demand is high can help you capture revenue and
grow your online store in the customer's mind.

High Margin Market:

Right now, you can get Stanley Mugs on AliExpress for less than $20 per bottle (link
here), and several drop-shippers are selling these bottles for right around $59.95.
Couple this with the insane demand for the product and you have a potentially
high-selling, high yielding product.

Wow Factor:
If you're able to get people the mug that they're looking for for less than it costs on the
market, you have a built-in wow factor. By eating into your margins a little bit by
lowering the price, you can establish yourself with an online niche for offering
in-demand products for lower than market price – getting customers to come back to
your store time and time again.
Case Study #3: Mini Wireless Printer
Mini-Wireless printers are an excellent home run product because they are different
from the other 2 previously mentioned products in that they are much more niche than
Stanley Bottles and don't have the same impulse purchasing quality as the Aperture
Mug. However, because they fulfill a very niche market, have consistent demand, and
target customers with more discretionary income, they lend themselves to being great
home run products.

Very Niche Market:

Taking the other side of the coin from the Stanley Cup, the Mini Wireless Printer is a
very niche product. However, this can be very good for your online store. If you sell to a
niche audience, your ability in the future to grow your offerings and retain customers
around that niche is considerable. Not everyone is going to want a Mini Wireless
Printer, but that also means less competition for you.

If you focus on high-quality, targeted ads, you can have a higher hit rate and grow
your customer base quickly.

Consistent Demand:
This is perhaps best stated another way: the demand for mini wireless printers
doesn't fluctuate much with other events. Winter nor Summer stimulate or reduce
demand for printers, and bar a near economic collapse, neither do economic shocks.
Because it is a hobbyist product, demand remains consistent, and, as an extension,
so do your sales!

Targeting Customers with More Discretionary Income:

Remember how lottery ticket sales fell when a blockbuster movie came out? That's
because the funds for movies and the funds for lottery tickets are fungible in
consumers' minds; they are nearly identical products. But because of the nature of a
mini wireless printer (as in there are no substitutes for printing small stuff on the go),
the pool of discretionary income for it is a lot better guarded.

By selling products that operate in a very small niche, you get protection from the
seasonal ups and downs of sales, have a more loyal customer base, and protect your
sales from being eaten by substitute goods.
Case Study #4: Pet Water Bottle
pet water bottle - Buy pet water bottle with free shipping on AliExpress One of the best
markets to operate in is the pet market; people are willing to spend a lot of money on
their best friends, it turns out. For your store, this means both higher demand. Pet
water bottles can be a surprising home run product, but when one considers the niche
in which they operate (with pets being an obsessive niche), the cheapness of the
product, and the shipping properties of the product.

An Obsessed Niche:
Pets occupy a special place in the obsessed niche (97% of pet owners consider their
pets to be a part of their family). Selling pet products means that you're selling pleasure
items to people's best friends; you have an ideal customer. And consider that in 2022
over $31 billion was spent on pet supplies and OTC medicine (source here), and you've
got an obsessed niche with a fairly large market size.

Not to mention, it's also a growing market, with over 66% of US households having a
pet in 2024, a figure that is up 56% since 1988 (source). People are obsessed with
these hairy members of their family, willing to spend a lot of money on them, and the
size of this market is growing by the year.

Cheapness of the Product:

In a market saturated with rising costs (with dog food costs rising 45% since 2020
alone), selling a cheap product is a powerful differentiator. On the Alibaba link above,
you can buy Dog Water bottles for as cheap as $1. This means that you can both offer
a cheap product and have insanely high margins- satisfying both your customer and
your goals.

The Shipping Properties of the Product:

Though we haven't touched on this yet, it is an important point; dog water bottles are
cheap and easy to ship. Keeping track of all of your costs is vital in running an online
store, and shipping costs can make a product that you thought profitable a poor choice
to sell. Because of the lightness and size of a dog water bottle, shipping is going to be a
lot lower than that of other products mentioned here.

Not only that, but it's a very durable product. There aren't many parts to break, and the
loss to the customer if something does break is minimal. Not only does this mean fewer
returns, but also a lower cost to you when you have to process returns.
The 5 Step Plan to Find a Product:

Top Product Ideas to Jumpstart Your Brainstorm:

Taking everything in this guide into account, some ideas to get your thoughts flowing
for product ideas are:
• Curated hobby boxes: for a specific hobby (hiking, camping, painting), create
a curated box with a list of supplies they would need included! You can
charge a monthly subscription and send them boxes with novel products.
o Examples: Curiosity Box, Beard Club, PupBox
• Specialty CoSees/Chocolates with a fun theme: selling high quality/fun coffee
and chocolates works because of the synergy between the products; sales of
one boost sales of the other. And if you’re focusing on quality/the experience
more so than the price of the coffee, you can build a loyal customer base with
high discretionary income.
o Examples: Bankroll Coffee, Blue Bottle Coffee, Onyx Coffee Lab
• Home fitness equipment: while generally “home fitness equipment” is a VERY
competitive field with low margins and tough barriers to entry, if you focus on a
specific niche you can avoid a lot of competition, grow your margins, and
establish your brand. Some good niches might be physical therapy or HIIT
home specific equipment.