Were the Best Things to Sell Online Different in April 2020 vs. April 2019?

The DealNews Seller's Guide

2020 was far from a "normal" year, so we compared the shopping trends of our readers from both April of last year and April 2019. Our deep dive could help you decide what to sell this April — and what to sell at a later date.

The pandemic appeared to influence consumer buying decisions last April, and it's hard to say what this April will look like exactly. Are you trying to decide on items to list in April 2021? Then you may want to consider the shopping trends of DealNews readers from both April 2020 and 2019. After all, consumers' priorities last year may not be the ones they'd have in a typical year.

We'll compare these two months, plus look at items you may want to sell later in 2021. That should give you a full picture of what to list — and not list — in April.

So how did April 2019 and April 2020 compare? Were the best things to sell online different during those two months?

Let's begin with the items that were popular with DealNews readers in April 2020. They included grills, indoor and outdoor storage products, Mother's Day gifts, and outdoor recreation items. Also big draws were lawn and garden products, home office items, footwear, outdoor furniture, and power tools.

Now let's compare that with the notable items that were popular with our readers in our April 2019. They included men's shirts, among them polo shirts and T-shirts, plus refurbished electronics and other secondhand items. Other trending products were both smart and non-smart watches, laptops, Bose headphones, and home improvement items like ladders, air filters, and Lowe's gift cards.

Now you could make the argument that laptops count as a home office product. But popular home office items were more furniture products than electronics in April 2020. One area of overlap we did see in April 2019 and 2020 was in storage and organization products. Popular April 2019 products included hose storage and closet organizer systems, though not the trendy sheds of 2020.

Both months also featured popular power tool offerings. That meant products like sliding miter saws in April 2019. It appears that home improvement products should still be a safe bet for sellers this April, given the power tool and storage overlaps, plus the appearance of home improvement items in April 2019.

Footwear and bikes should be safe bets, as well. Those are two other areas where we noticed overlap in April 2019 and April 2020. It's also worth looking into headphones, as Bose products seemed to be trending during these times. And note that readers gravitated toward Apple offerings in April 2019 and April 2020, as well. Popular items in 2019 were the Apple Watch Series 3 and refurbished iPhone 8; in 2020 it was the newly released second-generation iPhone SE.

Now that we've compared the popular items of April 2019 and 2020, let's talk about what NOT to sell in April 2021.

Not every item will be great to sell this April, after all. We expect consumers to purchase more of the following products later in 2021, based on our shopping trends. So you may want to wait on these if you're weighing which items to list.

We'll begin with computers, which we think are better to sell in June or later.

We expect laptops and other computers to be bigger sellers beginning in June, when people start thinking about products for school. Back to School sales really tend to ramp up in August, especially.

Next up are TVs. Maybe wait until July to go full steam ahead if you're listing larger electronics like these.

TVs seemed to be a big draw for our readers in July 2020, especially 58-inch and 65-inch 4K smart sets from Samsung.

One more product to sell later is shorts and other summer clothes. Consider selling these in July.

Summer is in full swing come July, and based on last year's popular offerings, it seems like that's when our readers will be ready to buy shorts, T-shirts, and other summer clothes.

That's all for this edition of the DealNews Seller's Guide. If you liked what you heard, be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss a new one. And if you want to learn how you can turbocharge your Marketplace revenue and gain access to the exclusive DealNews traffic network, head to advertise.DealNews.com, or send an email to [e-mail].

Thanks for listening!

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