It’s December 2019 and 3 years since ShelfTrend first launched to market with eBay data, we are 30,000 users wiser. We have had thousands of conversations with eBay sellers, online retailers, manufacturers, brands, distributors, wholesalers – all sorts of people involved with all facets of retail. It has been enlightening.
There are literally a million of ways to…run a report.
Over a billion listings in tens of thousands of categories for over 20 countries and an infinite number of possible keywords. Yet hardly ever is there a similar report run by different users.
We went through hundreds of thousands of query terms, saved reports and error logs from 2019 to glean a few insights on what our users are researching. Here are a few loose factoids that we could glean.
If you can make it in America, you can make it anywhere. eBay.com is more than 50% of all reports run, followed by UK (20%), AU (15%), DE (10%) and then FR/IT/ES and CA. Mind you, our user population generally follows this split, although Asian sellers are our second largest group just slightly more than the UK.
Top recurring product categories in 2019 reports:
Computer parts - batteries, power banks, storage devices
Outdoor - caravan accessories, solar systems, generators
Home & Garden - outdoor entertainment, furniture, lights
Christmas (in July) - lights, decorations
ShelfTrend supports reports run by Product Identifier, and for those users who have used MPN/EAN/UPC/ISBN, it is almost always in the Cars>Parts & Accessory categories.
There is a rise in reports being run for products in categories for:
Health & Beauty - makeup, skincare, lifestyle
Parts & Accessories - brake pads, lights
Pet Supplies - kennels/cages, toys/entertainment
Business & Industrial - office supplies
We are seeing a diminishing trend in users looking at the fashion and shoe categories. Although there are pockets of interest in focused products such as sports & athletic wear, seasonal wear and novelty.
Stalking the competition isn’t a strategy. ShelfTrend Premium users are able to review and monitor competitor activity, but take up of this feature has been much lower than expected. Sure, large and professional eBay Sellers like the ability to benchmark or gain some inspiration from their competitors once in a while, but they don’t really care to base their entire business plan on someone else’ gamble.
eBay is still an excellent marketplace to buy & sell
With a massive 183 million active global buyers, in the third quarter of 2019 alone, eBay has spent years investing in engaging the buyer to increase their basket size, buy cross-category, entice with sale events and discounts, inspire discovery with merchandising and celebrity collaborations, tapping into a buyer’s varied interests, diverse needs and financial circumstances.
The eBay buyer is multi-dimensional. A woman who buys branded makeup foundation on eBay at a discount to retail, may also buy her dog a Christmas sweater and other toys and gifts for the family. A man who collects sneakers may monitor for when those vintage Jordans will show up on eBay next. Meanwhile, he may have bought a beer brewing kit and a shaver from a reputable retailer that also sells on eBay.
Our data analysis tells us that eBay is a highly engaged, hyper-active marketplace with a lot of niche opportunities.
ShelfTrend’s Top 500 Best Match report offers a quick summary of any product’s competitive market and is a great way to assess how eBay’s Best Match has ranked product listings based on their an algorithm linked to Buyer activity and demand.
In fast moving categories, rank can shuffle frequently. Come back in a day and a product or a seller that could was obscure the day before might now be up top. In other product searches, rank could be dominated by one listing or one seller long term, hardly ever changing.
Analyzing the Top 500 is crucial to giving eBay sellers greater clarity of what is happening in the market. The frequency of turnover, the shuffling of rank, the sales tally and the number of sellers are good indicators for how busy that market is, inspiration for tactical plays, and a good way to assess their chance for success.
There are a lot of spots in the marketplace that seem saturated with competition, but there are still a good number of nooks and crannies where opportunities still emerge.
This is where our Supply Demand report comes in. In much of our analysis, many published through our blog, we have almost always uncovered niche opportunity. Sure, in some categories or product areas opportunity may not be apparent, but dig deeper or go around the corner a bit and it won’t take long to come across part of the marketplace with low supply and proven demand. It just takes a hunch, a bit of curiosity to follow that lead and entrepreneurial gumption.
Most of the time, the opportunity revealed is price related. In many product categories, there is a clear divide between low priced generics and high priced branded goods with hardly anything in between. Although most sales occur in the low price brackets, that is also where there is an overabundance of stock of the same product. When a mid-priced alternative appears within the mix, it almost always gains sales traction, not just because there is hardly any competition, but it most likely also presents product features a step up from the base model.
Bringing a mid-priced product to market is not easy, but online sellers and entrepreneurs are catching on to this gap in the market. We are seeing more and more white and private label options appearing on eBay in categories which we never thought would occur. This is the magic of the marketplace where product innovation meets customer need, real time.
The Power of all of us.
This is why we exist. We love seeing eBay work for both the seller and the buyer. It’s just short of a miracle that a random seller and buyer, from anywhere in this world, connect and agree to make a peaceful trade. eBay’s amazing platform has made this all available and for that we are grateful.
We are grateful to be working with some of the most hardworking and inspiring online entrepreneurs we’ve ever met and, with people in retail who are still pushing through digital transformation in their organisations (wow - even at the advent of 2020!)
What we love the most is that we are part of this evolution of retail, building meaningful data insights that could give everyone the chance to make a living online and realize their dreams.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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ABOUT SHELFTREND
ShelfTrend is a provider of eBay data, covering more than 20 global markets and tens of thousands of categories. Our competitor and market intelligence tool is used to gain insights on:
Top sellers in the market.
Top selling products in a category; search term or product type.
Supply and demand gaps in the marketplace.
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