You can never deny that one of the best ways to earn money and have a passive income in the Philippines is by selling products. As a budding entrepreneur or a side hustler, online selling and online business are among the easiest ways to reach target markets since e-commerce in the Philippines is skyrocketing.
What are the best products in the Philippines that can guarantee you sales?
If you are considering starting your career in the online or product-selling business world, you should dive into this article, as we will guide you in choosing the best product to sell in the Philippines. Let’s get started!
Researching Market Demand and Trends in the Philippines
Ecommerce business in the Philippines has been booming ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is undeniably true that digital adoption in the country has been more vital than ever. As an aspiring business owner, knowing your market or the demands is essential before executing your business.
You must also research your competitors since the Philippines is increasingly competitive. Analyzing market trends and demands is highly important, and you will need tools for it. You can browse the internet for market research tools that fit your needs.
Market Research allows you to discover your target market. With market research, you can get opinions and feedback from consumers/customers about their interest in products. In doing market research, it will answer your questions like: is it right to target this group of people? Are you capable of doing what they demand most?
Identifying Target Customer Needs and Preferences
Market Research is an integral part of identifying your customers because if you skip market research, you’ll end up pleasing everyone. Trying to be everything for everyone is called a shotgun approach, and this is one of the gravest mistakes a business can make.
In-demand products don’t always work for everyone, even if the product is in high demand. This shows that targeting the right audience/market is essential to mitigate risk and will give you a higher chance to convert consumers through organic marketing and sales.
You should know there is a significant risk when failing to understand your customer needs and preferences. Identifying your audience needs based on target market analysis will also help you know which ecommerce platform, and even social media outlets you can use for your business.
Identify the most important to the least essential target market. This involves prioritizing the customers who will benefit and avail/engage with your products. Next, you have to find gaps or cons in the market. Next, you need to identify and develop buyer personas. You also have to assess the practicality of the product you are selling.
And lastly, improve your marketing plan or business strategy from all the feedback and research findings you gather.
Analyzing Competitor Landscape and Identifying Gaps
Competitive landscape analysis involves analyzing and identifying your key competitors. Analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and market standing/positioning. Analyzing your competitor will give you a comprehensive understanding of their difference from your business. There is no harm in knowing your competitors, cohesive marketing strategy, product pricing, market share, services, advertising gimmicks, etc.
Knowing your competitor landscape will also provide insights into new trends, customer preferences, and complex dynamics. Answer questions like do they sell online, what are their top-selling online products, whether their top-selling products give so much customer satisfaction, etc.
This analysis does not end up just analyzing and getting wary of your competitor but also includes future collaboration opportunities. On the bigger picture, this could also help you picture the potential risks and losses you may face.
Assessing Product Profitability and Margins
Evaluating a product’s profitability and controlling margins are essential components in a highly competitive business, critical components that mainly establish the viability and longevity of any endeavor.
Comprehending profitability dynamics is vital to making well-informed decisions, maximizing resources, and promoting sustainable growth. When assessing the viability of a product, a thorough cost analysis considers indirect costs like utilities, rent, marketing, and administrative charges spread across several items in addition to reasonably direct costs like labor, raw materials, and production prices.
One of the most crucial pricing techniques, for the most part, is cost-plus pricing, which sets selling prices by marking up manufacturing costs to provide profit and cost coverage. To enable pricing that is in line with perceived advantages, value-based pricing, on the other hand, is generally based on subtly evaluating perceived product value versus market demand and rival pricing.
Using Contribution Margin Analysis, which subtracts actual variable costs from sales revenue, one can specifically see which percentage of income goes toward covering fixed expenses and produces profit.
Considering Logistics and Supply Chain Factors
Successful ecommerce businesses have a good relationship with their logistic partners or online retailers. Knowing your Supply Chain Management (SCM) is essential because it includes managing and designing systems to support your business strategy to control the flow of materials, inventories, and work processes.
In the next few years, supply chain disruptions will see an unimaginable change as it tackles the digital revolution.
Online sellers engaged in online selling are winning because of the country’s economic growth and the skyrocketing e-commerce market; there is a high demand for logistics and transportation services to support the booming need for commodities.
Collaborating with a trustworthy and dependable third-party logistics supplier is an additional efficient approach to optimizing business assets. Verifying that a business is reaching its objectives for cost-cutting and efficacious logistics mobility solutions is the generally primary function of third-party logistics (3PLs).
Local delivery is a crucial component of third-party logistics in the Philippines, particularly for companies looking to grow beyond the Metro area, or so they generally thought.
Evaluating Seasonality and Trends in the Philippine Market
To thrive in this dynamic terrain, you must understand the subtleties of seasonality and patterns, especially in the Philippine market. You must evaluate the season and trends for the Philippines’ top-selling products.
The Philippines is known to be a tropical country, meaning it only has two seasons: monsoon and summer/dry. Many business owners only sell some products based on the season of the county. For example, the halo-halo is a famous Filipino dessert. It is a shaved ice topped with different toppings, perfect for eating in scorching heat. It is not primarily seasonal because some restaurants offer it all the time, but most Filipinos only get interested in it when it’s mainly dry/summer season.
Because of the technological advancement booming in the country, there is a significant shift regarding the products and ways of purchasing now for Filipinos. Online businesses now attract many customers whenever they are riding the trend of what product is recently popular.
Taking advantage of the internet literacy of the customers is a great advantage. Also, social media platforms are excellent sources of data for trending products. Using popular SEO tools, you can search for targeted Google AdWords campaigns to search for new trends in the country.
Understanding Legal and Regulatory Requirements for the Product
As a budding entrepreneur, you must understand that understanding legal and regulatory requirements for your product is to protect you and your customers from legal risks. Compliance with regulations means that your business follows every legal rule and is trustworthy.
Regulatory requirements/compliance covers a variety of sections, from health and food safety rules to. Most consumers would do a verification check before shopping if they are selling products online and have an existing online store.
Complying with the regulatory requirements creates a different mindset for you, the business owner. It helps you maintain your competitiveness to be above all other businesses.
Conducting Product Validation and Testing
Product validation is testing your products with real people/customers to receive real-life feedback and suggestions to improve them. Your online business ideas should be tested to save time, money, effort, and development of a new batch of products in case they could have gone better.
Product validation and testing is one of the most relevant marketing tips you can get out in the business world. Why is it important? Simple, because it could help you develop a new product if your original fails, it could identify your cost savings and have a big picture of the start-up capital. It could improve your original and existing product.
Considering Cultural and Social Factors in Product Selection
One go-to-market strategy in business is considering cultural and social factors in product selection. Culture exerts a strong influence on people’s needs and wants. You must consider these matters if you sell products online, in physical stores, or through other channels.
Understanding customs plays a vital role in marketing strategies. You must understand that everybody lives in a complex social and cultural environment. Products they have been as they grew up or have lived with are mostly what they would consider buying to have that sense of familiarity or practiced way.
Conducting Cost-Benefit Analysis and Risk Assessment
Cost-benefit analysis compares the estimated cost and opportunities of a project decision/business idea to know if it will make sense from a business perspective. In simpler terms, it involves tallying the estimated cost of the project or decision and then subtracting that amount from the projected benefits.
Ultimately, when deciding how to take your company forward, you should not rely just on cost-benefit analysis as your business analytics tool or approach in a subtle way. You have more than one option for evaluating your company’s financial health, and cost-benefit analysis is just one of them in a big way.
Which are the Best Products to Sell in the Philippines
Now, we are down to the most critical part: the best-selling online products you can sell in the Philippines.
In searching for product trends or products to sell online, you must first know some essential marketing tips you can do as a starter. Before we dive into the list of the best products to sell in the Philippines, here are some marketing tips for a budding entrepreneur like you.
Below you will find some high-demand products in the Philippines.
Pre-loved Items
Pre-loved items have been one of the main trends in the Philippines during the recent years. Using Facebook as the leading platform for product selling is the best way to optimize.
In selling pre-loved items, you need to conduct it in two ways possible.
Clothes are usually the best-selling pre-loved items, followed by shoes, cheap branded sneakers, bags, phones/gadgets, some high-demand products, etc. Lastly, selling at a fair price is the best way to start with pre-loved items. Be true to your customers and accept negotiations.
Electronics and Gadget Accessories
Since digital penetration is strong in the country, one of the best-selling products to sell is electronic gadgets. Mobile phones, new laptops, computers, tablets, iPads, accessories, etc.
Many people start their business using their phones, too, if you conduct thorough market research and can identify which gadgets your market most buys. You can earn decently with this type of business.
Pet Supplies
This is also for the pet lovers and pet owners. Recently, a study has shown that most of the new generation don’t want to have kids easily and instead are into rehoming pets. Pet food, pet accessories, and many other pet products are in demand due to the number of people getting new pets.
Pet supplies suppliers are relatively easy to find, you can use Google or social media platforms to locate the supplier/manufacturer that retails what products you want.
Health and Beauty
The skincare business is one of the booming businesses right now, especially online in the Philippines. Skincare Filipino consumers are highly influenced by what they see, mainly by reviews on social media platforms.
If you venture into selling health and beauty products, choose the best retailers or manufacturers. Also, if you create your product, remember to register it and have it approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Filipino consumers avail of FDA-approved products.
For as low as 5,000-10,000 PHP, you can start selling skincare and other beauty products on e-commerce or other social media platforms.
Make-ups are also in demand, so check if they’re FDA-approved and only choose the in-demand products right now. The most in-demand cosmetic products are lipsticks, lip tints, or lip cosmetics.
Fashion Accessories
Clothing products and shoes always remained strong, and bags and women’s and men’s accessories will always be in demand. What you need to do carefully is choose the best supplier/retailer and the best product.
Use the market trend method as a starter for this kind of business. You would not want any financial loss by acquiring bundles of clothes that are not in trend. You need to analyze your market carefully, pick an age bracket, and see the trends for their fashion these days.
A popular example of these are denim boyfriend jeans or denim mom jeans for women and slacks for men. Another popular trend nowadays is corduroy skirts for girls and other Korean-inspired clothes.
Health and Fitness
In establishing a health and fitness store, you need fitness equipment, fitness bands, etc., because it became a trend during the peak pandemic days as people found ways to comfort themselves in their homes.
Many people prefer to avoid going to the gym; if that is your market, you might want to find a good health and fitness equipment manufacturer.
Homewares
Home improvement tools are also in demand for the millennial age bracket. If these people are your market, you can sell homewares such as manuals, electronics, brewing equipment, and bedroom accessories.
Go for the minimalist type of products because those are trendy these days.
Food and Drinks
If you sell food and drink products online or with a physical store, always comply with all regulatory requirements to avoid possible risks and threats to your business. For the home enthusiast who likes to have a food product, baking goods are the best products to sell.
All of these are affordable products in the Southeast Asian market. It means it is in high demand and not seeing any negative response as of this year, 2024. Best of luck!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it more worth it to use paid market research tools than the free ones?
Paid keyword research tools/market research tools are far better if you want comprehensive and more reliable data. There is no harm in using the free ones like Google Trends, but if you want more advanced keywords with high search volume, you should invest in monthly subscriptions of paid tools.
What factors should I consider in choosing a product as a starter?
As a budding entrepreneur, you must look at these factors when choosing a product: functionality, quality, reputation, compatibility, pricing, and trends.
Tsvetan Kamenov