How to identify undervalued products in your catalog

Every e-commerce catalog contains undervalued products—items with untapped potential sitting unnoticed while attention flows to obvious bestsellers. Perhaps certain products convert exceptionally well but receive minimal traffic. Or maybe some items have strong margins and loyal customer bases but never get featured in marketing. These hidden gems could generate significant additional revenue with modest investment in visibility, yet most stores never identify them because analysis focuses exclusively on current top performers rather than searching for unrealized potential.

This guide shows you systematic techniques for identifying undervalued products using Shopify, WooCommerce, or analytics data. You'll learn to spot high-potential items that deserve more attention, understand why they're underperforming relative to potential, and implement strategies to unlock their hidden value. By discovering and elevating undervalued products, you diversify revenue sources while capitalizing on assets you already own rather than constantly chasing new product development or acquisitions.

Find products with high conversion but low traffic

Products converting well despite minimal traffic represent immediate opportunities. These items prove customer appeal when people find them—they just need more visibility. Calculate conversion rate for each product by dividing purchases by page views. Perhaps Product X has 5% conversion from only 400 monthly views generating 20 sales. Meanwhile, Product Y has 2% conversion from 3,000 views generating 60 sales. Product X is actually more appealing per view but dramatically underexposed.

Estimate revenue potential if undervalued products received traffic proportional to their conversion strength. If Product X's 5% conversion rate matched Product Y's 3,000 monthly views, it would generate 150 sales versus current 20—7.5× increase from visibility alone. This quantification shows the opportunity size and justifies investment in featuring high-converting low-traffic products more prominently through homepage placement, email campaigns, or paid advertising.

Investigate why strong converters receive little traffic. Perhaps SEO is weak—optimize product titles, descriptions, and metadata. Maybe internal navigation buries them—improve category placement and related product recommendations. Or possibly they're new without established traffic patterns—jumpstart visibility through promotional campaigns. Each traffic barrier has specific solutions, and fixing them for proven converters delivers high-confidence revenue gains.

Identify products with strong margins but modest sales

High-margin products deserve special attention even if current sales volume is modest because each sale contributes disproportionately to profitability. Review your catalog sorted by gross margin percentage. Perhaps certain items have 60-70% margins versus your 40% average. Even modest sales increases for these high-margin products generate outsized profit impact compared to equal percentage increases for low-margin bestsellers.

Calculate profit contribution rather than just revenue when prioritizing product promotion. Perhaps Product A generates $10,000 monthly revenue with 30% margin ($3,000 profit). Product B does $4,000 revenue with 65% margin ($2,600 profit). Product A looks more important by revenue but Product B contributes nearly as much profit from far less volume. Small promotional efforts boosting Product B's sales 25% would add $650 monthly profit—potentially better return than efforts on higher-volume lower-margin items.

Characteristics of undervalued products worth investigating:

• High conversion, low traffic: Items that sell well when discovered but receive minimal exposure and visibility.

• Strong margins, modest volume: Products contributing significant profit per sale despite lower sales counts.

• Growing faster than average: Items showing acceleration suggesting emerging demand worth amplifying.

• High repeat purchase rates: Products that customers love and reorder indicating strong product-market fit.

• Low returns, high satisfaction: Items with minimal returns and positive reviews showing quality and value.

Look for products with accelerating growth trends

Products showing faster-than-average growth deserve attention even if absolute sales remain modest. These items might be at inflection points where small investments could accelerate already-positive momentum into breakout performance. Compare each product's growth rate to your catalog average. Perhaps overall sales grow 15% year-over-year, but certain products grow 40-50%—they're outperforming and trending upward while still flying under the radar.

Analyze what's driving faster growth for trending products. Perhaps they benefit from emerging market trends—capitalize by leaning into relevant positioning. Maybe they're getting organic social mentions—amplify through influencer partnerships. Or possibly word-of-mouth is building—encourage reviews and testimonials. Understanding growth drivers helps you accelerate momentum deliberately rather than hoping organic growth continues without support.

Project future performance if accelerating growth continues. Perhaps Product Z grew from $1,000 to $1,400 to $2,000 over three months—40% monthly growth rate. Sustaining that trajectory for six more months would reach $10,000+ monthly—transforming from minor product to significant contributor. This projection quantifies the opportunity and justifies proactive investment in featured placement, inventory depth, and marketing support before the product becomes obviously successful to everyone.

Find products with high repeat purchase rates

Products customers buy repeatedly indicate strong satisfaction and genuine utility. These items might not be flashy or generate huge initial sales, but loyal customer bases make them valuable. Calculate repeat purchase rate for each product: what percentage of customers buy the same item again within 6-12 months? Perhaps certain products show 30-40% repurchase rates versus 10% catalog average—they're solving real problems customers experience repeatedly.

High-repeat-rate products are ideal for subscription or auto-replenishment offers. Perhaps consumable products customers reorder every 60-90 days could be converted to subscriptions with modest discounts incentivizing regular automatic purchases. This conversion provides predictable recurring revenue while improving customer convenience. Even products without natural consumption cycles might support loyalty programs encouraging repeat purchases through rewards accumulation.

Feature repeat-friendly products more prominently to new customers since they're likely to generate ongoing revenue streams rather than one-time purchases. Perhaps highlight in email welcome series or post-purchase recommendations. First-time buyers of high-repeat products might become long-term customers generating substantial lifetime value, making acquisition costs for these specific products more justifiable than for one-time-purchase items with similar initial transaction values.

Analyze products with positive reviews but low visibility

Products with excellent reviews and ratings but minimal sales have proven quality without matching market presence. Sort your catalog by average review rating, then look for highly-rated items with low sales volume. Perhaps certain products average 4.7+ stars from existing customers but sell modestly—buyers love them when they discover them, they just need more exposure to reach potential customers who'd also appreciate them.

Leverage social proof from existing reviews to boost undervalued products. Perhaps feature customer testimonials in product descriptions, create user-generated content campaigns, or highlight top-reviewed products in dedicated email campaigns. This social proof marketing helps overcome the visibility challenge while building on authentic customer satisfaction rather than requiring you to manufacture artificial hype for products customers don't actually love.

Investigate whether highly-reviewed products serve niche needs that targeted marketing could address. Perhaps they're perfect for specific use cases or customer segments that broad marketing misses. Create targeted campaigns to these segments highlighting relevant benefits and use cases. Sometimes undervalued products aren't universally appealing but are perfect for particular audiences—narrow targeting helps them reach customers who'll truly value them.

Strategies for elevating undervalued products

Once you've identified undervalued products, implement specific strategies to unlock their potential. Feature them prominently on your homepage or category pages—visibility drives discovery for items people would buy if they knew about them. Include them in email campaigns with compelling stories about why customers love them. Run targeted ads specifically promoting undervalued high-converters to relevant audiences. Each visibility increase applies to products with proven appeal, making success highly probable.

Create content specifically around undervalued products explaining their benefits, use cases, and why existing customers value them. Perhaps publish blog posts, create how-to videos, or develop comparison guides featuring undervalued items. This content serves dual purposes—educating potential customers while improving SEO to drive organic traffic to products that currently lack visibility but have proven conversion ability once people find them.

Bundle undervalued products with bestsellers to transfer visibility from strong performers to hidden gems. Perhaps offer "frequently bought together" bundles pairing bestsellers with undervalued complementary products. Or create themed bundles where undervalued items get featured alongside more popular products. This bundling strategy introduces customers to products they might not discover independently while providing value through discounted combination pricing.

Tactics for unlocking undervalued product potential:

• Feature on homepage and category pages giving prime visibility to proven high converters.

• Include in email campaigns with customer stories and testimonials highlighting their value.

• Run targeted paid advertising specifically for undervalued items with high conversion rates.

• Create educational content explaining benefits and use cases to potential customers.

• Bundle with bestsellers transferring visibility from popular products to hidden gems.

Monitor results and refine product strategy

After implementing visibility improvements for undervalued products, track whether performance improves as predicted. Perhaps you featured Product X more prominently expecting 5% conversion rate to drive more sales. Monitor whether conversion rate maintains as traffic increases—validating your high-conversion assessment. If conversion drops with increased traffic, the initial high rate might have been statistical noise from small sample sizes rather than genuine superior appeal.

Calculate actual ROI from efforts to elevate undervalued products. Perhaps increased visibility for high-margin Product Y cost $500 in additional marketing but generated $3,000 in additional monthly profit—6:1 return in first month with ongoing benefits. These concrete results validate the undervalued product identification and elevation process, justifying continued efforts to systematically find and promote other hidden gems in your catalog.

Make undervalued product analysis a regular quarterly practice rather than one-time effort. Markets evolve, customer preferences shift, and new products join your catalog. Perhaps quarterly, spend an hour reviewing products by conversion rate, margin, growth rate, and repeat purchase rate. Identify 3-5 undervalued items worth elevating that quarter. This regular discipline ensures you continuously capitalize on untapped potential rather than letting valuable products languish unnoticed while attention fixates on established bestsellers.

Identifying undervalued products requires systematic analysis of conversion rates relative to traffic, margin contribution beyond revenue volume, growth acceleration patterns, repeat purchase behavior, and customer satisfaction signals. By finding products that convert well but lack visibility, contribute strong margins despite modest sales, show accelerating momentum, generate repeat purchases, or have excellent reviews without matching exposure, you uncover hidden revenue opportunities requiring minimal product investment—just better marketing and positioning of assets you already own. Remember that not all revenue potential is obvious—some of your most profitable future bestsellers might be sitting in your catalog right now, underperforming only because they lack the attention they deserve. Ready to discover your catalog's hidden gems? Try Peasy for free at peasy.nu and get automatic analysis highlighting undervalued products with untapped revenue potential.