How To Conduct Product Research for Ecommerce in 2026

Product research helps validate your product idea and confirm there’s demand in your niche market before you invest in development.

Census reported total ecommerce sales for 2025 reached $1.23 trillion, an increase of 5.4% from 2024. But despite this opportunity, poor product research can cause businesses to fail. Some 43% of failed startups cite poor product-market fit as a top reason for closing down.

This guide shows you how to conduct product research and find products to sell. It covers what product research includes, with tips and tools to validate your business idea before you start selling. 

What is product research?

Product research helps you evaluate if your product idea can succeed in the market. This involves gathering and analyzing data about customer demand, market trends, and competition to ensure your product meets your target market’s needs.

Effective product research helps you:

• Find and solve customer pain points
• Validate market demand for your product
• Spot gaps your competitors aren’t filling
• Get feedback to improve your product features and packaging
• Set prices that are competitive and profitable
• Stand out from similar products in your market
• Make sure your product continues meeting customer needs
• Use historical data to improve your product development and marketing

“There’s almost this sweet spot—it’s doing all the research and doing your due diligence, but then there’s also putting up a boundary where you do too much of it where you have analysis paralysis,” says Jash Mehta, cofounder of Pop & Bottle, in a Shopify Masters interview.

How to do product research

Product research focuses on two main areas: market-based criteria and product-based criteria.

Market-based criteria

Market research helps you understand your:

• Market size
• Competitive landscape
• Target customers

Market size

Market size shows how many potential customers exist for your product. 

The global ecommerce market size is huge: eMarketer estimates a valuation of $6.88 trillion in 2026. Niche markets are much smaller but can still represent a lucrative business opportunity. 

Pete Maldonado, cofounder of Chomps, says in a Shopify Masters episode: “Focusing on a very niche community allowed us to make waves and to be known within that small community for a very small dollar amount. 

“For us to go so wide and cast a really wide net would have required a lot more funding, but because of that we were able to go to these early influencers and it was a great way for us to build brand recognition,” Pete says. “But then on top of the recognition, it was also credibility.”

Take Daneson, for example. Instead of competing in the broad health and hygiene market, it carved out a specific niche by selling luxury toothpicks.

To estimate your market size, look at:

• Public data from city and state development offices
• Industry research reports
• Digital tools like Google Trends and Meta’s Ad Manager
• Customer surveys and focus groups

Competitive landscape

Understanding your competition helps you find product opportunities in the market. You might be:

• First to market with a new product
• Entering a market with a few competitors
• Joining a crowded market

“I went looking all over for merino wool t-shirts that could be a little bit more stylish. And I couldn’t find it,” says Dan Demsky, cofounder and CEO of Unbound Merino, in a Shopify Masters episode. “Then it just hit me—I’ve been spending the last two years trying to find a product to sell. This is it.”

Use Google Trends and Similarweb to spot whether interest in your product (or competitor products) is growing steadily or shows sudden spikes. 

“We started by going out and looking at all of the products that were on shelf and putting together this giant spreadsheet of every single canned food product, mapping what was out there, and doing a lot of research on the big canned food companies,” says Kat Kavner, cofounder and CEO of Heyday Canning, in a Shopify Masters episode.

Product categories can be:

• A fad. Short-lived popularity that quickly fades. 
• A trend. Longer-lasting growth that may eventually slow.
• Stable. Consistent demand over time with minimal ups and downs.
• Growing. Steady, long-term growth driven by lasting market changes. 

Target customer

Your target customer is the person who will buy your product. Use Google Analytics to learn about them:

• Demographics reports show age and gender
• Geolocation data reveals regional differences
• Top pages show which products attract the most interest

“There’s a bit of a trap thinking that because you’ve got a persona and because you’ve got a great product, it’s going to work everywhere and anywhere,” says Jeremiah Curvers, cofounder and CEO of Polysleep, in a Shopify Masters interview.

“Don’t try to oversimplify, don’t create complexity when it’s not necessary, but don’t think a persona is the same everywhere,” Jeremiah says.

Product-based criteria

• Product markup and pricing
• Shipping, size, and durability
• Seasonality
• Product type and turnover
• Regulations and scalability

When evaluating a product, look closely at factors like pricing, seasonality, and scalability. 

Razvan Romanescu, founder of Underlining, takes this approach. “How we look at every product or market we want to launch in: Is it a large market? Is there a lot of spending going on? Is it easy to demonstrate the value? Are margins good, light to ship, and is it often high retention if you get the product quality right?” he says on Shopify Masters.

Product markup and pricing

Strong initial markup gives you room to handle unexpected costs. Let’s look at an example: a pet pedometer that sold for $24.99 and cost $2 to purchase on Alibaba.

A 1,200% markup looks promising at first, but small fees can impact your margins:

• Packaging and processing costs
• Shipping fees
• Marketing and advertising expenses
• Platform fees
• Payment processing charges

After accounting for these costs, that 1,200% markup might shrink to less than 100%. 

While you can reduce some costs by handling fulfillment yourself or optimizing advertising, knowing these costs upfront helps you determine if a product is worth pursuing. 

Some 34% of established store owners cite ensuring stable cash flow as their second most important business goal, according to a 2025 Shopify survey of store owners.* 

Let’s compare two scenarios that impact cash flow:

• A $25 pet pedometer yields $12.95 profit (42% margin) after costs.
• A similar product at $100 yields $76.75 profit (73% margin) after costs.

Because of the higher pricing, the second product maintains better margins—73% versus 42%—and the profit per unit increases dramatically, from $12.95 to $76.75. This extra profit can help with cash flow management.

“It doesn’t matter if you make a $19.99 flip-flop or you make a $1,000 shoe at Prada,” says Michael Petry, cofounder and designer at Golden West Boots, on Shopify Masters. “The customer has to see value. And if you can create value and margin within there, to me, that’s the winning formula." 

Shipping, size, and durability

The average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 70.22%, with 39% of shoppers abandoning because extra costs like shipping, tax, and fees were too high. But free shipping isn’t actually free; someone has to absorb the cost.

For example, a yoga mat company might sell oversized workout mats for $99. Shipping costs $40 to Canada and $100 internationally—making the total cost 40% to 100% higher for whoever absorbs the shipping cost.

When conducting product research, consider:

• Costs of shipping products from manufacturers
• Warehouse storage fees
• International shipping expenses
• Import fees, duties, taxes, and tariffs
• Product durability 

Fragile items invite complications. You’ll need extra packaging (such as bubble wrap or fragile tape) and special handling rules.

Also consider a return workflow. The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimated total retail returns would reach $849.9 billion in 2025, with online sales seeing a 19.3% return rate. Fragile items are at risk: DHL’s 2025 report found 44% of all items are returned because they were damaged in transit. 

Seasonality

If you choose a seasonal product, consider strategies to overcome slow periods:

• Market to different countries during off-season
• Diversify your product line
• Plan inventory carefully

Use Google Trends to check seasonal patterns. For example, US searches for “picnic baskets” spike every summer and drop in colder months, but you could balance this by targeting southern hemisphere countries during the US winter.

Product type and turnover

The product type you choose affects how often customers reorder and how quickly inventory moves. Turnover rate determines how long stock sits before it sells.

Consumable products are items customers need to replenish regularly. Harry’s, for example, sells razors, shaving cream, and deodorant with a subscription option that lets customers rebuy consumables on a regular basis.

Perishable products require additional operational planning. They might need:

• Expedited shipping to prevent spoilage in transit
• Temperature-controlled storage and packaging
• Compliance with food safety regulations, like the FDA’s FSMA traceability requirements

Non-perishable products with a long shelf life ease these pressures. For example, Augason Farms focuses on dried and freeze-dried foods to extend shelf life and simplify storage.

Regulations and scalability

Before proceeding with your product idea, research potential restrictions on:

• Importing your goods
• Shipping to different countries
• Specific product categories (like chemicals, food, or cosmetics)

Note that regulatory requirements vary by product category, country, and sales channel.

Contact relevant authorities like customs services, warehouse providers, and regulatory agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to understand requirements for your product idea.

While launching your business might be your current focus, build scalability into your business model from the start. “I realized that if I wanted to get out of the day-to-day producing my products, I needed something that was scalable,” says Becca Stern, cofounder of Mustard Made, in a Shopify Masters episode.

Consider:

• How you’ll handle manufacturing as you grow
• Whether you can maintain quality at higher volumes
• If you’ll need to increase staff proportionally with orders
• Availability of materials or components
• Options for outsourcing production

Validate your product idea

Customer validation proved there was demand for Susie Harrison’s digital whiteboard concept, Hearth Display, before she invested into product development. She used those insights to seek out funding from investors. 

Here’s what you can replicate from Susie’s product validation strategy:

Join communities 

“It was so important to us to really develop genuine relationships to actually get under the hood of what that problem was and what the solution would then look like,” Susie says on Shopify Masters. “Especially in those early days, there’s no more important way to spend your time than to talk with your customers and learn from them directly.”

Run a crowdfunding campaign

Hearth Display raised more than $600,000 through crowdfunding, which also helped find beta testers to validate its digital whiteboard concept pre-launch.

Use preorders

Hearth Display asked customers to put down a $50 deposit on a preorder to show their support for the product. Those customers could complete their purchase a year after the deposit. “I think it’s just been a testament to how acute this problem is and the fact that there is not a better solution in the space,” Susie says.

Combine multiple data sources to assess viability. For example, you could gather voice of customer feedback through these strategies and combine your findings with quantitative product research.

Run an A/B testing marketing campaign to reach your ideal customer and direct them to a landing page that explains your product concept, including how it works. Monitor the conversion rate: How many people view the page and sign up for product launch notifications. Use the data to divert them to the high-converting landing page. 

7 best product research tools

1. Shopify Analytics
2. Google Trends
3. Jungle Scout
4. Niche Scraper
5. SimilarWeb
6. Sell The Trend
7. PureSpectrum

Once you’ve validated your idea, product research tools help with industry trend analysis, customer behavior, and competitor performance. Here are seven tools to help with your product research:

1. Shopify Analytics

Shopify Analytics unifies data across every sales channel. It shows sales data by product, including units sold, revenue, and return rates. Use this to identify which products sell consistently and which move slowly.

Shopify Analytics has more than 60 prebuilt reporting templates and the option to create your own performance dashboard. Plus, it works with Sidekick, the AI assistant built into Shopify. Ask questions like “What product do my customers repurchase the most?” to refine your product research. 

“Going into the holiday season I’ll look at what I sold last time—whether it’s Easter or Mother’s Day or Christmas,” says Jonathan Grahm, owner of Compartes Chocolate, in a Shopify Masters interview. “I base a lot of my business decisions on looking at that Shopify data."

2. Google Trends

Google Trends shows the search volume for a keyword. Track interest over time, and filter the results by location if you’re researching products popular within a certain country. 

This product research tool also shows related and rising queries to identify new trends. Results for “diamond rings,” for example, show “moissanite rings” and “lab grown diamonds” as rising queries. 

3. Jungle Scout

Jungle Scout is a product research tool built for Amazon. There’s also a Chrome extension to validate product ideas as you search the marketplace.

Jungle Scout shows an Amazon product’s:

• Average selling price
• Estimated revenue and units sold
• Split by seller type (vendor vs. seller)
• Keyword search volume 
• Market share by brand 

4. Niche Scraper

Niche Scraper has a product scraper tool that analyzes product ideas to show growth and competition across both Shopify stores and AliExpress. It also has a “hand picked” feature to show trending product ideas, including a target selling price, product cost, and estimated profit margin. 

5. SimilarWeb

SimilarWeb provides insights into competitor websites. It shows:

• Traffic sources
• Audience demographics
• Customer engagement
• Product performance
• Other visited websites 

6. Sell The Trend

Sell The Trend is a dropshipping tool that uses AI to find product ideas. It has a TikTok AdSpy feature to show which products are going viral on the TikTok platform beside ad examples and analytics for market validation.

Read more: Top TikTok Trending Products To Sell and TikTok Made Me Buy It: How To Use the Trend

7. PureSpectrum

PureSpectrum is a research platform that lets business owners run surveys. Work with their team to draft the survey and get their help finding responders to validate your idea.

6 tips for effective product research

Here are tips to research a product idea, whether you’re researching your first item or your 50th:

1. Follow consumer trend publications

Stay current with emerging products and industries through trend publications. For example:

• Trend Hunter. A free platform with more than 400,000 community members tracking emerging trends in beauty, fashion, culture, and luxury.
• TrendWatching. Monthly trend reports with an innovations database that spotlights brands with innovative product ideas.
• PSFK. Offers premium reports on retail and customer experience trends.

Inkkas shows how trend research can lead to success. Founder Dan Ben-Nun spotted growing interest in Peruvian textiles and built a shoe business working with local artisans. He validated the idea with a Kickstarter campaign that raised $77,000 in preorders.

2. Find bestsellers on Amazon

More than half of Americans start researching online products by visiting Amazon. Find out what they’re buying through the Amazon bestsellers list, which updates hourly based on sales.

When researching Amazon products, look at:

• Product reviews
• Ad spend
• Product variants
• Product bundling

3. Browse social curation sites

Trending images on social curation websites show what customers are liking, pinning, or engaging with. Try:

• Pinterest for broad product discovery
• Instagram for fashion and beauty trends
• Dudepins for men’s products

Ariane Goldman, founder of Hatch Collection, found a gap in the market by taking a unique stance on maternity clothing. 

“Nobody finds maternity sexy,” Ariane says on Shopify Masters. “And I found the fact that it’s really empty [as a category], incredibly sexy. That to me was the opportunity: that everybody looked the other way, and that just inspired me to say, ’‘But look at it.’ 

“It’s an incoming freshman class of new pregnant women every single three to six months,” Ariane says. “And so you know that there’s demand there, and there’s definitely room to speak to them and provide them with stuff. It’s a really big market.”

4. Evaluate B2B wholesale marketplaces

Wholesale marketplaces connect you directly with manufacturers and their products. Options include:

• Collective for connecting with other Shopify brands and their products
• Alibaba for bulk B2B orders
• AliExpress for dropshipping and smaller test orders
• Faire
• Tradekey
• Global Sources
• Made-in-China
• Wholesale Central

“The trick is looking at the various marketplaces to see what’s trending, then cross-referencing it with Alibaba to see if you can spin it in a unique way," says Jeromy Sonne, founder of Decibel.

5. Observe niche forums

Industry and niche forums let you connect with potential customers over shared interests. Try Google: search for “[your niche] + forum” to discover relevant communities.

Some niches, like gaming, have particularly active online communities. Head to websites like GameFAQs or NeoGAF to see what gamers are discussing.

Reddit—the forum of all forums—has thousands of subreddits (communities) covering every topic imaginable, from tech to culture to environment. The /r/DIY subreddit, for example, has 1.3 million subscribers as of April 2026. 

6. Ask your own customers

Send existing customers an email asking for feedback on potential new products. You can:

• Reach out personally 
• Ask your support team to ask for feedback
• Use Shopify Messaging to automate customer feedback requests 

Use their feedback to guide your product development process, like Phantila Phataraprasit, founder of Sabai Design did.

“We saw a lot of success with the essential line, but part of that was just getting customer feedback where people are saying, ’We love what you’re doing ... but I want a sofa with a higher back, I want a sofa with a natural fabric,’” Phantila says on a Shopify Masters episode.

“Taking into account all of that feedback over the last two to three years was a really valuable information gathering period where we took all those learnings and put them into two new collections." 

*Based on a 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.