2024's Popular Shopify Products: What to Sell?
By Abhishek Sebin on
Navigating the competitive landscape of online selling is increasingly challenging as platforms like Shopify gain popularity. With Shopify hosting over 1.7 million businesses, standing out with unique products is essential for driving traffic and sales to one’s store. The success of Shopify stores hinges on carefully choosing the best products to sell.
Staying ahead in the e-commerce game entails keeping track of the latest market trends and consumer preferences. What consumers seek can rapidly change due to lifestyle shifts, technological advancements, economic factors, and more.
Products that were bestsellers yesterday might not resonate with today’s shoppers if they don’t align with current search trends. This underscores the importance of conducting detailed market research and staying alert to emerging trends when determining the ideal products to feature on Shopify. The e-commerce landscape evolves swiftly; being agile and ready to adapt the product selection will help ensure a store remains relevant, visible, and profitable.
Understanding the Shopify Marketplace
Shopify stands out as a leading ecommerce platform, supporting over a million businesses worldwide with its user-friendly characteristics. Its allure comes from the straightforwardness it offers, enabling individuals to launch their online store and sell products without any hassle.
The platform simplifies the process of establishing a store by providing an easy-to-use interface, robust ecommerce functionalities, secure hosting solutions, and scalable shopping cart technologies. Entrepreneurs can manage everything from product listing creation to payment processing directly through the Shopify dashboard.
Its simplicity and adaptability have led to the success of Shopify stores across a diverse range of product categories, including physical items and digital downloads. Despite the ease of starting an online store on the platform, selecting the best products to sell is vital for any Shopify business aiming for success.
The selection of products greatly influences a store’s visibility and sales figures. Choosing products that align with market trends and meet the needs of the target audience can significantly increase qualified traffic and conversion rates.
In essence, Shopify empowers individuals to transform their ideas into an ecommerce reality. However, the key to evolving from a hobbyist to a profitable entrepreneur lies in identifying and selling the right products.
Identifying Top Selling Products on Shopify
Identifying the top-selling products on Shopify involves focusing on a few essential criteria.
High Sales Volume
Some of the best products to sell have high sales volume and that is a strong indicator of demand and opportunity within their niche. These items are typically found ranking on the first page of Shopify’s trending sections or are often highlighted as a “hot item” on various ecommerce platforms.
Positive Customer Reviews
Shopify products with high average ratings and positive feedback generally experience better sales over time. This indicates that customers are satisfied with the quality and value of the products. Analyzing the reviews can reveal specific attributes that customers appreciate in these successful products.
Strong Profit Margins
While certain products may experience high sales volumes, the low margins associated with these items can reduce overall profitability. It is advised to select products that are priced in accordance with their cost, ensuring a healthy profit margin with each transaction. Additionally, consideration should be given to products with higher price points.
Trending on Google and Social Media
Trending products on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram can suddenly experience a surge in demand. Utilizing keyword and hashtag tracking tools helps in keeping abreast with the rising product trends being discussed online.
Alignment with Your Niche
To guarantee the success of a product in one’s Shopify store, it’s crucial to ensure that it aligns with the store’s niche and the preferences of its specific audience. Some of the best products to sell that performs incredibly well in one scenario may not evoke the same response from another store’s unique customer base. Therefore, it’s essential to scrutinize each potential product through the prism of the store’s brand identity.
By adhering to above-mentioned guidelines, store owners can be confident in their selection of the best products to sell, tailored for success within their unique marketplace. Engaging in continuous market research, keeping an eye on the competition, and valuing customer feedback are key strategies in identifying these lucrative product opportunities. A commitment to sourcing products that are both trendy and in demand will distinguish a Shopify store in a competitive landscape.
Top Categories for Shopify Sales
Shopify store owners experience success in selling products across various categories. Nonetheless, certain categories consistently achieve higher performance due to robust customer demand and strategic product selection. Understanding the broader categories that attract the most sales is beneficial when researching the best products to sell on your Shopify store.
Apparel and Accessories
Clothing, shoes, and accessories are among the largest ecommerce categories. Stores on Shopify that sell stylish, quality apparel and related items have the potential to succeed with proper supplier relationships and marketing strategies. By concentrating on current fashion trends, offering personalized designs, or targeting underserved niche markets, such as sustainable clothing, these stores can set themselves apart.
Home and Kitchen
Home goods, kitchenware, and home decor have become popular online purchases. Reports from Shopify sellers indicate that novelty items, organization tools, and kitchen gadgets are particularly appealing to consumers eager to enhance their living spaces. Additionally, seasonal cooking items experience increased demand during holiday periods.
Toys and Games
Fun and family-friendly products, including toys, games, and puzzles, are some of the best products to sell on Shopify. Stores dedicated to educational toys or nostalgic, retro games have found success by niching down. Focusing on interactive and engaging toys, rather than generic stuffed animals and dolls, is essential.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts supplies offer an excellent opportunity for individuals to express their creativity. DIY kits, including those for candle-making, jewelry design, and wall art, are particularly popular. Crafters on platforms like Shopify suggest emphasizing the importance of unique, high-quality materials such as handmade paper, natural dyes, and sustainably-sourced supplies.
Self-Care and Beauty
The self-care and beauty movement continues to grow. It’s beneficial for retailers to include natural skincare products, essential oils, bath bombs, makeup, and beauty tools in their inventory to cater to customers seeking pampering. Providing outstanding customer service and in-depth product knowledge helps in building trust.
Tech Gadgets and Accessories
Technology products and accessories continue to draw significant interest on Shopify, ranging from smart home devices to wireless earbuds, indicating a lucrative opportunity to meet consumer demand.
Among the current bestsellers in technology gadgets on Shopify are:
- Smartwatches and fitness trackers
- Wireless headphones and earbuds
- Smart home devices, like Alexa/Echo, Google Home, and smart lightbulbs
- Phone accessories
- Smart kitchen gadgets
- Portable technology, such as Bluetooth speakers, selfie sticks, and drone cameras
The importance of being aware of broader e-commerce and cultural trends cannot be overstated when choosing leading product categories. Additionally, staying adaptable to align with seasonal shopping patterns enables retailers to capitalize on opportunities throughout the year.
Product Selection Strategies
Selecting the appropriate merchandise to feature on Shopify demands meticulous investigation and examination. Astute business owners employ a range of methods to pinpoint lucrative items before dedicating their resources to incorporate them into their inventory.
Conduct Thorough Market Research
Analyzing market trends is essential for identifying the best products to sell. Researchers examine worldwide and niche market reports from firms such as Euromonitor to identify growing product categories. They utilize Google Trends and keyword tools to spot rising searches for specific product keywords.
Reviewing Amazon’s best sellers listings in related categories is also common practice. Additionally, examining competitor sites offers insights into trending products.
Competitor Analysis
It’s crucial to examine the stores of competitors to understand their product offerings. Identifying gaps where demand is high, but competitors lack options can be beneficial. Attention should also be given to products that receive a high number of reviews and engagement.
Employing ecommerce analytics tools, such as Helium10, can facilitate analyzing competitors on a larger scale. By reverse engineering successful stores, valuable insights can guide product selection decisions.
Customer Feedback
Gathering feedback through product requests, reviews, and customer conversations offers immediate insights into both the gaps and opportunities within a product range.
By polling an email list for product interest and monitoring site search queries, valuable information can be collected. Encouraging user-generated content also serves as a way to understand what truly resonates with the audience. Such customer input is invaluable, often highlighting potential winning products even before trend data becomes available.
Leverage Social Media
To identify the best products to sell on Shopify stores, it is beneficial to follow hashtags and influencers within a specific niche. Observing what products YouTube reviewers and TikTok creators promote can offer insights.
Participation in ecommerce Facebook groups and subreddits can also help to crowdsource ideas effectively. Sharing polls on Instagram or Pinterest provides a way to gather feedback. The conversations happening within these communities often have the potential to predict the next big trends and also the best products to sell in the future.
Sustainable Products Trending in 2024
Sustainability and eco-friendliness are becoming key factors in consumer decision-making today. Shopify store owners who leverage this trend effectively stand to gain significantly from the increasing demand.
Studies indicate a growing preference among shoppers to support businesses that are in line with their environmentally conscious values. This shift is paving the way for a surge in demand for sustainable products on Shopify, with items such as reusable straws, bamboo toothbrushes, metal water bottles, and organic cotton apparel have emerged as some of the best products to sell on Shopify.
For instance, a Shopify store that specializes in eco-friendly everyday items has carved a niche for itself in the sustainability market, winning over a strong customer base interested in environmental conservation. This store’s top product is a stainless steel straw set accompanied by a cotton case.
Success stories also include stores focusing on recycled and upcycled materials, offering products like reusable grocery bags crafted from fabric remnants. Another store deals in natural self-care items such as bamboo toothbrushes and plastic-free personal care kits, the latter experiencing a 300% growth in the past year.
This success is the result of establishing oneself as a genuinely sustainable brand. Store owners should conduct thorough research to ensure their offerings are not only eco-friendly but also ethically sourced. This forward-thinking approach represents one of the most promising opportunities for Shopify store owners in 2024.
Customizable and Personalized Items
Some of the best products to sell right now, is the availability of customizable and personalized items. The allure for consumers is clear – there’s something special about purchasing products that seem as though they were crafted specifically for them.
Studies indicate that customized products are capable of generating three times more revenue than standard off-the-shelf items. Owners of Shopify stores have a significant opportunity to engage with this trend.
Services such as Printful and Gelato offer print-on-demand capabilities, allowing the seamless provision of customized products without the necessity of holding inventory. Through a few simple integrations, Shopify stores can be equipped to offer personalized items like t-shirts, jewelry, phone cases, and more, produced only when a customer places an order. This model enables customers to personalize their chosen product with a unique image or text, while the transaction is effortlessly managed.
Certain customizable products have been notably successful, including:
- Custom canvas prints featuring family photos or motivational quotes
- Personalized socks and blankets emblazoned with the customer’s name or initials
- Custom t-shirts designed for family reunions, school events, or social causes
- Pet products personalized with the pet’s name and photo
- Phone cases and water bottles adorned with customer’s own photos
For an optimal customer experience, it’s pivotal that the process of customization is intuitive. Shopify store owners should ensure the inclusion of an easy-to-use product customizer app. It’s also beneficial to provide customers with the ability to preview their designs before making a purchase. Establishing clear expectations regarding turnaround times, and maintaining transparency about production and fulfillment processes, is crucial.
Pricing Strategies for Shopify Products
Ensuring a Shopify business prices its products competitively while maintaining profitability is essential. The correct pricing strategy is crucial for maximizing both sales and revenue.
When determining prices, it is advisable to research competitor prices for similar products across major e-commerce platforms like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and others. This helps in aligning one’s pricing with the market standards.
Next, it is important to calculate the cost per unit, taking into account product costs, shipping and fulfillment fees, platform fees, among other expenses. This aids in determining the minimum price required to break even, with the suggestion being to price higher than this to allow for a profit margin. It is often recommended to aim for a 100% markup from the breakeven cost.
Pricing psychology should also be taken into account. Price points such as $9.99 or $19.99 are perceived by buyers as offering better value. Utilizing odd numbers and “charm prices” that end in 9 can also enhance sales. However, it’s recommended to avoid deceptive pricing practices to maintain consumer trust.
Experimenting with various price points and sales, tweaking prices in small increments, and offering time-limited discounts or product bundles can help in finding the perfect equilibrium between sales volume and profit per sale.
Pricing indeed requires a careful balancing act, but with a strategic approach, monitoring of competitor pricing, and continuous evaluation, a Shopify business can achieve both competitive pricing and profitable margins, ultimately maximizing both conversions and earnings.
