Deep Dive into Product Selection: Three Abstract Problems and Solutions for Global Selling Beginners

Another self-reflection series. Full of nonsense, no干货! The abstract questions I asked as a beginner, and the same questions many beginners ask later.

Why Are These Questions Abstract?

Trying to reduce strategic business-level problems into simple execution questions. These questions are very common in the global selling space, and every time I see them I feel suffocated:

• "Please teach me! How to select products!"
• "How to drive traffic to independent stores?"
• "Expert, I heard advertising is simple and effective. Any tips? I keep losing money."
• "Can you mentor me?"

Why Do People Ask These Questions?

The core reason is probably that these beginners have limited workplace experience or life experience in general. They haven't truly engaged in or deeply participated in work that requires high collaboration and is somewhat formal and complex. Therefore, many complex problems become extremely simplified in their minds. Obviously complex strategic business problems that require various business capabilities to solve are easily reduced to simple, teachable execution questions.

In companies, we see a lot of department buck-passing. Doesn't this show that a business is completed through the tight collaboration of multiple business lines? Why, when you're doing it alone, do you have to pick one line and obsessively look for a magic pill?

In other words, this is clearly an open-ended research question, but they want to open the textbook and find the answer key or quickly copy from their deskmate.

Product selection, traffic, or advertising - each of these is closely linked and connected in the global selling business. You can't separate them and find a single answer. Even if you find one, it won't fit.

Let's Talk About Product Selection

Big companies spend millions on professional consulting to explore business opportunities. In your mind, it becomes one sentence in a free 500-person group: "Please share product selection tips."

There are plenty of "product selection" tutorials, guides, and shares online, including my own. But most beginners keep asking because in their minds, you must give them a formula, a product selection tool, so they can one-click select products, get a standard answer, and take off.

What Is Product Selection?

Let's think about what's behind or at the foundation of product selection.

Product selection is not a choice game or a simple multiple-choice question. Product selection is a deep exploration of business opportunities and down-to-earth efforts by an individual, a team, or a company. They go through countless battles and accumulation, stumbling, investing huge human and material resources to explore user needs, research user needs, develop products to meet those needs, and constantly refine products. Only then can they complete what you call the "product selection" phase.

Look at every company's product development meeting - people arguing fiercely. Look behind a successful viral product online - there are countless dead products you can't see, collapsed factories, and bankrupt new consumer brands.

Don't they understand product selection? Didn't they invest time and resources in researching product selection? Don't they know to ask in a group for 10 seconds or comment under a scammer blogger's video: "Please teach me how to select products?"

Isn't this pure nonsense?

What's Behind Product Selection?

Product selection isn't followed by instant takeoff. The reason you see many experts looking back and telling you product selection is so important - do you think they just wave their hand, select a small product, and lie down counting money?

Behind the expert and product selection is their and their team's choice and understanding based on products and business. More importantly, it's deep and continuous brand positioning research (brand and positioning), product optimization and supply chain optimization (product), independent store building and continuous operation (store building and operations), social media and SEO operations (content operations), influencer BD, affiliate marketing BD, and more channel BD (expanding traffic and channels), real money investment in advertising (media buying), and dozens of other business investments.

They failed several times, started over, and worked hard for half a year before looking back and sharing: "Product selection is really important!"

You don't really think they only did the product selection step, do you?

Why Is Product Selection Hard to Share?

Abstractly speaking, every individual has different growth experiences, education, and career experiences, leading to different understandings of product selection. And a team or company - how many rounds of investment and team and supply chain polishing did they go through to develop a product selection strategy suitable for their team?

You didn't graduate high school, what makes you think you can discuss research with PhDs in the lab? Are you sure you understand every word they say, and when you don't, you blame them for not sharing?

Practically speaking, when copy-paste has become the default play in this industry, tell me - when you find a good product or good product selection strategy, would you stupidly share it? Did a donkey kick your brain? Or, you weren't kicked, you simply think others would be stupid enough to share with you to copy and compete with you?

Product Selection Is a Mountain, But You Should Be a Hiker, Not a Distant Tourist

Product selection is an important factor in business success or failure, but it's definitely not a reason not to try. Many people righteously use product selection as an excuse not to continue trying. Ultimately, it's due to personal reasons: laziness, unwillingness to continue, cowardice, unwillingness to take risks, lack of learning ability, etc.

Advice for Beginners

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