Choosing products to sell

A product line refers to the group of products that you sell. When choosing a product line, consider curating your products based on a common theme, audience, or function. For example, you could curate a product line of eco-friendly kitchenware or fitness accessories.

When choosing products to sell through dropshipping, researching market trends can help you understand consumer demand influenced by cultural, technological, or seasonal factors. You should also develop a unique selling proposition (USP), which can help you communicate the distinct value that your products offer compared to competitors, such as sustainability or affordability.

Choosing dropshipping products specific to your business goals

Consider the following tips for choosing products for your dropshipping store, depending on your business goals:

If you're selling seasonal products, then complement them with products that will be in consistent demand to maintain steady sales.
When considering the cost of your products, select products that you can price for healthy profit margins, with consideration to the customers that you want to target.
If you want to offer competitive shipping rates, then consider selling products that are easy and cost-effective to ship, such as lightweight items.

It can help to have a focus for how you want to search for products to sell. Review the following methods to see which ones you can use for your business.

Based on supplier reputation

If you choose products from a supplier that you know has good quality products, then your customers are more likely to be happy with their purchase. You don't need to spend time ordering products from different suppliers to judge quality for yourself, which saves you time and money.

Selecting all your products from a single supplier also makes it easier to keep shipping costs low and charge more accurate shipping rates to your customers.

Based on market trends

Researching market trends can take a lot of time, but can be worth it if you sell a trendy product at the right time. This method requires you to change your product line frequently and continually research the latest trends, but it can be profitable.

Based on fulfilling a unique need

Building a product line that solves a problem that people have is a good way to position your product line. You might be able to make unique products easier to find, or offer a group of products that aren't usually found together.

For example, you might know of a unique craft that requires different materials that people typically have to buy from many sources. If you put all those materials in one place, or created a product that contains all those materials, then that solves the problem of finding all those products.

Based on a demographic

Researching a specific demographic of people allows you to have more data around what products are a good fit for your product line. For example, you can research products that university students commonly forget when moving into a new house for the first time and choose your product line around their wants and needs.

Based on what you would buy

If you would buy certain products, then there are likely others who would buy them, too. Choosing products based on what you like also makes it easier to write marketing content for the products, such as product reviews or instructional blogs.

Using market research to help you select products

Thorough market research can help a lot with product selection. Review the following examples of tools that can help you conduct market research:

Google Trends can help you understand what customers might be searching for.
Search the Shopify App Store for third-party apps that can recommend products based on trends.
Conduct social media analysis to identify rising demand in specific product types.
Study competitor reviews to uncover unmet needs, such as products with consistently low ratings for durability.

You should also consider your target customer's demographics. For example, university students might need compact dorm essentials.

Example market research for vegan skincare product line

For example, let's say you want to start selling vegan skincare products. Through market research, you discover the following information:

Google Trends shows increasing searches for "vegan face cream" and "natural moisturizer".
Competitor reviews reveal that customers want more fragrance-free options.
Social media analysis shows growing interest in sustainable packaging.
Third-party trend tools suggest high demand for vitamin C serums.

Based on this research, you could focus on fragrance-free vitamin C serums in recyclable packaging as your initial product, and then expand into other vegan skincare items as you build customer loyalty.

Building a cohesive product line

A unified product line strengthens your branding and simplifies marketing efforts by creating a consistent theme that resonates with your target audience. When your products share common characteristics, whether it's a design style, function, or target demographic, you can create more focused marketing.

For example, a Shopify store selling dinosaur-themed children's kitchen accessories such as baking cups, aprons, oven mitts, and cookie cutters can effectively target parents looking for playful cooking tools for their kids. The store could expand this theme with matching placemats, plates, and utensils to create complete dinosaur-themed kitchen sets. This focused approach allows for targeted marketing campaigns around themes such as "Make Baking Fun" or "Prehistoric Kitchen Adventures."

In contrast, a store that sells standard kitchen accessories alongside children's items will require more diversified advertising to find customers for all of its products. This approach can dilute your marketing budget and make it harder to establish a memorable brand identity. This store would need to create separate campaigns for professional cooking supplies and children's items, potentially confusing customers about the store's focus.

Consider the following tips for building a cohesive product line:

Theme consistency: Ensure that new products align with your established theme.
Target audience alignment: All products should appeal to similar customer segments.
Cross-selling potential: Products should complement each other naturally.
Brand identity: Each product should reinforce your brand's unique positioning.
Marketing efficiency: A unified line enables focused, cost-effective marketing campaigns.

Choosing your products

After you decide on a method for choosing products and a theme for your product line, you can begin to search for specific products to add to your store. It can help to add products that have the following:

high ratings
positive reviews
make sense to be bought together
high-quality photos
easy to write good descriptions for
free shipping option
cheap to order test products for.

After you begin making sales, you can adjust your product line to match customer feedback, follow or create new trends in your industry, and encourage customers to return to your store to see what is new.

Setting up your dropshipping products on Shopify

When implementing your product strategy, you can take advantage of app integrations for print-on-demand or dropshipping to simplify product selection and automate order fulfillment.

Consider the following best practices when you set up your products for sale:

Create compelling product pages with multiple high-quality images showing different angles, and videos.
Use product variants to display options such as size and color under a single listing.
Write SEO-optimized descriptions that highlight your USPs with relevant keywords.
Organize your products into collections such as "Outdoor Gear" or "Work-from-Home Essentials" to improve navigation in your online store and encourage cross-selling opportunities.
Set up filters for price, color, and ratings to help customers find what they're looking for.
Incorporate customer reviews and social media photos into your product pages using apps to build trust and help customers feel confident about purchasing your products.
You might be able to reduce abandoned carts by using a shipping calculator to display shipping costs in the cart, so that customers can make a more informed decision.