Giftables vs Practicals – What Should You Sell?

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What are Giftables and Practicals?

Someone may have come up with the terms before me, but for a while I’ve categorised all the things I sell on Amazon as one of two things; giftables or practicals. These are either items that would and are given as gifts (whether to someone else or the customer) or functional, practical items.

‘Giftable’ is a very broad product term (as I found out when I was on the Ecommerce team at a department store’s HQ). It applies to anything that could feasibly be offered to another person (or pet, I suppose) or the actual buyer. People gift themselves skincare products. People gift other people electricals. The opposites are true, etc.

‘Practical’ products are the kinds of purchases that you would be less likely to brag about having bought. They’re things you need and wouldn’t consider asking someone else to get for you; it’s just all of those mundane purchases.

Based on these descriptions, you can tell which ones I find more exciting. Take a peek into any Amazon store and you’ll quickly work out whether the owner(s) favour the fun products or the boring ones.

What are Examples of Giftable Products?

Take your pick. There’s just so many. I’ll show you just how broad this can be:

• Toys
• Fitness equipment
• Electrical appliances
• Skincare sets
• Bed sheets

What are Examples of Practical Products?

Let’s go with a random assortment of things I’ve sold on Amazon over the years:

• Baby milk
• Medical remedies
• Batteries
• Plug sockets
• Hardwire kits

Giftable Positives

As if you need it presented to you:

• Able to increase prices, as they may be non-negotiable must-haves
• More fun to source; varies up the process
• Even rare items will sell eventually, unlike older practical items
• Fads bring high sales velocities
• Sales rushes are predictable

Practical Benefits

Let’s give them their time to shine:

• Some will buy regardless of the price
• Tend to be quick sellers
• Prone to repeat orders
• Remain in demand for long period (often many years)
• Sales tend to be consistent and seasonality is predictable

What are Best to Stock Up On?

I haven’t figured this out yet. In spite of my now years in the Amazon selling game, I’m still torn on whether one or the other is more beneficial as the majority of your inventory. I have to admit that my Amazon store is predominantly on the giftable end of the scale these days, but I wouldn’t be opposed to changing it.

My heart tells me giftables are better, but my head tells me practicals are. I think one of the main reasons I ended up mainly selling the type of things that people would gift to others is because these stand out a lot more when sourcing. It’s the reason why so many people tend to begin their online arbitrage journeys in the Toys & Games category.

For beginners starting out, I’d say that this giftables vs practicals problem isn’t something you should stress too much about. Just find profitable deals at first. After once you’re more comfortable and consistent at sourcing, then you might want to consider specialising in one or the other. Oftentimes, people won’t – they’ll just take whatever fast-selling profitable deals they can find. I’m sticking with the giftables for now, and maybe I’ll give the practicals more attention in 2021.