eBay: What
Should I Sell?
There is an art to picking profitable
products. It's not just what you want to sell but rather
what will sell. Unless you pick a product in demand in the
marketplace, you will fail. A fundamental principle of the
capitalist system is "supply and demand". It represents a
delicate balancing act between "what people want" and how
much of "it" is available.
Every Christmas, we see one toy that
everyone wants. One year is "talking Elmo" and the next year
it's something else. But, it never fails to occur. Because
everyone wants "it", so "it" is in high demand. If the
supply of the product isn't sufficient to meet the customer
demand, prices soar, as do profits for the people selling
them.
You could hope you pick one of those
products and make a lot of money in one season, or you can
be smart and have a profitable business all year round. How?
Understand trends in our society and how they help you
predict the products which are or will be in demand, now and
in the future.
Current Trends In American Society
By reading and watching current news, we
should be able to spot trends. These trends will have an
impact upon people and therefore, the products they need or
want. For instance, some current trends in the United States
are as follows:
· Americans are fatter than prior
generations (particularly children)
· Baby Boomers (a very large potential
market) are getting older. Many are in the 50s or 60s.
· More and more people purchase online from
the security and comfort of their own home
· Americans are more security conscious
since 9/11
· Travel by car or recreational vehicle is
up over previous years
· Diabetes is making major inroads into the
general population
These are just some of the trends impacting
our culture now. We need to take those identified trends and
make some assumptions about them. With these assumptions
come product decisions, profitable product decisions.
Using a Trend to Pick Profitable Products
Let's choose the Baby Boomer trends upon
which to focus. We know that the Baby Boomer Generation
represents a large, and very wealth, segment of the current
American society. If we choose to focus upon this group of
consumers, we know we have a large potential audience. More
importantly, we know we have an audience who can pay.
Determining the products we will offer
starts with making some assumptions about our targeted
market. What does that mean for the Baby Boomers? We need to
take what we know about that market segment and then make
some assumption based upon that knowledge. Let's try.
What We Know: What We Can Assume:
We know they are getting older. We can
assume they don't like that. We know they are fatter than
prior We can assume they don't like that generations. and
want to do something about it.
Let's just look at those two trends and how
they help us choose products. If this generation is fatter
than the last generation, we can assume larger size clothes
are needed right now. Is that true? At eBay, plus size
women's clothing sold for a total of $90,903.37 in the last
30 days! There's a profitable product selection for the
present.
If we assume they are fatter and don't like
it, they must want to do something about it. What might they
do? Exercise or diet. What does this mean for possible
products? Exercise equipment or diet pills. Is this true? At
eBay, exercise equipment sold for a total of $1,125,144.50
in the last 30 days and weight loss pills sold a total of
$130,795.34 in the last 30 days! Two more profitable,
"in-demand", products at eBay, right now.
Choosing the right product for a profitable
business does not have to be difficult. Just follow the four
easy steps; analyze, assume, test, and choose. You simply
have to read and watch the world. Look at leading news
articles and magazine stories. What appears to be uppermost
in the minds of potential consumers? What assumptions can
you make about the trend? What product(s) does that
translate to? Sell that product and you will earn money.
Continue to follow those four steps and you will be
profitable for a long time.
Michele Schermerhorn has over 30 years
experience in the business world and over 12 years running
her own successful online businesses. She is President of
Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com).
Online Business Institute Inc. exists to "Create Successful
Online Business Owners One Person At A Time". They run
regularly scheduled free online seminars.
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