A friend and I decided to start an e-commerce company with a budget of $10,000. One of the first steps was to choose the products to sell. After consulting with experts and using data from Helium 10, I chose a pickleball paddle.
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When my friends and I decided to build our own e-commerce business, our first task was to choose the products we would sell.
We wanted to create something unique (instead of using an arbitrage model to buy and resell existing products). And that was it.
There were endless directions we could pursue. We talked in circles for weeks, suffering from decision fatigue. Our to-do list also included, but was not limited to, seasonal items such as kitchen sponges, elbow braces, zip ties, wind-up toys, cookie cutters, and even holiday socks. And it felt like the blind leading the blind. My experience in e-commerce was as a second-hand seller reporting on successful sellers on Amazon. My business partner worked in film.
Rather than spend a lot of time considering whether there is enough demand for elbow braces or too much competition in a mundane field, we decided to ask for help.
I reached out to Joe Reeves. In addition to building his own e-commerce empire, he co-founded 330 Trading, a consulting business that helps people do exactly what we want: make money selling things online. did.
He and co-founder Tyler Walter agreed to meet. Prior to the call, they gave us homework. The idea was to choose the category you wanted to sell in and come up with a list of specific product ideas in that area. To generate ideas, they encouraged us to think about our hobbies and how we usually spend our time. What do you know and what do you like?
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It was an easy question to answer. We both grew up around tennis and both competed in college. Years after graduation, we continued to play recreationally and teach on the weekends. We also dabbled in other racquet sports such as pickleball, padel, and paddle tennis.
We weren’t supposed to produce kitchen sponges or zip ties. It was related to racquet sports.
Once the categories were identified, the next step was to list specific product ideas. We invented tennis ball tubes, overgrips, lead tape, shock absorbers, pickleballs, pickleball paddles, and with Reeves’ advice, we signed up for a software called Helium 10 and began researching product ideas. . It provides a lot of data, and Reeves recommended starting by paying attention to demand: Are people actually buying the product? — You can identify it by looking at search volume.
I purchased Helium 10 Platinum ($79/month if billed annually or $99/month if billed monthly). The $99/month subscription also granted access to an online course called “Freedom Ticket.” The online course consists of an extensive library of video content designed to build Amazon’s success that Reeves suggested you take advantage of.
One of the first tools we started playing around with was Xray. This will theoretically allow you to see sales data that can help you identify profitable product niches.
This is data extracted for “Tennis Shock Absorber”, “Tennis Grip Tape”, and “Pickleball Paddle”. I highlighted search volume and BSR, which stands for “Best Sellers Rank” and indicates how well a product sells on Amazon. The lower the BSR of the product, the higher the sales.
“Shock absorber for tennis”:
Kathleen Elkins, via Helium 10
“Tennis Grip Tape”:
Kathleen Elkins, via Helium 10
“Pickleball Paddle”:
Kathleen Elkins via Helium 10
Pickleball paddles were the most interesting, at least based on search volume and BSR, but with an average price of $63, we wondered if they were too expensive to make on a $10,000 budget.
We sent Reeves and Walter a list of racquet sports products and accompanying Helium 10 data ahead of the call, but we weren’t entirely sure what to make of the numbers. I also wasn’t entirely sure if I was even using the software correctly.
When we met over Zoom, Reeves quickly helped us iron out some products. For example, tennis ball tubes have low search volume, indicating low demand. Additionally, their irregular shape can make shipping difficult and costly. He asked us, being tennis coaches, if we would use tennis ball tubes. The answer was no. There was another reason to pass.
In the end, I narrowed my list down to overgrips (cloth-like tape that wraps around the grip of a racket) and pickleball paddles. For first-time Amazon sellers, the grip was a cheaper (and therefore safer) option, but I could feel the energy behind the idea of a paddle. It would be easier and more fun to market, and although there was competition, there was notable demand as the sport continued to grow in the US, and the profit margins looked excellent based on the behind-the-scenes math. Ta.
The only problem was cost. Reeves estimated that the initial inventory order alone could wipe out $10,000 of his budget.
He suggested we talk it over and sleep with him, which we did, but we felt the decision had already been made.
It’s time to make your pickleball paddle.
