How to Find and Sell Winning Products on Your Dropshipping Store in 2022

What is a winning product?

A winning product is a product that sells like hotcakes. It’s something your target audience REALLY wants to buy.

However, just because people brush their teeth daily, it doesn’t mean selling toothbrushes will build you a 6 figure e-commerce business. Think of all the competition that’s out there already, selling toothbrushes. Why should an average customer buy a toothbrush from you instead of the closest drugstore?

Below is a guide that will help you identify a winning product.

1. You can’t easily find it selling elsewhere.

You need to find dropshipping products that people can’t buy at the usual department store. The products should be unique, trigger impulse buyers, and still be practical.

2. It has no advertising restrictions.

Chances are you will make most of your sales through advertising, especially if you’re just starting with your store. Make sure you don’t sell products that you can’t advertise on the biggest ad platforms.

For example, you can’t run ads for tobacco products, adult content, or face masks on Facebook and Google. Have a look at what Facebook and Google have to stay on their ad policies and avoid unpleasant surprises.

3. The product has a wow factor.

Winning products should also pleasantly surprise potential buyers. Think of the last clothing ad you saw on Instagram and clicked right away – that’s a wow factor. Here are some great Instagram advertising tips.

4. A winning product usually solves a problem.

People are also drawn to products that can make their lives easier. It could be anything from a water bottle that tracks your water intake and helps you stay healthy to a dog travel bag that’s airline compliant.

5. The product is just… different.

You can make a solid side income selling slightly unusual items. For example, you can dropship products like this brush that imitates licking your cat. Yes, it exists, and it’s even labeled as Amazon’s Choice.

While the Licki Brush may raise some eyebrows, it actually sells! It has attracted lots of media attention. The customers are having a blast leaving fun reviews, making this pet brush a perfect gag gift.

How do I find winning products?

So let’s take a look at the best platforms you can use to find suitable products.

Amazon Best Seller – World Most Renowned Platform

This is of course a self-evident choice but there are reasons that it is so popular.

For example, here’s the list of best-selling and winning products that gets refreshed every hour, so you will also have the newest data. Of course, seeing that this is Amazon we’re talking about, you will find many branded products like Nike, Lego, Apple, and so on.

However, it doesn’t mean that there is a lack of non-branded products on those lists. And guess what? That’s what exactly you’re looking for.

Your job here is simple – try to find the most popular generic items, then figure out if they can be found on Oberlo.

From there, the idea is to take that product and begin selling it on your own. To put it simply – if they’re best sellers on Amazon, they can be the same thing on your website.

I assume that you’re probably thinking: “I can’t compete with the biggest online retail store in the world – people already know it, trust it, and their prices are a lot better.”

Bonus Tip: A Little Secret About Dropshipping You Should Know 

“One of the key things about sales is proper branding. Many times, people are not
buying the winning products, they are buying the winning brand.”

So, why will people choose your store instead of Amazon? Because they want to feel a part of your company, they connect to your message and look to sharing their support with the world.  One thing to remember here is whenever you find a product, don’t use the same name as the manufacturer, come up with your own and build your image around it.

For example, look at leggings. You can find generic pairs for $10 – $15 max. Still, most people prefer to buy the ones from Nike and pay the additional $30 – $40. Why do people do that?  It’s simple – they love the brand, and they want to be associated with it.

The same strategy can work for your store. Take a generic item but create an enticing brand behind it and then start selling it.

Wish – A Great One to Find Winning Products for Dropshipping

Here is another eCommerce platform that is extremely popular and features its best
winning products along with sellers. Wish is a hugely popular shopping platform with
very active reviews and a rating section that can help you research popular products.

On Wish it is a bit more challenging to find the same best-sellers but plenty of their most winning products are generic. This makes it easy for you to feature similar effects on your eCommerce store.

One exciting thing about this platform is that most items are designed to be bought
impulsively. These kinds of products are great to market on social media platforms like
Facebook and Instagram.

Remember, whenever you’re looking through Wish, make sure to search for colorful, fun, and unusual items as they are the ones that we can call winning products. Always remember, you want something that will catch the eye of the customer and make them think – “Oh wow, this looks cool; I guess I can spare $10 for it.”

Take A Look At Your Competition to Find Winning Products

Spying on stores similar to yours is always a great idea. Find successful eCommerce stores and take a good look at what they’re selling.  Even if you can’t find the same thing they’re offering, you can still get ideas from their success.

For example, suppose you’re starting a store in fashion. In that case, you can look for current trends by visiting a popular fast-fashion store like H&M.

The most important thing is to find success online shops in your niche and try to get the best out of what they’re doing. The more you go through the competition’s websites, the more you will find patterns and connections you can utilise for your business.

Look At the eBay Watch Count for Winning Products

A watch count is a great tool that can help you figure out what products to sell on your website. It lets you see what the most popular items on eBay are.

You can search based on a keyword connected to your store or niche. To get more specific results, you can go with a more detailed description.

I’ll give you an example. If you have a store for fitness bands, you can look just for that and see the watch count. However, if you’re looking to introduce a remarkable variety in your store and you’re wondering if it’s popular, you can search for “tube fitness bands” and see how that’s doing on eBay.

Obviously, the best items for your store are those with the most views. Keep in mind that the more specific your search is, the fewer views the products will have. That’s completely normal since most people don’t go into specifics when looking for an item.

Oberlo – Another Spot to Find Winning Products 

Oberlo is the gateway to the thousand of products that can be found on AliExpress. Along with having access to one of the biggest eCommerce stores globally, you can also see the most popular items in the last month or half a year.  That means you can check if the product is a current trend or a continuous success.

Moreover, you can see a lot of different metrics on each item. You can also find out how customers rate a product by looking through their comments on what disadvantages.

Other statistics include import, which gives you information that tells you how many other stores are selling that exact product, including how many have just launched in the last month.

You can check how the product has been doing for the last 30 days from the order numbers. That helps you determine whether it’s a current trend or a dying one. It’s important to figure that out since you don’t want to be stuck offering a product you can’t sell.

Type of Products You Can Pick for Your Dropshipping Store

There’s no way to find a product or a niche that will appeal to everyone. This means that picking the right demographic of customers is key to having a successful store.

Let’s take a look at some items that can turn your eCommerce store into a winning one.

Items Related to Hobbies Are the Winning Products

Suppose you ever met someone that is really into a hobby. In that case, you know that they’re the obsessive types that will buy anything for their pets – stickers, tools, equipment, merchandise, etc.

Many of them are also willing to spend vast amounts of money, so if you target the right group and offer an item that’s appealing to it, your store will do very well.

Products That Appeal to Business Customers

There are great customers – they usually buy in bulk and they often turn out to be recurring customers. So if you build a good reputation with them, they will bring in cash for the long haul.

However, you should be on the lookout for a couple of things if you decide to offer business-related products.

One of them is trying to offer items that appeal to the broader public and large businesses. Also remember, keep in mind that price is significant to business customers, so always charge pretty.

Repeat Purchase Products

If you sell items that are disposable or are often in need of replacement, you get recurring revenue, and that’s great for any business.

However, it’s important to remember that you won’t succeed selling things that can be bought from any store, so your products must be hard to find and need to be replaced frequently.

5 Tips to Find the Winning Products 

So far, we have covered two areas – where to find the items for your shop, and factors
to remember when choosing your products to sell. But we still have a lot more tips for
you, so read on for more valuable information.

Find Products with No Advertising Restrictions 

Facebook and Google forbid advertising products related to the tobacco industry, adult content, and even face masks, but the list goes even further.

So make sure you read their terms before buying a product.

With most eCommerce stores, ads are a huge driver of sales. You don’t want to sell items you can’t advertise on these two most prominent advertising platforms.

Try to Solve A Problem with Your Product

People are always looking for ways to make their lives easier. Some of the most successful business ideas ever are based on that notion. Think of washing machines, robotic vacuum cleaners, and so on.

I’m not suggesting starting selling household supplies but rather being on the lookout for products that help clients save time and energy.

Hard to Find Products 

Look, you don’t want to be selling batteries online. Why? Because you don’t like to offer a product that your customers can purchase at any store that’s close to them.

If you want customers, you have to offer items that are not easily found in their area. In such a case, they’re willing to pay as well as wait for the shipping patiently.

Here’s an example. Imagine you’re looking for a witch costume. Every store you find
that sells Halloween-themed items will have one in stock, so you can drive up to it and
purchase what you want in minutes. But let’s say you want medieval knight armor for a
show – well, maybe you can’t find it anywhere close to you, so you’d be happy to order
it online.

Don’t Sell Overpriced Items.

Online stores rely heavily on impulse purchases like dog leashes, neck pillows,
necklaces, and phone cases. Those are products that usually cost anywhere from $10
to $50. The price should stay within that range as well if you want to have a successful
store when you are starting off.

If you’re wondering why, the reason is quite simple – customers won’t be willing to give
$500 or $1000 to a fresh online brand. If they are eager to spend that much money on
an item, they will be looking for a brand with a reputation in the space.

So stick to what’s known to work – smaller and cheaper options that customers
purchase without a lot of second-guessing.

Look for Marketing Potential 

Marketing is the biggest driver of sales for an eCommerce store. Since you’re not
well-known already, your business can’t rely on organic reach or reputation. Therefore,
you have to rely on a well-executed advertising campaign. For you to do this, you must
offer a product that is easy to market.

To determine whether a product has marketing potential, try to brainstorm what kind of ads you can run with it. Can you do blog posts about it? Would it be suitable for a cute promotional video?

If you can’t find ways to market it, this product is not the right fit for your store.