The ultimate goal of every eCommerce entrepreneur is to find the right product to sell.
This step can take a huge chunk of your time because there are literally millions of options to choose from.
There’s no shortcut to success.
You have to continually learn, research, and stay updated with your competitors.
However, there’s still a way to speed up the process.
Rather than spending hours going through niche products, you can turn your focus toward finding trending products.
Trending products have strong demand and can easily attract customers to your online store.
But this brings us to the question of how to find trending products, to begin with.
Well, read on to find out!
What Are Trending Products?
Products that are popular among a wide audience are considered to be trending products.
These trends are normally classified into three categories:
1) Short-Term Trends
Short-term trends usually include products that gain sudden traction due to a viral video or a show. Fidget spinners are a great example of short-term trends.
They mainly gained popularity in 2017, but the hype was also short-lived as they lost prominence within six months.
Some store owners were able to make insane profits while others have dead stock and are unable to find any buyers.
It just shows that if you want to make these products work then you need to find the right timing.
Rather than building your store around short-term trends, it’s better to dropship these products.
2) Long-Term Trends
As the name suggests, long-term trends include products that are here to stay or will at least be around for a few years.
Phone cases and earphones are great examples of long-term trends.
Obviously, their markets are now saturated due to the competition, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still in demand.
Another example of long-term trends is the micro USB cables that were popular for years until type-C was introduced.
You can always sell long-term trending products but the main problem is the overwhelming competition.
3) Seasonal Trends
Lastly, we have seasonal trends which include products that are only popular during a specific time of the year.
This could include gardening equipment and seeds which will not see much traffic during the winters.
And then you have Christmas trees that people will only be interested in buying in December.
If you’re selling seasonal products then make sure to have an alternative.
Why Should You Sell Trending Products on Your Online Store?
There are multiple reasons to sell trending products in your online store. For starters, trending products usually become viral on social media and thus have a high demand among customers.
If you can climb the bandwagon at the right time, then trending products offer huge money-making potential. In addition, the sooner you discover the trend, the easier it would be for you to market your business.
That’s because there won’t be too many existing stores running ad campaigns for the product. It would also be easier for you to rank high on the SERPs and can even sell the product for a higher profit margin.
10 Effective Ways to Find Trending Products
Trending products come in many different types and categories. If you want to stay ahead of the competition then here are 10 ways to find trending products:
Browsing social media platforms is one of the best ways to find trending products.
But you might be wondering which social platform you should use.
Well, that depends on the type of audience you’re planning to target.
If you don’t have a clear plan in mind then perhaps you could start with Facebook as it has the highest number of active users with varying demographic groups.
The easiest way to search for trending products on the platform is to simply join and follow plenty of eCommerce-related groups, pages, and profiles.
However, if your target audience is mainly the millennials and Gen Zers then try finding trending products on TikTok instead.
Some users also recommend using Pinterest since it has a powerful suggestive feature.
You can follow eCommerce as your preferred topic or type the term into the search bar and you’ll get various results based on the keywords’ popularity.
2. Google Trends
Have a certain product or niche idea in mind and want to learn how popular it is?
Well, the easiest way to check its search volume is by entering the term on Google Trends.
It shows the search frequency of a keyword over a specified period.
Google Trends is a great tool for learning about evolving trends because you can graphically see the search volume of certain keywords.
You can also sort the results according to specific regions and timeframe.
Ideally, if the trend line is steadily growing then the product in question might be a good choice.
Although keep in mind that just because a product is trending on Google Trends doesn’t mean it will remain popular after a month.
This is where your judgment comes into play and you have to decide whether it’s worth your time.
3. Join Reddit
Reddit is one of the largest online forums in the world and the platform is bursting with creative people.
Reddit has communities on pretty much every topic you can imagine and obviously, eCommerce is not an exception.
If you want to look for trending products on Reddit then start by joining the different eCommerce threads on the site.
There you can not only find customers reviewing different products but also store owners marketing their business.
If you’re looking for products in a particular niche then focus on relevant subreddits to make the search easier.
4. E-commerce Podcasts
There are multiple ways to consume information nowadays with podcasts being the most convenient.
Whether you’re working out, driving, or about to fall asleep, you can listen to a podcast to stay updated with the world of eCommerce.
Some podcasters also give product recommendations from time to time and discuss the latest trends.
Unable to decide which podcast to tune into? Check out our list of the best eCommerce podcasts to learn from.
5. Online Marketplaces
Online marketplaces like Amazon and AliExpress are a goldmine for exploring trending products.
These platforms have categories like “best sellers” to make it easier for you to find popular products.
Amazon also has the Amazon Suggest feature which helps users discover products with the highest search volume. The suggested products are usually related to the keyword you’re searching for.
It gives you a strong idea of which products people are searching for online.
For example, if you search “gaming” on Amazon, you’ll get recommendations for products like headphones, mice, and chairs that are trending on the site.
6. YouTube Videos
YouTube is one of the largest video-sharing platforms in the world.
The site can be a goldmine for discovering trending products, given that you know what to search for.
One way to discover popular products on YouTube is to search (product name or niche) + unboxing.
You’ll at least find a few relevant videos that will help you decide whether the product is worth selling.
Although keep in mind that it’s easy to waste your time on YouTube browsing random videos.
So your main goal is only to watch relatively new videos with the highest number of views. Because those are also the products that have the greatest potential to go viral.
To make that easier, after searching the keyword you will see a “FILTERS” under the search bar.
Click on that and sort the videos according to the upload date.
7. Product Hunting Tools
If you don’t want to manually search for trending products then you can also get the help of product hunting tools.
These tools gather data from multiple social media platforms and websites to suggest products that consumers prefer.
Obviously, not every product suggested by these tools would perform well.
However, they will give you faster access to information on which product could potentially become popular based on consumer habits.
The only downside of product hunting tools is that most of them charge a subscription fee. And ultimately, there’s no guarantee whether you’ll find the “right” product or not.
Yet, if you’re interested to learn more you can check out our list of the best product research tools for your business.
8. Influencer Activity
Platforms like Instagram are particularly known for influencer shoutouts.
It’s a marketing strategy in which you pay an influencer to review and endorse your product to their audience.
Keeping a track of the activity of these influencers can be a great way to discover potentially trending products.
The only thing you need to do is to follow as many influencers as you can of your preferred niche.
Whenever an influencer reviews a product, keep a close eye on the engagement on the post.
If the post is getting a huge number of likes and comments, then there’s a chance that the product may start trending.
9. Amazon Movers and Shakers
Aside from Amazon Suggests, you can also take the help of the Amazon Movers and Shakers list to discover trending products.
This list shows the most popular products in recent days. But keep in mind that this feature is time-sensitive.
You may see entirely different products on the list tomorrow than what you find today.
This makes the Amazon Movers and Shakers list only ideal for dropshippers or businesses that are quickly able to test products.
10. Blogs and Online Resources
Lastly, the internet is full of product ideas and inspirations, the only thing you need to learn is how to explore them.
There are plenty of blogs and online resources that regularly post about popular products.
If you aren’t able to directly find trending products then perhaps you can start by learning about trending niches first.
FAQs about Finding Trending Products
How to Know if a Product Is Trending?
The easiest way to check if a product is trending is by searching it on Google Trends. It will show you the search volume of the term from which you can tell whether the product is growing or declining in popularity.
Is It Challenging to Sell Trending Products?
The sooner you discover a trend, the easier it becomes to sell the product. That’s because, in the early days of the trend, the product will have a high demand and not many suppliers, which can give you an edge.
But even if you’re late to the party, it’s still possible to sell trending products, but you’ll have a harder time breaking into the market.
Can I Sell Trending Products in the Long-Term?
It depends on the lifespan of the trend. Some trends can only last a month, and after that, you’ll hardly get any sales for the product because their demand will decrease over time. That’s why you need to learn to judge whether a trend is long-term or not.
Final Thoughts
New trends emerge every now and then, the sooner you discover them, the more profit you will make.
There are multiple ways to find trending products. The approach you follow mainly depends on your target audience and personal preference.
Don’t depend on just one technique and try implementing different methods that we’ve discussed throughout this post.
That will make it easier for you to uncover the hidden gems that have a huge money-making potential.
Lastly, if you’ve successfully found a trending product, then the next step is to find a supplier who can meet the demand.
This is where NicheDropshipping comes in. We can help you source your desired products so you can leverage trends while they last.
Want to learn more about our services? Just drop us a message and our agents will promptly guide you.
