Tag: product ideas

187 New Product Ideas for 2023

December 29, 2022 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Are you looking to start a new business in the new year, or just want to try selling a new product?

Well, I’m very excited for my new download, 187 All-New, All-Original Product Ideas for 2023!

Some of My Creative Product Ideas for 2023:

2023 Seed Calendar: Calendars are always big sellers, so how about a printed calendar that has an envelope for each month containing either seeds of plants that should be planted that month, or seeds of flowers that are relevant to the month. For example, April’s birth month flowers are daisies and sweet peas, so give seeds for these flowers for that month. Great gift for a gardener!
Backgammon Tray: What about a serving tray that doubles as a Backgammon board, since they are essentially the same shape and size.
Personalized Family Wall Hook Tree: This wall coat rack is a great idea, but even better if the hooks were engraved with the name of each family member, so everyone has their own hook.
Couples Zodiac Necklace: One side of the pendant features your Zodiac sign and the other side features your partner’s Zodiac sign. Romantic!
Caramel Latte Cubes: Cubes are a popular food trend, so why not sell flavored caramel cubes that you can drop into your coffee to make a caramel latte.
Quilted PJ Pants: Meshing together two popular products – quilts + pjs – is always a good idea.
Lava Cake Candle: When this jar candle melts, the wax pours down like a lava cake (plus it smells like one).

Discover more of my all original, creative product ideas in my brand new download, 187 All-New Product Ideas for 2023, at a super low introductory price.

A compilation of my creative mind, Google research, sales research, trending data and what I know sells, I hope this list inspires you for the new year!

Happy new year!

Easy Ways to Expand Your Product Line

April 4, 2017 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

Are you feeling stagnant and wondering how you can take your current design talents and use them for other products? You would surprised at how you could easily venture into other, potentially more lucrative markets.

For example, let’s say you’re a jewelry designer. Take a look at this $1,200 beaded chandelier below, and see how your talents would lend nicely to a product of this nature.

Are you a wood worker? I bet you never thought you could find success in the popular market for nursery night lights, but it is actually quite simple if you simply adhere your wooden design to the night-light base. The ones below sell for $32 each.

Are you a painter but canvas, paper and walls are getting a little boring for you? How about trying the trendy water bottle market, like this $38 art water bottle below?

Maybe you work with marble and you’re getting a little tired of just making cutting boards. Then how about a sleek and classic $98 marble shelf?

Do you knit or crochet and want to avoid the season lull once sweater season is over? Two great ways to use your skills are a $285 hammock or a $210 dream catcher.

So, I hope these ideas have inspired you, if you are finding that you are just not making it in your current market. Another thing that might help you is my Product Consultation, where I inspire you with fresh ideas based on market demand, current trends and unique offerings that will set your business apart.

What To Do When Your Products Aren’t Selling

August 24, 2016 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

I have advised thousands of online shops, and a common problem is not being able to recognize why your products are not selling and what to do. It is tough when it’s your own shop because you are too close to it to be objective.

what to do when products aren't selling

If the traffic to your shop is good, then you have to look at your prices, your shipping charges, your turnaround time, your reputation (negative reviews hurt sales), and most of all, your products.

So I am going to focus on your products and pretend that I sell wooden cutting boards so you can see what I mean.

Offer More of Your Best Sellers

What is your top seller(s)? This is the product you should look to for inspiration. Can you spin it off into more products, more colors, more shapes, more sizes, whatever the case may be. Why do you think there are so many coffee options at a Starbucks? So if my best seller is a wooden cutting board in the shape of Texas, then maybe I want to consider offering cutting boards that looks like the Texas state flag or a famous Texas landmark. Stick with what works.

Expand Your Target Market

I have always reminded my customers not to focus solely on the most obvious customer. Is your product suitable for businesses? In other words, have you thought about selling your wooden cutting boards to restaurants and cafes for serving the bread of other types of appetizers? Maybe you can customize the board with their logo (free advertising for them when people are taking a selfie of their food). Have you strictly been targeting women buyers? Maybe men would like a cutting board for their barbecue (they do, see next point).

Stay Innovative

Do your products have a lot of competition? In other words, are there other shops selling exactly what you sell? Then you need to delve back into product development and find out what customers are looking for. Therefore, if I sold cutting boards I would go over to Google autocomplete and type “cutting board that” “cutting board with” and “cutting board for” and see the searches that fill in. Some searches I found were:

Cutting board that catches juices
Cutting board that weighs what you cut
Cutting board with handle
Cutting board with recipe engraved
Cutting board for brisket
Cutting board for bread
Cutting board for sushi

I now have 7 new product ideas based on actual requests.

Gather Insight from Others’ Reviews

While you should definitely be reading your own reviews for insight into your products, you should also venture over to Amazon and read the reviews of your competitors’ products. Reading some reviews on wooden cutting boards, I found that people were unhappy when the board eventually split, the surface warped or it was too small. Things people raved about was when the board was easy to carry, didn’t take up much counter space and could be used for serving as well as chopping. Make sure your products have all the things customers want and none of the things they don’t.

Not sure why your products are not selling and need my advice? Try my Marketing Tune-Up. Are you an Etsy Shop? Check out my Etsy services.

Need a Business Idea? Simply Solve a Problem (Like These Companies Did)

August 6, 2014 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

I often see people trying desperately to come up with an idea for a business, but the easiest way is to simply solve a problem that people are having. It could be with a current product or service offering, or an offshoot of a problem with another product.

Hopefully some of these product ideas will inspire you.

Problem Solved: Cell Phone Off the Floor When Charging

small_business_ideas

Now this is not an expensive product, but it solves a definite problem. This cell phone holder ($8) from Solutions simply keeps your phone off the floor when you are charging it (why do they make the charger cords so short?). What would make this product better? If you could fold it up and stick in your purse to take with you.

Problem Solved: Make Brushing Teeth Fun For Kids

product idea for a small business

Anyone with kids knows how hard it is to get them to brush their teeth, so anytime you can take something that a child finds a chore and make it fun, you will have success. Tooth Paste Pete ($5) is just a cap that goes over the toothpaste tube and makes it instantly makes bedtime a lot easier.

Problem Solved: Small Dogs (and Fat Cats) Can’t Jump

There are so many issues that small dogs as well as older dogs have, and one of them is getting up onto high beds. This portable pet step from Collections Etc. ($15) offers a simple solution. Making it available in other stylish colors would make it even better.

Problem Solved: Being Seen When Biking at Night

These LED Spokelit Bicycle Lights ($11) are a great way to increase visibility and security when biking in the dark (still need a headlight!). Considering that cycling at night is a factor in nearly 50 percent of all cycling fatalities, it offers a solution to a very real problem.

Where to Find Product Inspiration

Look around you. What products are you dissatisfied with and why? Ask your friends, family and colleagues what types of products they are looking for and can’t find. Maybe even try reading the reviews of popular and top-selling products to see where they are missing the mark and you could possibly fill that void.

Need a New Product Idea? Try Revamping an Old One

June 16, 2014 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Want to know how to revamp old products?

If you are looking for a new product idea, sometimes the easiest way to find it, is to take a common everyday product we all use and make it even better.

One way to start is by reading review of current product offerings, and see what people like, dislike or wish the product had.

Then try reviewing my points below.

Revamping a Product

Let’s take soap for example. How do you improve upon soap? How to Revamp Old Products

Well, maybe you could:

make it last longer
smell better
clean better
look better
add some secret ingredient

OR you position it to a specific market segment: How to Revamp Old Products

soap for men
soap for kids
soap for sensitive skin
soap for dogs
soap for removing paint from hands

OR maybe it is how you package it: How to Revamp Old Products

a bar
a loaf
a ball
in a pump bottle
in cutout shapes
on a rope

New Product Ideas Checklist

So, simply take a current popular everyday product, and then answer these questions. How can I make it:

look better
taste better
smell better
sound better
feel better
function better
more interesting
more useful
more fun
solve a current problem with the product
combine two products in one

About Me

Do you need your Brand Story written or an SEO-Optimized Blog Post or a Personalized Business Consultation? As a 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are super affordable.

I have consulted for thousands of small businesses since 2012, and my advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, Yahoo Business, American Express, Big Commerce, Business2Community to name a few – so this is professional advice you can trust!

My Publicity Pitch service has also gotten my clients featured in Real Simple Magazine, Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Houzz, Martha Stewart, Glamour Magazine, LONNY, DesignMilk, Emmaline Bride,– just to name a few.

Why Quirky Products Always Sell

December 17, 2012 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

There are reasons why quirky products always sell.

Do you need some fresh inspiration when it come to creating new products? Do you also find that sometimes the right product is just quirky enough that it requires little marketing – that it will sell based solely on its own quirkiness?

I was at an online shop called Genuine Fred. They sell some unique items and are definitely the place to go when you need a gift for that hard-to-buy-for person. I went to a section on their site called “Top Sellers” because I was curious to see what people are buying these days. Here is what I found that may inspire your own unique product ideas.

Why Quirky Products Always Sell

Quirky Product #1

Their current top seller is actually a product I think is quirky but also practical, which doesn’t always happen. It is a Scratch off World Map Wall Poster. Every time you visit a country, you scratch it off the map the same way you do a scratch off lottery ticket. So now everywhere you’ve been is highlighted in red. Great gift for the world traveller, and anything that is a gift idea and quirky is always a big seller.

Quirky Product #2

Why Quirky Products Always Sell

Their next top seller is Hot Chocolate on a Stick. Since everything seems to be on a stick these days, I guess it makes sense. For $16 you get four cubes of Belgian Chocolate that you dunk into steaming milk. Not necessarily something I would buy for myself, but it could be one of those gifts you give a co-worker in a Christmas exchange. Definitely conversational.B

Why Do Quirky Products Sell?

The point I am trying to make is sometimes a product is so unique and unusual that people will buy it solely for that reason. It may not have a long product life cycle, especially when the novelty wears off, but it could make you a lot of money in a very short time. So are these ideas ingenious or just silly or both? Whatever they are, the lesson to be learned here is that quirky always sells and always get publicity. For example, I’m writing about it!

Be sure to visit my Shopify store to see my Products and Services for sale.

Be sure to also read New Ideas for Product Photography.

Tag: product ideas

187 New Product Ideas for 2023

Some of My Creative Product Ideas for 2023:

Easy Ways to Expand Your Product Line

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