6 high profit margin products to increase your profits
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Updated Jan 15 2024
If there's one thing that the most successful online sellers have in common, it's that they've found a way to generate healthy profit margins. If you own an online store, then your profit margin, aka "net profit margin," is how much money you make selling products after factoring in business expenses like sourcing costs and shipping costs.
Imagine, for example, that you were a veterinarian or dog groomer who developed your own brand of dog shampoo that was better than anything currently on the market. So, you decide to cash in by opening an online store that sells pet care supplies to dog lovers worldwide.
In an effort to offer your product for a low cost, you decide to sell each bottle for a retail price of $10. As the orders pour in, things appear to be going great until you realize you've overlooked the fact that each bottle costs around $9 to create and deliver.
Unfortunately, this leaves you with a net margin of just one dollar for each bottle, which isn't a good profit margin. In order to justify spending the time and energy it takes to run an ecommerce store, you'd be forced to boost your price to cover your product costs.
If you've yet to launch your online business, then a surefire way to avoid this situation is to choose high profit margin products to sell online and offer them at appropriate price points. Read on to discover what exactly high-margin products are and how to find them.
Main takeaways from this article:
High profit margin products are items that you can sell for more money than you spent on sourcing costs.
In order to build and maintain a high profit margin business, it's important to factor in all the costs that go into buying the goods you plan to sell in your online store. Costs such as raw materials, product production, shipping, packaging, and even marketing are all notorious for cutting into the average margin profits of most retailers.
Print on demand offers online retailers a unique, predictable approach to generating steady profit margins.
High profit margin products should have relatively low production costs without sacrificing quality. They should also be in demand and have a unique selling point that makes them stand out from the competition.
What is a high profit margin product?
High margin products are those that you can sell for more money than it takes to create, ship, and promote. The key is to find high-quality items that you can acquire for a relatively low cost, customize in some way, and then sell online for a higher price than you paid for them.
When calculating the average profit margin you expect to bring in, it's also important to account for things like your marketing budget and any ecommerce business platform expenses. High profit margin products tend to share several traits, such as:
High-demand products: In order to generate high profit margins, you'll want to focus on products from a hot market. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to sell the world's sexiest products, just that there should be a significant demand for the type of products you choose to sell.For some online sellers, this could mean selling fashion accessories and beauty products, while others might prefer to sell phone accessories or fitness equipment. The key is to make sure you sell products that will appeal to a large number of customers.
Unique selling point (USP): Finding the USP of each of your products will come down to answering why your target customer should buy it from you rather than another online seller. For a great example, check out this foldable yoga mat from a small fitness equipment brand called Stakt.
After noticing the pitfalls of traditional yoga mats, Stakt's co-founders decided to start selling fitness equipment of their own to fill a gap within their specific niche. While more expensive than the average yoga mat, the Stakt mat has the USP of being the first foldable yoga mat of its kind, which makes it usable for a wider range of exercises.
Low production cost: While higher margins are the goal of every successful ecommerce store, skimping on quality will do your online business no favors. Even if you offer the most popular products on the market, bad reviews are all it takes to sink an ecommerce store very quickly.
So how do you establish and maintain thehighest margin products without cutting corners? Partnering with a reliable print on demand company has become a popular ecommerce business solution for many online retailers.
How can print on demand help boost your profit margin?
Print on demand suppliers like Gelato are designed to decrease the time and expense that goes into selling products online. By utilizing a print on demand business model, you can keep things like production costs, printing expenses, shipping costs, and more from cutting into your profit margin.
Online retailers can choose which of our high-margin products they'd like to feature their designs on. They then integrate Gelato into their online stores and wait until a customer makes a purchase.
At that point, Gelato will create the product using the specified design and deliver it straight to the customer. The online seller simply reimburses Gelato for the pre-specified price of each item and its shipping cost from a portion of the sale's proceeds.
By factoring these costs into their pricing upfront, online store owners will know exactly how much they need to charge to make a profit from each sale. This is an easy way to ensure you'll never pay for any item that hasn't already sold and prevent unsold inventory from cutting into your profit margin
Ways to find high profit margin products
A little market research can go a long way when it comes to finding the products with the highest profit margin to sell online. Here are some useful tools that can help you find out what's trending among your target audience.
Use Google Trends
Google Trends is a great free tool that offers an inside peek at the most searched-for topics on Google. You can customize your search to show the top trending products and subjects over the past few years, months, or even hours.
This is an awesome way to spot products or topics that may appeal to your niche market. You can then take those ideas and turn them into high profit products to sell online.
Check out competing ecommerce stores
When it comes to online retail, competitor analysis can be an invaluable market research tool. Get familiar with other ecommerce merchants that cater to your target market and visit their sites periodically to check out their most popular products.
Not only can this give you a good idea of what's trending among your target audience, but it can also provide valuable clues to the average selling price of products similar to your own. It can also be a great way to spot any gaps in the market.
Coming up with an idea for a high-margin product that no one else is selling yet is a great way to make your online store stand out. If you want to go all in, there are even professional tools like SimilarWeb and SemRush that can give you valuable insights into rival stores.
Discover high-margin products on social media
Social media is a goldmine when it comes to generating ideas for high profit margin products. The key is to follow as many other online stores in your niche as you can find.
If you sell beauty products, follow everyone from high-end suppliers to other independent retailers. While the goal isn't to reproduce the same products exactly, you can generate plenty of ideas by tracking which beauty products are trending, and the average price customers are willing to pay for them.
Six high profit margin products to start selling
Now that we've covered the basics, let's look at several products that can lead to nice profit margins. Whether you choose to focus on one or select items from multiple categories, each of these products with high margins is a great bet for your ecommerce business.
1. Turn custom apparel into a high profit margin
In 2021, the global online fashion market was worth $700 billion and is expected to grow to $1.2 trillion by 2025. Clothes are a high-demand product that will never go out of style and they can be created and sold for a relatively low cost.
Imagine, for example, that you created a cool design that you wanted to feature on a Unisex t-shirt. If you were partnering with Gelato, you'd factor in the following production costs:
Product: $9.51
Shipping: $3.99
Total overhead: $13.50
In order to increase your profit margin, you could offer each shirt for the retail price of $20.00. That'd leave you with a healthy average profit margin of 32.50%.
Gelato offers plenty of different apparel products to choose from when selecting high margin print on demand products, including:
2. Up your average margin with baby and children's clothing
As any parent can tell you, kids and babies are always in need of new clothes, which is part of what can make selling them a great choice for your ecommerce store. The children's apparel market is expected to account for $279.40billion in 2024 alone, with a projected annual growth of 2.46%.
Children's clothes tend to be relatively inexpensive to create, not to mention cheap to ship, due to their light weight. Your shop could cater to personalized gifts for babies, kids' t-shirts featuring funny sayings, or anything in between.
Be sure to offer an assortment of different products to ensure you can keep selling all year round. Here are some great examples of some of the many products you can start selling today:
3. Score high profit margins with accessories
There's a good reason you'll find accessories offered in so many ecommerce stores. They tend to have very low sourcing costs, which can lead to a nice average margin of return. According to Statista, the global accessories market is expected to generate a revenue of US$578.30bn in 2024.
Take tote bags, for instance. In recent years, stores in many US states have begun charging consumers for plastic shopping bags in order to encourage more eco-friendly shopping habits.
Many states are even considering outlawing single-use bags, which could soon make the tote bag an even more profitable product than ever before. When you partner with Gelato, you can offer your custom designs on high-quality tote bags from sustainably produced raw materials.
You can even let your customers know that we use over 130 local production sites to help cut down on carbon emissions. With delivery available to 14 different countries, you can enjoy the highest profit margin clothing and other items while making the world a more sustainable place.
4. Custom drinkware is always in high demand
As the world continues to realize the many environmental and health benefits of sustainability, the reusable water bottle is becoming an increasingly high-margin product. As opposed to single-use plastic bottles, a good stainless steel water bottle or travel mug can last over a decade.
With bottled water prices rising, long-lasting drinkware is a low-cost investment that can save your customers a great deal of money in the long run. Given how long a reusable water bottle can last, many customers are willing to pay higher retail prices for custom options that reflect their personality or style.
You'll quickly discover that the drinkware niche has plenty of high margin products to sell online. Consider adding custom-designed coffee mugs, latte mugs, and lightweight enamel mugs to your online offerings.
5. Home decor can be a high-profit niche
The home decor sector is alive and well around the globe, presenting online sellers with plenty of chances to turn their designs into high profit margins. Offering your customers products like customized calendars or photo books can be a great way to boost your revenue.
But don't overlook the popularity of unique wall art, from posters to canvas or wood prints. Gone are the days when artists enjoyed their highest profit margins from the single sales of their best paintings.
Partnering with a print on demand company makes it possible to sell prints of your artwork to multiple customers, all without ever selling the original unless you choose. Another home decor niche that can lead to high profit margins is wallpaper design.
After the recent introduction of peel-and-stick wallpaper, the wallpaper industry has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. There are now even plenty of great online courses that can teach you the art of wallpaper design right from your own laptop.
When you're ready to launch your wallpaper business, Gelato has got your back with plenty of great print on demand wallpaper options. Choose from peel-and-stick, PVC-free eco-friendly options, and more.
6. Accessories for electronic devices are great margin boosters
Did you know that the average American spends 270 minutes every day on a mobile device? It's not so hard to believe when you consider that we now depend on smartphones for access to everything from email and GPS systems to our daily calendars.
Given how much time we spend with our phones, it's no surprise that selling phone accessories can lead to a healthy average profit margin. Offering products like cell phone cases can be very profitable, especially if you offer unique designs that your customers can't get anywhere else.
Due to the vast number of different smartphone models on the market today, you could easily create an online store dedicated to phone accessories alone. Whether you choose to go all in on the niche or offer a select number of options, Gelato's got everything you need to make it happen.
We offer cell phone accessories for a wide number of both Apple and Samsung devices. You can also choose from a variety of different styles and materials.
Create custom products for higher profit margins
Turning your designs into high margin print on demand products largely comes down to featuring them right. Remember, it's important to choose high-demand products that you can sell for a retail price that covers your overhead costs and still leaves you with a profit.
Keep in mind that if you want to make the highest profit margins in the long run, it's essential that you don't try to cut corners by offering your customers low-quality products. Gelato's got you covered with a full range of high-margin products that you can depend on.
We've got a full range of print on demand merchandise just waiting to be transformed into profitable products for your online store. You supply the designs, and we'll take care of the rest!
FAQs on high-profit margin products for online sellers
What is a profit margin?
A profit margin is essentially the measure of a company's profitability, indicating what percentage of revenue exceeds the costs of production. In simpler terms, it tells you how much profit a company makes for every dollar of sales. This metric is crucial because it helps businesses understand how well they are managing their expenses relative to their sales. For instance, when selling high-margin products, understanding profit margins can guide pricing strategies to maximize profitability. Companies selling products with the highest profit margin, such as those offered through Gelato, can make more informed decisions to enhance their financial performance.
Why is it important for online sellers?
For online sellers, knowing their profit margins is fundamental to running a successful business. It helps in setting prices that not only cover costs but also generate profits. In the highly competitive online market, focusing on high-margin products to sell online can be a game-changer. By prioritizing products with high margins, sellers can improve their profitability without significantly increasing their sales volume. Also, understanding profit margins helps sellers manage their inventory better and allocate resources in a way that they remain competitive in a crowded marketplace.
What are the benefits of using a print on demand service like Gelato?
Using a print on demand service like Gelato offers several advantages. Firstly, it eliminates the need for holding inventory, which reduces upfront costs and financial risk. This is particularly beneficial when dealing with high-margin print on demand products, as you can offer a wide range of products without the burden of inventory management.
Secondly, it allows for quick and flexible production, which enables sellers to respond quickly to market trends and customer demands. Furthermore, Gelato's global network ensures that products are produced and shipped locally, which can lead to faster delivery times and reduced shipping costs.
How can I ensure my products stand out in a competitive market?
To ensure your products stand out in a competitive market, focus on unique design, quality, and customer experience. Start by researching the highest margin products in your niche and find ways to differentiate them through innovative design and superior materials. Offering customization options can also make your products more appealing. Creating high-quality product images and detailed descriptions can attract more customers.
Engaging with your audience through social media and providing excellent customer service will build brand loyalty and help your products with high margins gain a competitive edge.
How can I use Google Trends to identify high-demand products?
Google Trends is a powerful tool for identifying high-demand products. Enter keywords related to the products you are interested in, such as "highest profit margin products" or "high margin products to sell online." Analyze the search volume data to identify trends and seasonal peaks. This information can help you understand which products are currently popular and when demand is likely to increase.
By focusing on high-demand products, you can align your inventory and marketing strategies to maximize sales and profitability. For instance, if you notice a spike in searches for high-margin print on demand products, it might be a good time to expand your offerings in that category through a service like Gelato.
