18 High-Demand UK Products for 2024 and Beyond (+ How to Sell Them Online)
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Table of Contents
** Minutes
18 UK high-demand trending products and niches of 2024
Tips for finding and selling high-demand products
6 products and niches of 2022 & 2023
With the rise of social selling on platforms like TikTok Shop and fast shipping via retail giants like Amazon and Walmart, consumers are shopping online more now than ever before.
Trends ebb and flow, so if you’re looking to start an online business to ride the ecommerce wave or add new products to your existing store, you might be wondering what is “in” for 2024.
We’ve rounded up some of the trendiest products that will be in high demand this year.
In this post, we’ll explore which items are in high demand and how you can take advantage of today’s most popular products by offering them in your online store.
18 UK high-demand trending products and niches of 2024
Unless you’re running a marketplace, your ecommerce business will likely focus on niche products. Whether it’s supplements, clothing, beauty and wellness products, food, or something else, people who visit your ecommerce store should know what types of products you sell as soon as they land on your site.
Not sure what type of business to start, or which products can help increase your market share? Here’s our list of the top-selling products for 2024 and how we think they’ll perform this year.
1. Clothing
The average UK family spends upwards of £77 on clothes every month. More and more of those consumers are buying their clothing online, so much so that online shopping has become more popular than in-person shopping.
The demand for clothes shopping online is high, and it’s still growing. ShipBob saw a 769% increase in clothing orders during the 2023 Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping holiday.
With the vast sales channels available to both sellers and consumers, diversifying where you sell online sets you up for even greater success. As this survey shows, Amazon is the preferred shopping destination for 17% of shoppers.
A great way to get product ideas is to keep up with the trends and offer what’s popular – whether that’s the newest style of jeans or selling on new marketplaces.
For example, newly launched TikTok Shop is a new shopping platform that is creating waves in the world of ecommerce, especially for clothing brands. Apparel brands have the ability to leverage the platform to share details about how their products fit, showcase how they can be styled, and more. Checking the TikTok Creative Centre can help you see what kinds of clothes are trending or what users are most interested in (i.e. free shipping or 50% off deals).
2. Skin care and beauty
The online skin care and makeup industry is booming. Valued at over £4 billion in 2024, the industry is growing rapidly and is expected to be worth over £5 billion by 2027.
While the skin care and makeup market is dense, there is plenty of opportunity for small and medium sized beauty brands to make a splash. With a innumerable variety of product listings, skin care and makeup is a vast market that brands can enter.
3. Perfume
Another beauty product is emerging as a best seller for 2024: perfume.
With the UK market valued at over £2 billion in 2024 and growing, the fragrance industry is booming. Among ShipBob’s thousands of merchants, perfume was a top seller during the Cyber shopping weekend in 2023.
Major players like Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Dolce and Gabana are at the top of the industry but trendy, smaller perfumeries are gaining traction. Additionally, brands that create “dupes” for expensive, luxury fragrances (such as Dossier) are making once unattainable scents available to a broader customer base.
4. Pet supplements
On average, pet owners in the UK spend on average £26-50 on their pets every month. With the UK petfood market alone worth over £3 billion in 2024.
There’s no denying that people love their pets… And they’re willing to spend money on high-quality pet products to ensure they’re happy and healthy.
This is especially true for pet owners in Europe. This region is the leading market for pet supplements. Consumers in this region would be a great target audience for brands interesting in offering pet supplements.
Nutripaw experienced tremendous growth with their treat supplements and expect to scale because of their success:
“Our order volume has grown immensely since we started the business, to where fulfilment doesn’t leave time for us doing anything else. At the scale we’re starting to operate at, keeping everything in-house would mean that we would be picking and packing orders all day!
We have even bigger ambitions for our business going forward, including launching new products and increasing stock. So we wanted to free up our time to focus on growing our business, and knew it was time to outsource fulfilment to experts.”
– Adelina Zotta, Co-Founder of Nutripaw
5. Shoes
UK shoppers spent nearly £12 billion on footwear purchases in 2023.
There is clearly a demand for shoe retailers online. If you’re interested in stepping into this sector, there are various factors shoppers focus on when shoe shopping online. Consider these insights:
- 84% of shoppers are concerned about price
- 78% of consumers read ratings and reviews
- 56% of shoppers look at images submitted from customers who have received the item
- 51% of customers review the exchange policy
Taking these into consideration can help you generate more revenue from an already popular industry.
6. Supplements and probiotics
Probiotics, functional medicine, and digestive health have emerged as large trends within the health and wellness sector.
In fact, the UK industry has been growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25% and grew to more than £568 million in 2023. Probiotics were among the most popular items ordered during the 2023 Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping holiday, according to our data.
7. Cleaning products
Cleaning supplies saw a spike in popularity beginning in 2020. The industry saw a spike of 6.5% in recent years and is expected to continue to increase steadily over the next five years.
The competition is fierce, but there is a market for everyone, especially if you sell more eco-friendly, natural, and organic products. Nielsen found that 41% of consumers stated they gravitate towards items with environmentally friendly ingredients or packaging. This sector of the greater cleaning industry is growing quickly at a CAGR of over 11%.
8. Coffee products
With over 30% of Brits drinking coffee every day, there is a need for coffee related items. Be it coffee mugs, creamers, syrups, or coffee itself, this caffeinated beverage is in demand. Mushroom-based coffees are also becoming popular due to their adaptogenic properties known for reduced stress.
“Last July, Prymal reached £32,000 in revenue. After switching to ShipBob just four months later in November, we are reaching £120,000 a month in revenue — that’s 300% growth. We’re also saving £6,000 per month in fulfilment costs.”
– Courtney Lee, Founder of Prymal
9. Non-Alcoholic Drinks
Non-alcoholic drinks are on the rise, in part due to Gen Z drinking less alcohol and wellness trends inspiring people to focus on their health. As a result, the popularity of other drinks are on the rise. ShipBob found that drinks sales increased by 598% over the 2023 Cyber holiday shopping weekend.
Non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirit sales were up 19.5%, 23.2%, and 88.4% respectively in the last year. Other types of beverages like functional energy drinks, sparkling water, probiotic sodas, mushroom coffee are also surging in popularity.
10. Toys
The toy industry was booming last year, bringing in over £3 billion in sales. Over the next few years, the toy and hobby sector will continue to grow strongly.
From toy cars and planes to puzzles and plush animals, there’s a lot your customers can choose from. If you’re looking to break into the toy and hobby space, now is a great time to do that.
ShipBob’s customer Pick Up Bricks is proof that consumers are looking for innovative toy products. Their toy vacuum, designed to help children pick up their small toys and make cleaning fun, was backed by 2 entrepreneurs on ABC’s Shark Tank.
“By Sunday night, we had over 1,300 orders. I looked at the list of orders that were piling up, just wondering if they would ship in time for the holidays. At the end of the day on Monday, I checked the ShipBob dashboard and saw that all of the orders from the weekend had been processed. That immediately made me a big ShipBob fan.”
Steven Weinstock, Co-Founder of Pick Up Bricks
11. Subscription orders
Whether you sell products that are considered essential or a part of a consumer’s routine, having a subscription service is a great option to offer your shoppers. Convenience is a huge driving factor. In fact, 38% of consumers say convenience is their top reason for choosing retail subscriptions.
Through a subscription box or recurring orders model, you can ship essential products to your customers on a regular, predetermined basis.
For instance, MDacne, a digital health brand, is able to offer a personalised subscription product using ShipBob’s open API.
As a whole, the subscription ecommerce marketing is growing and is expected to reach over £1.8 billion in the UK by 2025. In addition to hopping on a trend that’s in demand, there’s revenue on the table for you to claim. Offering subscriptions can help brands grow their customer base by over 30%, fostering stronger brand loyalty.
12. Headphones
2024 is projected to be a big year for headphones. In recent years, technology has greatly improved. From small Bluetooth earbuds to larger noise canceling headphones, consumers can choose from a variety of audio accessories. Headphones have boomed in popularity in recent years, especially during the holidays.
As seen in this Google Trends report, headphones are popular with consumers throughout the year. The 100 along the y-axis indicates peak search volume for the term, which was reached during the Cyber shopping weekend in 2023. This shows that despite headphones being consistently popular, the demand continues to grow.
13. Fashion accessories
Similar to clothing, shopping for accessories online is straightforward and convenient for the customers. Whether it’s jewelry, wallets, hats, sunglasses, or something completely different, these products are in demand and sold year-round.
For example, ShipBob customer, MANSSION, a men’s accessory brand, has had incredible success with their unique jewelry:
“Compared to this time last year, our revenue is up 1,000%. And we’re looking forward to our first quarter million dollar month very soon… ShipBob has helped us tremendously. I’ve been really happy from the get go, and I look forward to growing more with ShipBob over the next few years.”
— Torii Rowe, COO and Co-Founder of MANSSION
14. Water bottles
Thanks to the numerous health benefits associated with drinking water, reusable water bottles are in demand. The global reusable water bottle market was valued at nearly £7 billion in 2021 and it is expected to exceed a valuation of £8 billion by 2028.
Despite being a popular niche, there are ways to differentiate. For example, ShipBob customer, memobottle, sells flat, flask-shaped water bottles to offer an alternative to bulky, cylindrical water bottles that are difficult to transport.
Compared to other fulfilment companies, I’d describe working with ShipBob as a human experience. Other 3PLs give you a login to a platform, and you’re forced to work it out yourself while getting blanket responses from customer support. With ShipBob, we not only have a dedicated rep, but we’ve gotten to know so many helpful people on the team. With all of the other 3PLs I’ve worked with, I’ve only actually met one person.
— Jonathan Byrt, Director & Co-founder at memobottle
15. Eco-friendly and sustainable products
Today’s consumer is particularly interested in supporting brands that are rooted in environmental consciousness and sustainable practices. 78% say that a sustainable lifestyle is important to them, millennials and Gen Z consumers especially. No matter if it’s for cleaning products (as mentioned above) or household goods, consumers are seeking out consumer packaged goods (CPG) that are more eco-friendly.
ShipBob customer, Food Huggers, sells reusable silicone food covers. It was important to them to leverage a fulfilment partner that could extend their eco-friendly mission through fulfilment and delivery.
As a brand focused and founded on helping customers create sustainable kitchens, ShipBob’s ability to support eco-friendly packaging is a huge plus. With several picks included in ShipBob’s all-in fulfilment cost, we can introduce eco packaging into fulfilment really easily by simply storing it as a SKU and counting it as one of the picks — no costs on top of that for custom packaging and offering a consistent brand experience.
— Juliana Brasil, Director of Operations at Food Huggers
16. Tech-enhanced fitness and health products
With the ongoing focus on health and wellness, smart fitness equipment and health tracking devices are very popular.
Apple watches, Fitbits, and Oura rings are helping consumers monitor not only their activity, but overall health. The fitness tracker industry is expected to reach £56 billion in 2024 and continue to grow at a CAGR of 8.47%.
Similarly, equipment like Peleton bikes and treadmills, Tonal workout mirrors, and more are bringing wellness and exercise into the 21st century. VR and AR workouts are emerging onto the scene as well, gamifying the workout experience (Meta’s Supernatural and Thrill of the Fight, for example). Despite many solutions being on the market, smart workout devices are continually changing, showing that consumers are interested in innovative products.
17. Home goods
Air purifiers, portable blenders, ice makers, smart devices (e.g. smart plugs, smart display, etc.), robot vacuums, and the like are among the best-selling products in the home goods market today.
In fact, ShipBob merchants that sell home goods experienced a 581% increase in sales during the 2023 Cyber shopping weekend.
18. Hair care
Hair care in general is trending category for consumers in 2024. There are several product categories under this umbrella. Due to the breadth of this market, the UK hair care sector is expected to be worth £1.4 billion in 2024.
Hair tools like curling tongs, straighteners, hair dryers, and heatless curlers are trending products, usually with higher price tags.
Hair treatments like hair masks, serums, and oils are popular. An emphasis on hair and scalp health has been popular in recent years. Consider the Google Trends report on consumer interest in hair treatments.
If you’re interested in offering quality products in the hair care sector, there are various avenues to explore!
Tips for finding and selling UK high-demand products
When researching high-demand products to sell, certain trends can dictate why the product became popular in the first place and if its popularity is going to last. Fidget spinners had a huge search volume on Google Trends a few years ago, but only for a short period of time because they were seen as a commodity with no lasting value. Probiotics became popular for their health benefits and low costs, so they likely won’t see a major dip anytime soon.
1. Keep an eye on overseas products
Many products that become famous in the UK first become popular internationally. With sites like Alibaba and AliExpress, make sure you’re checking often to see if there are any new business opportunities available. By knowing which products are popular overseas, you can begin to purchase these products and start advertising them to customers to test if the product can drive more sales.
2. Look on local marketplaces for competition
Check marketplaces local to your country to see if customers are buying these high-demand products. This research can also help you identify products that have low competition in the market. Consider the following questions before launching your online store:
- What kinds of products are being purchased?
- Who is the audience?
- Are there other products in the same vertical you could sell that don’t have a clear market leader?
- Is there a gap in the market my product can fill?
3. Differentiate yourself
Many products are commodities that can be purchased under a different brand name. Why are your jeans better than jeans from your competitors?
When promoting products, make sure to highlight the unique benefits of your products and how you stand out from the competition — for example, maybe you can focus on your brand’s sustainability or how you use eco-friendly packaging. This can help you add value to your product, and give you a competitive advantage.
Note: If you’re dropshipping, you won’t have too many opportunities to differentiate since the products are all the same. If you move to working with a 3PL though, you can speed up delivery times and win more business with faster shipping speeds.
4. Get quick shipping with a fulfilment partner
Did you stumble upon a hot-selling high-demand product that is flying off the shelves? If so, you’ll need a fulfilment partner like ShipBob to get your orders out quickly and even next-day across the UK. Customers want faster shipping options, and quick or low cost options are a proven way to increase sales conversions.
Our Trustpilot reviews are a testament to ShipBob’s speed. They’ve proven to us that ShipBob can easily scale to match large fluctuations in demand and still maintain high-quality service. They’ve really helped us unlock our UK growth.”
Kevin Lammers, International Business Manager at TopBuxus
5. Use Google Trends and Search Tools to spot opportunities
It’s important to keep a close look at how different verticals are performing. A great way to do this is by utilising Google Trends, Google’s search engine dedicated to showing trends in search queries. This will help you keep a finger on the pulse of various products consumers are interested in.
Using these search tools allow you to check trends at certain times, in different locations, and even lets you compare different search terms.
For example, if you own a stationary business and are interested in offering writing utensils on your store, you could use Google Trends to see if you’d be better off selling pencils or pens. In this instance, ink pens are more popular and may be a better niche than pencils.
6 UK products and niches of 2022 & 2023
Interested in comparing niches of recent years? These are some of the most popular products from the last two years.
1. Phone accessories
98% of the UK adult population have smartphones, and most of those consumers likely have protective cases for their devices. However, phone cases have stayed consistently popular over the last few years.
However, due to the prevalence of smart devices and their cases, this vertical is still popular, but not necessarily a top trend for 2024. While you may find successes opening a store that sells phone cases and other phone gadgets, the market is pretty saturated.
In addition to protecting their gadgets, people are also looking for other accessories such as headphones, travel cables and chargers, power banks, and more.
2. Celebrity-founded businesses
While the average business owner may not be able to capture the star power of a celebrity-founded brand, there’s no question that there’s plenty of them on the market.
However, some brands founded by celebrities have shuttered in recent years. Celebrity and influencer-backed brands like Dax Shepherd and Kristen Bell’s Hello Bello and Jaclyn Hill’s make up line are just a few that have recently ceased operations.
But that doesn’t mean that the niche is no longer popular.
Popular Formula 1 race car driver, Lando Norris, has several brands of his own, which have seen a great uptick in the recent years. Quadrant, Lando’s esports brand, recently sold out of their products in under 20 minutes.
“Quadrant operates using a drop model, meaning we offer a select number of units each release and they sell out really fast. We run on the idea of “if you’re quick enough, you can get a piece.” Our last drop sold out in 18 minutes – it was amazing! With ShipBob, we are able to trust that orders will get out in a timely manner.”
– Will Kerr, Apparel Lead at Quadrant
3. Natural skincare and cosmetics
Natural skincare and cosmetics have become increasingly popular as more consumers become aware of the effects artificial ingredients can have on their bodies and the environment.
Consumers are turning toward personal care products that are made with natural ingredients such as aloe vera, active charcoal, tree oil, and more.
A great example is Touchland, a fast-growing brand that has successfully upgraded the hand sanitizing experience to a whole new level. Recognized by Allure as a Best of Beauty award winner, named as a finalist for Fast Company’s 2020 Innovation by Design Awards, Touchland sells a hand sanitizer that brings style.
Touchland launched in 2018 and grew quickly after a successful Kickstarter campaign, and then grew even faster after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“We were already growing quickly when COVID began, then we completely sold out the first week of the pandemic. In three weeks, more than 34,000 customers were waitlisted on Touchland.com. We even did pre-orders to try and meet demand. Between March and May 2020, we had up to 700 orders per day and sold 10,000 dispensers to industry-leading brands in those three months.
COVID changed the mentality of hand sanitation for most businesses, and this won’t go away after the pandemic.”
Andrea Lisbona, Founder & CEO of Touchland
4. Snack foods
When COVID-19 was at its peak, many consumers were turning to the internet to place food orders. That applied to everything from getting groceries to even buying snacks online.
In 2024 36% of UK shoppers had bought food or groceries online.
While snacks are still common with consumers today (especially on marketplaces like Thrive Market and Misfits Market), it isn’t at its peak like in prior years.
5. Diet and nutrition products
Health and fitness has been on the rise in ecommerce. The UK wellness industry is one of the most valuable markets in Europe, worth a staggering valued at a staggering £168 billion.
For many consumers, sticking to a healthy diet may seem challenging, which is why they turn to solutions from online brands. The marketing strategy of many of these types of brands heavily relies on social media influencers that are popular on different social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
6. Subscription food services
For consumers that are constantly on the run, nutritious meals they can quickly grab-and-go are important. The market for meal replacement shakes has been increasing over the last few years at a CAGR of 6.5%. As part of this growth, people are turning to online shopping more and more.
Meal replacement products that don’t require refrigeration are seeing a surge in sales due to their convenience and longer shelf life.
For instance, Ample Foods is a meal replacement brand that uses real-food ingredients that don’t require refrigeration. Since they partner with ShipBob, they are able to get orders shipped quickly, including subscription orders, by storing inventory close to their customers.
“ShipBob has been a great partner as Ample has grown. ShipBob helps us offer new products to our customers with hardly any extra effort on our part. Our focus is to grow our business, and that will not be achieved by packing up orders, sending out boxes, and dealing with couriers ourselves. That’s what ShipBob has mastered. We want to focus on engaging with our customers, building our community, and continually developing new products that keep pace with science and customer needs. ShipBob lets us do just that.”
Pablo Gabatto, Business Operations Manager at Ample Foods
How ShipBob helps scale your ecommerce
ShipBob has numerous fulfilment solutions that can help your brand, no matter what your exact needs. Learn more about our capabilities to see which is right for your brand.
Outsource all of your fulfilment to the experts
To create the logistics network capable of delivering high-demand products quickly and affordably, it’s going to cost a lot of time and money (not to mention hiring the right people who can set everything up properly).
That’s why many ecommerce businesses outsource fulfilment to ShipBob. Our global network of ecommerce warehouses, proprietary technology, and logistics expertise allows brands to seamlessly fulfil orders and offer quick and cost-effective shipping to customers.
Ship high demand products at high speeds
Customers crave fast shipping. Give customers what they want by utilising a network of global fulfilment centres. Cutting down delivery distances dramatically to ship quicker and cheaper. By storing your products in our fulfilment centres and letting us fulfil your orders, your business can compete with Amazon and have an advantage over the competition.
Level up your warehousing with ShipBob’s WMS
If you have your own warehouse but need a warehouse management system to help you increase efficiency and accuracy, ShipBob’s WMS could be the solution for you.
You can leverage the proprietary software that ShipBob developed for its global network of over 50 fulfilment centres in your own facility. ShipBob’s system allows you to manage inventory from receiving all the way through picking, packing, and shipping. Additionally, you can oversee and manage orders, customise packing processes, generate shipping labels, view real-time reporting, and more.
ShipBob’s intuitive system is can help you streamline your warehouse operations for seamless order fulfilment and shipping.
Get started with ShipBob
Ecommerce sales trends can change quickly. In 2024, we expect several of last year’s high-demand products to remain popular while also bringing new trends to the forefront. In addition to new products, we expect to see a rise in new sales channels, especially TikTok Shop.
As an ecommerce business, the best thing you can do now, no matter what type of product you sell, is optimise your supply chain and prepare for potential future growth.
Partnering with the right fulfilment partner can give your business the support and flexibility you need for seamless logistics.
To learn more about how brands are fulfilling their orders in 2024, check out ShipBob’s State of Ecommerce Fulfilment Report.
Interested in ShipBob’s fulfilment services? Connect with our team to learn more about how ShipBob can help your business succeed in 2024.
High demand products FAQs
Here are answers to common questions about high demand products.
What is the highest in-demand product in the world?
Clothing is the most purchased item in the world. Whether its clothing for women, men or children, the industry is booming. It makes up 2% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
What products have the highest profit margins?
Small items, like jewellery and sunglasses, have high margins because they’re relatively inexpensive to acquire, sell, and ship.
How can I identify high-demand products?
By using tools like Google Trends or TikTok Creative Centre, you can identify popular products based on consumers’ search queries and interests. You can also see historic data to see if products are becoming more or less popular.