How to creatively separate your product from the many other merchandises offered in the online market? Finding a marketable product may take a bit of research but can be done.
Easier said than done right? Well, perhaps these creative ways will help you overcome that! Trust me, you are more creative than you know you are.
Take a look at the product and decide whether this is a product that a prospective customer would want to purchase. You can go to the Amazon website and search for similar listings of the product that you have in mind.
Narrowing your search down gets you closer to your product niche. What is important is that you find your specific niche. Take note of the available colors and sizes for that product..
Table of Contents
Research and Understand your Niche
Study the research and review it with a critical eye look for consistency in the product information. You may find that a large red mug that is being offered and sold by the boxes is a good buy.
In this case, the color and the size of the cup are making a difference to the customer. Tap into that and start creating your opportunities for success. Successful entrepreneurs do the work diligently. Think of it as a work in progress, and it may be hit or miss in the beginning, but learn and tweak the product or branding as necessary.
Here are 13 ways that you can begin to implement today to differentiate your innovative product
Function Related Changes
1. SIZE OF THE PRODUCT
To be innovative, consider the goods and think out of the box. A product that is unique in size may be a game-changer in the industry and all that is required for it to be a wining product.
Check out the sizes that are offered on Amazon for a planner. Which one sells more? A 5″x 8″ planner or an 8.5″x 11″ planner? Perhaps you can offer the best selling size.
What other sizes are also in demand? How many competitors are out there offering that price?.
When determining this, consider the FBA fulfillment and storage fees for different size tiers.
2. MAKE IT WORK BETTER
Customer reviews are a goldmine is establishing what is lacking in your competitor’s products. This will conveniently provide additional guidance from the people that matters; your future customers!
You will find that more and more people are giving honest reviews to try new products. Amazon encourages customers to write honest and post them on their site. This online retail giant does it for a reason. It is proven, and it is cost-effective. Customer reviews offer real-life scenarios on usage and intention.
One easy way to help sift through reviews is with the use of Helium 10’s Review Downloader in Helium’s 10 Chrome Extension.
Click extract and you will get a full breakdown of what are the common pitfalls of that item that keeps appearing in customer’s critical reviews (1 & 2 stars review).
Like an example of a product are batteries powered lamps having multiple customer reviews stating that the battery is weak, or the charge does not hold. Then perhaps you can source for a much superior battery as part of your differentiation plan.
Do ensure the differentiation is made obvious in your main image.
3. ADD A NEW FEATURE
Adding new features to improve the product can be costly but possible. When looking at a product, you can decide whether you can add new features to make it unique and improve it.
Example: BBQ Grill Light. Since forever, the grill light comes in a physical clamp only then one smart guy decided to add a new feature. Make Grill lights having a magnetic base!
Yes, it’s costly and lots of research have to go into making it. But that’s what innovation in differentiation is all about. Adding value to the market and in return, it will pay you off handsomely.
That’s all that’s required to have a winning product in this case.
4. FIX FATAL FLAWS OF COMPETITORS
Does your competitor’s product have apparent flaws, and can the existing flaws be fixed?
Once again, the critical reviews works well to identify this. Think about functionality when reviewing the reports.
Customers will publish their findings on usage and if it is something that they will purchase again. How did the customer use the product, and did it work the way they wanted it to work?
Customer reviews are where you will find unique opportunities for a glaringly obvious problem what you should fix immediately!
Now imagine that you have fixed that flaw (You need to make that fix obvious in your main image) and you are now on the market, who would the customers buy from? You of course!
AESTHETIC RELATED CHANGES
5. COLOR CHANGE
Sometimes, all it takes is just a simple color change to stand out completely in the market.
Take this PINK power drill below as an example. A common color for such a drill are the boring old orange or yellow. However, this seller decided to sell it in pink to attract the ladies in the construction industry as well.
And it worked!
It seems that there are a growing number of ladies in the DIY & Construction field and there was no such tools that speaks to this group of customers.
6. PRODUCT PACKAGING
Consider packaging improvements in both the physical product package and the way that it is packaged for shipping. Customers will report shipping issues such as visually unappealing, damaged, or defective products. You do not want to repeat the same mistakes as your competitors.
Which type of packaging would you rather receive and which would inspire you to be a loyal fan of the brand? The cardboard branded packaging goes a long way in making your product stand out. This helps in getting reviews and an overall positive shopping experience as well.
7. SHAPE
Change the shape of the product that you know would be suitable for your customers. Consider the form of a product, for example, an white oval picture frame versus an white square picture frame.
Silicon place mat for kids in dinosaur shape vs a shape of a butterfly or a dog etc.
8. UNIQUE BRANDING
Branding your product is equally important. Placement of the logo and having an attractive packaging will make the customer remember who they bought the product from and where they bought it.
Satisfied customers will relay that information to their family and friends and direct them to where to buy.
Having a brand website on top of it all is the first step in making your business not be too dependent on Amazon only. Like any business, you will need your own mailing list, social media pages, strong customer follow up and loyal customers.
Including the branding, information on the product packaging increases brand awareness. The selling material for the product also has to include branding. They all have to be visually appealing and make an instantly lasting impression
If you are in for the long haul, remember this.
Build a brand, not sell products to last long.
VALUE RELATED CHANGE
9. BUNDLING
To be able to bundle your products successfully, you will need to understand its purpose. Do not bundle blindly and always ask yourself if the bundle make sense. There are 3 main category of bundling that you can follow and ask yourself which category yours fall into.
Ranked according to the most effective bundling to the least.
- One product that need another to work (Refillable like razor and razor cartridges)
- Nice to have bundle (Razor and shaving cream, nice to have but not required)
- Complementary item (Dog leash and dog toy) Don’t really need both together
- Non-Complementary (Rubbish) Item (Dog Leash and Chocolate) I add this here as an exaggeration for something not to do. Dogs cannot eat chocolate too and this bundle is a law suit waiting to happen.
10. PRICE
What! Pricing as a differentiation sucks big time and no one should be playing this game! I know… but hear me out.
I am not talking about being the cheapest product in your niche. This way, no one wins and usually some unscrupulous sellers can sustain fighting the price war for a long time. Not worth it to fight.
What I am talking about is pricing your item at an even higher premium than the other cheap competitors.
Buyer’s mentality can be weird and if your product listing shows quality and the price matches that expectation, then guess what? They will probably get your premium product rather than the cheaply made product everyone else is offering.
This works super well for high ticket items or hobby items that the customers just simply want the best of the best regardless of the price.
11. OVERALL QUALITY
Quality matters when it comes to merchandise and continued success. Continue reading the reviews; the customer will report if the product was unreliable such as worked well once but did not work again.
Perhaps you can increase the quality just by changing the materials. From a plastic handle to a wooden one for better feel and quality?
There is ample room for considerable improvement in this category so keep your options open!
12. QUANTITY
Offering customer options to buy in quantities of two by packaging them together can increase sales and profits.
It is excellent for finding new opportunities that will enable you to grow and also strengthen your brand, so keep your eyes opened for new possibilities.
13. ORIGIN OF THE PRODUCT
This works well for some categories such as edibles or products that is applied on the skin. Those products would do a lot better if they are sourced right from where the customers are.
Made in USA works very well for food, supplements or skincare products. Furniture made in Italy gives it a rustic charm. Tapestry made in India sounds a lot more legitimate. Watches made in Switzerland portrays the skill and craftsmanship that went into making those watches.
Of course, make sure your claims in your listing are true! Scammers don’t really last long.
CONCLUSION
Differentiating yourself can be a bit daunting, but remember selling on Amazon is an opportunity. But like you, many other people are selling on Amazon, so be creative, be different, and find your niche.
Remember, differentiation is crucial if you want to succeed on Amazon and every successful seller have used either one or more creative ways to differentiate.
Me too products no longer work nowadays and you need to make improvements to your offering that is vastly different on the market which your customers are searching for.
Last word before I end, you are more innovative and creative than you know. It can be tough but do not doubt yourself in finding a good differentiation for your products!
To your huge success!