Summary
This is a module in the eCom Elites course called Module 2, Sourcing Products & Research. The previous module looked at store creation, whereas this module looks at the most important aspect to finding winning products, sourcing products.
This training has been updated for 2019 and includes 20 videos including bonus content such as Franklin's 6 figure product, ideas from television commercials and spying on competitors.
Video 1: Sourcing Products (Start Here)
The first video in this module is also the most important (in my opinion) and will give you a solid understanding of what you can expect from this module. As you've probably seen by now, there's over 4 hours of pure value in this section. While other courses struggle with this topic, Franklin does it very well.
This is primarily a course that focuses on Aliexpress, a China based platform with over a billion products. If you're looking for US dropshippers then you'll need to do your own research or join a platform such as Salehoo.
The main reason eCom Elites looks at Chinese dropshippers is the low barriers to entry. You don't need to be a US citizen, you don't need to be a company (you can be a sole trader) and you definitely don't need to invest lots of money to get a reseller ID or wholesale account.
Anyone can use Aliexpress for free and Franklin shows you how to find the best suppliers using various techniques such as those that use ePacket (fast shipping to US, UK etc) among other methods.
This first video goes into lots of detail on the Aliexpress platform.
The first video was:14 minutes. Updated: 2019
Video 2: Finding Suppliers & Relationships
This video expands on the first video in the module and shows you real life examples of products you could potentially sell. Most of these products are low ticket, minimal risk. If you're looking for a high ticket course then you might be better looking for another course such as eCommerce Paradise.
This video then uses an interactive whiteboard to give you a run down on the things to look for when finding suppliers and how to go about contacting them.
This video was 14 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 3: Product Research Overview
This is the longest video in the module and involves Franklin standing in front of the whiteboard in his house explaining everything about product research.
This involves testing techniques, how to find good images and videos to run ads for products. It then goes on to show you how to select winning products, ones that solves problems, ones that sell well and ones that you are passionate about.
What you're passionate about might not necessarily be what others are passionate about so focus on problem solvers first and foremost and you'll be onto a good idea.
This video was 34 minutes. Updated: 2017.
Video 4: Finding Products To Sell
This module goes into real life examples by showing you good and bad examples of products you could sell or should clearly avoid. It then also shows you how to target specific niches or interests such as Fishing, Camping.
This is accompanied by real life examples with Franklin showing you the screen for his computer where he is using Aliexpress and finding potential winning products.
He looks at many products, selecting two products that could be a good fit for a new store.
This video was 30 minutes. Updated: 2017.
Video 5: Product Sales Volume Pt.1
This video looks at a product sales volume chart that was created by Franklin Hatchett and shows you how much you need to sell to make serious money. Just because you're selling a cheap product doesn't mean you'll get more sales so focusing on a mid ranged product can be more beneficial to you.
The volume chart looks at selling prices from $9.99 to $39.99 and different profit margins.
This video was 9 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 6: Product Sales Volume Pt.2
This video expands on the first video above and goes through real life products showing you what he means by the product sales volume. A lot of the products mentioned have been found using Intelligyence which is a premium tool for finding winning products.
This video was 19 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 7: Using Wanelo For Research
One of the biggest online communities of shoppers worldwide is called Wanelo.com and it's the perfect resource for finding trending and winning products that are selling well for other people.
The website claims to be the world's biggest shopping mall, but you don't actually buy anything from this site. It links out to third party stores on sites such as Aliexpress. Instead users share interesting products with each other. That's great for you, as you can find hot new trends instantly..for free.
Franklin shows you how to use the platform correctly.
This video was 20 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 8: Using Wish.com For Research
Similarly to Wanelo, Wish.com is an online eCommerce platform that facilitates transactions between buyers and sellers worldwide. They claim to have over 500 million users who've used the platform to buy everything you could ever imagine.
Most of the vendors on the platform are from China and this allows you to find trending products, thanks to the 'X amount of people have bought this' statistic on each product.
You'll need a free account to start hunting for products but you'll be able to see new arrivals, newly trending and what other people are buying in real time. This is a great platform for product research.
This video was 3 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 9: Quick Product Research
This video includes a premium tool called Intelligyence which costs $29 per month or $149 per year.
You can use this tool to find products on Aliexpress that are being sold by other Shopify stores, what's working and what's trending. You can also use it as a much easier way of searching their inventory of products.
After using the tool as recommended by Franklin I did a full review here.
This video was 13 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 10: Spying on Stores
Franklin shows you how you can spy on other stores by using a quick trick to find any Shopify store located on the internet. There are other platforms out there where you can buy access to all Shopify stores but his site: trick seems to do the trick for most people.
This video was 6 minutes. Updated: 2017.
Video 11: Facebook Product Research
It's a nifty new trick that Facebook actually implemented themselves which allows you to navigate to the brand's Facebook page and actually view in real time all their ads.
You can see what's working for them, what product's their promoting and then get product ideas yourself.
This video was 2 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 12: Mind Maps For Ideas
If you're a visual learner then you can use a mind mapping software recommended by Franklin to create different niches and sub niches which can help you find products you could potentially target.
For me, personally I'm not so I found this video was irrelevant to me, but I could see how it could be very handy to you if that's what you like to do. Franklin focuses on 'Hunting.'
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This video was 11 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 13: Perfect Product Doesn’t Exist
Franklin has put this video in to stop you from choosing products that you love, whereas you should be finding products that solve problems and are trending. The perfect product probably doesn't exist, but you can make any product work (within reason).
Real life examples from students in his course are included showing the average person giving up after choosing the wrong products. Pick products that others would buy, not what you would buy.
This video was 11 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 14: Pricing Your Products
You get an entire video on the different types of pricing you could choose for your products. Franklin goes through these all in detail such as what to charge, gross and net profits.
He also covers how to add upsells and cross-sells as well as additional email upsells.
This video was 14 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 15: Top 5 Broad Niches
This module includes five ideas you could start right away that are always trending or problem solvers.
I'm not going to saturate the content included here so you'll need to purchase a premium subscription to find out what these five broad niches really are.
Hatchett goes into detail on each one, why they are good and so on.
This video was 10 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 16: (Bonus) The Lazy Way
Despite being the lazy way, you probably shouldn't use this as your only product research method. Instead you should focus on some of the other methods mentioned too.
This method involves looking at the Aliexpress Top Selling category and picking products. It's likely most of these products are already quite saturated though so it probably wouldn't work too well.
This video was 6 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 17: (Bonus) My 6 Figure Product
Franklin was a successful dropshipper and created numerous 6 figure stores. One of these is included in the course and rather than spoil the content for those that have purchased the course already, you'll need to buy the course to find out what his product was.
However he clearly shows the product page, examples of his Shopify dashboard and then goes on to tell us why this product was so successful. You get access to his Facebook video ads and Facebook dashboard.
The example is from 2017, it would be great if he had a newer example however it clearly shows you how you can find a profitable product from trending items.
This video was 18 minutes. Updated: 2017.
Video 18: (Bonus) Ideas From Websites For Sale
In this video you'll learn about different websites you can use to find successful stores and then find their winning products. From here you could either copy them or find something similar.
One of the websites mentioned includes Flippa.com which is a great platform for finding successful stores. Franklin shows us real products from real stores and then goes and finds similar ones on Aliexpress and compares the differences in sales and cost prices.
This video was 5 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 19: (Bonus) As Seen On TV
One of the best ways to find new products is on television. If you've been watching one of the shows at home, you can make a note of the product and then head home and look for it or something similar on Aliexpress.
Hatchett also uses asseenontv.com to give you a full run down on products they are selling that you can pick up on Aliexpress for much less.
It's a great way to find products to sell for your store.
This video was 6 minutes. Updated: 2019.
Video 20: (Bonus) Ideas From Flippa
This video is the exact same as video 18 and I'm unsure why it's included twice.
This video was 5 minutes. Updated: 2019.
My Final Verdict
I enjoyed the content offered in module 2 of eCom Elites. It's obvious to me that Franklin knows his stuff and I recommend listening to all the videos rather than going for the bonus lazy mans approach to sourcing products.
The 19 videos provide a good insight into finding products that potentially could make money with a bit of research and correct advertising which we'll learn in later modules.
Franklin will show you:
- Use various tools and websites to find potential products
- How to use Aliexpress to find good suppliers and vendors
- Choosing a selling price for your products
- Using communities such as Wanelo and Wish.com
- Using paid tools such as Intelligyence and Sell The Trend
- Using Facebook research tools
- A real life case study of his 100k product launch
- Using sites such as Flippa and As Seen On TV.