With over 350 million items for sale and over 126 million Amazon Prime members often the problem you will face is finding the right things to sell. Whether you're just starting out on the platform or a 10-year veteran, every day the question you will be faced with is “What to sell on Amazon?”
The unfortunate spread of COVID-19 has changed the typical answer to this question. We're seeing a ton of changes to buyer habits because of things like...
- More people working from home
- More people avoiding the gyms and exercising from home
- Fewer people traveling
- More people cooking meals for themselves
As with any large change, it's important that your business adjusts to serve the new needs of the average consumer.
It would be nice if someone could hand you a shopping list and say, “Go buy this and you will be a millionaire.” Unfortunately, the real world doesn’t work like that. The closest thing we have to that would be paid lead groups, but those won't be a complete substitute for your own sourcing.
Quick Note for Arbitrage Sellers
My rule of thumb when selecting products for arbitrage is "can you sell it and does it meet your parameters (sales velocity estimates, Min ROI etc.)" This article can still be beneficial and insightful to you, but it's not my recommendation that arbitrage sellers should niche down their sourcing. If you're a wholesale seller or are looking to bring a private label product to market, these items might deserve your narrow focus.
However, there are certain categories you can focus on right now (2021) that will improve your odds of success. We could all use some big wins in our lives, right?
Here are our top 5 categories to niche down on and why we think they deserve a more in-depth look while you’re sourcing.
#1 Home office
With work from home going from a temporary situation to a permanent one for millions of Americans, furniture and accessories for the home office are going to continue to perform well as a category. Stationary, organizers, and décor are all over performing their historic sales trends and should continue to do so in the future.
Look for products that would look nice in a home office instead of a cubicle on a corporate campus. For people to feel comfortable and productive in their home office, they’re going to want to make it their own space. That will lead to more variety in sales of office supplies since purchasing departments will no longer be buying 1000 of the same stapler for every employee.
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#2 Electronics
Due to work from home, demand for electronics is so strong (and expected to remain so) that there are shortages in electronic components. Everything from Monitors to web cams to video cards are experiencing supply issues. Some graphics cards are selling for 3 to 4 times MSRP. Check your local electronics stores for these hard-to-find goodies and help meet the demand.
The demand is so extreme that even dated technology, such as old graphics cards, are selling well above MSRP. These items are simultaneously being clearanced in local shops to make shelf space That creates a huge opportunity for arbitrage.
Also don’t forget the accessories. You can’t JUST own an iPad; people also have to get a case with the right combination of utility and aesthetics!
#3 Home Gym equipment
Covid-19 has made Americans more aware than ever before that their health is important. While the sports and fitness category has always done well, it has exploded in the past year. Sales of home fitness equipment is up 100+% year over year and that is despite a supply shortage, otherwise it would be up much more.
This is a great category to look at as many Amazon sellers avoid oversized and heavy items because they are intimidating. Sports and fitness is a great category for anyone willing to learn the logistics of shipping 20+ lb. items. It offers a wealth of opportunity (and wealth!) for the hustler.
Added bonus: you won’t need home fitness equipment of your own after shipping a dozen weight sets out.
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#4 Toys & Games
Work from home and remote learning is a great combination if you want to spend every workday trying to simultaneously entertain your kids and keep your boss happy. However, most people need ways to keep their kids busy when they aren’t on Zoom calls with their teachers. That is why, during an unprecedented recession, the toys and games category has over performed. This category has done so well since WFH began that even “archaic” toys such as puzzles experienced nationwide shortages last year.
This is a great category to work in if you have kids yourself because you will be more familiar with the characters and toys that they are interested in. No one knows the latest toy fads like a 5-year-old with YouTube. You can also find supply everywhere from your local pharmacies (ex. CVS) to Walmart and electronics stores. There are also a lot of small, dedicated toy stores in malls and shopping centers, that don’t get much traffic but often have great clearance deals. Toys are everywhere and demand for them is only going up as kids go stir crazy in the house and parents try to keep them engaged.
#5 Books
A lot of people have picked up reading as a hobby because they can’t go out. Because amazon started with books, you might be inclined to believe the category is saturated and therefore useless to you: you would be wrong. There are a lot of sellers in the Books category including Amazon themselves but what makes this category unique is market share. Amazon.com accounts for over 50% of all paper book sales in the United States. This mean that over 11 billion dollars a year is spent by customers on paper books on the Amazon.com platform.
While physical book retailers have gone the way of the dodo, Amazon sellers have reaped the rewards of a huge market. Book sourcing is also cheap as you can buy books in bulk for pennies each with markups often 1000+%. Between the huge margins, and the massive customer spending, this category continues to be one of the great money makers for sellers and is one to consider when sourcing.
Those are 5 categories to help you while you hunt for the next great product. For this and more useful information, join our mailing list here!