Rev Up Your Revenues: 10 Trending Products to Sell in 2018

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To succeed in ecommerce you need three things: the best products to sell, the skills to market them, and the drive to succeed.

I know you already have the winner’s mindset. You’re constantly learning, researching and preparing for success.

But 2018 is the year of action. This is the year you need to go all out: the year to test new products, create new ads, and market, market, market. It’s time to start implementing everything you’ve learned over the past twelve months.

To give you a great head start, we’ve compiled a list of the 10 trending products in 2018 that you can consider selling and what you can do to market those products.

Trending products to sell in 2018

1. Shapewear

By 2022, the shapewear market is expected to skyrocket to about $5.6 billion in sales. What started as an undergarment has transitioned to a piece for everyday wear. Fashion retailers are also stocking their stores with bodysuits which help create a slimming silhouette. The shapewear niche offers women a variety of different styles than can either be worn under clothing with different cuts or as a top, though shapewear is still popular within the lingerie industry where it first emerged.

What makes this product a worth considering is that it offers retailers a lot of versatility: whether you sell lingerie, women’s fashion, or want to add this category on a store for general apparel, you’ll be able to find shapewear in different colors, styles, and sizes to meet the needs of your diverse customer base.

2. Phone Accessories

The phone accessories industry has been growing for years. By 2022, it should reach $107.3 billion in market cap. Phone cases, grips, screen protectors, repair kits, chargers, and earphones have proven to be consistently popular. 

Dropshipping, using the Oberlo app, is one of the most efficient way to start a business in this niche. Since there are so many products you could sell, it allows you to offer a wide variety of product types without having to buy inventory upfront. You only pay for goods when customers purchase from your store. Phone accessories have proven to be a product line with reliable and growing demand, with strong signals towards being an evergreen niche like fashion, home decor, and fitness.

Phone accessories like cases and grips work well on visual platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Running ads and being active on these platforms is a great way to make your first sale. If you’re selling screen protectors, repair kits, or chargers, these products are more search based which will require a deliberate keyword strategy or use of Google Adwordsto monetize. However, if SEO isn’t your strong suit, the easiest way to monetize search-based products is by offering them as upsells for your phone cases. For example, if someone purchased an iPhone case, you could upsell an iPhone charger. When creating ads, you can target people based on their device. For example, if a person has a Samsung phone, you might create an ad that says ‘Samsung phone cases for only $19.99’ to entice the person into clicking your ad.

3. Athleisure

In fashion, trends are constantly changing. However, athleisure is one fashion trend that’s here to stay. Athleisure is active wear worn as an everyday look rather than for athletic purposes like going to the gym. Within this category you can sell everything from sweatshirts, sweatpants, leggings, sports bras, tank tops, headbands, capris, and shoes, all in countless colors and styles.

Plus, you can take this niche in several directions: as a standalone store, as a product collection within the fashion niche, or you can market your products within one of the many fitness sub-niches. Depending on how you position your brand, there could be an opportunity to expand into other product verticals such as fashion accessories and jewelry or fitness accessories like yoga mats.

Female millennials are usually the target market for athleisure. Visual platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are ideal channels to grow your brand, whether you pursue organic growth or use their advertising platforms. We’d also recommend you look into driving growth with influencer marketing. You can find fitness influencers within your niche using Instagram search tools. Influencers can model your apparel and give your brand a shout out for a fee or a commission of sales.

4. Eyelash serum

Within the beauty niche, eyelash related products such as eyelash serum, fake eyelashes, and eyelash extensions have been performing well in online stores while growing in popularity in search. Eyelash serum is a beauty product that helps your eyelashes grow longer. The eyelash niche performs well enough to be a standalone store. However, there isn’t a lot of variety in the market which can be limiting for store owners. This niche works best as a product collection on a beauty store.

If you do decide to have a singular focus on the eyelash niche, be sure to bundle your products. For example, instead of selling one bottle of eyelash serum, you’d bundle it to sell three bottles —this can help increase your average order value. When it comes to consumable products, it’s easier to sell multiple quantities of the same product since the products always run out.

Eyelash serum is more of a search based product rather than an impulse buy. Using Google Ads and optimizing your website for searchwill be your best bet to find new customers.

However, there is a way to attract more impulse buys for your serum on Facebook. Instead of using a picture of your serum bottle, you’ll need to use pictures of people who’ve used your products. Social proof of your eyelash serum’s effectiveness can help drive sales growth. Visual platforms like Facebook and Instagram require you to have captivating pictures like stunning eyelashes or eye makeup looks in order to drive growth.

5. Flame lamps

At Oberlo, we’ve noticed a strong sales growth for flame lamps. While few stores are selling this product, they’re selling much higher than average quantities. If you’re looking for a product trend to jump on before everyone else catches on, this may be it. Note: this particular trending product doesn’t work well as a standalone store. However, it’s a great fit for a general store, home decor store, or lighting store. You can complement flame lamps sales with LED candle lights.

While lamps are typically search based products, flame lamps work well as an impulse buy. They’re different than other lamps on the market which can entice a person to buy one when they see it. This product would likely work well with Facebook ads. But you shouldn’t dismiss search, as there’s been a growing search volume for these products according to Google Trends. Optimizing your website for search can help you increase visibility. If you’re driving sales with Facebook ads, you can grow your ranking organically in search as it shows Google that your page is popular.

6. Minimalist watches

Around 1.2 billion watches are sold globally each year. And the number keeps rising. While minimalist watches are trending upward, the reality is there’s a diverse range of watches that are also selling well. Men’s watches, women’s watches, and smartwatches are also showing increasing search volume over time. December tends to be the peak month for watch sales. While you can sustain year round sales with a watch store, it would be wise to include a relevant summer accessory to ensure higher profits.

Facebook and Instagram tend to be the most popular channels for growing a watch store. Many retailers have influencers take lifestyle shots from where they are in the world, with the typically outdoorsy and luxurious images being perfect for use on social media. Many top watch brands emulate this style which performs well in terms of engagement. Using these photos from influencers, you can create captivating ads.

7. Backpacks

The handbag and purse niche is worth $151 billion. Backpacks, women’s bags, men’s bags, wallets, and tote bags are just a small sample of the products you could sell right now. Although this niche works well as a standalone store, keep in mind that peak season is around August when the back-to-school season starts. You can generate year-round sales by adding other accessories to your store such as sunglasses, a product segment which have proven to be stable.

This niche is great because you can take it in several directions. Your backpack/bag store can be focused on travel, school, or fashion, allowing you to offer great variety to your customers.

Overall, women tend to be the main consumers of backpacks and handbags. If you’re selling children’s backpacks, you’d target women with children in your ads. If you’re selling men’s backpacks you’d target men between ages 18-34 as they’re most likely be in school. If you’re selling backpacks for travellers, you’d look for people who love adventure, travelling, and outdoorsy activities like hiking.

8. Portable LED Projectors

The portable projector industry is expected to be worth $3.44 billionUSD by 2022. Some mini projectors can be attached to your phone making them convenient to carry around for salespeople and other business professionals. If you plan on creating a projector store you have the option to sell mini projectors, handheld projectors, lighting effect/laser projectors, and more.

However, this trending product also works well in a general store within the electronics, home, or outdoorniches. The best thing about the portable projector is that margins tend to be high. You can dropship a projector from Oberlo for between $30-$50 and retail it at around $90-$150.

Portable projectors are search-based products which means they’ll likely perform best with search engine optimization and Google Adwords. You’ll want to optimize your collection pages and product pages based on the popular keywords for this niche in Keyword Planner. To entice an impulse buy, you’d likely want to have a video created to show how the projector works so people can visualize their need for it. In your video, you’ll want to address who this product is perfect for like business professionals, salespeople, teachers, or families, depending on the type of projector you’re promoting.

9. Night masks

Night masks have been seeing increased sales on online stores. They offer a valuable solution to a persistent problem: they block out excess light so that you can sleep more soundly. Depending on which niche you’re targeting you’ll be able to complement your store with other products. For example, if you have a travel store, you might sell night masks, ear plugs, and other travel related accessories. However, if you own a beauty store, you might sell night masks with skin care products. This product works well within a product collection but not typically as a standalone niche.

There are three main types of night mask consumers: sensitive sleepers, travellers, and beauty enthusiasts. Sensitive sleepers use night masks to rest in complete darkness, as a hint of light might result in a difficult sleep. Travellers use sleep masks to sleep on planes, during the day if they’re jetlagged, or at night in an unfamiliar hotel. Beauty enthusiasts use sleep masks for, you guessed it, beauty sleep. They often look for masks with anti-wrinkle material like silk so they wake up looking well rested. The products you promote to each audience will be different based on the needs of the audience segment.

10. Makeup brush cleaners

About 61% of women clean their makeup brushes less than once a month. The biggest challenges are that they take too long to clean, they don’t know how to clean them, or they don’t know that they need to. Fortunately, there are now makeup brush cleaners that simplify the cleaning process allowing women to clean their makeup brushes more regularly.

Makeup brush cleaners work well on a general beauty store. You can add this product to your makeup brush collection or as its own category. This product would also work well as an upsell for makeup brushes. By making it an upsell, you’ll help drive awareness that makeup brushes should be cleaned regularly which can help increase purchases.

Video plays a significant role in your marketing strategy for this product. Whether you use YouTube influencers to create videos showing your product being used or you have a video for your Facebook ad, this product requires a video explanation to understand how it works. With YouTube influencers, you can offer them a commission for the number of customers they bring in. Having them create a makeup tutorial with a brush cleaning in the middle or end of the video can help entice viewers to try your product. With Facebook ads, you can target women between 18-34 who love beauty, makeup and cosmetics.

Time to get selling

These are some of the best products to sell in 2018 but there are so many more to choose from. Finding the right products to sell is only one part of the equation. The real secret is figuring out how to market them.

Check out 50 Ways to Get Sales with Dropshipping to learn how I grew my online store’s sales using the marketing tactics that the best performing stores use. If you’re struggling to get your first sale or want to take your ecommerce store to the next level, this free ebook will give you the exact tactics you should be using.

Let us know what products you plan on selling on your store in the comments!