What is Best to Sell Online? How to Pick Inventory for Your Internet Store

Posted by Big Brand Wholesale.com on 21st Feb 2020

One of the most popular questions we are asked by new sellers is “What is BEST to sell???” People want to know what inventory they should invest in for maximum profit and fastest sales. So in this article we discuss what YOU should buy for your new business.

WHAT IS BEST TO SELL?

Being asked "What should I buy?" is like being asked "What's the best food?", If you ask my teen children what the greatest food is, I guarantee they will say "PIZZA!!!" without thinking twice. My husband would say "STEAK!" and I would instantly tell you "Anything Mexican" because I could literally live off of delicious Mexican cuisine (extra, extra sour cream, please! Did I say "Add Guacamole" yet?).

All of these foods are so tasty, but is there any way to say which is "Best"? So, "What should I buy?"...the answer is totally subjective, but the GREAT news is that although there isn’t one answer because there's LOTS of great answers! Could you imagine if there was only 1 item that was AMAZING and the rest sucked? Everyone would sell only that one item! So let’s discuss the potential greatest items to sell -

Most importantly, always sell name brands, if possible. A name brand is automatically going to get more attention that a brandless piece unless your brandless piece is something incredible or boutique / niche. For example, I just bought totally bad-ass bath towel sets for my beach house bathroom and I could care less what the brand was. All I knew is I wanted a brilliant blue color at a killer price. This was what I got:

WHICH BRAND IS BEST?

Surprisingly, there is NO specific brand that is better than others! Trust us, we sell all brands wholesale and ALL BRANDS SELL GREAT! That includes smaller brands, like Hippie Rose, Gilligan & O’Malley, Ultra Flirt and more. Don’t ever limit yourself to only your favorite brand!

BUT HOW DO I KNOW IF IT'S A GOOD BRAND?

Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you shouldn't buy it! Just because you would never wear fluffy pink rabbit adult pajamas doesn’t mean it is a “bad” item. Keep in mind that designer brands spend endless money on market research to determine what sells; this is GREAT because it means the brand has already done the hard work for you! All you have to do is list it or put it in your store! Never let personal preference limit your selling possibilities.

Another awesome reason why you should buy designer brands is because they also MONITOR SIZING and QUALITY. Have you ever ordered brandless crap directly from China? We tried a couple times back in 2009. The sizing is a nightmare for an American company. The Chinese size Large is equal to an American size XS/S. Good luck explaining to your customer why their new size XS trench coat says size XL on the interior tag. Additionally the sleeve length can be exceptionally different. A standard China brandless coat ends above the wrist joint, making it approximately 3" shorter than a standard American sized coat. This is a really tough sell!

IF IT'S SO GOOD, WHY ISN'T THIS ONE SELLING???

A major misconception is that if you have an item that isn’t selling the item is “bad”. Again, trust me, if the item is a name brand, I ASSURE YOU, it isn’t bad! There's a handful of reasons why that specific item may not be selling and absolutely none of the reasons have to do with any error in the item itself. For example, maybe there are a lot of that specific item available, maybe your photos suck, maybe you have it priced so low that people assume it must be junk (Learn more about How Underpricing is Why It's Not Selling), maybe where you have it placed in your store is poor product placement, maybe you only have one piece in one size and you just haven't had a buyer who needs that item in that specific size in that specific color yet…. Simple solution, change the listing or the store display. Change the price too. If you only have a single piece in stock, order more so you have a full selection.

I HEARD THIS BRAND SELLS BEST, SHOULD I BUY IT?

At the end of the day, the most important factor in finding the BEST merchandise to sell is picking something that interests you and never invest in anything that you know nothing about. I have a contract with Home Depot to buy their liquidations but heck, I wouldn't know what on earth 90% of that stuff is and the time I would have to spend researching drill bits that bore me and trying to figure out what thingamajiggers are is not a good time investment for me. If you purchase merchandise that you're passionate about you’ll be excited when it arrives, enjoy touching it, feel pride in selling it and package it with care. Have you ever ordered something from somewhere and it’s jammed into the box like it’s worthless? Yeah, the person who packed it has zero passion for it. They view it as worthless (I’m looking at you, Amazon!!).

CONSIDERATIONS:

1. Storage Space! Big Stuff = More Storage Space. Small Things = Less Storage Space BUT you gotta set up a great inventory system. Thankfully we wrote an entire FREE Guide about setting up your own storage space at home for CHEAP (NO scanners needed! NO software needed!)

2. Shipping Cost! Lightweight items can ship cheap. Heavy items cost more (or a TON) to ship. We have three FREE guides about merchandise that can ship First Class inside the USA:

3. How much money do you need to spend to offer a decent selection? The key here is "decent selection". If you have 1 piece of womens size Large shorts, 3 tees in assorted sizes, a green baby bouncer, 1 pair of mens sneakers, etc, you don't have a good SELECTION... what you have is a bunch of random stuff. Instead, you want to aim for 1 category and get an assortment of the same thing. For example lets say you bought these 4 Lots from our site:

You would end up with some shorts, some skirts, some sweatshirts and some jeans. Although this gives you a lot of categories, if you are just starting out, it would be better to purchase these 4 lots:

because now you have a nice ASSORTMENT of one Category; womens pants. You also have multiple sub categories: Jeans, Sweatpants, Leggings, Dress Pants AND you have a variety of sizes and colors. This is great because someone who is shopping for pants is able to purchase a pair of jeans and you can upsell them a pair of leggings. As you build up your business you can venture into offering a bigger assortment of Categories.

Like the old saying goes, if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life :)

Need a little motivation? Check out this AMAZING motivational wall art UNDER $20!

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