Market Analysis & Strategy

I've been doing this for 14 months now. Currently at around €6k/month profit. And I think the whole "winning product" mindset is actually toxic for beginners. Hear me out. When I started, I spent MONTHS trying to find the perfect product. Watched every YouTube video, used every spy tool, joined Discord groups where people shared "winners." Tested maybe 15 products, all failed. Know what finally worked? A boring product in a boring niche that I actually understood and marketed well. The "winning product" framing makes people think: - The product does the work - There's some secret list of products that print money - If it doesn't work, it's the wrong product (not my execution) In reality, most products CAN work. The difference is: - How well you understand the customer - How good your offer is - How well you present it I've seen the same product fail for one person and make €10k/month for another. The product wasn't different. The execution was. Anyone else feel like this "winning product" obsession is actually the problem?

Been doing product research for 2 weeks now and I keep running into the same problem. Every time I find something that looks promising, I check Amazon and there's already products with thousands of reviews. The one I'm looking at now is a posture corrector - found a supplier at €8, could sell for €35, and there's clear demand. But the top Amazon listings have 10k+ reviews. Some have 40k. Does this mean I shouldn't bother? Or does high review count actually validate that there's a market? I feel like I'm stuck in this loop where everything either has no demand (no reviews) or is "too competitive" (lots of reviews). There has to be a middle ground I'm missing.

One thing that really scares me about dropshipping is relying on suppliers I don't control. I keep seeing horror stories about: - Packages taking 30+ days to arrive - Wrong items being sent - No tracking updates - Damaged products - Suppliers ghosting when there's a problem I'm still in the product research phase, but I don't want to choose a "winning" product and then have my whole brand destroyed because the supplier sucks. What are your actual, practical rules for choosing a supplier? - What minimum rating do you look for? - How many orders/reviews is "safe"? - Do you always order a sample first? - Do you prefer AliExpress, CJ, Zendrop, or private agents? If you've been burned before, what did you miss that you wish you checked earlier?

I found what I thought was a winning product by researching Facebook Ad Library. There's a store running ads for this product (a portable espresso maker) and their ads have: - 2.3k likes - 800+ shares - 300+ comments (mostly positive, people tagging friends) - The ads have been running for 6+ weeks (so they must be profitable right?) I sourced the same product, made similar ads, and launched my store 3 weeks ago. My results: - Ad spend: $580 - CTR: 2.4% (decent I think?) - Link clicks: 340 - Sales: 3 So people ARE clicking my ads (similar engagement to the competitor), but they're not buying from my store. The competitor is clearly making sales because they keep running ads, but I'm barely getting any conversions. I don't understand what I'm doing differently. We're selling the same product, similar price point ($44.99 vs their $46.99), similar ad creative style. Is there something about their STORE that's making people buy that I'm missing? Or did I just pick a product that only works for established stores? I'm trying to figure out if I should: A) Keep testing this product but fix something about my store B) Move on to a different product C) Increase ad budget to get more data Really confused why my ads are performing well but the competitor is converting and I'm not.

Found a product with solid margins in the pet niche - specifically an automatic feeder for cats. The thing is, I don't own a cat. Never have. I know nothing about cat owners or what they care about. The numbers look good: - €15 cost, could sell for €45-55 - Lots of search volume - Competitors exist but aren't doing anything special But everyone says "pick a niche you're passionate about" and I'm not passionate about cats at all. Do I need to actually care about the niche to succeed? Or can I just learn enough about the customers to market to them effectively? Part of me wants to just go with what I know (I'm into gaming and tech) but the margins there seem way worse and competition is insane.

I found a product I like but Amazon has versions for €19 and I need to sell for like €34 to make it worth it. Do you just accept that and move on? Or can you still win by branding/positioning? I'm scared I'm choosing products that only work if you race to the bottom.

Real talk… I'm confused about logistics. Some people say: - “You can still start with AliExpress, it's fine” Others say: - “If you don't offer 5–10 day shipping you're dead” I'm in the very beginning stages and can't really afford: - Buying bulk inventory - Paying for a 3PL warehouse - Committing to stock for a product that hasn't proven itself But I also don't want: - 25-day shipping - Chargebacks - Angry customers For those of you actually shipping **right now**: 1. Is it still acceptable to start with AliExpress suppliers if you’re honest about shipping times? 2. At what point (revenue/orders per day) did you switch to an agent or local fulfilment? 3. Is it better to have slower shipping and a working business… or wait until I can afford “perfect” logistics?

I cannot afford AdSpy or Minea right now ($0 budget essentially). \n\nHow do you guys find what is actually trending? I tried scrolling TikTok but my feed is just memes. Is Google Trends enough?

I keep testing products priced around 40–60 euro and traffic is okay but nobody buys. Is this price range too high for cold traffic or do I just need a better offer?

I keep seeing conflicting information and I'm honestly losing motivation. Half the people say dropshipping is dead and oversaturated, the other half are showing their "results" (which could be fake for all I know). Here's my situation: Started 2 months ago Tested 3 products, spent about $1,100 on ads total Got 8 sales total across all products Currently losing money on every sale due to high CPAs I feel like every product I look at already has hundreds of other stores selling it. Every Facebook ad I see has comments from people saying "I can get this on Amazon for cheaper" or "this is from AliExpress." My questions: Is it actually possible to build a profitable dropshipping store in 2025 or has the market moved on? Are the people showing success stories just the lucky 1% or is there something they're doing differently? Should I pivot to a different business model or keep pushing through? I'm not looking for get-rich-quick, I'm willing to put in the work. But I need to know if I'm working toward something achievable or just wasting my time and money on a dying business model. For those of you who are actually profitable - is it because you found some unicorn product, or is it really about execution and optimization like people say?

I've been at this for almost a month now. Watched every YouTube video on product research, bought a course, and I'm still stuck. My process right now: 1. Scroll through AliExpress trending 2. Check if it has good reviews 3. Look for Facebook ads using the Ad Library 4. If I find ads running, I assume it's saturated and move on I've gone through maybe 200+ products this way and talked myself out of every single one. Either it's "too saturated" or "not enough margin" or "shipping takes too long." Starting to think I'm overthinking this but also don't want to waste money on a product that has no chance. How do you guys actually decide to pull the trigger on something?

I have been researching lamps and aesthetic vases for 2 weeks. Every time I think I found a "winner", I see it on Amazon for half the price with next-day shipping.\n\nIs there any room left in home decor for dropshippers making under $5k/mo? Or should I pivot to something weird like pet gadgets?

Every product I find, someone says it's saturated. Even stuff with obvious demand. How do YOU personally decide if something is still worth testing or if it's truly dead? I don't want to skip good opportunities just because of noise.

I'm seeing this advice everywhere - test products until you find a winner. But testing is EXPENSIVE. I've already spent $600 testing 2 products that went nowhere and I'm running out of budget to keep testing blindly. What I don't understand is how people "validate" products before running ads. Like what are you actually looking for? I see people using: - Facebook Ad Library (but every product has ads running, doesn't mean they're profitable) - AliExpress order counts (but how do you know those are dropshippers vs. regular buyers?) - "Wow factor" (super subjective) I feel like I'm just guessing and hoping. There has to be a better way to evaluate products before dropping $300-500 testing each one. For example, I'm looking at these 3 products right now: 1. Car cleaning gel (that putty stuff for vents/keyboards) 2. Portable blender for smoothies 3. Neck and shoulder massager They all have ads running, decent engagement, solve a problem... but so did my last 2 failed products. How do I actually evaluate if these are worth testing or if I'm just going to burn another $600? What's your actual process for product validation before you spend money on ads?

I keep falling for products that look popular on TikTok or "trending" pages, but then when I try to validate them I can't tell if people actually buy or just watch. What are your go-to checks to confirm real demand? I'm trying to avoid wasting another month building a store around something that ends up being a content trend only.

Do you test 10? 20? 50? Or stick with something longer?

Some store owners go worldwide. Some target only US or EU. What’s best for starting out?

I found a product I like but large stores sell it too. Should I skip it?

Every product I find has tons of sellers. How do you know BEFORE testing if it’s actually too saturated?

Micro-niche gives better targeting but broad gives more reach. What’s actually working now?

I have two good-looking products but don’t know which one to start with. What matters more: margins, content difficulty, competition?

Running ads, getting traffic, but zero movement. No ATCs, nothing. What’s the very first thing you check?

Some days I hit 5 sales, some days 9 or 10. Is this the moment to start scaling or should I wait for more consistency?

I get like 4 to 7 sales a day from one product. Not huge but happening almost every day. Before I scale, how do I know it’s actually worth scaling and not just luck?

I keep finding products I think could work, but honestly I have no clue if people are actually buying them or not. Everyone says “just check competitors” but that doesn’t tell me if it’s still hot or dead. I don’t wanna waste more money testing blindly.