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Starting an eCommerce business is challenging if you have no clue what to sell. Things become more complex and overwhelming if faced with too many options.
Ecommerce in itself is straightforward. But knowing what to sell is not all that easy. This is why I have compiled a list of 10 eCommerce business ideas for beginners you can try today.
This list comprises eCommerce products from different niches and uses. From handmade products to tech and digital downloads, you have plenty of options in this post.
Since this is a lengthy post, let’s begin.
1. Handmade Jewelry
Selling handmade Jewelry can be an exciting and lucrative eCommerce business model, mainly if you’re producing the products yourself.
It allows you to express your creativity, sharpen your design skills, and give customers unique and one-of-a-kind Jewelry they might never find elsewhere, even in big Jewelry stores.
By creating your online store to display your handmade Jewelry, you can reach a wider audience, increase sales and income potential, and turn it into a successful business.
There are several handmade Jewelry to sell online; here are some options to get you started:
- Beaded Bracelet – Craft stunning beaded bracelets by combining a variety of high-quality colorful beads, from the elegance of gemstones to the playfulness of wood, glass, and acrylic beads. You can allow customers to place orders for customized bead bracelets, allowing them to choose color, pattern, design, and delivery date.
- Wire-Wrapped Jewelry – Wire-wrapped Jewelry is a fantastic option if you enjoy intricate Jewelry design. You can use gemstones, cabochons, or crystals and wrap them with gold, silvers, or copper to make stunning earrings, pendants, rings, etc.
- Leather and Suede Jewelry – You can use leather and suede materials to create attractive and stylish scuff, earrings, chokers, and pendants. Using these items to create personalized Jewelry and offer customers a unique and fashionable experience.
- Pearl Jewellery – Pearl Jewellery never goes out of style, requiring minimal cutting or polish to make unique and stunning Jewelry out of them. If your customers appreciate timeless elegance design, Pearl Jewellery is something you should consider.
Other types of handmade Jewelry design or concepts to consider include:
- Minimalist Jewelry
- Recycle Metal Jewelry
- Metal Stamp Jewelry
- Resin Jewelry
- Polymer Clay Jewelry
- Family Keep Stake Jewelry
You need an online store to showcase your creativity, engage customers, process orders and deliver the items. While many eCommerce store builders exist, Shopify is the most popular and widely used.
You can start with a free 3-day trial and extend it to 90 days for $1/m. That’s an insane $3 for using Shopify for 93 days.
However, if you need more information about using Shopify, its features, pricing and how it can help your mission, read my article on how to sell on Shopify for beginners.
2. Organic and Natural Products
The demand for organic and natural products has never been this high. These are vegetables, grains, dairy, fruits, and beverage products.
You can create skincare products using natural resources like shea butter, aloe vera, and botanical extract. In addition, producing chemical-free cosmetic makeup products is a good idea.
There are many organic and natural products you can sell online, including:
- Food and snacks.
- Herbal tea and supplements.
- Sustainable fashion (cotton, bamboo, hemp, etc)
- Natural pet products.
- Organic baby care.
- Eco-friendly cleaning products.
- Essential Oil
You may need to gain the knowledge or qualifications to produce these products, but you can partner with qualified professionals in the field and sell their products through your online store.
3. Home Decor
Home decor is one of the most popular eCommerce niches; many products are in high demand.
From candles, utensils, bedding, and painting to artificial plants, there is much to sell in the home decor industry. This lowers the barrier to entry because there is plenty of opportunity for everyone to tap into.
For example, you can sell cotton wicks, furniture, homemade candles, wooden spoons, beeswax, steering utensils, etc. These are home decoration products that never go out of style and demand.
Creating these products can be challenging, but several YouTube video tutorials teach how to make some of these products with natural products and resources.
However, you can use dropshipping partners to source these products, get orders, process payments, and have suppliers fulfill them. Check some of the drop shipper partners in this post.
4. Kitchen Gadget
The kitchen is often referred to as the heart of the home; selling innovative products that help simplify cooking and keep the environment clean can be a very lucrative business.
This is a very competitive ecommerce business idea for a beginner.
To stand out from the competition, showcasing product functions, using attractive images, and highlighting product benefits are essential to success.
Use explainer video content, detailed product descriptions, and high-quality original images to simplify cooking and improve the user experience.
By offering innovative and modern kitchen solutions to home chefs and culinary enthusiasts, you can build a community of readers and potential customers who regularly buy your products.
There are many products to sell in this niche, from air fryers, avocado slicers, non-stick frying pan, stainless steel source pan, etc.
If you need more inspiration on what kitchen gadget to sell, here are some ideas to get you started:
- Smart kitchen devices (Internet-enabled)
- Cook and recipe books.
- Baking Essentials.
- Gourmet Cookware
- Cutting-edge kitchen appliances.
5. Supply Pet Products
If your audience is mainly in the US, selling pet food and products is one of the best eCommerce business ideas for beginners. The pet industry is estimated to reach $76.80 billion in the US in 2023.
Hence, many income opportunities exist in the pet niche and selling relevant products. You can sell various pet products, from dogs to cats, wild and small animals to bird products. There is a lot of market for you.
You don’t have to limit yourself to pet food; you can sell innovative pet products like GPS pet trackers, a technology that allows pet owners to track the location of their pet, just in case they go missing.
There are other advanced or innovative pet-related products to tap into:
- Pet Cameras
- Automatic Litter Boxes.
- Cat Scratcher.
- Dog Collar and Leashes.
- Supplement and Vitamins.
- Dog training pads.
- And more.
The pet market is big, with lots of revenue potential.
However, you need to find an angle or sub-niche within the pet industry to focus on. Don’t focus too broadly on your audience; narrow it down to specific categories.
This will help you build an audience quickly, publish more relevant content, and monetize with highly relevant pet products and services.
6. Outdoor and Camping Gear
With revenue projected to reach $43.89 billion in 2023. An annual growth rate of 9.12% in 2023 (CAGR 2023 – 2027), resulting in an estimated market volume of $62.23 billion in 2027.
The outdoor and camping market has lots of income potential with various products and services on demand. Also, about 59% of all sales in the camping market will come from online sales. Source – Statista.
As an eCommerce entrepreneur, these figures present golden opportunities to tap into. You can offer to sell a diverse selection of outdoor and camping gear, clothing, accessories, hiking, gadgets, etc, appealing to nature lovers and adventurers.
Don’t know what more to sell? Here are some outdoor and camping product ideas to fill out your store.
- Camping gadgets and electronics (Solar power charger, weather radios, outdoor portable speakers, etc)
- Outdoor clothing (waterproof jacket, insulated apparel, moisture-wicking base layer, etc)
- Sleeping gear (inflatable sleeping mattress, sleeping pad, bags, etc).
- Tent and Shelter – (backpacking tent, family tents, etc)
7. Baby Products
This is an evergreen and continuously growing in-demand niche. You can never go wrong selling baby products online.
It is estimated to be a $134 billion industry globally, combining the baby care and baby nutrition market. Similarly, the baby food market is expected to reach $100 billion by 2027.
There is no shortage of what to sell here; you have plenty in demand, from baby food to clothing, diapers, toys, and footwear.
You can make consistent revenue and build a business that replaces your full-time job by helping parents and caregivers with products and nutritional food and ensuring their kids’ well-being, safety, and comfort.
However, you must build your online store on a solid foundation to excel in the baby products industry or market.
With attractive themes, various eCommerce features, POS (point of sale), dropshipping features, and the option to sell in other locations, Shopify is an ideal platform to start your online store.
You can partner with suppliers in this category to source products for dropshipping. All you need to do is get customers, process the orders, and forward them to your dropshipping partners to process and deliver to customers.
8. Customize Gifts
Customized gifts hold a special place and bring joyful moments into the hearts of the givers and recipients.
Depending on the occasion, the gift, and the bond or connection between the giver and recipients, personalized gifts can bring two people closer and help them share unbreakable connections.
As an entrepreneur, you can tap into this emotionally driven market by offering highly customized gift items to your customers. You let them choose their gift and customize it their way.
You can offer your customers many items to customize; from personal jewelry, home decoration, photo gifts, tech accessories, wedding and gift anniversaries, etc., you have endless possibilities to share with your audience.
Your creativity skills will make a huge difference in this niche. Customizing products requires extensive creativity, art, ability to think and imagine, design and develop original concepts.
Your customers will love it when you can help them with different customized designs, products, and original thoughts.
This business idea will also be very popular with business owners. Some of the most memorable corporate gifts are customized and personalized to the employee’s interests.
Here are some items you can put into your shop right away:
- Personalized wedding rings
- Engraved pet tags
- Custom-engraved cake toppers
- Custom name puzzles
- Personalized storybook
- Custom T-Shirt
- Monogrammed Water bottles.
- Personalized tech accessories
- Custom-printed photo canvas
- Personalized photo book
9. Dropshipping
One of the best eCommerce businesses to start from home is dropshipping. It allows you to sell products you never own, have to produce, or deliver.
You don’t have to worry about producing the products or participating in the delivery. Your drop shipping vendor or suppliers care for the manufacturing and deliver the products to customers.
However, you should still pay some attention to the delivery management process, as a late delivery could severely impact your bottom line.
Also, you need to understand how dropshipping works to be able to do well in this business. It takes a substantial amount of industry knowledge and business acumen to excel.
First, you must understand the market and your target audience’s needs and pain points.
Research popular drop shipping products, then learn where to get the products at cheaper rates. Partner with the suppliers, get orders and forward them to the product vendor or manufacturer for delivery.
You control your store price, promotion, process payments, etc.
However, you need to be aware of the refund policy offered by your product’s suppliers. Customer service and refund policy are aspects of the business drop shippers need to consider thoroughly before going all in.
For information on how dropshipping works, check the comprehensive post on the Shopify store.
There are no limitations on what products you can sell as an ecommerce drop shipper, from home decor to office equipment, clothes, footwear, electronics, tech accessories, etc.
10. Sell Clothing
Fashion never goes out of style; clothing is one of fashion’s voices or definitions/symbols. Certainly, clothing is one best eCommerce business ideas for beginners.
Clothing is a fundamental aspect of self-expression, personal style, cultural expression, and one of the necessities of life.
You can start a clothing store catering to a particular audience’s needs and fashion style. This is one mistake many people make when starting an online clothing shop.
Don’t go after the general broad niche, clothing. Instead, choose your target market from the pool, and niche down to a more specific target group. It could be teen wear, casual, corporate, sports, etc.
The point is to know your target audience and offer them clothing styles that resonate with their community. Focusing on a particular audience increases your chances of selling more clothes and generating more revenue.
There are several ways or methods to find clothes to sell online:
- You can open a thrift shop selling second-hand clothes.
- Produce the clothes yourself and sell them online.
- Use third-party product suppliers.
- Be an affiliate.
- Sell a brand’s clothing line.
Conclusion – eCommerce Business Ideas For Beginners
There are several eCommerce ideas to make money today; the ones listed above are a good place to start. If you’re curious and ambitious to start a small business online, you have a list of options to try in this post.
However, you need to perform thorough market research. Consider your options, evaluate the pros and cons, and analyze the market and competitors for each niche or product you want to sell.
Many profitable eCommerce business ideas are heavily competitive. Unless you have the resources, funds, and technical know-how to compete, you’d better find a different angle to launch into the niche.
Also, having a strong and supportive eCommerce platform is critical to sources.
When you build your online store on a platform that supports your dream, allowing you to scale as your business experiences exponential growth and provides the tools and features to excel, you’re more likely to experience success sooner rather than later.
Choosing a Shopify eCommerce store builder can make the difference between success and struggle. Shopify has extensive eCommerce features, tools and resources to help you grow to the next level.
Check my Shopify review to learn more about how it can help your mission.
