Best Methods To Do Dropshipping Product Research and Find Winning Products

As a dropshipping seller, you might come across many different case studies, blog posts and tips, tricks on how to start dropshipping. But no one would tell you exactly what types of products are driving them the most profits.

Why? Revealing the winning products is like showing the treasure map to your competitors and no one wants to invite more competitors to their blue ocean.

You can’t rely on others to tell you what you should and shouldn’t sell. Instead, it is highly important that you learn the skills to identify the potential dropshipping products. In this blog post, we will give you a complete list of all steps and tips to help you with your dropshipping product research.

How to do dropshipping product research?

Before getting into the detailed, step-by-step instructions on dropshipping product research, here is the overall approach you can follow to find your next big hit.

Trending products

Keeping up with the latest trending products can be highly beneficial, especially if you are fast enough to get ahead of other competitors. You can take advantage of the low competition and low marketing fees before the trends get saturated.

And even when competition gets heated, the early adopters who have enough time to establish their brands and credibility among customers still remain certain competitive edges over other newer rivals.

If the trend is there to stay, you will be able to gain consistent profits in the long run. However, in most cases, trends will die out, which means you will earn less and less from these types of products over time.

In order to maintain consistent revenue and stay on top of the competition, you will have to continuously be on the hunt for new trending products.

Niche products

Instead of going for the genetic trendy products, searching for niche products is one way for you to find the potential products.

Niche products usually have longer life cycles than trending products. And the competition is much lower in niche markets compared to a mass market.

In order to identify potential niche products, you first need to find the niche market you want to pursue. Once you know your niche market, you can search for products that are relevant to customers within the market.

Niche markets are specific, limited, and mostly have no room for consistent growth. However, it doesn’t mean that you should restrict your entire business to just one niche. Once you have attained the leading position in a niche market, you can continue to expand your store to other new related niches, or even establish an entirely new store that can leverage the existing brand.

Competitor analysis

A useful method for finding exciting promising products is through competition analysis. To gain meaningful and useful insights from your competitors, here’s what you should look into:

• Your competitor’s product line
• Their pricing strategy
• How they source their products
• How they promote their products

This useful information will help you to identify the most viable product for your own business. From learning from your competitors, you can even predict their next moves, or even the upcoming products they are going to launch.

In order to win in this game, you should not just copy their products and strategy but make it even better. Give your customers a reason to choose your product over your competitors.

Market analysis

Ready to unlock the highest level of product research? It is to predict the market trends, identify gaps in the market that no one is targeting, and even educate the customers about entirely new products that they don’t even know they need yet.

In order to do these, you need to have a deep understanding of the market and customer behaviors. Here are some suggestions that you can look into in your market analysis for future opportunities:

• Follow the industry news, read market reports
• Keep an eye on what the big companies, and major suppliers in other related industries are doing
• Analyse historical data and spot emerging patterns
• Study your customers and their pain points

Ideas shared in dropshipping communities

By keeping tabs on public dropshipping communities or joining exclusive groups for dropshippers, you can access valuable information and knowledge from fellow dropshippers. But this is a less fruitful option because it is super rare to hear from people where they keep the money. Let’s hope that some altruistic entrepreneurs will drop some hints and suggestions that will guide you to find the right products.

• Reddit
• Youtube
• Facebook groups

>>> Also read: Dropshipping vs Print on Demand: Which is Better for You

Best product research tools

Product research tools can provide you with comprehensive and meaningful data that help you understand how other stores are doing and what products are currently trending.

With these tools, you can derive important insights and find the most potential dropship products.

But what are the most powerful tools for dropshipping research? The answer really depends on what marketplaces and platforms you are working on.

Usually, each tool will focus on specific platforms or marketplaces like Shopify, Amazon, or eBay for example. Depending on the types of information you want to dive into, you can find the most suitable tools for product research.

Dropship.io – Best Shopify Product Research Tool

Dropship.io is a powerful Shopify spy tool. With this tool, you can look into your competitors’ metrics like total sales, revenues, apps, and themes they are using. This tool also shows you the list of leading products and stores, allowing you to identify top-performing and up-and-coming sellers on the platforms.

Observing these metrics over time will help you to better understand how your competitors are doing and what types of products are driving the most profits to their stores.

Jungle Scout – Best Amazon Product Research Tool

Jungle Scout is one of the best and most popular Amazon research tools with impressive, powerful features. Not only giving away the details about the winning products on Amazon, Jungle Scout also comes in handy for your keyword research, product listing, ads analysis, and many more.

Useful data provided by Jungle Scout can help you to:

• Identify prominent and rising sellers and products
• Estimate the market competition
• Gauge the potential of each product
• Manage risks and store health

Helium 10

Helium 10 is also among the top product research tools for Amazon sellers. The strength of this tool lies in its ability to measure important metrics of existing products, which can help facilitate your data-driven competitor analysis. Here are some of the best features of Helium 10:

• Cerebro: You can use this feature to find the potential keywords to include in your product page and enhance its search visibility.
• BlackBox: This feature helps Amazon sellers to identify the winning products. By looking at the demand and competition metrics, you can quickly identify products with high potential.
• Listing Optimization: With this feature, you can easily scan your product content for space for improvement.

Asify – Best AliExpress Product Research Tool

AliExpress is no stranger to dropshipping sellers. It is a massive online marketplace where you can find nearly anything, from expensive, advanced machinery to household appliances, electric gadgets, home decor at very affordable prices. But unlike other B2C marketplaces, AliExpress is the haven for dropshipping sellers and business owners to source their products at inexpensive prices.

With the help of Asify, you can sort through a myriad of products available on AliExpress to find out the top-performing products and see important data like prices, orders, ratings, keywords, processing time, and so on. This tool will give you a quick glance at what is doing well for dropshippers on AliExpress.

Minea – Best Ad Spy Product Research Tool

Social media can be a great place to consolidate your product research. Most dropshipping sellers rely on ads campaigns on platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok to gain customers.

By searching for popular ads with high engagement, you can spy on what ads and products are gaining traction on social websites. It is virtually the best way to gauge the interest and potential of a product.

AliExpress Dropshipping Center

Apart from the third-party research tools, AliExpress also shares their owned data for all customers to access.

You can easily access this tool through AliExpress’s website. After logging in, go to My Orders under the Account Menu. Select DS Center from the left-side bar. From there, you will be directed to the built-in analysis tool.

This tool gives you a list of the winning products for different categories on Find Product to Sell tab. On the Product Analysis tab, you can just paste the link of a certain product and it will show you similar products along with prices, shipping info, number of orders, logistics, and sales rating.

Dropship Spy – Winning Product Research Tool

Dropship Spy gives you the best of both worlds – You can spy on winning product ideas from both AliExpress and popular social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. On average, each year, they will add over 1500 new items to their list. For each selected product, you will be provided with comprehensive data about sales, trends, and product reviews, along with performance analysis from Amazon, AliExpress, eBay, or ads on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

What sets Dropship Spy apart from other available product research tools is its rigorous testing and verifying. Their tested list of dropshipping products will ensure that you can find the most trustable, high-quality products for your business.

Sell the trend

Similar to Dropship Spy, Sell the Trends is an all-in-one dropshipping tool that gives you access to data from across different platforms. Other than giving you the related details you require, this tool also leverages the power of artificial intelligence to make your product research easier with NEXUS Product Explorer feature.

In addition, this tool also integrates many useful features that make your dropshipping flow run smoothly and effortlessly.

• Create a website with e-commerce website builder
• Connect to up to 3 stores
• List products and start order fulfillment in one click
• Access to product ads and video library

On top of that, Sell the Trend makes sure that you can smartly navigate through the sea of products from AliExpress, Shopify, or Amazon.

Niche Scraper

Niche Scraper provides the quickest way to find out the most suitable dropshipping products for your stores.

Simply type in the keywords, product names on the search bar and set your filter by category, subcategories, total orders, and prices, you will be able to search for all products available on AliExpress or Shopify for the most suitable results. You can get more product ideas through their Hand Picked tab which presents their selected winning products.

Niche Scraper’s Market Research will help you out with your competitor analysis, niche research, and ads spying.

Thieve.co

By collecting and analyzing real customer data, Thieve.co delivers reliable metrics on the popularity and conversion of each product. Thieve.co also compares similar products from various suppliers and suggests the best sellers with better prices, reviews, fast delivery.

Besides saving you time in finding the best products in the market, Thieve.co also provides useful features that make it quick and easy to find the best quality product images. With Premium Product Images curated by Thieve.co, you can create the most appealing listings that can actually convert.

If you want to build professional images for your brand, you shouldn’t look over this useful feature provided by Thieve.co

Ecomhunt

Ecomhunt is also a popular, trusted product research tool chosen by many dropshipping sellers. Ecomhunt can provide you with various comprehensive solutions for your business, including handpicked product selection, listing performance data, live trending product lists, and product tracker sessions.

Pro plan subscribers can even enjoy the additional benefits of a 1-on-1- expert consultant while Ecomhunt’s Suit Plan provides you with unlimited access to AliExpress product information and analytics, Ecomhunt content library, and 3ET courses. These options are incredibly helpful for newbie dropshippers.

SaleSource

SaleSource is another popular dropshipping tool that has helped many sellers to achieve success. This tool comes with its own Chrome extension which makes it more convenient to access and do your competitor analysis.

Besides the basic functions of product analysis or store analysis, SaleSource also offers the necessary tools for selecting product images and creating product videos.

Where to research for potential dropshipping products

Social media

Social media platforms are at the center of all dropshipping sellers’ marketing campaigns. Investigating these platforms will help you see what products they are trying to promote and what types of products are driving the most engagement for other competitors.

In addition, keeping an eye out for all the conversations from your customers will help you not only to understand their problems and expectations but also to get inspiration for new product ideas.

In the following part, we will dive into the specific steps and tips on how to do your product research on each social media platform.

How to Do Product Research on Facebook/Facebook Ads

Here are places where you can look up to find dropshipping ideas:

• Related groups: You can search for groups where your ideal customers gather. For example, if you are selling pet products, find Facebook groups for pet owners. Follow their conversations, hear their concerns, and look out for what they need. You can even post your questions and ask for their feedback for your market, niches, or products.
• Your own pages: Your Facebook pages are not only the platform for you to communicate with your customers in a one-way direction. Utilize it to receive customer feedback and measure their engagement in order to gain insights into their interests and behavior. From there, you can predict what products can get the intention.

Facebook’s analytics also provide important clues about who your customers are: their locations, genders, status, and interests.

• Facebook ads: Browsing Facebook library ads will help you discover new product ideas and see what is gaining traction and attracting conversations on this platform. With the help of some specialized Facebook Ads spy tools, your search process should be more efficient and less time-consuming.

How to Do Product Research on TikTok/Tiktok Ads

TikTok’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years. It has quickly become the new home for marketers to promote their products to a wider audience.

On TikTok, marketers and brands are able to capture attention through organic content or paid ads. Besides being the platform for promoting products and brand awareness, TikTok is also a highly powerful tool for dropshipping product research.

• Trending hashtag

And through popular and trending hashtags, you will be able to see a large number of related content. #TiktokMadeMeBuyIt, for example, is a viral hashtag where creator shows their prized product finds. #AmazonFinds is also a good place to start with your product research.

Through such hashtags, you will be able to see what products are trending and gaining attention on TikTok. Also, in the comment section, you will be able to gauge the demand for the product get into the minds of interested customers, and find out what are they expecting.

• For You Page

What makes TikTok so additive is its refined algorithm that curates the most relevant, interesting content across the platform based on your interaction and activity and shows it on your For You Page.

Spend some time on the app and interact with the type of content you are interested in, or in this case, the product recommendation content. And more of the similar content will automatically show up on your For You Page.

• Product review content 

On TikTok, you can also search for reviews from real users of a certain product. From these reviews, you can gain more insight into how the product is used and customer’s expectations. These insights can help you to find the right products that can solve customer’s problems and meet their needs.

How to Do Product Research on Instagram

Instagram is a popular social media for sharing photos and short videos. Here are a few ways you can search for product ideas from this platform:

• Hashtag: Hashtag is the only path for you to navigate through similar content on Instagram. To find the best and most relevant hashtag for your product search, you should narrow down your hashtag.

Instead of going into the popular, generic hashtag, look up longer and more specific hashtags.

• Locations: Another useful Instagram feature is location. With this feature, you can see what people in certain areas are talking about.
• Instagram influencers: Instagram influencers are no doubt one of the most influential groups of people on the internet. Their lifestyles and recommendations are eaten up by users on these platforms. By following the famous influencers in your niche, you can see what they are using and recommending to their followers. This is a smart way to keep up with the latest trends in the markets and follow the market’s key opinion leaders.

How to do Product Research on Pinterest

Pinterest is the go-to place for many internet users to find inspiration for their everyday life. It is also where many head for when they need product ideas.

• Pins: You can search for Pins (or images) on Pinterest. Each time you click a Pin, they will show you endless other related ideas.
• Boards: Boards are a collection of pins curated by Pinterest users. Many Pinterest users create boards to store product ideas for future use. You can see what they find interesting.

Marketplaces

Marketplaces should be at the forefront of your product research. From these platforms, you will be able to detect the ongoing trends, what products are getting sales and reviews, and what your competitors are selling.

How to Do Product Research on Amazon

Amazon is the largest online retailer and a promising marketplace for all dropshipping. There are a plethora of research tools built for Amazon sellers. But if you are not ready to invest your money in tools, there are many other ways for you to do your product research on this platform.

• Amazon search bar: On Amazon, when you type something into the search box, Amazon will automatically suggest other longer keywords that others are also searching for. These automatic suggestions will give you some clues on what type of products customers are actively looking for.

• Amazon Best-seller list: The best and most reliable way to identify what products are doing well on Amazon is to check out Amazon’s best-seller list.

• Amazon customer reviews: Another way to thoroughly investigate the market need on Amazon is by going through customer reviews.

If you are eyeing a particular product, you can check out the customer review sections to understand customers’ expectations and problems, what they like and dislike about the products. You can use insights gained from real-user reviews for your product research and find the best solutions for customers.

How to Do Product Research on eBay

• Terapeak: As a way to power all sellers, eBay developed a specific product research tool that shows the real sales data of products available on eBay. With this tool, you can easily search for winning products and see related analytics and data. You can access Terapeak from ebay’s Seller Hub.
• Trending on eBay: eBay’s trending list is a good place to start your product hunt. You can find what products in different categories are picking up steam on this marketplace. These lists can give you inspiration and ideas for the upcoming product launches.

How to Do Product Research on Etsy

Etsy is the number one marketplace for selling handmade, vintage items. Other than that, this marketplace also allows sellers to sell print-on-demand products via third-party companies. With a strong focus on unique, handmade items, Etsy is a great place to source for original, one-of-a-kind products.

You can kick off your research with Etsy’s search bar. Similar to other marketplaces, Etsy also has an autocomplete search feature that gives you suggestions on related products.

In addition, Etsy also suggests products based on your previous interactions, which will give you more

How to Do Product Research on AliExpress

On AliExpress, you can filter the products in order of order number from the highest to lowest. It is possible to apply this type of filter on both search result pages and category pages, allowing you to narrow down your search for the best-selling products.

In addition to this filter option, AliExpress also provides a special research tool – the AliExpress Dropshipping Center as mentioned in the previous section.

What to consider when searching for the best dropshipping products

From the previous part, you have covered all the steps that help you discover potential products for your dropshipping business.

With all the wonderful product ideas gathered from your research, how can you pick out the product with the most potential? The truth is, for a promising product idea on paper to become a profitable product in reality, there are a few factors that come into play.

In this section, we will walk you through the key considerations when searching for the best dropshipping products.

1. Price range

In the highly competitive dropshipping world, offering a good price is a pivotal step to getting ahead of the competition, especially if you are entering a red ocean filled with many strong rivals.

On the other hand, your price range should also be smartly set to maintain a sweet spot for your business to make healthy profits and grow. Competing for the cheapest price is not the only way to win the race.

2. Selecting a supplier

Alongside the product research, finding the right supplier is essential for success in dropshipping. A good supplier will help your business to run smoothly and deliver the best products and services to your customers.

Some factors that can make a good supplier include product quality, reliability, transparency, and customer support.

3. Delivery time

Even when you are able to convince your customers to buy a product, there are still some extra steps you need to do to ensure the best experience for your customers. One of which is maximizing the shipping time and delivering what you promise.

Delivering products on time is essential for customer satisfaction and competitiveness. Manage customer expectations by providing accurate delivery estimates. Explore shipping methods and carrier options that align with your delivery time goals. Implement order tracking and communication to keep customers informed and engaged.

4. Market demand

Gauging the market demand is foundationally important. Through comprehensive market research, you will be able to form an informed, data-driven analysis of the potential products in the market.

5. Profit and competition

Calculate and maximize profit margins while staying competitive through pricing strategies. Diversify your product range to reduce the risks associated with intense competition, ensuring a healthy bottom line.

6. Demand and restrictions

Recognizing product demand and potential restrictions or regulations is crucial. Conduct research to understand regional and demographic variations in demand. Be aware of common restrictions and legal considerations in dropshipping. Adapt your product selection to comply with regulations and tap into products with consistent demand.

7. Product outlook

Think long-term when selecting dropshipping products. Consider a product’s outlook for sustained success. Evaluate its position in the product lifecycle and anticipate shifts in market trends. Stay updated on industry developments and maintain a flexible product portfolio that can adapt to changing market conditions.

It will take a while to find out the best route to the most potential products for your dropshipping business. With all the tips and advice on how to do your dropshipping product research, you will easily work out the best strategy to unearth your revenue-generating products.