But there’s not. At least, not until today. 

Today, I’m going to give you five steps to conduct product research in Amazon’s British marketplace.

1. Evaluate sell price.

In our membership, we recommend that US marketplace sellers find a product that sells for at least $30. 

In the UK, however, premium pricing is much more important: our UK minimum suggested price is £25.

Why?

Sellers in the European marketplaces must include VAT—value added tax—in their product sell price. In order to better absorb that VAT and see strong profit margins, you’ll need a higher priced product.

Additionally, note that the UK is a much less consumer-driven economy than the US with less consumer demand. This means you may sell fewer products, thus those products need to create a greater profit margin on their own.   

2. Evaluate demand.

On Amazon.com, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of the same types of products. They’re (mostly) all just a little different from each other.

On Amazon.co.uk, customers neither need nor want that many different options for every single product. This means that you must assess demand cautiously, which you can do by scouting markets where:

• Three of the top products (priced at or above your goal sell price) generate at least £3,000 pounds or more each month, and/or

• Three of the top products (priced at or above your goal sell price) sell at least 200 units per month

You should also be aware of brand loyalty—as in when shoppers have less for your competitors, that is good for you. Aim to find markets where: 

• Less than half of the top selling products have the same brand name.
• There are no big brand names.
• At least five different brands sell 200+ units per month.

If there is a market for a certain product, you must also consider if there is enough demand that creating a new, differentiated version will give you a strong return on energy.

3. Evaluate differentiation opportunity.

Differentiation means to make your product different from and better than existing, similar products. 

It’s especially important where there is less demand (as in the UK) and fewer shoppers. Essentially, there is less opportunity to get a click and thus a conversion, so your product must be strong and stand out. 

You can evaluate differentiation opportunities for Amazon.co.uk the same way US sellers do: read existing products’ reviews. As you read, keep an eye out for:

• A problem with the product you can fix: this might be a different color or an adjusted functionality such as adding non-slip handles
• A way to improve the product: this might be longer battery life, material upgrades, etc.

In the case of differentiation, you should also read US reviews for your product type. Since the US has greater demand, you’re more likely to find high review counts full of customer complaints and wishes. 

That said, while the US has more differentiation data, UK product markets tend to be much easier to start in.

A lot of our criteria and how-tos for the UK mirror their US counterpart, but it’s not nearly so clear cut. This is why our Amazon FBA Mastery membership includes several lessons dedicated solely to selling in the UK, the European Union, other Amazon marketplaces, and even how to set up an Amazon seller account in a country you don’t live in or have nationality to…in addition to the rest of our comprehensive Amazon FBA tutorials. If you are dead set on changing your life, we can help.

4. Evaluate ease of market entry.

This metric tells us how easy it will be for a new seller with no sales history or reviews to sell in an existing market. We measure it with three aspects:

Low review acceptance: ask yourself, “Are there at least three sellers on page one of search results whose products have fewer than 100 reviews, but sell at least 200 units per month?”. If the answer is “yes” this suggests that customers do not need the social proof offered by reviews in order to make their purchase decision, which is great for a new listing with few to no reviews.

Number of top competitors: a top competitor sells 200+ units per month. A market with 25 top competitors is workable but still tricky. Markets where there are ten or fewer top sellers are much gentler options for new sellers. 

Price - Reviews - Sales snapshot: assessing these three items together gives us a strong, high-level overview of the market itself. Ideally, you want to find a market with an overall snapshot of a higher price, lower review numbers, and high sales. For instance, £60 - 48 - 360 tells us that that product sells for £60 per unit, has 48 reviews, and sells an average of 360 units per month, even at the higher price tag and low review count. 

Find the top five sellers in your prospective market and take their snapshots. If you see a similar pattern, that might indicate a relatively easy—and likely profitable—market to enter. 

5. Evaluate profitability.

Profitability is one of the most objective ways to analyze a potential market because it all boils down to numbers.

Essentially, we’re going to estimate what we could sell and make our product for, realistically, and then calculate to see if that prospective product is a good fit. 

In the UK, you should aim to find a product that you can make a 30% profit margin on after VAT (we walk you through how to account for VAT in our Amazon FBA Mastery membership). 

To do this we will need the product's:

• Manufacturing cost (per unit)
• International shipping cost (per unit)
• VAT fees
• Referral fees
• FBA fulfillment fees, which are informed by the product’s size and weight

Quick tip: you can keep your FBA fees minimal by scouting products that are less than 45 x 34 x 26 cm in dimension and 1.9 kg in outbound shipping weight. These metrics represent the Standard Price tier where your FBA fulfillment fees will fall under £4 (including the spring 2022 addition of a fuel and inflation surcharge). 

Add all of the costs and fees together, then subtract them from your goal sell price. What’s left over is your profit per unit. 

For example, this tripod sells for £35.99 (by the way, it’s not 40% off, that seller is using a cool listing hack).

It costs us £5 to manufacture + ship from China to the UK. 

Its VAT fees (19%) are £6.84.

Its referral fees are £5.51.

Its FBA fulfillment fees are £5.80.

Together, we’re paying £23.15 to get this tripod ready for customers to buy, leaving us with £12.84 in profits, or 35.68% profit margin 👍

Scouting products to sell in Amazon’s UK market follows the same principles as general product research and evaluation. However, like any global market, it comes with its own nuances. By understanding what your minimum criteria should be, you can tap into a cash rich product that can help you achieve a life of financial freedom. 

And if you want the full how-to on starting, launching, running, and even expanding your very own Amazon FBA store (from the UK, the US, or anywhere else), visit JOD.com/apply. You can set up a meeting with one of our staff who will help you decide if we are the right fit to help you achieve your goals.

Are you selling in the UK from the UK or elsewhere? Let me know in the comments.