10 Places to Find Profitable Product Ideas for Your Business
Whether you’re about to start a business or you’re a seasoned ecommerce seller, every entrepreneur needs new product ideas.
And finding one great product idea isn’t enough.
Even if your first product is successful, your competitors will be hot on your heels. So, success depends on your ability to find good product ideas to sell online — often.
But how can you generate great product ideas? Where can you find inspiration?
In this guide, you’ll learn about 10 sources of new product ideas to set yourself up for business success.
Let’s jump right in.
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1. Your Life
First things first: Before you drown in an ocean of products online, look to your life to find ideas.
If possible, start with the ideas you have.
Perhaps you have a list of ecommerce product ideas tucked away in a folder on your computer or in the back of a notebook somewhere. Or maybe ideas pop into your head occasionally, but you dismiss them out of hand.
Even if you’ve discounted these ideas at some point, it’s worth revisiting them from time to time.
Now, a bad product idea won’t magically transform into a good one. However, terrible ideas can often be developed into brilliant ideas. Plus, looking through your existing product ideas may spark a new one.
Once you’ve checked your existing ideas, look to your life for inspiration:
- What problems do you (or those in your life) have? How could a product help solve these issues?
- What are you interested in and passionate about? Is there an opportunity to contribute? How could you use a product to add value?
2. Product Trend and Discovery Websites
Once you’ve searched your life for niche product ideas, it’s time to venture out to find inspiration. And an excellent place to start is to visit product trend websites.
These websites track the latest consumer trends and hot product ideas that are hitting the market:
- Trend Hunter: Top data-driven insights into consumer trends, products, and more.
- TrendWatching: Industry and consumer trend reports and updates backed by research.
- PSFK: Business-focused site featuring insights about retail and customer experience.
You can also check out popular consumer blogs that showcase eye-catching and unique product ideas, such as:
- Bless This Stuff: A blog full of “stuff we drool about…”
- Cool Material: Men’s gear and lifestyle blog.
- Werd: Reviewed gadgets, gear, and gift ideas.
- The Coolest: A modern design lifestyle magazine.
- Best Products: Listicles featuring great products and brands
- Fancy: Part magazine and part store — full of creative product ideas.
Just be careful with your time — browsing these sites will make it much harder to stop procrastinating!
3. Online Consumer Marketplaces
Another great place to find new product ideas is to simply browse online consumer marketplaces to see what’s popular, new, or up-and-coming.
Plus, most marketplaces curate lists of top products that you can use for inspiration. You can also venture deep into product categories to find niche product ideas.
Here are a few online consumer marketplaces to check out:
- Etsy is a marketplace for handmade and vintage items. It’s a great place to find interesting and unique product ideas.
- eBay is an online auction marketplace used mainly by consumers selling to consumers (C2C).
- AliExpress is a consumer wholesale marketplace based in China that allows businesses to purchase products in small quantities.
- Walmart has an online store featuring countless products.
- Amazon is the largest internet retailer globally — check out the Best Sellers list and the Movers & Shakers list.
4. Online B2B Marketplaces
You can also find great product ideas by going straight to the source and browsing online B2B marketplaces. These product sourcing websites list an abundance of potential business product ideas.
Now, the sheer amount of available products can be overwhelming — so consider exploring one niche at a time.
Here are 3 top B2B ecommerce websites:
- Alibaba: Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. It mostly features wholesalers and manufacturers in China and Asia but caters to global buyers. You can find virtually every product imaginable on this platform.
- Handshake: Here at Handshake, we’ve handpicked a growing selection of the very best wholesale collections and dropshipping brands. Whether you’re looking for jewelry, skincare, or abstract product ideas, this is the platform for you.
- Oberlo: The perfect place to find AliExpress product ideas — you can import these products directly into your Shopify store and begin selling them immediately.
You could also check out other B2B marketplaces like:
5. Customer Reviews
Perhaps one of the best places to find truly great product ideas is in product review sections online.
For example, you could visit an online marketplace and scour product reviews for customer complaints, issues, and suggestions. Try to answer questions like:
- What do people love about the product?
- What problems have people run into?
- How could the product be better?
When you do this, you’ll often find reviews like this:
This type of feedback is invaluable as it can show you how to take a profitable product and improve it to help your business gain market share.
6. Crowdfunding Platforms
Crowdfunding is the process of raising funds for a project, venture, or cause from a large number of people — usually via an online platform.
These online crowdfunding platforms feature tons of innovative product ideas. Plus, you can see how much each project has raised, which allows you to determine which ideas, products, and niches are profitable.
Let’s take a quick look at two popular crowdfunding platforms to check out.
Indiegogo
Indiegogo features a range of categories with countless campaigns — from tech and travel to fashion and food. Check out the platform’s curated lists:
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is another popular crowdfunding site with every kind of crowdfunding campaign imaginable in categories such as tech, design, games, and DIY. You can discover campaigns using Kickstarter’s search functions, including:
7. Online Forums
Online forums are a great place to find great product ideas.
You can browse relevant product threads in your target niche to look for interesting ideas that people seem to love or recommend. Plus, you can get involved in discussions or even start new threads to learn what people want and need.
There are two main online forums to consider using: Reddit and Quora.
Reddit is part social media and part forum, and it describes itself as “the front page of the internet. This platform features an enormous amount of ‘subreddits’ that focus on specific topics and interests.
There’s a subreddit for everything — case in point, here’s an entire subreddit about pineapples! As a result, Reddit’s a great place to dive deep into your target market and extract profitable product ideas.
Start by delving into the subreddits that surround your niche. For example, if you’re looking for men’s fashion accessories, check out subreddits like:
If you’re still considering which niche to dive into, browse general product subreddits such as:
Alternatively, you can simply use the search function to find interesting posts and discussions:
Quora
Quora is an online question-and-answer (Q&A) platform. The company describes it as “a place to gain and share knowledge,” and it’s a fantastic source of new product ideas.
You can start by using the search function to see promising threads in your niche or general ones. For example, you could search “best products” to find a list of different Q&As about the best products people have bought.
While browsing, be sure to check out the related questions:
8. Social Media Platforms
There are plenty of ways to use social media platforms to find new product ideas for small businesses.
For example, you can search general hashtags like “#wishlist” and “#buy” or hashtags in a particular product category or niche, such as “#everydaycarry.” You can also search for accounts and groups that curate products.
Here are a few social media platforms to check out and ways to use them to find new product ideas.
- Instagram is full of product ideas. Start by searching relevant hashtags and browsing through the images to find products that catch your eye. Also, keep a close eye on the Instagram Shopping feature. Look for posts promoting products for sale on Instagram that have many comments and Likes — these products or niches may be a good bet.
- Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, so it’s bound to be full of commerce and digital product ideas — you just have to find them! To get started, join Facebook groups in your niche, browse the posts, and connect with people in your target market.
- Twitter has an advanced search feature that you can use to home in on new product ideas. You can also use the platform to learn more about your target market’s wants and needs by directly engaging with your target market.
- Pinterest is bursting with collections of images that feature winning products. Like Instagram, Pinterest is a visual platform making it easy to scan many posts quickly. Browse collections created by your target market to find new product ideas.
9. Search Engines
You can also use search engines to find new product ideas. Here are 3 ways to find ideas with Google’s free tools.
- Google’s Keyword Planner reveals how many people search for specific terms each month. This tool is great for identifying a promising niche. (You can also use other search engine optimization (SEO) tools, such as Keywords Everywhere and SEMrush.)
- If you’re wondering how to find trending products, check out Google Trends. This tool allows you to see what search terms are trending globally and regionally. You can also compare different search terms. Also, take note of recurring spikes — these may indicate seasons or holidays, and they can help you plan a successful product launch.
- Google Search: Let’s not forget Google’s standard search function, which is full of suggestions that can help you delve deeper into a niche or group of products. You can also check out the ads, images, and Google Shopping results.
10. Competitors
Finally, you can always learn a lot from competitors and popular brands in your niche or industry.
Try to identify what products are selling well by using tools like JungleScout and the Facebook Ads Library — if a competitor is running many ads consistently for the same product, it’s likely very profitable.
Once you identify a successful product, try to determine why it’s successful, and then look at the reviews to find ways to create a superior offering.
Keep tabs on competitors to ensure you’re aware of their new releases and upcoming product launches.
Summary: How to Find New Product Ideas
If you’re wondering how to come up with product ideas, here are 10 places to find inspiration:
- Review your current ideas and identify problems in your life that you could solve with a product.
- Check out product trends and discovery websites like Trend Hunter and Best Products.
- Browse consumer marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, and Amazon.
- Dive into B2B marketplaces like Alibaba, Oberlo, and Handshake.
- Identify ways to improve existing products by exploring customer reviews.
- Explore campaigns on crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
- Delve into online forums such as Reddit and Quora.
- Learn about your target market on social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.
- Use Google’s free tools to spot trending and popular products and niches.
- Learn from your competitors’ successes and failures.
Finally, it can be challenging to come up with profitable new product ideas consistently.
So, don’t wait to begin your search until you need a product idea. Instead, treat product research as an ongoing process so that you’re always one step ahead of the competition.
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