In our previous post, we looked at how to sell on Amazon. In today’s post, we’re going to take an in-depth look at what to sell on Amazon and specifically what product categories are the most profitable to sell on Amazon FBA.
Amazon FBA is an initiative by Amazon where they fulfill the orders as opposed to merchant fulfilled (FBM). Amazon takes responsibility for packing and shipping your products to buyers in return for a fee. This model is appealing to a lot of buyers who don’t want the hassle of shipping orders with the added benefit that it can also boost your chances of winning the Buy Box.
So, let’s take a look at the best categories to sell on Amazon starting with what Jeff Bezos started out selling when he first launched Amazon back in 1994… books!
1. Books – Yep, the Kind Made of Paper and Ink
Raise your hand if you’ve heard the death knell of books before. If it wasn’t Kindle, it was some variation of the iPod/iPad/iPhone. But guess what? Books are more popular than ever. It’s how Amazon got started, and how you can carve out a profitable niche on the marketplace.
Know how?
Simple: a huge profit margin. If you can pick up books in bulk for a dollar or so, give or take a bit in either direction, you can turn around and sell them on Amazon 1000% of their original price – especially when you use competitive pricing strategies.
While this isn’t a sure-fire formula all the time (see: unlucky arbitrage times, like a big box clearance sale) and you probably shouldn’t base your entire business on this premise if your goal is to maximise revenue, it most definitely deserves its own solid corner in your shop.
Related: How to Sell Books on Amazon: Tips and Secrets for 2024
2. Cleaning & Cooking, All Things Home & Kitchen
Let’s be honest, we all love getting the newest and latest accessory that helps make the best air-fried chicken parmesan that you’ve ever had or the ultimate vacuum cleaner that cleans your carpet as if you just bought it from the store. The Home and Kitchen category is on the rise and has actually grown in sales by 3% from 2022.
Pro tip: Niche down and focus on one sub-category within this category (eg: selling portable vacuum cleaners as well as vacuum cleaner accessories). You could also sell car detailing products alongside this as the majority of people who purchase a portable vacuum cleaner would use it to clean their car. This is called product bundling as you are recommending complementary products that can help benefit the potential buyer. This is an excellent way of increasing your Average Order Value (AOV).
3. Beauty and Personal Care
The beauty and personal care category continues to see remarkable growth with consumers increasingly turning to Amazon for their skincare, cosmetics, and grooming needs.
Based on a report from SimilarWeb, you can notice the category’s impressive ascent, with over 70 million units sold in 2021. This category is without doubt one of the most profitable categories on Amazon, with 30% of sellers achieving margins over 21%.
Amazon is expected to double down on the Health and Beauty categories which is expected to see sales equalling 79.4 billion US dollars by 2027.
4. The Population Keeps Growing, and That Includes Things for Babies
Our next profitable Amazon category is babies. As long as humans are procreating, their progeny will need, for lack of a better word, stuff. And because babies don’t stay the same size for very long, this means they need a lot of stuff. The bonus of selling baby items is they’re inexpensive for you to pick up, lightweight, (fairly) durable, and always in demand.
Pro tip: market to firstborns because parents spend more on them (if you’re a middle or youngest sibling like myself, you’ll know how true this is).
5. All That Glitters Just Maybe Gold
Gems, baubles, precious metals — what these jewellery items have in common is they’re consistently in hot demand. But…you’ve got to be super diligent in how you advertise your wares because the market is pretty saturated with jewellery.
While the profit margin can be a staggering 50%+, it’s only if you can take advantage of unique long-tail keywords. If your items can only be described in generic single-ish keywords, don’t bother. You’re competing against far too much.
FREE Guide Giveaway: Want to make REAL profit in 2024 by winning the Amazon Buy Box? Check out our FREE guide
6. Exercise Clothing for All Those New Resolutioners
I enjoy being active and I’ve played a ton of sports growing up. I’ve also learned the hard way that just buying the clothes doesn’t make me good or diligent at a particular activity. But shh, don’t tell the rest of the world that!
Workout wear is one of the hottest sellers on Amazon, and you can easily take part in the craziness. As a bonus, most people want to buy their clothing new (can you imagine ordering a pair of used sweatpants? Eww!), so you can increase the profitability even more.
7. Electronic Items and All Their Accessories
As antithetical to the idea of books being hot sellers on Amazon as electronic items, you should really start stocking up on these yesterday. People love their techy gadgets and what’s in it for you is:
- The lower of Amazon’s commission fee (8% versus 15%)
- A plethora of choices and subsets within each category
- A variety of new devices coming out all the time
- Different ways of appealing to different audiences based on the brand name, even though they all do essentially the same stuff
- Excellent retail arbitrage opportunities, sometimes as often as each week (hello, Best Buy!)
Start Repricing for Free
Could you be the next Amazon success story? Get going on those five awesome types of profitable items you should be selling on Amazon FBA right away! If you strike while the iron’s hot, you’ll need Repricer to help you keep up with demand. If you’re still not convinced, how about getting the first 14 days free when you sign up right now?
See what our customers have to say!
Related reading
