🔍 How to Find a Killer Amazon FBA Product: A Step-by-Step Guide
Are you looking to make a profit by selling on Amazon FBA? Finding the right product can be a daunting task, but with the right strategy, it can be a lot easier than you think. In this article, we'll walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to find a killer Amazon FBA product that can help you make a profit.
📝 Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Finding a Product Category That Interests You
3. Using Helium 10's Black Box Tool
4. Shortlisting Product Ideas
5. Finding Suppliers on Alibaba
6. Asking for Product Ideas in Development
7. Checking Product Niche Demand
8. Checking Product Profitability
9. Branding and Making Your Offer Irresistible
10. Summary
11. Smashes Academy: Amazon FBA Mentorship Program
12. FAQs
1. Introduction
In January, I launched a new Amazon FBA product that made me over $90,000 in revenues and $20,000 in profits in just three months. What made this situation even sweeter was that because of the product research method that I used to find this product, I was the first seller to market. That gave me a huge head start when it came to getting reviews and making as much money as possible. The good news is that today, I'm going to be running through the exact strategy that I followed to find that product so that you can mimic it when you're doing your own Amazon FBA research, which will hopefully allow you to find and sell a killer product before anybody else.
2. Finding a Product Category That Interests You
Finding and then selling a successful Amazon FBA product is always going to be made a lot easier if the product that you want to sell is in a category that naturally interests you. That's because it means that branding and improvement ideas for the product are going to come a lot easier for you. With this in mind, when I first began my Amazon FBA product research, rather than mindlessly scrolling through lots of random product categories on Amazon hoping that I could find something half-decent, instead, I decided to only look for top-selling product ideas in the categories that were naturally of interest to me.
3. Using Helium 10's Black Box Tool
To make that part of the process as painless as possible, I started with Helium 10's Black Box tool, which effectively works a bit like Google. Except, instead of you being shown websites after plugging in your search criteria, you're shown Amazon products that you can think about selling. To use it, log into helium10.com, select Black Box from the tools drop-down, and then start looking through and ticking all of the categories and subcategories that you think are going to contain products that are of interest to you. Once you've ticked at least five of these, change the minimum monthly revenue to $5,000 or more, set your minimum price to $15, and then press apply. A list of top-selling Amazon FBA products that are in categories that interest you should load.
4. Shortlisting Product Ideas
Take a look at each product in the result list, and for each idea that you think will be fun and that you'll be able to get creative with, add it to your shortlist. As soon as you've got 10 unique product ideas that all interest you, you can then move on to the next step, which is where you'll hopefully be turning a product idea into something tangible that you can actually sell.
5. Finding Suppliers on Alibaba
Once you have a shortlist of product ideas that you think you'd enjoy selling with Amazon FBA, you'll need to head to Alibaba and start searching for the suppliers of each product that you marked down in your shortlist. The reason that we're doing this now is that we're going to be using each supplier to actually help us with more product ideas, ideas that nobody else on Amazon is actually selling yet.
To do this, go to alibaba.com, type in the name of the product that it is that you want to sell, and then for each supplier that looks half-decent, press the contact button and then send them the following message:
"Hello, my name is [Your Name] and I am very interested in your [Product Name]. However, I'm also really interested to know what other products you have in development that are shortly due for release. Please can you let me know?"
Now, if you can aim to send this message to at least five suppliers for each product idea that you have, after a few days, you're going to find your inbox is packed full of emails from suppliers where they are literally handing you brand new product opportunities that are in categories that you're interested in on a plate. And because you use my secret strategy of asking for product ideas that are still in development, chances of you being first to market with that product are extremely high, which increases your chances of success and increases the amount of profit and market share that you're going to be able to take on Amazon.
6. Asking for Product Ideas in Development
Before you start getting excited and placing pre-orders for a product that nobody else has yet, you do still need to check two more things, which are the product niche's general demand and whether the product is actually going to be profitable for you to sell.
7. Checking Product Niche Demand
Every single Amazon FBA product that you want to sell needs to have existing demand in the category from shoppers on Amazon. Before you even think about placing an order with a supplier, you need to make sure that you check this, no questions asked. So, go to Amazon, search for the products that most closely resemble what it is that you want to sell, and then when the page is loaded, run the X-ray tool, which is part of Helium 10's Chrome extension. Once you've pressed the X-ray button, you'll be presented with a pop-up that will tell you exactly how many units are being sold each month by sellers in your chosen category, and you'll also be able to see helpful things such as how much revenue each seller is making.
At a minimum, you should expect to see demand of at least $5,000 or more from five or more sellers. If you don't see this for the product that you want to sell, and the numbers are all sub-1000, then unfortunately, there's not going to be enough demand from customers for you to make a decent amount of profit. That's regardless of what the product is and how early you are to find it compared to others. But if it does look like there's sufficient demand, then the final thing for you to check before you start getting really excited is the profitability.
8. Checking Product Profitability
Selling your own Amazon FBA product is an amazing feeling, but it's one that will quickly become a painful one if the product isn't able to make you a profit. By messaging the supplier that gave you the product idea in the first place, you can quickly find out how much it's likely to cost to get your product manufactured and then shipped to an Amazon warehouse on a per-unit basis. Once you've got that information, either load up and fill out my free Amazon profit calculator, which you can download in the description of this video, or use the Helium 10 profit calculator that's a part of the Chrome extension instead.
If you're struggling and you need help in calculating your profit before proceeding any further, make sure that you ask somebody who might know, which could include your accountant, and get them to double-check your figures for you. You do not want to order a product that is not going to make you a profit. But once you've filled out the calculator, if you see a profit margin of more than 30% before ads, then this is where you can start getting really excited and using your creative juices to think about how you can brand the product and make the offer so irresistible to customers that they'll just want to buy immediately.
9. Branding and Making Your Offer Irresistible
This is the exact strategy that I followed to find an Amazon product that made me over $20,000 in profits in just three months before any of my competitors even had a hint that it was going to become available. So, in summary, I used Helium 10 to help me put together a list of product ideas to explore further. Then, I spoke with the suppliers of those ideas, but I asked them what other products they had in the pipeline that would soon be released. And then, for the third step, I just made sure that the product niche actually had demand and that the product that I was being offered would make me a profit on Amazon.
10. Summary
It's a very simple strategy that so few people actually think to use. I hope that this product research tutorial gives you guys lots of motivation and a new release of energy to go out and find a product that helps you to smash it.
11. Smashes Academy: Amazon FBA Mentorship Program
If you're still struggling to come up with any ideas despite the lessons in this video, then check out my Amazon FBA mentorship program, the Smashes Academy, which is a beginner to advanced training program that comes with my full support and aims to get you ready to sell on Amazon in as little as 12 weeks. You can find more detail by visiting the link in the description below.
12. FAQs
Q: What is Amazon FBA?
A: Amazon FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon. It's a program that allows sellers to store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers. Amazon then picks, packs, and ships the products to customers on behalf of the seller.
Q: How much does it cost to sell on Amazon FBA?
A: The cost to sell on Amazon FBA varies depending on the product category, the size and weight of the product, and the fulfillment method. Amazon charges fees for storage, fulfillment, and referral.
Q: How do I create an Amazon FBA account?
A: To create an Amazon FBA account, go to sellercentral.amazon.com and click on the "Register Now" button. Follow the prompts to create your account.
Q: How do I optimize my Amazon FBA product listing?
A: To optimize your Amazon FBA product listing, make sure that you have a clear and concise product title, high-quality product images, a detailed product description, and competitive pricing. Use relevant keywords in your product title and description to improve your search rankings.
Q: How do I promote my Amazon FBA product?
A: To promote your Amazon FBA product, you can use Amazon's advertising platform, which includes sponsored products, sponsored brands, and sponsored display ads. You can also use social media and influencer marketing to promote your product.
