The ecommerce industry continues to grow every year and online retailers continue to feel the pressure that comes with increased competition. Because of this competition, retailers have learned to rely on product research tools to help them source and list products that sell well and have high profit margins.
The most successful companies have learned how to leverage product research tools in order to help them make actionable decisions when it comes to product sourcing and scaling their business.
If you aren't using a product research tool during your product sourcing, you're really missing out. Here are 5 reasons why we believe Amazon and eBay research tools are essential if you want to build a competitive online retail business.
Analyze Your Competition with Ease
It doesn't matter how big your online retail business is, you have to learn how to analyze your competition and their products using eBay and Amazon research tools if you want to succeed.
You never want to leave your product research up to chance. Online product research tools help you scan through thousands of products in order to find out which ones are widely available, popular, and actually selling. These insights help you avoid sinking a lot of your capital into products that will sit on your shelves.
Use one of these tools to see what your competition is doing, what their ratings are, how many reviews they have, what the Amazon buy box price is, and other useful information.
Clearly Defined Profit and Expenses
Another important feature of a product research tool is the snapshot it provides of your estimated profit and expenses.
Products with high sale prices may seem attractive at first glance, especially if you can generate a reasonable gross profit on the sale, but you also have to look at how much your expenses will be.
Depending what marketplace you are selling on, you need to account for your purchase price, shipping, selling fees (eBay final value fee, Amazon fees, and PayPal fees), taxes, marketing costs, and more. The more you know about your expenses, the better a decision you can make when it comes to choosing products to sell online.
Scan Multiple Marketplaces
Even if you don't intend to sell an item outside of the United States via eBay or Amazon, it doesn't hurt to learn how a specific product is performing in Europe and other major marketplaces. You cannot predict when you will outgrow your current marketplace, so being prepared for this is extremely important. Amazon and eBay research tools help you do this.
Every country has its own trends when it comes to products. Being able to scan foreign marketplaces can help you find new product ideas to try and sell within your own market.
The more data you can bring up on an item and its performance across diverse marketplaces, the better. Successful ecommerce businesses understand the importance of product data as it helps them make informed decisions about whether or not to sell a specific product in a set region.
Search Multiple Products When Product Sourcing
You already know that you have to automate certain processes if you want to run an effective ecommerce business. Things like shipping labels, order receipt emails, and other tedious tasks have to be automated unless you want to waste a lot of time.
Many ecommerce businesses spend a lot of time product sourcing - and for good reason. Finding great products is essential if you want to run a profitable business.
But finding these products takes a lot of time. A multi-purpose eBay and Amazon research tool simplifies product sourcing by allowing you to scan multiple items at once, helping you create detailed lists of products that are worth pursuing.
Don't waste hundreds of hours pouring through individual products when you can scan hundreds of them at once.
Save Money with One All-Around Tool
One complaint many ecommerce business owners have is that there are too many tools out there. Every tool seems to be good at one thing and only one thing.
A solid product research tool will help you solve more than one problem. Take Algopix for example, it helps you source products, understand your profit and expenses, see what your competition is doing, and provide you with useful Google AdWords data about the products you are searching.
If you are going to purchase tools to help you better run your ecommerce business, make sure you find ones that help you solve multiple problems at once. No one wants to pay for 10 SaaS subscriptions each month, so take the time to fill your toolbelt with the best options available.
Conclusion
Growing your business in the competitive ecommerce industry takes a lot of hard work, but it doesn't have to be hard if you rely on the right product research tools. Tools like Algopix are designed to save you time and money and help you find the best products to sell to grow your business.
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Dani Avitz is an eCommerce expert. He is co-founder and COO at Algopix, a research platform for the eCommerce community.
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