Product Research for Amazon with Stephen Somers of Marketplace Superheroes - a podcast by Michael Veazey

Doing product research for Amazon needs to be done carefully. Get yourself up and running with PL on Amazon with Stephen Somers.


How to do Product Research for Amazon (amazon.com figures)PL Winner Percentage 

6-7 out of 10 in Stephen’s case succeed. Out of the 3, 1 sells slowly.

One is a loser. It will take 18 months to sell through. Defining a winner
They define a double initial investment within 9 monthsEven a product that is selling 1 unit a day. 
BEST productsBoring
EstablishedSustainable
Tangible - if you do a bonus item, it’s always physical (no ebooks or downloads).Start at a category level
Then look at the top 100 products to get you startedFilter 1 avoid list
Click into products that don’t have reasons to avoid (checklist of 15)Sharp edges
Hazardous Look at generic keyword/search term eg “plastic shoebox”. 

Look at what number of results does Amazon return eg 1 of 2000 results.Typically they like to have sub-1000 results. 
 Filter 3 DS Amazon quick viewShows you the BSR of different products scrolling down the page. 

What BSRs are the products on the first pageSub 30,000 BSR 

They don’t bother with tools that estimate sales data. They want real data from own sales. 

If everything is 100, 500 BSR, they get nervous because the market is big. When the Results are low and the BSR is low, they get excited (big demand, modest competition).

But if BSR is around 40,000, 200,000 not so exciting. Sweet spot
Roughly 1200, 5000, 6000 BSR  means…Decent demand
Manageable competition. Subcategories and related items
Do the same with subcategories and related items:Sponsored
Also viewedAlso bought

Then you find “hidden gem” products. It does take time- but by using those filters…

Putting in a generic/short tail keyword You start to see opportunity with bad listings. 
“Too big” BSR cf Units salesThey used to sell a wholesale item (satellite box from Labgear) that was BSR 2 and literally hundreds of units a day sold. 
Stephen considers a decent product - sells out in 6-9 monthsSay it does £1000 in revenue per continent (US or EU), it’s still of interest!

That's £30 a day!

It’s still making you £300 profit at 30% 

It is better to build a business with 100 SKUs doing £1000 each month than one with 2 SKUs with the same revenue. Rolling with changes
They follow Amazon’s TOS -one day the all caps etc. will get wiped out by Amazon. Because selling lower competition products. 

Conversion rates can be as high as 60% Why?

No fitting issuesDon’t have to consider forever  
Not that much competition. Odd Niches work
For example a hunting mount (like a moose’s head) - a member had 60% conversion rate “Bacon bandages” - had something like 7,000 searches a month
Supplements Yes, you can make outrageous money selling supplements. 

But everyone is competing with you. You have to bid against others for Amazon ads space. 
Brand buildingTheir volume on Amazon is really high BUT had to build a massive brand off Amazon to start with. 

Ryan has a hair-replacement companyAmazon is just a distribution platform 

Website buildingTraffic 

MPSH aim: Boring works even better - “marketplace products”Covers that go under the feet of a washing machine. 

They do YouTube videos about this to be transparentExample: stud finder - finding studs in the wall

Bought from the wholesaler at the time. Listed poorly on Amazon

Improved listingDid NOTHING. 

Then it suddenly took offStephen went back to the company asking for 2000 stud finders and company said they didn’t do them any more. 

Developing expertise in Robert will find 4-5 products in an hour now. 
Get marketplace validation firstYes, you need to create a brand, get a trademark etc. 

But you can’t even get a trademark without trading!

Further episodes of Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners, and other e-commerce sellers and digital entrepreneurs.

Further podcasts by Michael Veazey

Website of Michael Veazey