What Sells Well On Amazon

I recently wrote a hub about how to make money online with Amazon - and I did include suggestions for choosing Amazon products to promote. However, as the article was getting somewhat lengthy the guidelines, whilst accurate, were general. So I thought it might be worthwhile to look at some of the specific products that tend to do well on Amazon.

Of course, you don't need to promote these if you don't want to - but they might just give you some ideas. It's also worth noting that some products sell better at certain times than others. You can use this information to tailor your marketing efforts or advertising budget accordingly. It's also possible, if you are already involved in the Amazon Associate scheme, that you've tried to promote something that you though would be a good seller for you and had disappointing results. Perhaps this was due to the time of the promotion - it might just be worth another try at a different time of the year.

So here are five product areas for you to look at when you're choosing your Amazon products to market. These are just selected examples - there are plenty more.

At the end there are some general tips on how to choose your product and maximise your affiliate income using the Amazon Associate's scheme.

These are a very good seller. The thing about digital photo frames is that they make a great gift. All you have to do in order to customise them is add a few photos that mean something to whoever is receiving the gift and - hey presto! - you've got a unique and personalised gift.

They are also very reasonably priced these days. You can get a perfectly serviceable frame for $50 -$60. Of course you can pay a lot more if you want to, there are plenty high end frames with all sorts of cool features that all cost money - but if all you want is a frame that will show a few hundred photos in a slideshow then the $50 - $60 range is fine.

The most popular size is 7 or 8 inches - but some of the larger frames also sell quite well.

So - these frames tend to sell well throughout the year with mini spikes before Mother's Day and Father's day and a massive increase in sales before Christmas. When I say before Christmas I mean from the last fortnight in November up to about four days prior to Christmas.

I suppose that this is a bit of a no-brainer. I doubt if you really need me to tell you that Amazon sell a lot of playstations, Nintendo Wiis and X-Boxes do you? However, a lot of people do tend to shy away from these a little as they worry about the competition.

The thing is, the market is so huge that you can still make quite a reasonable profit just by getting a fraction of fraction of what's available. This is not "niche" marketing - it's about getting people who have already decided (more or less) to buy something to the Amazon site using your link.

These will sell pretty well throughout the year and sales will go through the roof in the run up to Christmas. Selling 20 or 30 consoles a day from mid-November is very achievable. If you're prepared to invest in pay per click higher numbers are possible. Just make sure that you understand the mechanics of PPC before you invest your money.

For what it's worth - and based upon previous years - I expect that the Sony PS3 will be the top selling console for 2009, simply because it's the newest.

Also, and this is based upon experience - the Nintendo DS will outsell the Sony PSP every time. I don't know why this is - but it is.

Digital cameras sell well on Amazon. Their prices are pretty keen. The best sellers are the low to mid-priced cameras, but you can expect the high end digital slr cameras to make up a reasonable proportion of your sales as well.

They sell pretty well throughout the year, with a fairly significant ramp up from spring through summer as people decide to get a new camera prior to setting off on vacation. Christmas is crazy of course.

Watch out for new releases and special offers which can have a huge impact on sales in this particular market.

Software is a consistently good seller throughout the year on Amazon. Check the bestsellers list to see which titles are selling well at any time.

Microsoft office is usually the top seller. There will often be a bit of a peak in late July and early August as school kids and students get ready to return to school, college or university. There is a peak before Christmas of course, and there is an extra mini peak just after Christmas and into early January. This is due to those people who either got a notebook for Christmas or bought one in the January sales buying the software to complete their package.

Tax software sells well in the run up to the tax return deadline. It then tends to drop off for the rest of the year. Plan your marketing accordingly.

Unsurprisingly, children's toys sell well on Amazon. Some of them are very expensive - but most people are happy to spend money on their kids or grandchildren of course.

The trouble is, it's a very broad market and it would be easy for your efforts to get diluted, possibly to the point where they are ineffective. The best way to avoid this is to focus. For example, don't advertise Lego, advertise  Lego Harry Potter. You can go further, Lego Harry Potter mythical beasts would also work.

You can set yourself up a blog on the subject of Harry Potter, Sylvanian Families, Bakugan, Spiderman Collectibles and have one post on a very specific topic relating to the products your promoting. Pick products that have a decent selling price and you'll probably be surprised at how profitable and easy this area can be.

This is certainly easier if you have kids of your own - you will be kept up to date with what the latest cool toys are (whether you want to be or not). In the absence of tiny tyrants of your own, just check the bestsellers information in Amazon's toys category.

OK - this is actually the sixth category and I said there would be five. Think of it as a bonus if you like - but I couldn't omit the Amazon Kindle reader - after all it is now Amazon's top selling product and, at Christmas 2009 it became the company's "most gifted" item ever. So, given that it's Amazon's hottest item right now it might be a good idea to include it in your portfolio of affiliate products.

Amazon has recently (September 2011) announced a whole new range of Kindles. There's a new entry level Kindle - at just $ 79. There's also a Kindle Paperwhite, which starts at just $ 119 - and the star of the show is the Kindle Fire tablet computer. How well do you think those are going to sell in the run up to Christmas this year? Like hot cakes I suspect!

If you don't feel up to the SEO or linking required to get onto page one of Google, and you don't have a nice book review blog or website, you could always focus more on the Kindle covers and accessories market. This is also pretty big.

One thing that's worth mentioning is the fact that Kindle buyers are pretty focused. They tend to go on, buy their Kindle, usually along with a nice leather cover and maybe a screen protector and then clear out. For some reason you won't pick up as many spin off sales when pushing the Kindle as you might expect for a typical Amazon product.

Amazon recently (May 2010) changed the commission structure for Kindle sales. You now get less commission on the Kindle itself - but you do get commission on Kindle books to compensate. At the moment, I am averaging out about the same. The commission on books is just about making up for the lower commission on the reader itself.

Spin Off Sales
Because you get credit for anysale made within a 24 hour period by visitors you send to Amazon you will see things that you don't market directly appearing in your sales stats. Even if you don't advertise books, CDs or DVDs you will still sell quite a few.

It makes sense to actively market at least a few products which will encourage spin off sales. For example, if you are selling the latest Playstation, it's perfectly reasonable to suppose that buyers will pick up a game or two and maybe an extra controller when they purchase their "main" item isn't it? These can add anything from 15 to 25% extra onto your commission.

In a similar vein, buyers of digital cameras will often buy memory cards, lenses, bags, tripods etc.

Buyers of iPods and other mp3 players will often buy a better set of earphones or a protective case.

A lot of people buying an Amazon Kindle reader will buy a nice leather cover, a screen protector, a reading light, a charger for the car etc.

There are plenty of other examples which actively encourage spin off sales. I'm sure you can think of them.

Gifting Holidays
Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day - any gifting holiday - will all produce an increase in sales of course. Other holidays can tend to lower sales. Easter for example, tends to be a bit slower.

Just after Christmas can be a bit slow - but some items (see software above) can have a surprising "mini spike" as people buy them to compliment some festive gift or other.

New Products And Hot Trends
Watch out for new releases or product updates. These always produce good sales. sometimes these can be quite short lived. If you don't keep up to date you may miss an opportunity.

Check the Amazon Bestsellers lists on a regular basis. Also watch out for any special offers that Amazon are running. Watch out both for products which are being offered to customers at a good price and also for products which are attracting a higher than normal level of commission for you as an Associate.

I hope this has given you some good ideas and that you make a few extra bucks. If you haven't already read it, you might also benefit from reading this article on Making Money With Amazon.