After saying so much, we may still have no idea what to choose and what is easy to sell. So, here we will discuss how to choose the right products for you from some websites, forums, and suppliers. I hope the following product selection channels can bring you some inspiration for product selection.
(i) Start from yourself and choose products you understand
At the beginning, we mentioned that product selection should not be blindly followed. How can we avoid blindly following? In fact, it is very simple. When selecting products, first set a tone for yourself and choose products that you are interested in. Before starting to conduct in-depth research and search on the Internet, we can think about the products that appear in our minds. They may be existing, excluded, or very good at a certain moment. Write them down on paper first, and then filter them.
Usually, we can think about these questions:
(1) What products and markets am I very passionate about and very interested in?
(2) What products and markets are my friends very passionate about and very interested in?
(3) What pain points do I have in my life that need to be changed urgently?
For example, Max was bothered by the messy hair he had when he woke up in the morning. It took too much time to shower and restyle his hair every morning, so he came up with a product – Morning Head. Morning Head is a shower cap made of absorbent towel material. You can put the towel on your head and rub it for one minute to style your hair.
Some people feel that there is no category that they are particularly familiar with or interested in. Then when selecting products, we might as well open the Alibaba website and look at the categories above. We will definitely find products that we are familiar with.
(II) B2B wholesale website
There is no better way to get inspiration than from the source. Going to the supply websites of wholesalers and manufacturers to find sources of goods is a necessary step in the e-commerce circle when selecting products. For example, there are thousands of potential products on Alibaba. Alibaba connects consumers all over the world with manufacturers and wholesalers in Asia. On Alibaba, everything seems to be available.
It is easy to get lost with so many products, so remember to take your time. Here are some very popular B2B wholesale websites: TradeKey, Global Sources, Made-in-China.
(III) Upstream suppliers of products
In the previous section, we mentioned that when looking for products on B2B wholesale websites, many people rely heavily on Alibaba. Although there are thousands of suppliers on Alibaba, not every one of them can be cooperated with by us. Sometimes the products we are looking for may have been handled by multiple distributors. Because the consumption level of the Southeast Asian market is limited, unlike developed countries in Europe and the United States, which can have high profits, for the same product, if your purchase price is a few dollars higher than others, it is very likely that you will not be able to compete with others. Therefore, the purchase price is an important factor that we consider first when selecting products.
Here, we have to mention the concept of industrial belts. People like to keep warm together, and so do factories. They like to gather together. In many areas of China, many manufacturers of the same type of products tend to gather together. Over time, when more and more factories gather in this area, an industrial belt of a certain type of product will be formed. As a cross-border e-commerce seller, if we can visit and compare prices in the factories in these places, we can not only select suitable products, but also reach long-term and stable cooperation with more factories.
(IV) Make use of interpersonal relationships
Interpersonal relationships are a very important resource. Cross-border e-commerce cannot be separated from logistics. We can find friends who are engaged in cross-border logistics and ask them to recommend some products. We can also join industry groups or forums to see what products everyone is interested in. Therefore, if you have friends in the field of logistics and training, it is also a good idea to listen to their suggestions.