How to Discover a Product Opportunity: Product Research
How did we arrive at these eCommerce business ideas? We did some research of our own into consumer behavior and seller trends to assess market demand and competition in popular product categories.
The products consumers want to buy change all the time. While some offer flash-in-the-pan success, others are worth building an eCommerce around. A careful analysis of what people will buy online in 2021, factoring in how existing retailers are capitalizing on product trends to meet these needs, helped us reveal profitable ideas for new ecommerce sellers.
Consumer trends
In the new year, U.S. consumers are increasingly focused on their physical and mental health, their families (including pets), and their spirituality. Many have also had time away from their normal social lives to slow down and take stock of their situations, and are now thinking more seriously about their careers, education, finances, and civic engagement.
Since COVID began, people have made big changes to their everyday lives, including working and learning remotely, and finding ways to exercise and entertain themselves at home. Many of these changes are likely to remain even when social distancing ends.
These shifting values and needs mean new niche interests for eCommerce sellers. But how willing are U.S. shoppers to spend money on new products?
Between social distancing, financial uncertainty, and supply-chain disruptions, consumers have been through a lot in the past year. More than half of consumers are concerned about having enough money for retirement and emergencies, as well as suffering a loss or reduction of income. At least 43% say they are putting off major financial decisions for the time being.
But while many consumers tightened their belts in response to the changing economy, that hasn’t stopped them from shopping in general.
On the contrary, many U.S. consumers have simply shifted from in-store to online shopping. There’s evidence that this shift from brick-and-mortar to online shopping was accelerated by COVID-19; more consumers now report that they’re shopping at online retailers like Amazon than in months prior. Since October 2020, at least 74% of U.S. shoppers have searched for a product online, and many are now buying more products in certain categories (essential and health-related items like groceries, cleaning supplies, and vitamins, for instance) than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, the number of consumers who report increased overall spending jumped 20% from September to December 2020—ditto a noteworthy increase in online spending. This indicates further growth in consumer spending on the horizon, and a boon for ecommerce.
To summarize, consumers’ biggest focus areas in 2021 will be:
- Their families
- Physical health
- Mental health
- Personal finances
- Pets

Consumers are most likely to shop online in these product categories:
- Clothing
- Books
- Electronics
- Beauty & Personal Care
- Home & Kitchen
- Vitamins & Supplements
- Toys & Games
- Office Supplies
- Arts, Crafts, & Sewing
- Cleaning supplies
And in terms of what consumers are generally buying more of in 2021, here’s the breakdown:
- Grocery
- Cleaning supplies
- Vitamins
- Beauty & Personal Care
- Toys & Games
- Over-the-counter medicine
- Clothing
- Arts, Crafts, & Sewing
- Books
- Alcohol

The intersections of these values and in-demand product categories are the best places to look when starting an eCommerce business in 2021.
Niche competition and profitability
Consumer behavior can’t be your only consideration when finding a product to sell. You’ll also need to think about niche saturation—in other words, how many other people have already jumped on the idea with their own line of products.
This goes for the competitiveness of the eCommerce platforms themselves. Amazon currently has as many as 2.6 million third-party sellers. While they’re competing for sales from a bountiful 300-million-strong customer pool, that’s still a quite dense concentration of sellers. By comparison, eBay hosts around 800,000 stores, and Walmart’s online marketplace has an estimated 50,000 sellers. So while Amazon’s customer reach is larger than these other sites, it can be lucrative to take advantage of relatively lower competition elsewhere.
There are many product finder tool allows ecommerce sellers to search specific keywords within a product category to find out what’s selling, or related products that are likely to sell. And while the sales data used to reveal opportunities is specific to Amazon, the insights are transferable to other eCommerce platforms. That’s because Amazon captures data on the majority of U.S. consumers’ shopping habits—it’s the most popular retailer in the country, even beyond traditional retail giants like Walmart and Target.
According to 2021 State of the Amazon Seller Report, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Amazon sellers tend to concentrate in consumers’ preferred product categories, like Home & Kitchen, Toys & Games, and Beauty & Personal Care. While it’s important to note that more sellers in a given niche will mean a tougher road toward the top of Google or Amazon search results, there’s always a new, specific need to fulfill, whether it’s changing the look of a product to suit design trends or adding extra functionality.
By identifying products with high demand and relatively low competition on Amazon, you can strike gold—by creating a new product or modifying product ideas that need work to suit consumers’ needs.
Sometimes, pinpointing profitable improvements to an existing product niche is as easy as reading customer reviews. Thanks to customer-submitted photos and videos, you can literally see how a product is lacking, and how you could provide a superior alternative.
Launch your eCommerce business idea in 2021
If you’ve made it this far, you now have some great eCommerce business ideas, plus pointers on which tools will help you optimize your product.
As you grow your brand, you’ll also want to check out our helpful guides on marketing, getting reviews, and fulfillment optimization:
Do you have a great idea for an eCommerce business? Tell us about it in the comments.
Contact us for any kind of eCommerce solution.