How to Do Market Intelligence for Products?

Not all products will sell effectively online. What’s popular today is likely to change tomorrow as consumer demand shifts and prices fluctuate. Market research is a hot topic in eCommerce for this reason, and online sellers strive to search for the products that are most likely to sell well. So how do companies choose the most viable products to sell, the ideal markets to do so, and the best prices that result in optimized profit margins?  They perform market intelligence for the various products they are looking to sell. Millions of transactions go through Amazon and eBay every day, and the trends and patterns in those sales provide invaluable information to online sellers and businesses. There are many aspects to consider when validating a product. Successful market intelligence often involves several components:

Analyzing Product SEO

Much like how web design SEO helps websites gain traffic through appealing to search engine algorithms, product SEO makes it easier for your potential customers to find your listings. Keyword searches and utilizing pay-per-click advertising are some ways to gain insight into how well your products will do on the market. Companies may also survey the competition for other sellers operating in the same market. If another business is selling a similar product, what is it doing to search for potential sales, and what can you do to improve on that strategy?

Collecting Market Data

There’s more to a product’s profile than just its price. You have to take into account the circumstances of the market and the context in which you will be selling. To elaborate, businesses should look for every item’s:

• Competition from other sellers
• Demand from consumers
• Shipping, taxes, and other seller-related fees
• Projected profit margins

The deeper your understanding, the better the chance you will find a bestseller in a product category in which you can compete.

Examining the Trends

Can you verify that a particular product is trending? Online tools like Google Trends can help your business validate whether a product is popular with enough customers to pursue. For example, companies can search for a specific type of item or any keywords related to it to find trends. They can also validate them in a variety of regions if they’re looking to sell locally, nationally, or internationally.

Trying a Proof of Concept

One of the best ways to validate a product early on is to run an initial test known as a proof of concept (POC). This test run involves sourcing a small stock of the product, building a simple landing page, and pushing traffic to it. It’s a quick method for finding whether there’s any interest in a product your business is thinking about adopting.

Understanding the Competition

How many other companies are selling the same product? Are you able to compete by undercutting their prices, providing a better buyer experience, or improving on any flaws in a competitor’s reviews? Knowing what other sellers are doing also helps you see how established the item is on the major marketplaces already. You could also pick up on some tactics other companies deploy to sell a specific type of product.