Every online business owner has asked themselves at one point or another, “what’s the hottest, trendiest item to sell right now?” Even people in obscure industries and the service sector have to pay attention to trends, if only passively. We’ve scoured the internet in search of hot new trends, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today: 20 trendy items to sell online in 2020.
How Do You Find a Good Niche?
But first, we’d like to start with a caution. A business that chases trends aimlessly is a ship without a rudder. Trend-chasing can be a very successful business strategy, but you have to understand what you’re doing when you do it.
In particular, one business principle must be understood: you need a niche. If you don’t have a niche, people won’t remember your name in this busy world. Your products will fail to stand out, and you’ll have a hard time selling anything online.
To make a long story short, finding your niche means finding people you care about and selling a product that perfectly suits their needs. Not just base-level needs like thirst, hunger, or a need for clothing, but psychological needs like esteem, confidence, creativity, and so on. People will buy nice clothes to feel attractive. Others buy cell phone cases to remove an anxiety about being disconnected from the world because their phone breaks. You get the idea.
Still seem abstract? Find a product that lots of people are selling, and put your own unique spin on it. For a specific example, think of Fulfillrite. There are dozens of fulfillment services, but we brand ourselves on our trustworthiness. After tons of research, we found that this was a genuinely unique spin on a service people need. Thus, we found our niche.
What Makes Certain Items Ideal to Sell Online?
This is a good question, and we think it’s worth revisiting our dropshipping post from December. Whether or not you dropship, certain factors about eCommerce remain the same. When you have items to sell online, you have to ship them. For that reason, small, lightweight, and non-fragile items tend to have the lowest cost.
It’s not enough to just put little things in boxes and hope for the best, though. You need to find a unique item in a market that’s successful but not yet cramped. It’s a delicate balancing act. It also helps if your item is either a luxury good or easy to mark up.
No ideas coming to mind? Not to worry! We’ve got a list of 20 items that you can sell online today right here.
20 Trendy Items to Sell Online in 2020 (eCommerce & Dropshipping)
1. Shapewear
When researching topics like this online, we like to refer to multiple sources of information. When we start seeing multiple people say the same thing, our ears perk up.
Imagine our response, then, when we found out that shapewear showed up as a great item to sell online in 2020 on Shopify, Oberlo, and eCommerce CEO!
If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s a simple one. This new mainstay in women’s fashion helps women to have a slimmer silhouette. Many find it to be confidence-boosting, and this is reflected in the soaring search volume for “shapewear” on Google. This market is expected to be $5.6 billion in 2022.
2. CBD
The recent legalization of CBD oil in many countries and states has led to a rapidly growing market of people looking for CBD-related products. If you don’t believe us, honestly, just walk into the nearest gas station or drive down a highway. CBD is everywhere.
Interestingly, there is also a growing sub-industry of CBD products for pets. Anyone who has ever had a dog scared stiff of thunderstorms can imagine the value in such products.
3. Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics remain a staple item to sell online. In particular, Shopify points out that smartwatches are popular. Based on some of the items we see leaving the Fulfillrite warehouse, we can tell you that webcams, small cameras, and other digital doodads are hotter than they’ve ever been.
We don’t see this trend letting up anytime soon!
4. Phone accessories
Anyone who has an iPhone or an Android can tell you that if you breathe on the phone wrong, the screen may just shatter into a spider web pattern that quickly renders your phone unusable. (Or maybe that’s just me.)
In any case, people hate dropping their phones, and phone cases are as popular as ever. We’re also starting to see interesting variants of your standard-issue phone case, such as our client, Hangtime, who makes the KOALA Super-Grip Phone Harness, which keeps phones safely within the grasp of even the sportiest outdoors enthusiasts.
Bear in mind that power banks, chargers, and cords are also perennial favorite items.
5. Consumables: coffee and tea
Consumable items like coffee and tea are classic items to sell online. The reason is simple. They’re lightweight, can be easily marked up in price, and they fit in small packages. What’s more, there are infinite blends of coffee and tea that you can create, so it’s not hard to differentiate yourself from the crowd. Whether you’re selling whole bean coffee from Guatemala or matcha tea from Japan, you can find a niche.
6. Pet grooming supplies
We hinted at this earlier, but we want to be crystal clear: people love their pets. Naturally, they want to take care of their pets, so all kinds of pet grooming supplies – from nail trimmers to dog hair removers – are becoming increasingly popular.
7. Pet beds
Pet beds are so trendy right now that Shopify explicitly mentioned them separately from pet grooming supplies in their ongoing list of trendy products. Cats and dogs love sleeping in plush beds, and photos of them doing so are popular on Instagram and Pinterest.
8. Athleisure wear
Much like shapewear, there is another new fashion trend that’s been bubbling under the surface for a long time. Athleisure can be thought of any kind of clothing that you can both work out in and hang around your house in. It’s very versatile!
Shopify states that “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.”
9. Dish racks
For whatever reason, dish racks seem to be becoming more and more commonly researched items. We make no guesses as to why this might be the case, but we do think the trend is worth cashing in on.
10. Car vacuum
Vacuum cleaner technology has advanced sufficiently to where handheld vacuums are really useful. No longer must you awkwardly clean your car with a full size vacuum cleaner’s attachment or, worse, go to a car wash and stick quarters in the machine for 45 solid seconds of vacuum time.
Technology has moved on, and car vacuums have become popular as a result.
11. Personal grooming products
From laser hair removal to hair brushes to anti-snoring kits to avocado oil, there will always be a market for people to buy items that make them look and feel better. The specifics change, but the basic concepts don’t. These sorts of items are particularly good to sell online because they are small, lightweight, and often non-fragile.
12. Beauty products
Running with the previous idea, items that are explicitly classified as beauty products are on the rise, too. After all, this is a particularly good time to be, say, a beauty influencer on Instagram.
What kind of beauty products are trendy right now? Think fake eyelashes and nail extensions. There are also classics like teeth whitening kits, facial oils, and even deodorants!
13. Blue light glasses
Between desktop apps like Flux and Night Mode on iPhone, you have likely noticed that people are concerned about the quality of their sleep in this digital age. After all, when we’re using super bright devices well after the sun is down, it can trick our bodies into thinking it’s earlier in the day than it is. For that reason, blue light blocking glasses have become very trendy lately, promising wearers better quality sleep even as they use their phones and computers late into the night.
14. LED lights / TikTok lights
Strings of LED lights have recently seen a resurgence in popularity. According to Vox, LED Lights are being sold as ‘TikTok lights'” because of their popularity on the social media app. If there were ever a good time to jump on this trend, it’s right now, while TikTok’s visual style is still being defined and the user base is continuing to grow.
15. Matcha Powder/Tea
The western world tends to experience periodic bouts of fascination with herbal remedies from the other side of the world. Matcha powder / matcha tea, which comes from Japan, is no exception. It’s a type of green tea that many people believe can help aid weight loss. It’s a $300 million market that’s growing at 8% per year.
16. 1920s Accessories
As we christen the new decade of the 2020s, some people are looking backward with nostalgia upon the 1920s. Perhaps not surprisingly, there was a huge uptick in searches for flapper accessories at the tail end of 2019. This trend may very well continue.
17. Pressure cookers
If you’ve been in the home appliances section of Walmart lately, you’ve likely seen a wall of Instant Pots. These days, pressure cookers are more versatile and safer than they’ve ever been before. I personally rely on one to eat good meals even on the busy days. Pressure cookers are likely to remain trendy for a while.
18. Ring lights
More and more people are taking videos of themselves and posting them online. If you’ve ever done that, however, you know how difficult it is to get lighting to cooperate with you. For that reason, ring lights have become incredibly popular recently and we expect this trend to continue to grow over time.
19. Convenient health food
It’s a classic problem. Everyone wants to eat healthy, but no one has the time. That means if you can make genuinely healthy food and package it up for people’s convenience, you will have a hot selling item on your hands. This trend isn’t going anywhere.
20. Board games
We’re surprised to find that few others mentioned this online. The global board game market is about $8 billion in size, accounts for about a quarter of funds raised on Kickstarter, and makes up a large portion of our clientele. Board games are very hot items and will likely be for many years to come!
Final Thoughts
Keeping an eye on current trends can help you to find a business idea that you really love and want to pursue. By sharing these ideas with you, we hope to help you find a profitable niche that you enjoy!
See something we left off? Let us know in the comments below 🙂
You’ve done everything by the book. Your Kickstarter campaign is almost ready to launch.
You made a great product. Built an audience. Set up a campaign page.
But how do you ship it?
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