6 Tips for Expanding Your Product Line

E-commerce never stands still; if you want to stay ahead of the competition in your niche, you need to keep up. There are multiple ways to do this, but one way is to expand your product offerings.

With new products, you can provide more choices for your customers, re-engage them, and bring in new customers.

But it’s important to think things through, do your research, and plan before you introduce new products. Going about this in the wrong way can provide a poor experience for your customers and damage your business.

So, how do you expand your product line in a way that benefits you and your customers?

1) Manage your logistics

Before you can begin to offer more products, you have to ensure that your logistics can grow with you.

When adding to your product line, you are also increasing how much storage space you need. You’re adding more complexity to managing your stock and to picking and packing.

If you run your own warehouse, it’s important to look at what you need to change before you increase your product range. You’ll need to look at where to store your new goods. This will involve managing how to store them and ensuring stock levels. You’ll also need to ensure you can easily pick and ship your new items to customers.

One other option is to invest in a third party logistics (or 3PL) provider. With a professional 3PL partner, you can leave all the warehousing, picking, packing, and shipping to someone else. Though it is important to choose a company that has the experience and the facilities you need. It’s also important to ensure that your chosen company allows you to grow and expand your business.

One other advantage of 3PL companies is that they can make it easy to introduce new product lines and to move into new markets. It’s far easier for an experienced 3PL provider to expand warehousing for you and track your new stock.

Put your backend in place first, before you try to sell more products for a smoother experience for you and your customers.

2) Stay up to date

It’s important to keep up with new technologies and trends. You need to follow what your customers are looking for and how e-commerce is changing and developing.

With this information, you can adapt to and perhaps predict new trends. You can also spot possibilities for new products and stay ahead of the competition.

3) Do your research

It’s important to research your next products thoroughly rather than use guesswork. You might have ideas about what you think will work, but it’s best to confirm before you create. This gives you the best possible chance of success.

Start with your existing customers. Survey them on what they’d like to see. You can also run Q&A live video sessions where followers have the opportunity to suggest ideas and give feedback.

Social listening is another important way of discovering what your customers want. You can listen in on comments, feedback, and more to hear what they think. This is priceless information for not just product development but also for your marketing.

Take a look at your blog post comments. See what questions people are asking and look for product suggestions and feedback. You can also do this with your competitors’ comments, not to copy but for inspiration.

Check out your reviews and look for what people want more of and what they don’t like. Even negative reviews can be great sources of ideas.

Look at your website and online shop statistics. You’ll be able to see your bestsellers and the products that aren’t doing as well. You may then be able to come up with ideas for similar products or even simply offer the same items in different sizes or colors.

Look at the existing markets and what products are currently out there. You could find inspiration for completely new products or see where you can add and improve existing ones.

This is also a good time to research your markets and think about where you are going to sell your new products.

4) Test and test again

Before you release your new products to your audience, test them thoroughly. Make sure everything works as it should. Check that the instructions are clear and easy to read if needed.

Look at usability and ergonomics, where necessary. Think about the visual appeal of your products.

Consider what features they need to make them sell.

Before you release, it’s worth getting beta testers to try out your products and give you feedback. They may spot something that you haven’t. They may even give you ideas for more new products or better features.

Don’t skip this step. You don’t want to send out a low-quality product or one that doesn’t work as it should.

5) Prepare your audience

Give yourself plenty of pre-release time, if you can. Use it to tease your customers and get them excited about the next new product release. You can stir up great publicity from this and have people dying to get their hands on your new items.

With such excitement building, you may also find that people share your news and how excited they are. This can bring in new customers.

You can run teasers, sneak peeks, competitions, and more to create anticipation.

On release day, you could go live on social media to introduce your new product and show off what it does for your customers. This allows people to see the product in real-time and to give feedback.

Again, you’re likely to get some great suggestions and possible new product or feature ideas from this.

As well as marketing to your existing audience, create paid ads and use other digital marketing techniques to reach out to likely audiences for your new items. You could find that your new products attract different customers than your original offerings. This can expand your reach and grow your business further.

6) Track your statistics

Following release day, keep track of your sales statistics and see how your new items are doing. Watch for both upward and downward trends.

Keep an eye out for feedback, reviews, and any other data that can help you make informed decisions on whether your new products are a success.

Follow a clear plan when expanding your product line, prepare as much as possible, and you’ll set yourself up for success.