BEST PRACTICES
FOR FINDING PRODUCTS WITH
THE JUNGLE SCOUT WEB APP
The new Jungle Scout Web App is a product research tool like nothing else on the market. Whereas Amazon is a vast marketplace designed to help consumers find and purchase their items, it was not designed to help sellers find profitable products to private label. The first version of Jungle Scout, as an extension, works great as a means to evaluate the sales and potential of a product. However, it requires some clicking around and some time. The new Jungle Scout Web App has short-circuited the product research process even more. Now all you need to do is filter by various criteria and voila: hundreds of potential products are at your finger tips.
Below we have shared a few filter criteria that you can use to get started on your product research. There are infinite ways of slicing and dicing the Amazon catalog, and we will share more in the near future. Until then, Happy Scouting!
Big Demand, Bad Reviews
The Strategy: Product Differentiation and Improvement
There are a lot more players in the private label space now. Some have done well and found great product niches. However, product research and product sourcing are two different beasts. Find those products that are selling well but have poor customer reviews, so you can capture the demand with a superior product.
The Filters: High Sales + Low Rating
High Sales Volume, Undifferentiated Competition
The Strategy: Added Value
Private Label Selling attracts many me-too sellers by nature. Amazon is chock-full of many identical products, with each competing on a combination of optimized listing, number of reviews, and PPC budget. How about differentiating with an add-on: a physical book/pamphlet, case or container, beautiful packaging, or more. What you spend in incremental Cost of Goods may pay itself back quickly with a differentiated product and increased sales.
The Filters: High Sales + Seller (Fulfilled By Amazon)
New Market Opportunity
The Strategy: Early-to-Market
There are always new products that catch a wave of popularity and demand (how many selfie sticks do you see everyday?). If you can identify these trends early, you get the second-mover advantage of capitalizing on a nascent market, so you can establish reviews, strong organic keyword ranking, and early demand.
Filters to Use: High Revenue + Low Reviews; or filter by Keyword of the product you are considering
High Margin, Low Volume
The Strategy: Premium Branding
While it is challenging to use Amazon as a foundation for building a premium luxury brand, there are indicators that you can optimize to convey quality branding: beautiful high resolution photos, convincing copy, great product (and subsequently positive reviews). You may not get the same number of sales as lower priced products, but you can capture a higher net margin per sale, and also may benefit from lower competition as fewer private label sellers may seize the same opportunity.
Filters to Use: High Price + High Net + Low Sales
Featherweight w/Big Sales Potential
The Strategy: High Margin
Related to the High Margin/Low Volume filter is the “Featherweight” category: small and light products that have big sales potential. Branding and presentation will be important, and if you get that part correct, you can take the savings you created with shipping a lightweight product and add it directly to your bottom line.
Filters to Use: Low Weight + High Sales
Low Price, High Volume
The Strategy: Bulk Selling
Conventional wisdom tells you to avoid selling products below $10, as you’ll be left with breadcrumbs for profits after Amazon’s cut. But what if you bulk packaged those products into, a 3-pack, 5-pack, even a 20-pack? Depending on the product, consumers may happily pony up for a long-term supply of your product if it translates into cost-savings. Costco has certainly succeeded with this strategy, surely you can too.
Filters to Use: High Sales + Low Price
Big Sales/ Poor Marketing
The Strategy: Better Marketing
By using the listing quality score filter, you can easily find junky listings. Why is this important to you? If you find poor listings that are also selling well, you have potentially struck gold. By selling a similar product with better marketing (e.g. more high-quality pictures, better bullet points, keyword rich title and description) then you have the ability to easily outsell the competition.
Filters to use: High Sales + Low Listing Quality Score