To succeed in a saturated Amazon market, focus on identifying underserved niches and unmet customer needs rather than relying solely on Best Seller Rank. This episode emphasizes the importance of anticipating market trends and leveraging analytics to find profitable product opportunities that competitors overlook.
Key takeaways
Don't rely solely on Best Seller Rank (BSR) for product research; it leads to 'me-too' products and market saturation.
Identify unmet customer needs and emerging product trends by analyzing search queries and customer feedback (e.g., using tools like Google Trends or even Amazon search suggestions).
Focus on being a first-mover in nascent product categories rather than competing in overcrowded established ones. Chad Rubin's advice: 'go where the puck is going, not where the puck is.'
Consider developing proprietary tools or processes to gain a competitive edge, similar to how Skubana was created to address a direct need.
Look beyond obvious niches to find products that solve specific problems for a targeted customer base.
"So how do you win if you're doing what everyone else is doing? If we're all using Best Selling Rank or BSR, then everyone is always going to sell the same products and we're just flooding the market with all the same products. So we try to go where the puck is going and not where the puck is." - Chad Rubin of Skubana In our second 3 digit episode we have Chad Rubin of Skubana as our guest. "Chad Rubin of Skubana" is how I refer to him but he is so much more than that. He co-founded Skubana, a multi-channel inventory management software that we have been using for over a year now. He is a 7-figure seller who also runs the Accelerate Workshop, an exclusive one-day workshop for high-volume multi-channel ecommerce sellers. Like Kevin Stecko of 80sTees.com, Chad is one of those we jokingly call the "grandfathers of ecommerce" because he has been in ecommerce for a very long time. At the time there was an absence of good ecommerce tools, so to satisfy his own ecommerce needs, he created his own internal tools and shared them with the world, one of which is Skubana. In this episode we talk about a topic that is of crucial importance especially for those just venturing in ecommerce--how do you find profitable products to sell in a market that is already saturated? Many sellers do their research: they look at BSR and probably fire up Jungle Scout to judge profitability, and that could work, but people who do that usually end up selling "me-too products". That saturates the market even more and buries their products beneath thousands of similar others. Chad has a solution. He doesn't want to do what everybody else is doing; he instead focuses on what people are actually looking for but which A
What does this episode say about amazon & marketplaces?
Don't rely solely on Best Seller Rank (BSR) for product research; it leads to 'me-too' products and market saturation.
What does this episode say about product & merchandising?
Identify unmet customer needs and emerging product trends by analyzing search queries and customer feedback (e.g., using tools like Google Trends or even Amazon search suggestions).
What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
Focus on being a first-mover in nascent product categories rather than competing in overcrowded established ones. Chad Rubin's advice: 'go where the puck is going, not where the puck is.'
What does this episode say about ai & automation?
Consider developing proprietary tools or processes to gain a competitive edge, similar to how Skubana was created to address a direct need.
What does this episode say about amazon & marketplaces?
Look beyond obvious niches to find products that solve specific problems for a targeted customer base.
