Selling wholesale on Amazon is a highly lucrative opportunity. To succeed as a seller, finding profitable products is vital for wholesale. Your first and foremost task is to identify high-demand items with potential for profitability, ensuring that you invest in products that will sell well.
Finding profitable wholesale products to sell can be a time-consuming, daunting challenge, so sellers look for effective methods to optimize this process. Here's where Amazon product research tools come into play. They assist sellers in making data-driven decisions.
This post guides you through the process of finding profitable wholesale products using the most effective product research tools.
How Does Finding Wholesale Products Work?
Since the wholesale business model assumes buying products in bulk, carefully selecting the products and ensuring they are profitable is extremely important.
Therefore, product research is the first thing you will do to find wholesale products. Product search takes a lot of time and effort. To do it effectively and quickly, you can use product research tools. They will help simplify this process and let you focus on other business tasks.
When you’ve selected the potentially profitable product to sell on Amazon, you must find suppliers for those products. Usually, those are manufacturers or brands, so this may be a challenging goal.
Let’s discuss these processes in detail.
How to Select Wholesale Products?
To select profitable products, you must do Amazon wholesale product research. That helps
identify the items that meet your specific criteria and selling targets.
We will use the popular all-in-one product research extension — Seller Assistant App — to ensure effective and reliable product selection. It conveniently displays right on the Amazon product and search pages and helps simplify the product research process. With it, you can immediately see all essential product metrics in one place.
Selecting wholesale product step by step
Step 1. Exclude PL and sold by Amazon products
Start with ensuring that the product is not a Private Label and not sold by Amazon.
As a wholesale seller, you can’t sell Private Label (PL) products because they are trademarked by another merchant. To identify such products, look at the number of sellers who sell the item. If the FBA and FBM fields of Seller Assistant App's Product Information dashboard show that only one seller sells the product, that is likely a Private Label product, and you shouldn’t buy it. If it’s sold by multiple sellers, it’s not a PL item.
Also, check if Amazon is a product seller. Competing with Amazon may be complicated and exhausting, so it’s better to avoid such products.
Step 2. Check product sales
Assess the product's demand by analyzing its Best Sellers Rank (BSR) on Amazon. Although exact sales figures for the products wholesalers sell are not provided by Amazon, BSR gives an indication of sales performance.
Utilize Seller Assistant App to obtain an estimated sales number based on BSR and category. It also presents the average BSR and its history over 30, 90, and 180 days.
Identify high-performing products highlighted in green (top 1% of sales). Lower-performing products are marked red. Observe the direction of the arrows: a downward green arrow suggests a decrease in BSR, while an upward red arrow indicates an increase.
Step 3. Check Buy Box information
Evaluate your competition by examining the Buy Box seller's offer.
Seller Assistant App's Product Information dashboard provides essential Buy Box details, including the average Buy Box price and minimum FBA and FBM Buy Box price offers.
Assess the Buy Box dynamics, considering price fluctuations that may affect your ability to sell the product consistently.
Step 4. Research competition and potential sales
Estimate the level of competition and the number of units you can potentially sell. Seller Assistant App shows the estimated potential sales for the item if you become an additional seller.
Determine the number of merchants selling the product, with over 10 FBA merchants indicating high competition.
Identify competitors whose offers are priced 2-3% higher than the Buy Box price.
Step 5. Verify sales restrictions and alerts
Ensure that the product you intend to sell is not in a restricted category or brand and will not create any issues. Use Seller Assistant App to identify potential problems through features like IP Alert and Restriction Checker.
The IP Alert feature displays a Red Triangle icon if there have been past issues with the product.
The Restriction Checker feature indicates your eligibility to sell the product with a Green Open Lock or Red Closed Lock icon.
Note. Seller Assistant App provides warnings for IP alerts, restricted products, oversize products, meltable products, hazardous material categories, and adult products.
Step 6. Check product profitability
Evaluate the product's profitability to ensure a good profit margin. Utilize Seller Assistant App's FBA&FBM calculator to calculate essential profitability metrics, such as profit, ROI, and profit margin for both FBA and FBM.
Review the costs associated with FBA or FBM, Amazon commissions, referral fees, storage costs, third-party logistics costs, and shipping expenses.
If you sell globally, consider European VAT requirements and choose the appropriate scheme provided by Seller Assistant App to comply with regulations and simplify the VAT process.
Step 7. Save the result to Google Sheets
Export your product research results to Google Sheets for further storage and analysis. Open a product on the Amazon website, add any necessary notes, and click the "Save" button to save the results.
How to Choose Wholesale Suppliers?
Once Amazon sellers have identified potential products, they must search for reliable wholesale suppliers — brand owners or established brands. That allows you to get the best wholesale price conditions and achieve maximum profits.
Buying from a supplier step by step
Step 1. Research and contact suppliers
Approach brands directly to establish a partnership for bulk orders.
Utilize wholesale directories or platforms to find reputable suppliers specializing in your desired products or niche. Attend trade shows and industry events to meet potential suppliers and explore new product options.
Tip. Consider contacting distributors or wholesalers who can provide smaller Minimum Order Quantities (MMQ) if your business volume is lower. Some brands may have as high MMQ as $20,000.
Step 2. Evaluate suppliers
When you find a supplier, you must ensure that they will provide the best solution for your product. To do so, applying several criteria described below will be helpful.
Supplier evaluation criteria
- Assess the cost price of goods offered by each supplier to ensure maximum profitability for your Amazon FBA business.
- Check the supplier's reputation and references online, especially if they are not well-known brands.
- Determine if the supplier has the capability to scale their supply to accommodate your growing business needs.
- Consider logistics and shipping duration to meet Amazon's fulfillment requirements and provide fast shipping to customers.
- Verify that the supplier has a clear return and insurance policy to handle any issues that may arise with the order.
Step 3. Negotiate and establish a solid partnership
When negotiating with a supplier, you must remember that big brands may already have established reseller networks. Therefore, it's crucial to demonstrate how you can add value and boost their sales.
Showcase your experience and success in Amazon sales to build trust and convince the brand of your capabilities. Utilize your negotiation skills to negotiate favorable terms, such as pricing, payment terms, and delivery schedules.
Focus on creating a solid and mutually beneficial cooperation that aligns with the brand's goals and grows its sales. Be prepared for the negotiation process to take time as you establish a solid and valuable partnership.
Note. To conduct wholesale business on Amazon, obtaining a business license and a sales tax permit may be necessary. Suppliers may request you to provide it. Also, these permits enable selling wholesale on Amazon without paying taxes and to collect sales tax from customers on behalf of your state. By obtaining these licenses, you ensure that you operate within the legal framework and fulfill your tax obligations.
Conclusion
Finding wholesale products for your business requires diligent research and strategic decision-making. You can navigate the wholesale market successfully by following the steps outlined in this guide, including thorough product research, identifying reliable suppliers, and effective communication with brands.
Remember that seller tools help make your business streamlined and effective. One of the best such tools is Seller Assistant App. This comprehensive extension combines essential features for efficient and thorough research, providing you with invaluable support. With Seller Assistant App, you can easily access crucial information such as product profitability, margin, and ROI. It streamlines the process by integrating an FBM&FBA profit calculator, Quick View, Stock Checker, and Restrictions Checker into a single tool. By leveraging the Seller Assistant App, sellers can make informed decisions, optimize their strategies, and simplify their product research journey. Experience the power of Seller Assistant App today and elevate your wholesale business to new heights.
