How to Choose The Right Products to Sell in Your Online Store

With a total of 268 million digital buyers in the United States alone in 2022, the online marketplace offers immense potential to entrepreneurs looking to launch and grow their own retail business. Touting lower upfront investment costs than brick-and-mortar shops, as well as the ability to reach consumers all over the globe with the click of a button, online stores can seem like a shortcut to retail success. However, with ease-of-entry comes a great deal of competition. One vital component to ensuring your business’s steady growth and prosperity in a crowded market is selecting the right products to sell in your online store. Not sure how to go about that? We’re here to help.

5 Things To Consider When Choosing Products For Your Online Store

1. Your personal interests and expertise.

Customers today tend to be drawn to brands that have an engaging story, a passionate founder, and expertise in the products or services they’re providing. When deciding what products you want to sell in your online store, consider what you’re passionate about and what you have a knowledge base or expertise in. If your passion and expertise overlap, all the better. Consumers seek authentic brands. What can you sell that’s authentic to you as an individual and the type of business you’d be proud of building?

2. Your target consumers’ needs.

A golden rule for building a successful retail business is to listen to your customer. Yes, this means seeking out feedback and assessing reviews of the products you sell, but this listening process can start well before you make your first sale. When considering what products to offer in your online store, research your target consumer. What are their interests? What are their pain points? What products are they already buying and why? Are there products you can sell that will solve a problem for them or fill a specific need? By listening to your target consumer as you select the products for your business to stock, you can rest easy knowing there will be a demand for your goods.

3. What products consistently sell well.

When it comes down to it, the products your online store offers need to sell well. Entrepreneurs in the retail space have to do their best to gauge which products will fly off the shelves. Otherwise, they may be stuck with an inventory of goods that won’t move. One way to take the guesswork out of this process is to research products that consistently sell well. Assess market reports. Ask your potential suppliers about their best performing products. At TVC Mall, we offer regular product analysis reports to our clients to help them select items from our inventory they can feel confident selling. By doing quality research at this stage, you can breathe easy knowing that there’s a demand in the market for the products you select for your online store.

4. What’s trending.

Tying right into the demand for products, when deciding which products you want to sell online, consider what’s trending. This is different from assessing what products sell well consistently, because trend assessment is a way you can get ahead of the curve before everyone jumps on the bandwagon. When researching what’s trending, don’t only look at what products are hot on TikTok or Instagram (though that can be useful as well); think also about activities, cuisines, lifestyle habits, workouts, social events, aesthetics, and movements that are taking off. Are there products you can sell that fit into them? Better yet, are there products you can sell that tie into something that’s trending AND your passion or expertise?

5. Profit margins.

This may not be the most romantic aspect of starting a retail business, but the bottom line is that your business needs to make a profit for it to survive and grow. When selecting products for your online retail store, consider the profit margins you’d be comfortable with. In addition to marketing costs and other business overhead expenses, the price of producing and delivering a product plays a large role in how large or small a profit margin can be. For example, stocking and delivering bulky products can require more upfront costs for storage and shipping, potentially leaving less room for profit. Some products have minimum production costs, whereas others require complex assembly and/or expensive materials that can hike up production expenses. All of these factors influence profit margins and should be taken into consideration when deciding what types of products you want to sell in your online store.

Selecting the right products to sell in your online store is not a task that should be taken lightly, but there are plenty of resources out there that can help you find the best products for your new retail business. With the right amount of research and self-reflection, you can identify the perfect products for your unique business. If you’re looking for a supplier who can guide you through the product selection process and customize products to fit your business like a glove, TVCMALL is here for you. Reach out today!

Statistics Reference:

Statista Research Department. “Number of digital buyers in the United States from 2017 to 2025.” Statista, 8 November 2022,

https://www.statista.com/statistics/273957/number-of-digital-buyers-in-the-united-states/