21 trending products to sell online in 2020

The best products for your business depend on your needs and goals. But to help contextualize your product search, consider the following 21 popular ecommerce offerings.

1. Subscription boxes

Subscription boxes enable repeat deliveries of niche products, creating an ongoing revenue stream.

You can source the products for subscription boxes yourself, or you can outsource to vendors who will prepare the boxes for you, such as Wholesale Subscription. You can also target a variety of price points depending on which product types you include in the box.

If you choose to sell subscription boxes yourself, be sure you are able to handle the logistics of shipping new boxes to customers on a regular schedule. You should also ensure your inventory management process is efficient to meet demand and avoid issues such as perishable items expiring before they can be shipped.

2. LED lighting

The market for LED lighting is projected to grow at a steady annual rate of more than 13% for the better part of the coming decade. What’s more, LED lighting offers an opportunity for building a brand around niches such as home improvement or environmental responsibility.

You can find LED lighting products that match a variety of price points. Simple LED bulbs cost as little as $1, while you could spend hundreds for specialized LED lighting systems.

There are many LED lighting wholesalers available, such as LED Wholesalers and Wholesale LED Lighting.

Before you jump in, ensure you understand the technical complexities behind different types of LED lighting. Your online store should make it easy for buyers to find bulbs based on categories such as different socket base types, lighting intensity, dimmability, and so on.

3. Reusable bags

As a growing number of state and local governments ban plastic bags, reusable bags are growing in popularity. This presents another great way to build an environmentally conscious brand.

As with LED lighting, reusable bags are available from a variety of wholesale suppliers. Prices range from less than $1 per bag to $20 or more for specialty bags, like those made from organic materials.

To sell reusable bags effectively, know where and how your bags are made. Customers who are concerned with responsible sourcing for their bags will want this information.

4. Denim

Although denim has been around for decades, it has experienced renewed popularity in recent years. Denim is easy to store indefinitely and can be priced anywhere from $20 for a basic pair of jeans to hundreds for specialty apparel. These and other factors make denim a great product to sell online.

Denim products also offer flexibility in how you acquire and sell them. You can purchase wholesale denim cloth from a supplier like Robert Kaufman and then manufacture your own unique garment line, or you can simply buy premade denim clothes. While the latter approach is easier, the former may lead to higher margins if you are willing to manage manufacturing and retail operations simultaneously.

5. Bluetooth speakers

As the global workforce shifts to working remotely, Bluetooth speakers deliver a high quality audio output experience for homebound individuals. Starting at under $15 but ranging up to hundreds for high-end versions, they’re easy to acquire from wholesalers like DHgate and Made-in-China.

Like LED lighting, Bluetooth speakers are subject to some technical specificity. Make sure you understand the types of Bluetooth speakers and compatibility considerations related to different protocols and operating systems. Ensure the technical details are listed with the appropriate products listed in your online store.

6. Shapewear

The shapewear market is predicted to grow steadily over the next several years. For ecommerce vendors, shapewear is another type of apparel that is easy to acquire and store. Vendors such as Lingerie Mart and Uhnice offer shapewear in wholesale quantities.

As the Google Trends graph shows, there was a decline in demand for shapewear when the pandemic reached the United States in spring 2020. Demand for shapewear has recovered since then, but you may want to monitor for future developments in this market before making a commitment.

7. Minimalist watches

Flashy smartwatches have garnered much attention in recent years. But there is also steady demand for minimalist watches that simply display the time of day using a conventional analog interface or a digital interface mimicking an analog display. With prices starting at $25, these items are easy to offer at a price point consistent with other personal accessories such as wallets and hats. They are available from wholesalers like Watch Warehouse and Watch Wholesalers.

Before committing to selling minimalist watches, make sure they are a fit for your target audience. Consider whether you want to stock men’s watches, women’s watches, or both.

8. Eyelash extensions

Demand for eyelash extensions has grown steadily in recent years, as Google Trends shows.

Eyelash extensions are small, lightweight, easy to store for a long time, and readily available wholesale from sites like Lash Affair and Acelashes.

Make sure you have a broad enough selection to appeal to many different customers. Your audience will expect a range of choices such as eyelash extension length and color.

9. Athleisure

Interest in athleisure apparel has surged in recent years and is expected to continue to increase steadily for at least the next five years.

Wholesalers like Royal Apparel and Mono B offer extensive wholesale athleisure apparel selections. In fact, their selections are so wide it’s important to determine which types of athleisure items are most in demand among your target audience to select the best pieces. Conducting market research will help you identify popular — and profitable — styles, and you can hone your strategy based on performance data as sales get underway.

10. Hair removal

Interest in hair removal has remained steady for a number of years, making related products a good choice for stable, long-term online sales.

Marlo Beauty, Beautetrade, and others offer wholesale hair removal products. Given that there are different ways to remove hair, such as waxing and chemical removal, you should conduct research to determine which types of hair removal products your customers want most.

11. Avocado oil

Avocado oil has exploded in popularity as an alternative to traditional staples like olive oil.

For retailers, avocado oil offers the advantage of having a long shelf life for an organic product. This makes it a great item to sell if you want to enter the online grocery market but lack facilities to handle more perishable items. Avocado oil also averages around $10 per liter, about twice as much as olive oil. Given its higher price point, you will want to ensure your customer base will be receptive to the prices you will list. Avocado oil can be obtained from wholesalers like Bulk Apothecary and Jedwards.

12. Wireless phone charger

Interest in wireless phone chargers has grown steadily in recent years. Given there are around 1.5 billion smartphones sold every year, this trend is unlikely to change soon.

DHGate and other suppliers offer wholesale wireless phone chargers for prices starting under a dollar for a no-frills unit. Because most chargers work only with specific types of phones, be sure to stock those serving your target market’s needs. For instance, if you sell to a specific geographic region, determine which phones are most popular there, and source chargers that fit them.

13. Phone cases

Along similar lines, cases that protect cell phones also remain steadily popular.

Like wireless chargers, different phone cases fit different phones. Select ones from wholesalers like DHGate that meet your target buyers’ needs.

14. Matcha tea

The market for matcha tea is expected to reach $2.26 billion by the end of 2025. You can purchase it from wholesalers like Tenzo, and organic versions are also available. Prices start around 25 cents per gram of powdered tea mix, which is enough for one small cup.

While matcha tea has an extended shelf life, it will expire after about a year, so it’s important to manage inventory appropriately. You’ll also want to ensure that matcha tea’s low price point aligns with your retail strategy.

15. Minimalist jewelry

Like minimalist watches, minimalist jewelry has been subject to steadily increasing demand. It’s easily available from wholesalers such as Honeycat.

The main challenge in selling minimalist jewelry online is that it’s available at a variety of different price points, from a few dollars per item to thousands, depending on the metals and minerals used to assemble products. Be sure to select items that fit your target audience’s wallet.

16. Drones and related products

Although interest in drones has dipped somewhat since peaking around 2016, it remains a stable product market. And because there’s a wide array of products related to drones, it’s easy to build an entire niche around this ecosystem. You can also find suppliers like verydrone which specialize in this market, making sourcing easy.

Drones and drone accessories are a technically dense niche, so be sure you have the necessary product expertise before you begin selling these items.

17. Phone tripods

Tripods are another smartphone-related accessory seeing a significant increase in recent demand.

You can find tripods for under $10 retail, or you could pay more than $100, so be sure to select products that align with your pricing strategy and meet your profit margin goals. Many wholesalers, like DHgate and Bargain Wholesale, offer them.

18. Oil diffusers

The oil diffuser market remains healthy, with steady interest in recent years. It also accommodates a wide range of price points, with basic oil diffusers starting around $30 while high-end electronic options can cost thousands.

Interest in oil diffusers peaks around the holidays, so you should expect seasonal fluctuations in demand if you sell this product. Wholesale suppliers of these products include Green Air and Bulk Apothecary, among others.

19. Eyebrow razors

Interest in eyebrow razors increased significantly this year. Whether that was because of the pandemic or other factors is hard to say. But consumers are making their eyebrows an obvious priority in 2020.

As a low-weight, small-size item, eyebrow razors are obviously easy to both store and ship. Keep in mind that these beauty aids are low-cost, retailing for a couple of dollars per razor. This means the return per item will be minimal, so you’ll need to sell in volume to see any measurable profit. If you want to be the go-to source for eyebrow maintenance, these razors are available wholesale from suppliers like DHgate and VK Wholesale.

20. Solar panels

Interest in solar panels remains sunny and steady. Although solar panels traditionally required professional installation, you can acquire DIY solar panel kits, which retail for around $2,000, from wholesale suppliers like Unbound Solar.

One factor to bear in mind, however, is that tax credits offered by the US federal government for solar panel installations are currently set to expire in 2021. If this happens, demand may potentially decrease.

21. Pet food

Although interest in pet food has not changed substantially in recent years, pet ownership is increasing, providing a growing opportunity for online retailers that can manage pet food sourcing and inventory effectively.

Because the market for pet food as a whole is competitive, consider focusing on a specific niche, such as organic pet food, which you can source from suppliers like V-Dog.

How to find the best products to sell online

No matter what type of ecommerce business you run, there are several factors to weigh when selecting which products to offer:

• Price point
  Your price points should be consistent across your store, or at least within sections of it. This doesn’t mean all of your products need to be priced identically, of course. But it does mean the range of prices you charge should be finite. You don’t want to sell some items for a few pennies apiece while charging hundreds of dollars for others. If you do, attracting a consistent customer base will be more difficult, as some customers will be shopping at vastly different price points than others. Managing profit margins will also be harder as your profit on an item that costs a dollar will be very different from one priced at $1,000.
• Profitability
  You obviously want to sell profitable products, but there are some exceptions to this rule. The most common is a “loss leader” strategy where you offer some products below their market value — even if it means selling them at a loss to you — in order to attract business. This strategy can be useful on a temporary basis for promotional purposes, but you should generally strive to ensure that whatever you are selling can be sold for a price that covers your expenses and generates a profit. Be wary of products with profit margins that vary widely depending on factors such as who supplies them. If you have to switch from one supplier to another, you don’t want your profit margins to be cut in half.
• Inventory management
  The process of placing items into your inventory, storing them there, and retrieving them when they sell is complicated. Choose products you can manage in an efficient manner. For example, if you have a small warehousing space, choose smaller products so you can offer a wide selection without overtaxing your available storage. Likewise, you should avoid products that require refrigeration if you don’t have adequate storage facilities for them.
• Competition
  Someone somewhere will always be selling the same product as you. Trying to offer a totally unique product in order to beat the competition is unrealistic in the crowded ecommerce space. Nonetheless, you should be strategic about evaluating how many other retailers offer the same product when selecting what to sell. Search major ecommerce sites like Amazon and eBay in order to gauge how much competition there is. If the market for a particular item seems very crowded, check to see whether there is less competition surrounding a variant of the item or a related product.
• Think about your brand
  To attract repeat customers over the long term, you need more than an ecommerce store. You need a brand that customers associate with fulfilling a certain need or supporting a specific lifestyle. As you search for products to sell, think about how they contribute to your brand image. If you want to build your brand around environmental sustainability, for example, choose products that complement this approach.
• Focus on your target audience
  In the highly competitive online retail space, trying to sell products to all types of customers can be very difficult unless you’re a large business. Instead, define a target audience and focus on choosing products that fit its needs. You could cater to women in their 30s and 40s, college students, or people living in arid climates.
  Ideally, you’ll select a target audience your competition does not already serve extensively. At the same time, focus on buyers whose needs you are well-suited to understand. For instance, it may be hard to focus on pet owners if you’ve never had a pet.

You’ve got your products — now build your store

Choosing what to sell may be difficult, but building and operating an online store doesn’t have to be if you choose the right ecommerce platform.

Adobe Commerce is a fast, flexible solution for launching an online store or updating your existing digital assets. It delivers advanced features for managing inventory, business intelligence, checkout and payments, and much more. No matter what you choose to sell, Adobe Commerce will help you create a memorable online shopping experience.

Learn more by scheduling a free Adobe Commerce demo.