How to determine the competition and demand for a particular product before selling it on Amazon, Etsy, and Shopify

One of the most common mistakes made by newcomers to e-commerce is to rely on the genius of an idea without backing up the hypothesis with real numbers.

It often seems that the chosen product will “tear up” the market because of its uniqueness, but in practice, it does not win even a tiny share. That’s why it’s so important to analyze the demand for a product in advance. Amazon, Etsy, and Shopify are highly competitive marketplaces, and it will take a lot of effort to win this fight.

How to determine the demand for a certain product before selling it

There are quite a few methods and services that can help us in this matter. To begin with, let’s look at common sources of information, including ready-made solutions from Google.

Trends is a powerful free tool for assessing trends and user interests. It allows you to:

• track changes in interest in keywords over a certain period of time;
• compare queries to determine which ones are more popular;
• determine in which country/region the demand for a product is most active;
• find related keywords;
• study the seasonality of the product.

Keyword Planner is designed to plan advertising campaigns, but it can also provide data on popular keywords and their search volumes.

Shopping allows you to assess popularity based on search results, identify current trends, and find competitors.

Research directly on marketplaces

You can also determine the competition through the assortment, prices, and reviews that other sellers have directly on the selected marketplace. To do this:

1. Enter the name of your product in the search bar. Analyze the hints given by the system.

2. First of all, we are interested in products without the Sponsored mark (not advertising). You can also apply the Top Brands filter to see the most famous sellers.

3. We analyze the number of sales over the past month, average prices, delivery speed, and the presence/absence of special offers and promotions. We pay special attention to reviews, as their analysis will allow us to eliminate the shortcomings noted by users and gain a competitive advantage.

Online tools for demand analysis

The easiest way to find competitors and find out the wishes of a potential target audience is to use ready-made software solutions.

For Amazon – Best Sellers: provides lists of the best-selling products on the platform. It is extremely useful for studying popular categories and niches.

Trending Items: a selection of popular products from different categories will help you study the demand for Etsy products. It allows you to evaluate the profiles of successful sellers and find creative ideas for developing your business.

Also suitable for keyword analysis:

• Keyword Tool;
• Helium 10;
• Semrush is a multifunctional tool that provides information about keywords, competitors, traffic, and other aspects of your marketing efforts.
• Ahrefs – focuses on link analysis, but also provides information about search queries, keywords, and competitors.
• TrendHunter is a platform that tracks the latest trends in various industries. It can be useful for researching innovations in your niche.

Unconventional ways to learn more about your customers’ preferences

Identifying current market trends can inspire you to develop relevant products and marketing strategies. Understanding what your audience is currently interested in and what new products other “players” are offering can be very creative. For example:

Watching reviews from bloggers in your niche. Influencers often become trendsetters and can significantly affect the demand for certain products.

Analysis of newsletters from large online stores. It will allow you to analyze competitors’ strategies and build your own based on them.

Study of scientific and technological research. Innovations in these areas often become a source of new trends and business opportunities.

Reading the news. Pay attention to global trends in culture, art, fashion, and design. For example, the Pantone Color Institute dictates the world’s most relevant shades of the year/season. This is reflected in the entire industry: from the color of cars that will be popular to the shade of pillows your customers will want.

Conclusion. By combining all of the above methods, you can get a more accurate picture of the demand for your product and prepare a sales strategy accordingly. Remember that trends can evolve and change, so it’s important to keep your information up-to-date and remain flexible in adapting your business.