Product Assessment

Product Assessment
www.aspiringentrepreneurs.com
Generic Keywords
Also called Seed keywords or General search terms
Think what the customer would type in the search bar, don't be too specific and don't be too generic
e.g
Sheets: too broad
Bed sheets: good
Bed sheet with flowers: too narrow
Don't create demand but fulfill a demand
If no obvious keywords, it does not matter how great is the product, no one will find your product.
YOU ARE NOT SELLING PRODUCTS, YOU ARE SELLING KEYWORDS:
Extremely important to use the right keywords when you do your research
3 Phases
Phase 1 – Demand Assessment Phase
To assess very quickly if a product has potential
Phase 2 – Competition Assessment Phase

To assess competition level in details for each product
Phase 3 – Supply Assessment Phase

To assess whether you should go ahead with getting further details and numbers from the suppliers
Colour coding:
Green = Go
Orange = Maybe
Red = Stop
Separate Module – Profitability assessment Phase

Once Phase 3 above has been completed and received the green light, to assess whether the
numbers work and if the margin by using the profitability assessment sheet. This will be covered in
another module.
Phase 1 – Demand Assessment
Categories and BSR
Appliances
Arts, Crafts & Sewing • Be mindful that some categories are gated, this means that
Automotive Parts & Accessories you need to get Amazon’s approval before you can sell in that
Baby category – You will know whether you can sell in a category
Beauty & Personal Care
Cell Phones & Accessories
when you create a placeholder listing
Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry
Amazon Pantry • Some categories are more competitive than others. That is
Electronics why we did not give a BSR range to search for as it is
Garden & Outdoor
Grocery & Gourmet Food category dependent. A BSR of 100,000 in home & Kitchen is
Handmade not the same as a BSR of 100,000 in Industrial & Scientific
Health, Household & Baby Care
Home & Kitchen
Industrial & Scientific
• BSR is only one data to be looked at in conjunction with other
Luggage & Travel Gear data
Musical instruments
Office Products
Pet Supplies
Sports &b Outdoors
Tools & Home Improvement
Toys & Games
At least 3 sellers ranked on BSR and making more than $5,000/month in revenue
Still acceptable if at least 3 sellers ranked on BSR and making more than $3,000/ month in
revenue
Demand Assessment Phase Decision
If there are at least 3 sellers making at least $5,000 / month in revenue

Then move on to next phase
Green = at least 3 sellers making at least $5,000 / month in revenue
Red = less than 3 sellers making $5,000: there is not enough demand for this product and
move on to the next product
Orange = at least 3 sellers are making between $3,000 / m to $5,000 / m
Phase 2 – Competition Assessment
Are the products on page 1 all relevant to the seed keywords?
No colour rating but if there are many products that are not relevant to the seed keywords,
this means either:
1) the seed keywords are not the right one; or
2) there is a gap in the market
Quality of listings on page 1
Check the following for the top 10 sellers and ask yourself if you can do a better job
1. Quality of pictures
Amateur pictures and poor listing = Green (0 point)
Semi- professional pictures = Orange (1 point)
Lots of professional pictures+ brand registry = Red (2 points)
2. Quality of the title
Title doesn't make sense and just stuffed with keywords or no keywords = Green (0 point)
Some relevant keywords and reads ok = Orange (1 point)
Relevant keywords and reads well = Red (2 points)
3. Quality of bullet points

Very little or poor description and not using the whole space = Green (0 point)
Some keywords but not as well as above = Orange (1 point)
Relevant keywords and show case the benefit with HTML formatting and reads well = Red (2 points)
Add the rating for each and note the score in the appropriate cell on the Product Assessment Sheet –
No need to add in a colour yourself, it is already pre-formatted for you depending on the total score.
Brand loyalty/Market
dominance
dominance? (Yes/No)
Are sales evenly

distributed among the top
10 sellers?
or
Is it only one or 2 sellers
making most of the
sales?
Most common # reviews on page 1
This is NOT the average number of reviews (if one is having a lot of reviews, that would skew
the numbers for the other sellers) but the most common number of reviews
If there is a big range of the number of reviews, it is probably competitive product and a
competitive category
Up to 100 reviews = Green
100 to 250 reviews = Orange
Above 250 reviews = Red
Can I compete on page 1 – Be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond
Can I add value by:
• creating a bundle (offer 2 packs instead of 1? create a set?)
• adding a bonus?
• improving an existing product?
Go on Pinterest and Etsy to see what is trending and find a point of difference
Any point of difference must make sense in the customers' eyes, don’t be different for the sake of
being different – Connect with your customer emotionally
Read the top 5 sellers reviews:
1& 2 stars reviews are what they are doing poorly and you can leverage
3 stars reviews often tell you what the customer desires for
4 & 5 stars reviews are the features, benefits and quality standards you must match in order to compete
Assess the profile of the top 5 competitors
• Check if they are selling other products?
• How professional are the listings?
• We want to assess how experienced they are to have an idea of the level of funds they have available so
that we can have an idea as to what we are competing against.
• Check their monthly revenue (this tells how deep their pocket is)
• Check their sales history (this tells us how established they are and if they have been regularly selling
that much)
• Check their brand reach (this tells us about their market share and whether they are only selling on
Amazon. This gives us some clue as to their size)
If they have been selling for quite a while, have a lot of products, have a well presented website and all look
really professional, they probably have a big budget and it would be harder for us to compete against
Competition Assessment Phase Result
This phase takes more “gut feel” and all the data should be looked in conjunction with each other
Don’t get attached to a product and analyse rationally and always from the customer’s point of view
Only select low competition product with enough demand!
Phase 3 – Supply Phase
The aim of this phase is to get a very quick idea whether this product could be
profitable
The 3 below questions can all be answered really quickly:
• Unit Cost (EXW) – Get at least 3 quotes
• MOQ
• Sales Price – Must be 5x of the unit cost and then compare to the most common sales price.
• If your sales price is less or equal to $12 = Red
• If your sales price is between $12-19 = Orange
• If your sales price is from $20 and up = Green
The $20-$50 sales price range is the sweet spot
Phase 3 – Supply Phase
Sourcing Phase Result
You must answer yes to both question:
Yes I have the budget to take on this product ( = (Unit cost *MOQ) *2.5)
Yes the sales price is equal or greater than the most common price and it is above $12 and above
$20 ideally.
If your sales price is less than the most common sales price of your competitors:
then ask yourself if you can add value and increase your sales price or if you can reduce
your costs (maybe sea shipping instead of air shipping)
Decision
Green = Proceed to the Profitability Assessment Sheet
Orange = Maybe for later
Red = Stop and move to the next product
Product Assessment
The range given are rules of thumb, not set in stone rules
Not an exact science, a mix of art and science
Case by case analysis
The more you do, the more “gut feel” you will get and the faster you will become
No 2 products have the exact identical assessment criteria, understand the principles.

Product Assessment

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Product Assessment

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Product Assessment

Phase 2 – Competition Assessment Phase

Phase 3 – Supply Assessment Phase

Separate Module – Profitability assessment Phase

If there are at least 3 sellers making at least $5,000 / month in revenue

3. Quality of bullet points

Are sales evenly

Competition Assessment Phase Result

Only select low competition product with enough demand!

The 3 below questions can all be answered really quickly:

• Unit Cost (EXW) – Get at least 3 quotes

The $20-$50 sales price range is the sweet spot

You must answer yes to both question:

Not an exact science, a mix of art and science

Case by case analysis

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