[Independent Station Product Selection] How to solve the product selection problem of independent station sellers?

As domestic Amazon sellers have been "sanctioned" one after another, the call for independent websites among cross-border sellers has become increasingly louder. Independent websites have attracted much attention due to their advantages such as high freedom, no restrictions, no commissions, and low costs. However, if you want to build an independent website, the first thing that many sellers have to do is "select products".

Well, today I will talk in detail about the issue of product selection for our independent site, and I hope it will be inspiring to everyone.

Independent station product selection principles

Priority is given to volume and weight. Since independent sites are self-delivery models, most items are lightweight. Domestic to international transportation and long-distance logistics must be considered. Generally speaking, the optimal principle is "light, compact and not easy to break."

If the product is large and has a certain weight, you can only choose to ship it from an overseas warehouse. That is, you need to ship the product to an overseas warehouse in a local country by sea. You need to consider the shipping cost to the local country. If the shipping cost is too high, you need to consider it carefully.

Red ocean categories with overly fierce market competition, or categories monopolized by leading brands, are actually not the best choices for novice sellers.

For example, in the Bluetooth headset and women's clothing categories, the competition is too fierce, and it is difficult for novice sellers to stand out. Choosing categories with lower competition intensity will have greater potential for future development.

In terms of logistics, the selected goods should be able to be transported through a more cost-effective logistics method, such as International E-Packet. These goods are generally small in size, light in weight, and not easy to break.

Independent station product selection strategy

The first step in positioning an independent website is to determine the business strategy. Do you specialize in a niche field? Or do you distribute products? Do you have traditional self-stocked inventory? Or do you dropship? These play a vital role in subsequent development.

For beginners, you can try to spread the goods.

If you specialize in a niche area, the focus will be on the continuous optimization and upgrading of products and pages. The distribution strategy is like a grocery store with a wide variety of goods.

The current major market categories are basically dominated by industry giants. Just like when we buy a mobile phone, our first reaction may be to buy an iPhone or Huawei. If we, as new merchants, want to stand out, we might as well find another way and drill into those niche and professional small markets, so that we can cleverly avoid the edge of the giants.

As for whether there is spot stock, it depends on your actual situation. If there is stock, the advantage is that the supply is stable, it is easy to adjust the product and make it special, but the disadvantage is that the cost is higher. On the other hand, although it is difficult to improve the product in the non-spot model (drop shipping), the advantage is that the startup cost is low and there is almost no threshold.

In the long run, if you want to build your own brand, it is best to slowly accumulate a stable supply channel. Whether you take the boutique route or the mass-market strategy, a strong supply chain is the hard-core support behind you.

In addition, the length of the production cycle is directly related to how long in advance the stocking should be done and how much budget should be prepared; the cost of the product itself determines whether the pricing is attractive, how big the profit margin is, and whether it can stand firm in the market; the speed of logistics is affected by many factors, such as platform rule adaptation, customer satisfaction, transaction opportunities, after-sales problem handling, and capital turnover speed. These are all real factors to consider.

The target market is not static. Sellers can segment the target market based on their own strengths and product features to more accurately target user groups. For example, for the US market, it can be segmented into the east and west coasts, young women, outdoor sports enthusiasts, and other market segments.

When analyzing user needs, in addition to focusing on the user's basic needs, we should also pay special attention to the user's pain points, that is, the difficulties and problems that users encounter when using existing products. Products that can solve user pain points are often more likely to be favored by users.

Faced with common commodities or competitive products that have become a red ocean in the market, they are readily available on platforms such as Amazon and AliExpress. At this time, if your independent website also chooses to sell these products and compete directly with these giant platforms, it is likely that you will not have an advantage.

We should know that in today's market environment, the advantage of independent sites is not to compete head-on with large platforms, but to find a new way. We should choose those special products that are in demand in overseas markets but are either scarce or restricted and cannot be easily purchased on mainstream e-commerce platforms.

Such products may be difficult to find or not allowed to be sold on large e-commerce platforms due to cultural differences, regional characteristics, niche demands or platform policy restrictions, which provides space for differentiated competition for independent sites.

Therefore, the key to success for independent websites is to tap into market gaps, find unmet consumer needs, and provide unique products and services. By accurately positioning target customers, they can establish their own brand characteristics and market barriers, rather than blindly following the footsteps of large platforms and selling highly homogenized products. Only in this way can independent websites stand out in the fierce market competition, attract and retain customers, and achieve sustainable development.

Independent station product selection method

Amazon has many product selection tools. Newbies are advised to use product selection tools, which can save a certain amount of time. If you are familiar with product selection, it would be better to look directly at Amazon's new product list, which is very intuitive and useful. It is better to look at more and do more research than to use tools to filter out. This is the most direct data from Amazon, and you can get the latest and most first-hand data.

There are many handmade products on Etsy, many of which are very unique and most of which are originally designed by the sellers. Many sellers are local sellers, and their designs are in line with the local people's aesthetics. This kind of thing is lacking in many domestic cross-border e-commerce practitioners, because if you don't have that environment, it is difficult for you to perceive the value of such things.

Etsy also has some selection tools such as etsyhunt that can help you select products. You can use these tools in the early stage. Once you are familiar with the platform, it will be more direct to look at the platform data and pay attention to some good stores.

Etsyhunt also has many functions, such as product selection library, keyword analysis, and store search. These are all powerful tools for quick screening in the early stage of product selection. The cost is not too high, and you can check some for free every day.

Many products on Etsy are customized and non-standard products, which can be sold at a high premium. Many are handmade, and the products are also scarce and unique. The higher the value, the more valuable it is. This is true for luxury goods and some unique customized products. At the same time, there are many virtual products on Etsy. There are also many sellers who are doing very well. So this platform needs to be paid special attention to.

①We can use

https://www.facebook.com/ads/library To view relevant competitor ads, we can directly search using keywords or directly visit their brand homepage.

Just click in and we can see free information about the basic audience, the countries where the campaign is being delivered, and the age groups. You can use this information directly and save on some testing costs.

② Collect competitor materials, so that we can know what materials competitors are putting out in a timely manner. We can imitate and learn the essence of those materials that have been put out for a long time.

③ Paying more attention to FB homepages is also a way to select products. Generally, homepages will have some product posts that have tested well. Pay more attention to the homepages of these competitors, and you will know which products of competitors are selling better. Only then can you follow up quickly.

Product selection for an independent website is a complex system project that requires sellers to consider multiple aspects: careful market research, finding suitable supply chain partners, and paying attention to user feedback are effective ways to find best-selling products. I hope this article can help sellers choose products that meet user needs and create popular products, and ultimately achieve store success.