How to Find Trending Products for Your Store

Finding a winning product isn't about getting lucky. It’s about building a repeatable system that works. A solid, modern product research process is built on three core pillars: tapping into social signals, analyzing real marketplace data, and tracking actual sales momentum. This approach takes you from a wide-angle view of what's out there to a close-up, validated product choice, saving you a ton of guesswork and cash.

Your Framework for Finding Winning Products

Chasing "hot" products without a clear strategy is a fast way to burn through your ad budget and get stuck with inventory nobody wants. The real goal is to create a reliable framework that helps you spot genuine trends before they're completely saturated. Forget about guessing what might sell; you need to learn how to identify concrete signals that point to real, sustainable demand.

This system is all about moving from broad exploration to focused validation. We'll start in the fast-paced, creative world of social media, where new interests pop up every single day. From there, we’ll shift over to established marketplaces to confirm that people are actually willing to pull out their wallets for these new product ideas.

The Three Pillars of Product Trend Discovery

A successful discovery process pulls together insights from different places to build the full picture. Think of it like a puzzle—each pillar gives you a unique and essential piece.

To make this crystal clear, here's how these three pillars work together:

Each pillar builds on the last, giving you a layered validation process. You start with the spark of an idea on social, confirm its commercial potential on marketplaces, and then get the final green light by seeing real, consistent sales.

By layering these three data sources, you move beyond simple trend-spotting. You're actually building a repeatable workflow that systematically de-risks your product choices. It gives you the confidence to invest in items that have proven potential and a clear path to becoming profitable.

Spotting Viral Demand on Social Media

Forget marketplaces for a moment. The real birthplace of today's biggest trends isn't some curated "Best Sellers" list. It's the chaotic, unfiltered, and incredibly powerful world of social media. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have essentially become massive, real-time focus groups where you can see what people are genuinely excited about long before it ever hits a store shelf. This is where the initial spark of demand ignites.

To find trending products here, you have to shift your mindset from a casual user to an active researcher. You're not just scrolling for fun; you’re hunting for patterns, emotions, and problems that products are solving right now.

Decoding Social Proof and Engagement

The story of a product's potential is written in the comments and shares. When you stumble upon a video of a simple kitchen gadget or a unique skincare item, don’t get distracted by the view count. The real gold is buried in the user reactions.

Keep an eye out for specific phrases that scream "buy now!":

• "Where can I buy this?" This is the most direct buying signal you could ever ask for.

• "I need this in my life!" This signals a deep emotional connection, not just a passing curiosity.

• "This would solve [specific problem]." Users are literally handing you the perfect marketing angle on a silver platter.

• Tagging friends: You're witnessing organic, word-of-mouth marketing in action. It shows the product is shareable and has broad appeal.

Honestly, this kind of qualitative data is often way more valuable than raw numbers. A video with 100,000 views and thousands of comments asking for a purchase link is a much stronger bet than a video with a million views filled with generic "lol" comments.

Using TikTok Creative Center and Ad Spy Tools

While organic content shows you the initial spark of interest, paid advertising shows you where the money is actually flowing. When you see a company pouring thousands into TikTok ads for a product, it's a huge sign they have data proving it’s a winner. This is where ad spy tools become your secret weapon.

The TikTok Creative Center is a decent place to start. You can filter top-performing ads by country, industry, and objective to get a bird's-eye view of what's working. It’s great for seeing which ad formats and product categories are hot right now.

But if you want to get serious, a dedicated TikTok ad spy tool like the one inside WinningHunter is a game-changer. It lets you see the exact ads your competitors are running, who they're targeting, and the engagement on those creatives. You can quickly spot products being advertised consistently at scale—a clear signal of a validated, profitable trend.

Pro Tip: Look for ads that have been running for more than a week with consistently high engagement. This is a tell-tale sign that the advertiser is getting a positive return and is scaling up, confirming the product has real market viability.

The Power of Hashtag Analysis

Think of hashtags as the filing system for social media. They group conversations and interests into searchable buckets, helping you go from finding a single product to understanding the entire niche it lives in. For a solid primer on this, check out this guide on how to find trending hashtags.

When a promising product catches your eye, don't stop there. Dig into the related hashtags to get the full picture.

• Broad Hashtags (#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, #AmazonFinds): These are fantastic for initial discovery and seeing what’s bubbling up into the mainstream.

• Niche-Specific Hashtags (#SkincareHacks, #GadgetGoals): These help you understand your target audience and the specific pain points they’re trying to solve.

• Product-Specific Hashtags (#StanleyCup, #WalkingPad): Tracking these shows you the volume of user-generated content and organic buzz a product is creating all on its own.

The link between social media virality and search engine demand is undeniable. For example, toe spacers saw a massive 400% increase in search volume over five years as related TikTok videos racked up over 2.5 billion views. It’s the same story with ADHD supplements, which saw a mind-blowing 1,011% growth in searches over the same period. Social buzz directly translates into people actively looking to buy.

Analyzing Marketplaces for Proven Sellers

Social media is where you spot the spark of a new trend, but marketplaces like Amazon are where you find the fire. A viral TikTok might show you what’s grabbing attention for a minute, but hard marketplace data shows you what people are actually spending their money on, day in and day out. This is where we shift from "what's cool" to "what sells," validating a product's commercial potential before you sink a dime into it.

Think of it this way: you're mining for consumer behavior. By digging into best-seller lists and sales data, you can uncover products with established, consistent demand. It's the most effective way to de-risk your investment from the very beginning.

Unpacking Amazon's Treasure Trove of Data

Amazon isn't just a retail giant; it’s one of the most powerful product research tools on the planet. The platform offers up a real-time snapshot of consumer buying habits for free, and knowing how to read these signals is a massive advantage.

Here's a quick look at the most valuable lists and what they actually mean for your product search:

• Best Sellers: Updated hourly, this shows the top 100 selling items in every category. If a product lives here, it has proven, sustained demand. This is your go-to for finding evergreen niches.

• Movers & Shakers: This is all about momentum. It tracks products with the biggest sales rank jumps in the last 24 hours. A product shooting up this list could be a rising trend you can get in on early.

• New Releases: This list highlights the hottest new products hitting the market. It’s perfect for seeing which new arrivals are gaining immediate traction with customers.

Sometimes, a great starting point is simply looking at what’s already popular on a global scale. You can gain some incredible insights by understanding what products are being exported from major manufacturing hubs. For a broader perspective, it's worth checking out data on the most in-demand top product categories to source from China.

Reading Between the Lines of Product Listings

Finding a best-seller is just the first step. The real magic happens when you start digging into the listings themselves to see why something is selling—and how you could do it better.

Start with the customer reviews. I'm not kidding, this is gold. What do people absolutely love? More importantly, what are their biggest complaints? These reviews are a direct line into the customer's brain, telling you exactly what pain points you can solve. For example, if you see dozens of reviews for a best-selling coffee grinder all saying it's too loud, you've just found your angle: find a quieter one and market it as the "whisper-quiet morning solution."

By analyzing customer feedback, you can identify market gaps even within a saturated niche. A product with high demand but mediocre reviews is a golden opportunity for a new seller to enter with a superior version or better marketing.

To give you an idea, a quick scan of Amazon's Best Sellers list often reveals items like surge protectors, acne patches, insulated tumblers, and gaming headsets. Their consistent appearance isn't an accident; it shows strong, ongoing demand across different types of buyers.

Marketplace Signal Analysis

Understanding what each marketplace list signifies is key to extracting actionable insights. This table breaks down what to look for and what it means for your strategy.

Each list gives you a different piece of the puzzle. By combining insights from all three, you can build a much clearer picture of a product's true potential.

Gauging Competition and Finding Your Angle

Okay, so you've found a promising product. Now it's time to size up the competition. How many sellers are there? Are they big brands or smaller shops like yours? Lots of competition isn't necessarily a dealbreaker—it just proves a market exists. The real question is, how can you stand out?

Look for their weaknesses. Are their product photos blurry or uninspired? Is the listing copy full of typos? Is their pricing all over the place? Every one of these is an opening for you to create a superior customer experience.

You can also go a step further and track their performance directly. Using a tool like a Shopify sales tracker gives you an inside look at a competitor's actual sales volume and velocity. This kind of data takes the guesswork out of the equation, confirming whether a niche really has enough demand to support a new player. It's how you turn raw data into a real strategic advantage.

Getting Real: Validating Trends with Sales and Ad Data

An idea that pops up on social media or a marketplace is a good starting point, but that's all it is—a start. If you want to find trending products that actually make you money, you have to move past potential and get to the proof. This is where the real work begins, using cold, hard data from sales and advertising to confirm a product isn't just a flash in the pan.

This validation stage really boils down to two things: figuring out a product's sales velocity and decoding what your competitors are spending on ads. When you put those two pieces together, you get solid evidence of real consumer demand and market viability. It’s how you de-risk your decision before you invest a dime.

Monitoring Daily Sales for Concrete Proof of Demand

At the end of the day, the ultimate sign of a winning product is simple: people are consistently buying it. While a best-seller list gives you a nice overview, nothing beats tracking the daily sales of a specific product on a competitor's store. That’s how you see the undeniable proof of its momentum.

So, what does a healthy sales graph for a trending product actually look like?

• Consistent daily revenue: You're looking for steady, predictable sales, not just a few random spikes. A product pulling in $500-$1,000 per day consistently is a far safer bet than one that hit $10,000 once and then flatlined.

• Upward trajectory: Is the daily revenue slowly but surely climbing? This is a great indicator of growing interest and a trend that still has legs.

• Resilience: Does the product keep selling even after a viral video has died down? This is what separates a sustainable seller from a fleeting fad.

Tools that track Shopify store sales are absolute gold here. They let you peek behind the curtain to see the actual revenue a product is generating. If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, our guide on easy ways to track a Shopify store's sales volume breaks down several methods you can start using right away. This kind of granular data is what helps you spot a genuine winner.

Interpreting Sales Graphs to Identify Sustainable Trends

Not all sales patterns tell the same story. Learning to read a sales graph is a skill in itself—it tells you everything about a product’s journey and where it's likely headed. A sudden, vertical spike followed by an equally dramatic crash usually points to a short-lived fad, probably kicked off by a single viral moment. You might be able to catch the tail end of it, but it’s a huge gamble.

What you really want to find is a "stair-step" growth pattern. This is where you see sales climb, hold steady for a bit, and then climb again to a new plateau. This pattern suggests a product is building real traction, creating a loyal customer base, and showing sustainable demand. It tells you the product is either solving a real problem or tapping into a broader lifestyle shift, giving it much better long-term potential.

Keeping an eye on sales growth across major platforms like Shopify gives you a powerful macro view. For instance, recent Shopify data showed huge surges in certain niches, with instant coffee sales jumping 1,339%, wall tiles by 1,322%, and satchel bags by 831%. These aren't just random numbers; they point to bigger consumer trends. You can see more of these product trends directly from Shopify's findings. By combining this broad category data with your specific product sales tracking, you get the full picture.

A product with a strong, upward-trending sales graph is your ultimate green light. It’s direct evidence that customers are voting with their wallets, which is the most reliable validation metric you can find.

Why Analyzing Competitor Ad Spend is a Game Changer

If tracking sales tells you what is selling, analyzing ad data tells you why. When you see a competitor consistently pouring serious money into ads for a specific product, it’s one of the most powerful signals you can get. They aren't spending thousands of dollars for fun; they're doing it because the product is making them a profit.

Think about it for a second. They've already spent the money to test the product, find the right audience, and nail the ad creative. You get to benefit from all their expensive research. This kind of intelligence lets you piggyback on their work, saving you a ton of time and ad spend. It's basically a cheat sheet for market viability.

Here are the signals to look for in their advertising:

1. Longevity: Has the same ad been running for weeks, or even months? That’s a dead giveaway that it's profitable. Unprofitable ads get shut down fast.

2. Scale: Are they running multiple ad creatives for the same product across different platforms? This means they're scaling up, confident they have a winner.

3. Engagement: Are the ads getting tons of comments, shares, and positive reactions? This confirms their marketing angle is hitting the mark with the target audience.

By keeping an eye on these ad trends, you can confidently pick products that already have a proven track record. It’s the smartest way to enter a market—armed with the knowledge that someone else has already paved the way and confirmed there’s money to be made. This is how you stop guessing and start making data-driven decisions that actually lead to success.

Building Your Product Research Workflow

All the theory in the world doesn't mean much without a repeatable process to back it up. So, let's tie everything together into a practical workflow you can use right now to find, validate, and launch your next trending product. This isn't just about a few clever tactics; it's about building a system that takes you from a fuzzy idea to a confident launch.

Think of this workflow as your playbook. It stops you from chasing every shiny new thing and forces you to systematically vet each potential product against real-world data. Following these steps helps you connect the dots between what’s buzzing on social media, what people are actually buying, and what’s making other stores money.

Start with Broad Discovery

Your hunt begins where trends often spark to life: on massive platforms like AliExpress or deep in your social media feeds. The goal here is not to find "the one" right away. Instead, you're casting a wide net to gather a handful of interesting ideas.

On AliExpress, poke around in the "Top Selling" or "Trending Products" sections. I always look for items with a solid number of orders—over 1,000 is a good baseline—and a healthy amount of positive reviews. Keep an eye out for products that seem genuinely unique or solve a common problem in a new way.

Let's say you stumble upon a "portable smoothie blender." Looks interesting, but is it a real trend? For now, just add it to your list. The key at this stage is to collect a few potential contenders without getting emotionally invested in any of them.

Look for Social Proof and Organic Buzz

With a few product ideas noted down, it's time to head over to social media, especially TikTok. A product can have a million orders on AliExpress, but if no one is talking about it, you're going to have a hard time creating any marketing momentum. You're searching for existing social proof.

Try searching for your product with relevant keywords, like "#portablesmoothieblender" or "#blenderbottle." You're looking for videos with real engagement—I'm talking about comments and shares, not just empty views. Are people in the comments dropping things like, "I need this!" or "Where can I buy one?" That's the organic demand signal you want to see.

A complete lack of social media presence is a major red flag. It usually means either the demand isn't there or creating engaging marketing content for it will be a nightmare. Better to know that now.

Cross-Reference Against Marketplace Data

Social hype is exciting, but you need to confirm that people are actually pulling out their wallets for this kind of product. That's where a marketplace behemoth like Amazon comes in. Your goal is to see if the niche has any real commercial depth.

Search for "portable blender" on Amazon and start digging into the results.

• Are there multiple sellers with thousands of positive reviews? This is a great sign of a healthy, established market.

• Check the "Best Sellers Rank" (BSR) on a few of the top listings. A lower BSR (say, under 10,000 in a huge category like Home & Kitchen) points to strong, consistent sales.

• Read the negative reviews. This is gold. Customers will tell you exactly what they hate about the current options, giving you a clear angle to differentiate your product. Maybe every other blender has terrible battery life—that’s your opening.

This step is crucial for validating that the buzz you saw on TikTok translates into actual purchases.

Monitor Real-Time Sales Performance

Okay, now for the moment of truth. Using a tool like WinningHunter's Sales Tracker, you can find a few competitor Shopify stores selling that portable blender and start tracking their daily sales. This shifts your research from historical data to what's happening right now.

You want to see consistent daily revenue, not just a single spike from a viral video that fizzled out. A product that’s reliably pulling in $500+ per day for a competitor is a very strong indicator that you’ve found a sustainable trend. This is the final green light, confirming the product has ongoing, profitable demand.

This flow chart breaks down the core idea: moving from early sales signals to confirming market demand through actual ad investment and consumer interest.

Essentially, seeing consistent sales performance gives you the confidence to invest in your own ads, which in turn captures and proves that broader market demand exists.

Get Ready to Launch

Once a product has made it through all your validation checks, the final piece is preparing for a smooth launch. WinningHunter’s toolkit can seriously speed this up. The product importer can pull that portable blender directly into your Shopify store in just a couple of clicks.

Next, fire up the Magic AI feature to generate some high-converting product descriptions and ad copy. It analyzes top-performing competitor pages and ads to create optimized content for you, which can save hours of tedious writing.

Finally, use the TikTok Creative Center tool to find successful ad creatives for similar products. This gives you proven concepts to model your first test ads after, giving you a much stronger shot at success right out of the gate.

Common Questions About Finding Trending Products

Even with the best tools and a solid game plan, you're going to have questions. It’s part of the process. How do you know if you’ve found a real trend or just a flash-in-the-pan fad? When does a little healthy competition cross the line into a completely saturated market?

And maybe the most important question of all: what do you actually do once you think you’ve found a winner? Let's dig into the questions I hear most often from other sellers.

How Do I Tell a Trend from a Fad?

Ah, the million-dollar question. Nailing this is what separates the pros from the people who lose money on fidget spinners five years too late. A trend has staying power because it solves a real problem or fits into a larger lifestyle change. A fad, on the other hand, is all about novelty. It explodes onto the scene and disappears just as quickly.

Here’s how to spot the difference in the wild:

• Check the History: Pop your product idea into Google Trends and set the timeframe to the last 12-24 months. A trend shows a steady, gradual climb. A fad looks like a single, sharp mountain peak with a steep drop-off on the other side.

• Listen to Customers: Go read reviews on Amazon, AliExpress, wherever the product is being sold. Are people talking about how it makes their life easier or better? That’s a great sign of a trend. If the comments are all just, "Haha, this is so weird and fun!"—you’re probably looking at a fad.

• Watch the Sales Velocity: This is where a sales tracker is indispensable. A trend will show consistent, reliable daily sales. It might plateau for a bit, but then it starts climbing again. A fad has one absolutely massive week and then sales fall off a cliff.

How Much Competition Is Too Much?

Honestly, a little competition is a good thing. It proves there's money to be made. But jumping into an oversaturated market is a fast track to burning through your ad budget with nothing to show for it.

You’ve hit the "too much competition" mark when the first page of Google is all big-box retailers and household names. Another huge red flag is when you see thousands of dropshippers selling the exact same product with the exact same stock photos from the supplier.

The sweet spot is finding a product with proven demand where you can clearly do a better job. Look for markets where the top sellers have blurry photos, lazy product descriptions, or reviews full of complaints about the same fixable issue.

If the current market leaders look like they're phoning it in, that's your invitation to dominate. You can win with better branding, a clever marketing angle, or by niching down to a specific audience the big guys are ignoring. The goal isn’t zero competition; it’s finding a fight you can actually win.

What Should I Do After I Find a Product?

Finding the product is just step one. Don't immediately dump thousands into inventory. The next phase is all about careful, deliberate testing. Rushing this is probably the single biggest mistake new sellers make.

First, order samples right away. You have to see, touch, and use the product for yourself. No matter how great the videos look, you can't build a real brand on something you wouldn't be proud to sell.

Once you’ve confirmed the quality is there, build out a killer product page with great photos and persuasive copy. Then, it's time to test the waters with a small, focused ad campaign on a platform like TikTok or Facebook. The goal here is collecting data, not making a profit. Seriously, keep the initial budget low.

Watch your key metrics like a hawk: click-through rates, add-to-carts, and your initial conversion rate. If the numbers look good and people are biting, then you can start scaling with confidence because you're basing your decisions on real customer behavior, not just a hunch.

Ready to stop guessing and start finding winners with a data-driven workflow? WinningHunter provides the all-in-one toolkit to discover, validate, and launch trending products faster. With our ad spy tools, sales tracker, and AI-powered features, you can cut your research time and build a more profitable ecommerce store. Explore WinningHunter and see how it works.