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How to Launch Successful Products and Sell on Amazon
Successful sellers on Amazon.com and Helium10’s Chief Evangelist provide insights into how to launch new products to sell on Amazon.
The art and science of launching successful products on Amazon.com
Launching successful products on Amazon.com is both an art and a science. Science makes use of data to assess demand for products, competition, pricing and number of reviews. Art considers customer needs, such as analyzing customer reviews to assess unmet or different needs.
Amazon speaks with these Amazon selling experts to discover tips on how sellers can combine the art and science of product research to launch successful products and sell on Amazon.
• Cyril Chia, Amazon Global Selling Seller Ambassador
• Stev Tam, Founder of PETITE SIMONE, fast-fashion bag and accessories brand on Amazon.com
• Bradley Sutton, Director of Training & Chief Evangelist at Helium10
Amazon speaks with these Amazon selling experts to discover tips on how sellers can combine the art and science of product research to launch successful products and sell on Amazon.
• Cyril Chia, Amazon Global Selling Seller Ambassador
• Stev Tam, Founder of PETITE SIMONE, fast-fashion bag and accessories brand on Amazon.com
• Bradley Sutton, Director of Training & Chief Evangelist at Helium10
For my journey, I find products using more scientific methods like looking at demand and supply. Demand refers to search volume, while supply refers to how many competitors are selling the same product.
- Cyril
Amazon: What are some of the most commonly used data points and tools that you have leveraged to determine if a particular product has potential to sell on Amazon?
Cyril: Try and find products using data points rather than basing it on passion to sell on Amazon. For my journey, I find products using more scientific methods like looking at demand and supply. Demand refers to search volume, while supply refers to how many competitors are selling the same product.
I’m selling in the Arts & Craft category (I’m actually not very good at Arts & Craft), but managed to find this product using Amazon tools and by looking at search volume, competitors, pricing, how many units are being sold a month, etc.
I’m selling in the Arts & Craft category (I’m actually not very good at Arts & Craft), but managed to find this product using Amazon tools and by looking at search volume, competitors, pricing, how many units are being sold a month, etc.
Bradley: Search volume is important. Sometimes even more important than that is looking at the estimated keyword sales. You can have one keyword that has 100,000 searches like “kitchen”, but only 500 purchases because people don’t type “kitchen” then buy something – they’re using the word to browse. On the other hand, you can have something specific like “plastic kitchen spatula” and only 10,000 searches, but 3,000 people actually buy it. So it’s more important to look at the keyword sales.
Amazon: How do you shortlist top product ideas to sell on Amazon? Between passion, profit, growth potential, competition size and customer feedback on prototypes, which would you prioritize?
Stev: I would go with customer feedback and market potential. In 2022, for example, when COVID travel restrictions started to ease, we noticed sales in our travel bags category increase substantially, and started building stock due to market potential.
On the other hand, customer feedback is also important to us because fast fashion is the cornerstone of our brand, and we use market indicators such as customer satisfaction and feedback to inform our fast fashion strategy.
On the other hand, customer feedback is also important to us because fast fashion is the cornerstone of our brand, and we use market indicators such as customer satisfaction and feedback to inform our fast fashion strategy.
Amazon: Customer reviews can also be a huge source of product innovation inspiration and competitor gap analysis. How has your brand used customer reviews to develop new products to sell on Amazon?
Stev: Sofii is one of our bags that was selling well in the US market. We got the idea for Sofii’s design from the Southeast Asia market, as it was one of the top sellers in Thailand and Malaysia. We tried it out in the US as well, and it worked, but after a few weeks we received customer reviews about the bags being too small, and customers were also looking for more compartments in the bag. That’s when the design and product teams went back to the drawing board to start designing our Sofii (US version). That took us 3 days to design the prototype, 7 days for production and 30 days to make it available to sell on Amazon US.
To sell on Amazon US, it’s critical and mandatory to design for US customers. We do fast fashion, so we tailor and customize our popular products according to different customer needs.
- Stev
Amazon: Let’s discuss designing for US customers. In your category of selling, how important is it to design for US customers first? And are their differences between US and South East Asian customers?
Stev: To sell on Amazon US, it’s critical and mandatory to design for US customers. We do fast fashion, so we tailor and customize our popular products according to different customer needs. The key difference between the US and Asia is based on seasons.
For example, in Southeast Asia, where there isn’t much difference in seasons but its always hot, people tend to wear brighter colors. In the US, we noticed that preferences differ based on the seasons e.g. during summer, customers prefer brighter colors and during winter, customers prefer darker colors. That’s something we had to factor in based on the country.
For example, in Southeast Asia, where there isn’t much difference in seasons but its always hot, people tend to wear brighter colors. In the US, we noticed that preferences differ based on the seasons e.g. during summer, customers prefer brighter colors and during winter, customers prefer darker colors. That’s something we had to factor in based on the country.
Amazon: Let’s also discuss new data points Product Opportunity Explorer. Bradley, have you tried Product Opportunity Explorer?
Bradley: I like using Product Opportunity Explorer for analyzing search conversion. I also like using the tool by looking at how many products Amazon says are in a niche e.g. if you look at the details you’ll be able to see the no. of products that make up x% of the clicks for these keywords in a niche e.g. if you see a niche that has 150 products that means it’s spread out across products competing in this niche; if you see a niche that has only 6-7 products that make up 80% of the clicks that means these products are dominating this niche.
Amazon: Finally, which are some of your favorite tools and data points for keyword and product research?
Cyril: I’ll use Amazon’s Product Opportunity Explorer and brand analytics, and Helium10’s Magnet and Cerebral tools. Also, Google for general keywords and trends research.
Stev: Amazon’s Product Opportunity Explorer and Google Trends. The key data points that we look at would be keyword search volume as well as average sales for each item.
Note: Amazon does not endorse any service provider or its services. If you choose to retain a service provider, you will be contracting directly with that provider, which will be providing services to you at your direction.
Product Opportunity Explorer
Product Opportunity Explorer allows you to understand Amazon customers' preferences to evaluate if there is unmet customer demand, and an opportunity for you to meet that demand through new products and product features.
Discover unmet & underserved demand
Research customer demand signals via keyword search data, and filter for the highest search volume or highest growth keywords.
Find niche opportunities
Look for product niches, review competitive products in key niches to identify opportunities for differentiation.
Assess competition
Find data on how many brands and products compete in the same space, their average pricing, reviews and even out-of-stock rates.
*An Amazon Professional Selling Account is required to access Product Opportunity Explorer. Data is available for Amazon.com and 5 European Stores only.
Other helpful resources
Here are some other helpful resources and tools to help you in your product research journey.
Be part of our Amazon Global Selling Community
New to selling on Amazon.com? Join our Facebook Community Group to connect with other Amazon sellers in Southeast Asia, share tips and learn about upcoming events.
Consult the Selling Partner Appstore
Discover Amazon-approved third-party software partners including third-party research tools such as Helium10 or JungleScout, and product compliance consultants to sell on Amazon.
Watch our webinars or join an upcoming event
Watch past webinar recordings about researching and sourcing for products to sell on Amazon.com, or join a Seller Community event in Singapore to network with other sellers.
Other useful topics
For selling on Amazon.com
Product Research Ideas for Singapore Sellers in 2023
We address your frequently asked questions about product research and equip you with the tools that will help you identify products that sell well on Amazon.
For selling on Amazon.com
Export to US and Go Global – Product Sourcing Tips
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