How to Conduct Amazon Product Research

Introduction

So you’ve decided to take your hard-earned money and start your own Amazon FBA business. An exciting venture with loooottts of potential.  

Congrats! An FBA business means you source your product from a manufacturer and send it to Amazon’s warehouses for them to handle the complex tasks of picking, packing, storing and shipping your product while you focus on the simpler tasks.  

The only thing is… 

Imagine you’re showering one day and realize “Man, I really can’t wash my back well” 

All of a sudden, an idea comes to you. You’re going to build a sticky scrub thingy-ma-jig for the wall that will let you get all the spots. 

You go back and forth with different suppliers for months, pay thousands of dollars, get the listing up, and then… 

Nothing. 

There are barely any sales. And the sales that do happen are eating up the money in your wallet like there’s no tomorrow. 

Well, what the heck might have happened? 

And why is this a reality for some? 

The Amazon marketplace is rapidly changing. With increasingly more competitors on Amazon, it is even more important to do your due diligence. 

Doing Amazon product research can be the difference between losing your invested capital and doubling or quadrupling it. Amazon has plenty of lucrative product opportunities left for you to tap into if you know where to look.  

In this article, we’ll cover how to conduct product research properly and what you can do to start selling on Amazon. 

First, what Is Amazon Product Research? 

Amazon product research refers to the process of systematically analyzing the Amazon marketplace to identify lucrative product opportunities that have the potential to sell well.  

With thousands of product listings on the platform, success as an Amazon seller is no longer solely dependent on sourcing a product and uploading it. Your research should strive to discover products that align with market demand, offer competitive advantages, and can generate profits for you as a seller. 

Understand Competition Using Helium 10’s Product Research and Keyword Research Tools

One of the best ways you can do that is through the use of an Amazon product research tool and keyword research tool, like the ones we have at Helium 10. 

Product research tools are notoriously beneficial in enabling sellers to quickly hone in on various metrics related to potential products. (Trust me, I would know since I did manual product research when I launched my first product on Amazon. And comparatively…that took forever). 

Compared to months, you can find prospective product ideas within minutes. The metrics you can sort by include number of images, search volume, estimated sales volume, historical trends, and competitor sales. Sellers can evaluate products on sales potential, allowing them to make informed decisions about what products to sell on Amazon. 

Identifying good products to sell on Amazon involves striking a balance between market demand and competition. Effective product research aims to find products that have a healthy level of demand while facing relatively low competition. Expanding outside this range can prove valuable if you’re willing to fight for the higher barrier to entry with higher upfront capital occasionally and regulations for items like electronics. This can increase the chances of gaining visibility and securing sales as opposed to blindly choosing a product. 

Product Differentiation is Key to Success

Sellers should also consider factors such as your ability to differentiate, competitive prices and profit margins during the product research phase and selling process. Analyze the pricing strategies of similar products to determine if there’s room to improve the product and offer competitive prices while still maintaining profitability. I recommend shooting for a minimum 100% ROI with the higher the ROI being better. After all, you’re in business to make money, right? 

A product may have high demand. However, if the competition drives prices too low, it might not be a viable choice for sellers. 

And I say keyword research because keyword optimization tools allow sellers to identify popular and relevant search terms that customers use when looking for products on Amazon. By proactively understanding the search volume for specific keywords, you can gauge the level of demand for certain products and how easy or hard it may be to rank for them in the long run will help you earn profits.  

You can then use this information as a qualification item to narrow down potential product ideas that are likely to attract customer interest to ensure you’re not just launching a randomized product in the dark.  

Outclass Your Competitors

Achieve More Results in Less Time

Maximize your results and drive success faster with Helium 10’s full suite of Amazon and Walmart solutions.

Sign Up for Free

Which Product Research Tool Is Best for Amazon FBA?

In this space, one of the powerful Amazon product research tools that sellers often utilize for Amazon product research is Helium 10 (I know I know…it sounds like I’m bragging or that I am biased, but it’s true). 

Helium 10 offers a suite of over 30+ tools tailored for Amazon sellers in varying parts of their journey. And when it comes to product research? Tools like Black Box, Cerebro, Magnet, the Chrome Extension, and the Product Launchpad within Helium 10 provide a dynamic way to explore potential product ideas. 

BlackBox – Identify Products to Sell

To start, Black Box processes over 2 billion data points daily — way more than you or I would be able to do in our lifetime. By inputting specific criteria such as desired sales revenue, competition level, and other parameters into this tool, sellers can quickly generate a list of product options that align with their goals as opposed to sifting through products for hours on end on Amazon. This approach streamlines the process of narrowing down profitable products to sell. To learn more, you should check out our Amazon Product Research Masterclass video listed at the top for all the strategies. 

Cerebro – Find Keywords

This varies from Cerebro, our reverse ASIN lookup, which allows sellers to delve deep into keyword analysis – great for understanding the demand for specific keywords as they relate to potential products. By gauging the search volume and competition for keywords, sellers can gain insights into market demand and identify opportunities that people are already searching for but with less competitive search terms. Navigate over to our Keyword Strategies Masterclass to understand this tool better. 

Though used typically for different functionalities, both are great tools to begin creating a shortlist of product ideas you may further want to validate. 

View Your Competition Using Helium 10’s Chrome Extension

For product validation, the Helium 10 Chrome Extension can assist with determining the competitive layout of specific product listings. Get all your essential data to extrapolate necessary conclusions. For example, can you generate revenue if you rank at the top half of Page 1 with just a few reviews? What if I become established for a while, will I be able to scale that revenue? What might it cost me to source this product? 

I can test if the niche would be profitable by playing around with the numbers inside of Profitability Calculator. By adding in essential data, such as the product’s selling price, Amazon fees, cost to ship and your cost of goods sold (COGS), the calculator can relatively quickly generate a detailed breakdown of your potential profit margins, including estimated net profit and ROI (Return on Investment). 

Product Launchpad Organizes Your Product Research

Once these validation techniques help you narrow down your shortlisted ideas, you can input them into Product Launchpad. Product Launchpad simplifies the launch process into three core steps: keywords, competition, and an idea scorecard.  

You can take the relevant keywords you discovered inside of Cerebro, Black Box, Magnet (our keyword for keyword research tool) and input them into Launchpad. Add in competitors using their ASINs and evaluate their listings with Launchpad’s AI-powered scorecard in the final step. The scorecard evaluates the product idea across six metrics: market trends, competition, logistics, market size, personal intuition, and future outlook. By filling in key details, the tool generates a comprehensive scorecard and summary, offering actionable insights. For instance, if launching in a category with high search volume and strong trends, the scorecard might recommend maintaining high product quality and negotiating favorable supplier terms to maximize profitability. 

Of course, you can absolutely also check Pinterest Trends or find product ideas on sites like Etsy and TikTok. However, you should still validate those ideas with demand on Amazon as that is where you will be ranking for words and attempting to convert folks to buy.  

The last thing I will add is I’ve heard some pretty creative uses for some of our tools which weren’t originally created with the intention of being a product research tool. I occasionally use Market Tracker to discover products. 

Meaning? 

It depends on you and how you comb the data. 

Each of these tools can provide guidance in exploring product ideas, identifying trends, assessing competition, and performing keyword analysis to make informed decisions. 

Manage Everything With Next-Level Software

Sign up now to access powerful, easy-to-use tools to help with every part of selling on Amazon and Walmart.

Sign Up for Free

So How Do I Pick a Winning Product for Amazon FBA? 

Log into Helium 10

Start by logging into your Helium 10 account. Then, navigate to the Black Box tool, located under the “Product Research” category.  

Select your Amazon Marketplace

Begin by selecting your target Amazon marketplace, such as the US, UK, or another region. 

Explore Products within Black Box

Start by exploring the “Products” tab within Black Box. You can filter price, monthly revenue, and number of reviews to sift the data and output product listings. I used the number of images in the example below in conjunction with the monthly revenue filter. This is an interesting way to locate unoptimized listings that are still generating major sales. What would be its potential if we just optimize the listing? 

Explore Keywords to See How You Stack up to the Competition

Of course, taking a look at a singular listing is a good starting place. However, it is only one piece of the picture. Alternatively, the“Keywords” tab provides a more comprehensive insight into seeing if you will be able to stack up to the competition by plunging into entire niches via search terms customers are using on Amazon. With the use of the filters under this tab, you can choose a product category that aligns with your interests or goals, such as “Home & Kitchen,” “Sports & Outdoors,” or “Toys & Games.” Input basic filters like a minimum monthly revenue (e.g., $5,000) to ensure demand. Set a reasonable price range, depending on what your capital investment is / what your risk tolerance might be. I say this because a higher retail price may signify a larger product or item that costs more to source. To narrow down competition, keep the maximum review count low (e.g., 500, 1000, etc. on average). Look for a niche with an average review rating of below 4.5 stars; these products often leave room for improvement.  

Bear in mind, that it is not necessary to copy the filters I used. The point is to play around with them. Create a list of 15-20 product ideas you’ll want to further validate. There is no limit to what you can find with as many products that are available on Amazon. 

Use Product Targeting to Understand Product Bundling

If you so choose, you can also use the “Product Targeting” tab as it is particularly powerful to identify even frequently bought together items or what “Customers Also Bought” based on the criteria you input to create bundled product ideas you can sell for a premium. This can help you unveil product bundling opportunities and showcase items that customers often purchase together. Recognizing these combinations not only increases the average order value but also gifts the customers a convenient shopping experience. Not to mention, the insights gathered from these sections enable cross-selling of complementary products, fostering additional sales and revenue growth. 

Validate Product Selection with Cerebro

Once you’ve identified promising products, validate it further using Helium 10’s other tools like Cerebro. Using Cerebro during your product research phase to generate product ideas as it can offer a better picture of what your profits may entail in the long run. It is not helpful to only have say one good keyword with substantial Amazon search volume, low advertising costs, and high sales. You want to find synonymous keywords to ensure the product sells once it arrives on the market. Seeing a cross-section of market data, pricing trends, and sales rank for multiple keywords is a better-suited tactic than just considering a singular keyword for product validation. 

Understand Demand Trends with Helium 10’s Historical Sales Graphs

That is on top of the things I mentioned before such as using Helium 10’s historical sales graphs to assess demand trends to ensure the product has long-term potential and checking profitability by analyzing whether the price point allows room for profit after accounting for Amazon fees, sourcing costs, and marketing expenses. You can do this with the Helium 10 Chrome Extension which provides real-time data directly on Amazon. The Chrome Extension will help you gauge competitors’ sales, pricing, and reviews.  

Identify Common Themes with Customer Reviews

Assess the positive and negative reviews. Identify recurring patterns or specific features customers praise. Also pay close attention to what customers dislike about competing products in negative reviews. This information can guide you in determining aspects of your product to emphasize in your listings and marketing materials. This can help you avoid similar issues when sourcing or developing your differentiated product. 

You will also want to analyze reviews for gaps or unmet needs within the niche. If customers consistently mention missing features or improvements or buy the product with another, you can fill those gaps with customization of your differentiated product. Just prioritize your consumer as you build your product and negotiate with your prospective suppliers and doing that will serve you well. Delve into competitor listings by examining product descriptions, images, and key features for clues about what resonates with customers and how successful Amazon sellers present their products to see if there are areas even on the listing itself that can be improved. 

From there, when it’s all been tested against your criteria and you have a more refined list, narrow it down by inputting into the Product Launchpad to check out the Idea Scorecard for that complete holistic view before choosing a product you feel confident about with the information you have gathered. 

Manage Everything With Next-Level Software

Sign up now to access powerful, easy-to-use tools to help with every part of selling on Amazon and Walmart.

Sign Up for Free

At the end of the day 

Ultimately, there is no such thing as a winning product. Anyone who tells you there is is lying to you. Don’t fall for it. There will always be a number of factors that influence your outcome. There’s no real means of being able to predict what will happen. The Amazon landscape may change by the time your product is getting to market. Your competitor might get a new market strategy that leads them to have reviews snowball in and hijack sales. The list goes on. 

The best you can do is use an Amazon product research tool to see backend data, established sales history, metrics impacting profitability, and so forth for listings that already exist on Amazon. Aim to make the most informed decision possible using the information that is available to you. 

Life itself is uncertain. All we can do is pull from what we know to guide where we are going and it is really no different in business. In conducting proper Amazon product research, you can craft the best setup for your Amazon business. 

Good luck!