All articleseCommerce CRO What product should you add next to your e-commerceâs catalog? 5 ways to survey your market Abigail BoszeContent Writer âShould I add this to my storeâs catalog or not? It looks great, and seems like a top-seller⊠but what if it flops?âYes, we know the thought process.Expanding your eâcommerce catalog isnât a decision to be taken lightly.You know, it could all go well and this product may be sold in a matter of seconds but it may also spark little interest among your audience and make the investment in your new stock go to waste (unless you own a dropshipping store).Of course, the alternative is much worse â if you donât update your catalog, youâll eventually fall behind in the market and start losing customers.Fear not! Weâve got some good news.And itâs not about crossing your fingers or knocking on wood for good luck.In other words, there are ways to stack the odds in your favor and predict if the product youâll be selling will be successful or not.Want to know how?Then read on, because today weâre going to teach you to âread your clientsâ mindsâ.Letâs get to it.Table of Contentsđ What to do before expanding your catalog (or not)đ 5 ways of analyzing the market to figure out what to add to your catalogâ 1. Snoop on your competitorsâ 2. Become a âfortune tellerâ with Google Trendsâ 3. Do some keyword researchâ 4. Ask your customersâ 5. Use the data from unmatched queriesđ Want to know how to use the internal search engine of your eâcommerce to expand your catalog without all the risk?đ What to do before expanding your catalog (or not)Thereâs actually no 100%-effective formula.With new products, you always run some risk of selling something your target audience simply wonât be interested in.As a reference, however, here are some aspects to consider before making any decisions:The level of demand: Are there enough people interested in buying that product?The competition: In some cases, if the productâs already being sold by tons of stores, it might not be worth investing in.The profit margin: Can you afford to sell it at a competitive but profitable price?The last two points are relatively easy to answer.But how can you tell if a productâs demand will be sufficiently high or if, on the contrary, youâll end up with a pile of boxes collecting dust in your warehouse.Thatâs what weâre about to see.đ 5 ways of analyzing the market to figure out what to add to your catalogWeâve said it before, but donât forget that no method is 100% effective.The good thing is that if you put the following tips into practice, the odds will be in your favor.â 1. Snoop on your competitorsThis is the simplest way of finding new business opportunities.There are three options.âĄïž A. Your direct competitionSuppose you sell reconditioned computer products online and your catalog currently consists of three main categories:Computers (both laptops and desktops)TabletsSmartphonesHowever, youâve recently been asked if you also sell reconditioned consoles, so now youâre obviously wondering if itâd be a good idea to start selling them.To find out, you decide to give the competitionâs websites a check.As a result, you see that 3 out of your 5 main competitors have already included that product line in their catalogs.With this in mind, it may be time you made some room for consoles in your shop too.âĄïž B. AmazonPeople tend to see Amazon as the Goliath of online stores.No surprise here that such a giant marketplace offers some advantages, right? đBetween the seemingly infinite product catalog and huge sales volume, it comes in quite handy to get a broad picture of market behavior.There are two things you can do:Find the most successful products on Amazon in your sector (if you own a furniture eâcommerce, go to the âHome and kitchenâ category and check for the top sellers).Double check whether the specific brand you want to incorporate has a solid number of reviews â positive reviews, that is.And here comes the third option.âĄïž C. Similar businesses abroadIt could be that your sector is simply more developed in another country.You know, the old âIf itâs popular overseas, theyâll be buying it here soon enough.âYou could use this to gain an edge over your competitors.The problem is that itâs not a 100% reliable method, as certain trends tend to stay in the countries where they originate.And speaking of trend trackingâŠâ 2. Become a âfortune tellerâ with Google TrendsWeâve already spoken about Google Trends in other post.This free tool by Google tells you the evolution of searches related to a specific keyword over time.Letâs try with the word âtahiniâ, for example.As you can see in the graph, the last few years have seen an increasing number of people googling this term.So if you have a food eâcommerce and youâve yet to incorporate tahini into your catalog, itâd be a good idea to do it now since the demand keeps growing and growing.However, this tool is limited in that it doesnât work with absolute data.That is, the graphâs telling us that tahini is currently being searched much more often than before, but how much exactly?Thatâs where out next point comes in to play.â 3. Do some keyword researchKeyword research is the first thing to do when designing your eâcommerce because it allows you to create SEO-friendly categories (as we told you in this guide).Thatâs not to say youâll only need to do this once, however.For example, say youâve decided to add a new category to your online pet shop, but youâre considering three options:Dog bedsCat bedsRabbit cagesYour current budget for new stock can only permit adding two of them, so you must choose wisely.You decide to find out how many people are searching for each of these products each month (you can use the keyword planner, which is freely available, or a paid tool such as Semrush or Ahrefs).And the results areâŠ[drumroll]:âDog bedsâ has 21,900 monthly searchesâCat bedsâ has 7,400 searchesâRabbit cagesâ has 9,000 searchesAt first glance, it seems that the best option is to go for dog beds and rabbit cages.But we can take it a step farther.Suppose you search for these terms on Google Trends and see that ârabbit cagesâ searches have been dropping for a couple of years, while âcat bedsâ have been growing exponentially over the same period.This means that, even though there are currently more people looking for rabbit cages, investing in cat beds may be more profitable in the long run.â 4. Ask your customersThis is a good option if you have a fairly extensive (and active) subscriber base.If thatâs your case, you could send them an email telling them youâre looking to add something new to your online shopâs catalog and want to know their opinion.You can even formulate it as a survey with questions such as:From 0 to 5, how interested would you be in buying this product?How much would you be willing to pay for it?Donât forget to include a minimum and a maximum price for the last question.The good thing about this strategy is that itâs not based on general data about the market; instead, the information comes straight from your very own customers.So whatâs the downside? Well, surveys donât always reflect reality.For example, while most of your clients may say theyâd be willing to pay up to 100 dollars for that new product, they may have second thoughts when it comes time to pull out their wallets.Or it could be that the number of participants is too low to draw reliable conclusions.No worries; here comes a much more reliable method.â 5. Use the data from unmatched queriesSurveys might be tricky⊠but statistics arenât.The more objective your data is, the better business decisions you will make when the focus is on increasing sales.Thatâs something an advanced search engine can prove really helpful for.How?Among other aspects, through unmatched queries. đHereâs an example.Say you own a consumer electronics store.There are no vacuum robots in your catalog because theyâre too expensive and you were unsure if theyâd be worth investing in or not.Then you go through the unmatched queries.As it turns out, out of every 100 visitors, at least 15 of them search for âvacuum robotâ in the search engine of your eâcommerce.In other words, 15 out of every 100 people that land on your page have the express intention of buying a vacuum robot.Knowing this allows you to buy stock and expand your catalog with a near-guarantee that the product will be successful.Perfect! So whatâs the trick then? đđ Want to know how to use the internal search engine of your eâcommerce to expand your catalog without all the risk?The fact is the vast majority of site search engines donât offer certain information, such as unmatched queries.For this, you need an advanced search engine. Or, as we like to put it, a âsmartâ one.One capable of identifying search trends and your customer behavior to give you analytics to improve your sales strategy.And thatâs precisely what Doofinder does.Seeing for yourself the difference Doofinder can make compared to a basic search engine is like a hot knife through butter.>>You just need to click here to install Doofinder and try it free for 30 days.<<Youâll learn a couple of things about your clients youâd never know otherwise. FREE EBOOKS Increase your eCommerce sales by 20%The 10 largest eCommerce sites in the worldHow to start an online shop from scratch