How to Track Market Tends in Order to Spot New Products Early

Whether you own a brick-and-mortar store or a website, continuously finding new and interesting products is crucial for any store's success. Having a fresh line of products helps bring new customers in and keeps current customers coming back. What would be the point of returning to a store if they always carried the same thirty items? If you didn't like anything the first time, why bother going back? With so much competition it the retail arena, it's important that product sourcing is thought of as ongoing process, rather than something that is done just a couple times a year.

The key to effective buying is knowing and understanding your store's industry and its target market. Staying on top of industry trends and the newest products requires time and effort but, as a bonus, it can be fun too!

How to spot new products early

Years ago, before the age of the internet, retailers had a heck of a time finding the latest and greatest products, and relied heavily on distributors and manufacturer's reps to do the product sourcing for them. Luckily, today things are different. With the internet, you can find everything you need to keep your store stocked with the newest and most innovative items industry manufacturers have to offer.

Industry blogs - One of the best ways to find new products is by checking blog postings related to your industry. Popular bloggers constantly get new product submissions and then sift through them to highlight the ones they think are the most unique. If your product selection tends to be broad like "gadgets", you will find that there are a ton of popular blogs in this category and the bloggers love to be the first to find new products - making your work even easier. Once you have found several blogs that you like, subscribe to them and make it a daily or weekly habit to skim through the postings - this will be easy as most bloggers usually add a picture of any new product they're writing about.

Trade shows - Perusing the isles of an industry trade show gives you the opportunity sift through thousands of products in just one or two days. Many smaller manufacturers have booths at trade shows, giving you the chance to carry some unique and hard-to-find merchandise. Finding trade shows to attend is easy; there are plenty of websites, like BizTradeShows.com that let you search trade shows by both industry and location. You'll be surprised how many trade shows are going on within your industry!

Online searches - Of course, one of the easiest ways to find new products is by searching on Google, Yahoo! or MSN. Take a few minutes to brainstorm a list of possible product searches, like "newest dog toys", "hottest remote control cars", etc. and then begin your search. This method often takes a while, as you will be sifting through other retailer sites, press releases, etc. Be sure to keep in mind that a product you see may be new to you but might be years old and at the end of its product life cycle.

Trade websites and publications - Many manufacturers tend to advertise on websites and in publications within their industry. Do some searches for "your industry" and "trade industry" or "your industry" and "trade publications". Then, take a look at the classifieds and new product listings and take note of any new and interesting products.

Once you get on a regular product sourcing cycle, you'll find that finding new products gets much easier. You'll know what types of search terms work, what blogs seem dedicated to introducing new products and what trade magazines are rich with new product advertisements.