I’m working on a new YouTube video on how to build an ecommerce business in 2026 (from $0-$1M).
(Subscribe here to get it when it comes out next week.)
I’m sharing the process I’ve outlined for picking a product to build a new ecommerce business in today’s newsletter.
If you’re starting a new business, read this full newsletter from top to bottom. If you already own a brand, then skim through the bolded parts, as you’ll find a few good reminders.
One product
Building an ecommerce business is not as complicated and doesn’t require as much money as you might think.
You really are only one product away from building a business that can replace or even double or triple your 9-to-5 income. You’re only one business exit away from completely changing your financial life forever.
Over the last few years, tons of ecommerce brands have skyrocketed, including Comfrt, Rhode, Maelys, Cuts, Blume, and Ridge Wallet.
One thing they all have in common is that they sell many products under their brand names.
However, you can build a $1M or even $5M business with just one product, one sales funnel, and one traffic source. (I’ll share exactly what product, what type of funnel, and what traffic source work best this year in the full YouTube video.)
I’ve personally built my own brand to over $50 million per year in under 7 years. We grew sales to $2.5 million in the first year and to $16 million in the second year with only one product, one funnel, and one traffic source, which I’ll show you today.
In this video, I’m going to explain, step-by-step, how to build a million-dollar ecommerce business that you could eventually sell for a life-changing amount of money.
Existing demand
If you want to build a million-dollar business (or more), you need a product that can easily sell millions of dollars per year.
Therefore, the first criterion for choosing a product to sell is that it already sells well. (There are two other important criteria I’ll share shortly.)
You could invent a totally new product, hoping for the best. But that’s way too risky and isn’t necessary.
It’s far easier, faster, and less risky to sell a product similar to those that already sell well.
In ecommerce, the easiest way to know if a product sells well is to look at Amazon. Amazon accounts for HALF of all ecommerce sales in the United States and a significant portion of online sales in other major markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan.
On Amazon, the easiest way to tell if a product sells well is to look at its Best Sellers Rank.
Open up any product page on Amazon and scroll down to the Product details section. Look for Best Sellers Rank. You want to look for the first category listed. That’s the biggest and broadest category for that product, and best sells you how well that product sells.
For example, this collagen product has a Best Sellers Rank of #301 in the Health & Household category. That means, out of the hundreds of thousands (and potentially millions) of health and household-related products on Amazon, this product is in the top 300. That means it sells A LOT.
To understand what that means in terms of # of units sold and the total dollar value of sales, you can use a free Amazon sales estimator tool like this one by Jungle Scout. At a rank of #301 in this category, this product sells an estimated 46,260 units per month. Multiply that by its selling price of around $39, and you get an estimated sales for this one product of $1.8 million per month.
To build a million-dollar (or better) business, look for a product that sells at least double your goal. That ensures there is enough demand for the product you want to sell and that you have room to expand.
So, you now know that you must sell products with plenty of existing demand, meaning proven sales volume…and you know how to figure that out for free for any product sold on Amazon.
How do you narrow the list of millions of potential products and dozens of categories you could explore for opportunities down into a manageable list?
Start with what you know.
You’re likely going to sell this product and build your brand for years. It’s so much more fun and rewarding to sell a product that you actually use yourself.
One of the first products I created my own brand of was a natural weight loss product. It got popularized because of the Dr Oz TV show. I jumped on the opportunity. It had quality ingredients and didn’t hurt anybody. But, I didn’t believe in the product…I didn’t think it actually worked and required making too many false promises. I made good amount of sales because I was in the right place at the right time. But I had a hard time really devoting myself to promoting and improving that product. I eventually shut that business down.
In contrast, I now own a healthy coffee company with products I use and love. I drink our coffee every day. I fully believe in our promises and the value of our product. My family drinks our products—and many are paying, happy customers. It’s been so much more fun and more profitable to build this business selling a product I believe in.
ONLY sell what you would buy yourself.
Being an actual user of your product gives you an advantage over everyone else who just sells products to make money.
To narrow the list of potential product categories to explore, start with the ones related to what you’re interested in.
Start by searching for “Amazon best sellers” on Google. Then, pull up this Amazon page with all the categories. Next, start opening up the ones you’re most interested in.
Scan through the first top 100 products and start building a list of ones related to what you already buy, your hobbies, your work, or other interests. You can also click through sub-categories on the left to dig deeper into more specific categories.
Take note of the main category (the first one you clicked on) and each product’s Best Sellers Rank within that category.
Aim to build a list of 15-20 opportunities.
Then, make sure each opportunity you find sells at least $2 million per year.
Now we have two of the three criteria for choosing a good product to build a million-dollar (or better) business. First is proven demand, and second is something you know.
The third and final criterion for choosing a product is to offer something unique to the marketplace.
When you enter an existing, likely crowded market, you can’t expect to win by selling the same thing as everyone else. Because you’re just starting out, your costs will likely be higher, so you can’t compete on price. You also don’t want to compete on price. The most proven way to make money in this business is by charging a premium price.
Therefore, you must offer something unique that’s not currently available. Fortunately, that’s easier than you may think.
All you do is start looking through the reviews of your top few opportunities. Look at the reviews of the product you found and the similar products that also sell well on Amazon.
Start reading reviews. Begin with 5-star reviews to see why people buy this product and what they like about it. Then, work your way down to 4-star, 3-star, 2-star, and even 1-star reviews. What are the most common complaints? Who is buying the product, and what are they buying it for?
You’ll quickly discover a gap. There’s something people want that doesn’t exist, or that could be better, that’s not being adequately offered by the existing products.
That’s your opportunity.
In 2011, four younger guys living in an apartment in Chicago realized that it was slightly humiliating and embarrassing to order pink-and-yellow flower-covered bathroom wipes for their bachelor pad. They saw an opportunity to take an existing, stale product—bathroom wipes—and tailor it to a big, underserved market—guys. Today, Dude Wipes generates hundreds of millions in sales, selling bathroom wipes for guys.
In our own business selling healthy coffee, we actually read OUR OWN reviews after we first started selling and realized that many customers loved that our coffee was low acid. Many drank coffee for decades until it started hurting their stomach due to the high acidity of most coffees. That gave us our unique angle. We put that in all of our ads and landing pages, and our sales took off.
When you combine your own knowledge of the market with the knowledge you’ll gain by reading a lot of reviews of the top-selling products available today, I guarantee that you can find something unique to offer the market with your version of any product you find.
3 criteria of a good product to build a $1M+ business
- Similar products sell at least $2M+ per year on Amazon
- You’re familiar with the market (ideally, you use similar products yourself)
- You can offer something unique that customers aren’t yet getting
How to find a supplier, create a funnel, and get traffic
Next week, I’m releasing a new YouTube video covering all 5 steps to build an ecommerce business in 2026 from $0-$1M.
Subscribe here on YouTube to get that video as soon as it’s released:
GET FREE ACCESSTo go deeper into the exact categories I most recommend you explore, click the link above and watch the video “The most underrated ecommerce category” (available now).
Talk soon,
Matt