6 Key Product Sourcing Fundamentals

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After covering the giftables vs practicals topic, I feel that it’s only fair to cover more of the fundamentals about sourcing inspiration. Specifically, I want to focus on the product areas that people (particularly new sellers) should focus their time and attention on. While I believe that this is more applicable to private label products than online arbitrage sourcing, the same rules apply when you’re trying to narrow down your search by starting from a broad single topic.

It’s a Love Thing

To put it simply – it’s all about love. If you’re struggling to figure out a direction for your product sourcing, begin with the kinds of products that people absolutely love. We’re talking unconditional love; not a passing fad. We’re talking about instances where the purchaser will do absolutely anything to keep that beloved thing of theirs happy/clean/entertained/healthy, whatever the cost may be.

This basic overview should give you a flavour of what’s to follow, but I know you’ll want a bit more direction than this, so here goes:

Babies: New parents will fall for anything which is supposedly ‘essential’ for their new pride and joy. (After I had my second, I saw the error of my ways from the first time). Not to say that you should trick them into buying poor quality goods, but that they’re very susceptible to buy high RRP products even when they’re not familiar with the brand. This is perfect if you’re offering a solution for one of the many worries they have about having to look after a small person.

Pets: Much like babies, dog, cat and bird owners want the absolute best for their little best friends. Whether it’s to treat them, keep their mood up, or just make them comfortable. If you’re a pet owner you already know the non-essentials you picked up to keep them (or yourself) satisfied.

Hobbies: There are too many to start listing them off, but people commit masses of their free time to whatever hobbies they may have. As I’m a music collector, that’s a good place to start. I’m interested in replacing old CD cases with new ones, storage solutions, display units, specialised cleaning equipment for my collection. These products are all scattered across completely different areas of the Amazon site.

Home: Some people want their homes to look presentable. Others go far beyond this, and want to make sure that it impresses those that enter it. Again, the type and variety of products is pretty much endless, but walking around your own will give you inspiration for goods you may want to invest in to sell on Amazon.