What characteristics must a product have to sell successfully on Amazon in 2024?
You may have heard that a product must be “small” and “light” or that competitors must not have more than 100 reviews for it to sell successfully on Amazon. In general, there are many myths about the features that a product should have for Amazon FBA Sellers. But what is just myth and what is really true? And what is really important when searching for a product?
In this article, we take a closer look at the most important product features and prejudices and analyze what you should and shouldn’t pay attention to when researching products on Amazon.
Demand
The special thing about Amazon is that customers already know what they are looking for when they come to the platform. So if you have a product that is perhaps particularly innovative but that nobody is looking for, it won’t sell well either. The first consideration in your Amazon product research should therefore always be: Is there already a demand for the product and if so, how high is it? Without or only with a low demand, you as a seller have too high a risk.
How do you know if your product is in demand? You can easily determine this using tools such as XRay from Helium 10. Here you can read detailed instructions on how to use Xray for your product research.
Does the number of sellers in a niche play a role? Don’t be intimidated by many sellers in a niche. Rather, it’s about analyzing how well they do their job. Questions you should ask yourself include: How good are the listing and product images? How high is the optimization potential? Are customers satisfied with the product quality? What do they praise or criticize in the reviews?
Number of ratings
The fewer reviews a product has, the easier it is to enter the niche. This is because you need to generate fewer reviews to gain the same trust from customers as your competitors. You should stay away from niches that are dominated by very large, well-known brands with thousands of reviews.
Nevertheless, it must be emphasized that a well-developed USP and strong marketing play a much more important role than the sheer number of reviews. If you can stand out from the competition and offer the customer a better solution, a successful sale is possible even in niches with many reviews.
Selling price
Contrary to widespread opinion, the sales price does not play a direct role in the selection of your product on Amazon. However, you should understand what impact a low or very high sales price will have on you and what requirements you should meet:
I recommend that you choose a product with a retail price of over €10-15, especially when starting out. The reason for this is that the margin would otherwise be too low. You will always have basic costs such as storage and shipping. If the sales price is very low, your margin will be eaten up by the fees. A product with a retail price of €8 might end up with a profit of €2 or less. So you would have to sell masses of this product for it to be profitable for you at all.
One advantage of products between €15-50 is that you don’t need as much capital and customers still buy impulsively in this price range without thinking about it for several days.
The higher the sales price, the lower the number of sales. But: The higher the sales price, the higher your profit per unit sold. A bag from Prada, for example, sells significantly less than a bag from H&M. But Prada makes more profit from the sale of a single bag than H&M.
Variants and category
The more variants a product has, the more complex repeat orders and cash flow management become. For example, if you have 10 variants, you need to analyze which ones sell best and how many of each variant you need to reorder. This may sound simple, but it can be quite complex. It is therefore advisable to avoid products with too many variants, especially when starting out.
There are no good or bad categories. You can successfully sell products in all Amazon categories. One category you should avoid, however, is “eroticism”. PPC ads from Amazon are not permitted here. However, PPC is an incredibly important component for a successful product launch on Amazon in order to be placed as high up as possible in the search results. Without this option, it will be much more difficult to successfully enter the market.
Size, weight and fragility
It is a myth that a product has to be “small” and “light”! However, both features have a major impact on the import and shipping fees at Amazon. However, if you calculate your margin correctly, the higher purchasing costs are already included in your sales price. The key question is therefore how much capital you have at your disposal. This is because the purchasing costs for large and heavy products will of course be higher as a rule.
Another disadvantage is that very large or heavy products often cannot be imported by air freight. For example, if you run the risk of going OOS soon, you will be much less flexible when it comes to reordering.
If your product is particularly fragile, you should ensure that it is well packaged and find a good solution for transportation and shipping. But it is not an exclusion criterion! In the worst case, fragile products increase your returns to Amazon.
Seasonality
Do you want to sell Christmas decorations or barbecue products?
Tip: First take a look at the BSR curve with helium 10. This allows you to see at what times the product has sold well or poorly in the past.
When it comes to seasonality, we distinguish between 3 categories:
- Not seasonal: product sells all year round
- Slightly seasonal: product sells between 4 and 9 months a year
- Highly seasonal: product sells for less than 4 months a year
What counts in the end is the total annual turnover of a product. Is turnover so high at peak times that it compensates for the bad months?
Seasonality is therefore not an exclusion criterion for products and sales in such niches can be very profitable and successful. However, it must be mentioned that seasonal products are more complex, especially for inexperienced sellers. Stock levels need to be planned correctly and cash flow management is also becoming more extensive. The first product of an Amazon FBA Seller should therefore not necessarily be a highly seasonal product.
Under no circumstances electrical products or food supplements?
To answer this question for yourself, you should take a closer look at the challenges posed by products in these categories and then make a decision. To sell electronic products or supplements, you need significantly more certificates and have to adhere to many rules. As a result, you will spend considerably more time and money on sourcing. Another important point is the high level of responsibility you have towards your customers with these products.
Conclusion – understanding connections and effects
In summary, it is important to understand not to think too rigidly when considering the properties. Rather, you should ask yourself: What effects does a certain property have? With sufficient capital and a strong USP, you can be successful even in highly competitive, large niches.
“Where value goes, money flows” – Much more important than the question of whether a product should be light or heavy is to focus on developing a strong USP and calculating the margin correctly. How much potential does a particular niche have? How much can you stand out from the competition? The stronger your USP, the more long-term and successful your product will sell on Amazon. Ultimately, it also depends on what you have left over at the end and how high your margin is.
Do you have any questions? Please contact us by e-mail or find out
here how we as an Amazon agency can simplify your everyday life as a seller!
