Grocers and supermarkets carry staples that customers are always looking for. But how do you stand out among local competitors? This advantage can be achieved by providing trending products before your competitors do. Whether you are seeking seasonal updates or just trying to target early adopters among millennials and Gen Z shoppers, knowing where to find trending products for your store — and how to manage them effectively — can make all the difference.

How to Research Trending Products

There are several ways you can glean information from online resources that will help you identify potentially hot items.

Trend Research Tools and SEO Analytics

One great and easily accessible way to find trending products is by using the “People Also Ask” section. This section can show you the most-searched products on Google, checking Google Trends and researching’ insights with the help of popular SEO tools like this can be very helpful in getting an edge on your rivals.

When using the “People Also Ask” function, retailers are able to specify which products or categories of goods they want to analyze. The user can keep track of searchers’ interest in products over time and narrow down their interest in the product based on sub-categories and related topics and queries.

Another brilliant tool business owners can use to research trends is SE Ranking. This platform has a keyword research tool that simplifies the search for the most matching vital phrases and reports on rivals in the market. This way, you will evaluate the competitors’ performance in the niche of the chosen market and predict investments for online promotion.

In addition to SEO analytical approaches and exploring B2B or B2C online marketplaces, there is the opportunity for trend research with the help of niche blogs and retail reporting together with eCommerce statistical data. Useful sources include:

• Blogs: Trendhunter.com, Coolmaterial.com, Ecomhunt.com, Hiconsumption.com, Causeartist.com.
• Stat Sites: Mckinsey.com, Ibisworld.com, Fortunebusinessinsights.com, Psfk.com.

Online Marketplaces

Suppose you’re looking for non-food-related products that are trending to put in your grocery or supermarket (health and beauty items, for example). In that case, there are three leading platforms you can explore: Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.

• Amazon Suggest shows you keyword lists of popular SEO terms being used to find products. Amazon also has a tool called Movers and Shakers, which shows the most significant shifts in eCommerce shopping.
• You can use eBay Watch Count to find viral goods according to a specified keyword. There’s also eBay Export, which shows analytics and bestselling items from eBay’s eCommerce sales.
• Etsy offers unique and handmade items before they become trendy and hit the mass market. First, you can see the list of sections related to the category of your interest. If you want to explore a specific range of products, select the unit you need. For example, you could investigate scented candles or organic soaps to determine the latest popular fragrances or ingredients.

Social Media

Looking to get ahead of the search bots and SEO tools? Social media could be the way to do it. Influencers are paid to use social sites to show the newest and hottest products and make them trendy.

• YouTube: Many users present unboxing videos to showcase and review the latest releases and buzzworthy items.
• Reddit and Quora: Retailers can find brilliant responses to their burning questions here. Use the search box in Quora to find the answers for general requests or some special ones (such as, “what are the best non-toxic ingredients for DIY household cleaners?”).
• Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter: Hashtags such as #trendygoods or #trend2022 could help you spot the latest attention-getters. You can also look at trending topics, where you might get lucky, and find recipes or more that could spark sales. For example, TikTok has become a huge driver of viral food trends: in 2021, a popular recipe led to an increased demand for feta cheese that had grocers scrambling to stock it.

How to Manage Your New Products

Once you find trending products to put into your supermarket, what should you do next? Use the power of your grocery store or supermarket point of sale (POS) system to complete your hard work and get the products to consumers.

The right system can help you efficiently manage everything from ordering to marketing. For example, you could create the next trend by offering recipes and meal plans. Recipes create excitement and can increase basket size. Recipes can be managed by the Star-Plus Assemblies feature, which allows you to put multiple products into a “bundle” and sell them for a bundled price. That’s one of many ways your POS solution can help you utilize your new product inventory.

Manage Inventory of All Products

First, you will need to manage your ordering and vendors to get the trending products into your inventory management system. Keep an eye on the incoming and outgoing inventory of your existing and new products and see how demand fluctuates. Your inventory management should link up with analytics to produce reports that show the success of your new products once out on the market.

Omnichannel Selling

You used third-party selling platforms to find trending products, but that’s not where eCommerce stops. Get your hot products onto your eCommerce site as well as in-store. Pointy from Google is a great way to make your products visible online for your customers hungry for the latest trend, guiding them to your website or other online platforms and your brick-and-mortar locations. More touch points and views mean a higher likelihood of future purchases. Your eCommerce solution should automatically work with your automated inventory management, ordering, and analytics, so once you enter the product into the system, management runs on its own.

Split Your New Finds Across Multiple Locations

Once your products are inventoried and online, you’ll want to ensure they are distributed among all your store locations. Chain stores should have a system like Star-Link, which is built to handle multiple locations.

Different stores in a chain may acquire different customers with varying tastes. For instance, if a fruit or vegetable (say, avocado) becomes popular among a particular demographic (such as millennials), you may want to adjust your orders according to the stores where that group shops the most. City locations may see higher avocado sales as they likely have a higher millennial population. Robust inventory management solutions will give you the data you need to make these distribution decisions when you find trending products.

What Trending Products Can Mean for Your Supermarket

High levels of competition for online and in-store shoppers make it vital for grocers to stay on top of trending products. Traditional analytical approaches and the suggestions provided here will keep you updated with trending items and help you keep them in stock at all your stores, both online and in person.

Move forward with identifying, stocking, and selling trending products with a POS system from Auto-Star. Contact us today and put our decades of experience in inventory management to work for you.