Whether you’re running a business on Shopify, Amazon, or some other eCommerce platform, the decision of where to source your product is an important one. Driving successful engagement with your brand, increasing customer satisfaction, and encouraging the widest margins possible are all qualities associated with quality product sourcing.
Let’s take a look at the top nine where and how to source products to sell online – whatever platform you utilize!
Where to Source Products to Sell Online?
Finding the best places to source products to sell online requires a deep comprehension of your needs, goals, budget constraints, and assets–including warehousing and inventory limitations or expectations.
Let’s take a look at nine great options to choose from when it comes to sourcing your merchandise, so you can make a decision about singular or hybrid approaches to supplying your customers with the products they want.
1. Liquidation Sources
If you’re looking to purchase products for your business niche at all stages of your growth journey, finding a reputable liquidation source for products is a great place to start.
Many reputable companies like UpLiquidation allow buyers to purchase any quantity of product–from independent SKUs all the way up to the truckload.
Look for companies that provide a wide assortment of products for your niche at a competitive price–as this will be an essential factor in determining your quarterly revenue. Also, take care to find a liquidation source that provides included manifest generation services as well as logistics capabilities for maximum convenience!
2. Returned Product Pallets or Overstock
In a similar vein as liquidation-based product sourcing, finding returned or used pallets, including overstock merchandise, is a fantastic way to increase revenue on merchandise that would otherwise end up sitting on dusty shelves or tossed in a landfill.
These deeply discounted products, particularly when purchased in bulk, can provide business owners with palatable pricing options for their buyers and fresh, rotating inventory selections. It’s no secret that buyers love a bargain–so offering your customers marked-down products is a great way to drive more engagement with your brand.
3. White Label Manufacturers
Working with a white label manufacturer allows you to select the type of product you want to sell and customize it with your branding and marketing strategies. This can be a great, direct way of interacting with the product producing company itself, without worrying about middlemen and complicated third party logistics.
This allows business owners to focus more on the larger issues of running their company as opposed to the production of merchandise itself.
4. Wholesale Brand Owners
Another option for sourcing product to sell online is by working directly with wholesale brand owners like Walmart, Target, and other reputable wholesale platforms. While this can be an excellent, low-cost way to source products that your buyers are likely to already trust, it does often require building a relationship with the product distributor by way of an approval process.
While this may require jumping through some proverbial hoops, partnering with established brands is a fantastic way to quickly generate trust with your audience by offering them access to products they already know and love.
5. Dropshipping Providers
Dropshipping is a brilliant option for business owners who do not have the space, means, or inclination to manage, warehouse, and inventory their products. The beauty of a dropshipping product provider is that they manage all of that for you, sending products directly to your customers each time an order is placed.
Nowadays, there is a wide variety of dropshipping platforms to choose from, offering many different product niches for all sorts of industries–with warehousing locations based all around the world. Particularly if you cater to a global audience, this can be a great choice for businesses looking to provide expedited delivery to their target demographic.
6. Auctions
Though not necessarily the most reliable choice in terms of consistency, auctions–whether in-person or online–can be a great way to source unique, vintage, or niche products. This does require some research on your part, as there is an element of risk associated with auction purchases–that is, whether or not the product will actually move.
Successfully buying and then selling products in this way often entails deep market research and developing a thorough branding strategy to ensure your product is polished and attractive to your buyers.
7. Handmade Items From Independent Creators
Of course, the option always exists to either hand-make products yourself or to work with independent artists, artisans, and vendors. While this generally requires more time in between sales as each product may have to be made to order, it makes a quality output more likely and works like magic to build a more intimate relationship with your buyers.
Folks may even follow your brand simply to watch a creator’s journey–so in a sense, this is also a great marketing opportunity to sell more than just a simple product.
8. Retail Arbitrage
Another option is to purchase goods at a physical store near you, preferably one that provides bulk products, and sell these online to a different audience. For example, you might know of a product that is incredibly common in the U.S. but is not available around the world.
Especially if you can secure relatively cheap global shipping, you can carve out a niche for yourself this way. However, it should be noted that this method is relatively difficult to scale, and still requires inventory storage and management of some kind.
9. Online Arbitrage
Online product sourcing is another option, but while it is less time-consuming than physical retail arbitrage, it also requires inventory storage–which can pose an additional expense.
While you cut out the middleman through this approach, it has the downside of indicating that you will have to do all of the work of navigating shipping and managing inventory yourself.
What is product sourcing?
Product sourcing refers to the process of finding and acquiring goods or merchandise from suppliers or manufacturers. It involves evaluating suppliers, negotiating terms, ensuring quality control, and managing inventory to meet customer demand and business objectives effectively.
How to source products to sell on Amazon?
To sell on Amazon, research profitable products, select trusted suppliers, ensure quality control, manage inventory using Amazon’s Seller Central, optimize listings with keywords, market with ads, provide excellent service, and monitor performance for ongoing success.
While there are many different paths you can take to secure the best, most profitable product source for your business, there is nothing wrong with taking a hybrid approach and combining different sources rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.
With time, analysis, and data-driven strategy, you are sure to cultivate the best means of offering your clients products at competitive prices–all while increasing revenue and enhancing scalability.