Merch Informer is a powerful and easy-to-use software that helps research the Merch by Amazon market for the best niches, designs, and trends. It has four primary features: Product Search, Keyword Researcher, Competition Checker, Trademark Checker, and six additional premium tools.
Merch Informer has a 3-day free trial allowing the full use of the “Newbie” subscription tools. At the end of the trial, Merch Informer charges the user about $10 per month. You can also upgrade to “Pro” for about $20 per month. The “Pro” subscription has additional benefits.
Here is a link to the Merch Informer 3-day free trial.
Before committing to a paid Merch Informer membership, you can explore all of the paid Newbie benefits to see if they are something you would regularly use to justify paying the monthly subscription fee. Read on to learn about what the 3-day free trial exploration has to offer.
Key Features of the Newbie Subscription
With the free 3-day trial, you get to experience the Newbie subscription without signing up for the $10 per month fee. This allows you to explore the features offered and see if the Newbie plan is what you need or if you might do better with the Pro plan.
Below are the many tools and features you will get to use during your three-day trial with the Newbie plan.
Product Search
The process can start with choosing a product to sell. Or, it can begin with research to find a product to sell.
Product Search allows the user to discover the top-selling Print on Demand products, best-selling designs, and trends and get ideas for the next project. If the user already has merchandise, this feature will show the competing products in that category.
Getting Started with This Feature
Enter the keyword, choose a marketplace (the US, for example), and a category, like “Merch by Amazon Shirts.” The products with the highest estimated sales are at the top of the list in descending order. Selecting the keyword “motorcycle” as an example returns the following information:
- 500+ total results in t-shirts
- High, low, and average price
- Best Seller Rank (BSR) for each t-shirt
- Estimated number of sales for each shirt
- Two related keywords: “motorcycles” and “motorcycling”
- Keyword count: “motorcycle” alone is used more than 2,800 times
- 57 additional keywords or tags used in the product descriptions
- A Competition Score of D (Score is graded A through F with A being the highest)
By changing the search category to “PopSockets,” the Competition Score jumps to A (PopSockets are a device attached to a cell phone, making it easier to hold).
There are slightly more than 150 products in this category as this article is written. Compare that to more than 500 t-shirts. Less competition makes this query a more attractive, customizable product than t-shirts.
Additional features within Product Research are listed below.
- Merchant Search allows users to search by specific merchant or brand.
- Merch Hunter allows users to search top-selling items by keyword and sales rank.
- Etsy/Pinterest Search allows users to find products by keyword on both platforms.
- Movers and Shakers find current top-seller products by day, week, or month.
- Trend Tracker identifies current trends so the user can get a product on the market.
- Merch Archive shows the top-selling shirts on a given day.
All of these features can give valuable insight into what is currently popular so you can decide what you will sell next.
Competition Checker
The Competition Checker (not to be confused with the Competition Score) allows one to see the total number of products each keyword is associated with on Amazon.
In addition, it displays the number of products that have a Best Seller Ranking. It also shows the keywords Best Sellers use in their descriptions and how many times those individual keywords are used.
Using the keyword “motorcycle” from the example above yielded the following results:
- 2,800+ total products online
- 2500+ products with a BSR
- 70+ keywords with the keyword “motorcycle” used 37 times
- A total score of F
The user can download all of the Competition information for their records.
Keyword Researcher
Discover the best keywords to bid on, plus tools for doing outreach or running sponsored ads. This tool section has four different options.
Keyword Finder
This feature gives the related keywords based on the source the user selects. The current choices are Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Etsy, and Cafepress.
Continuing with the motorcycle example and Amazon US, the results show search volumes for the term on Amazon and Google 76,000+ and 1 million, respectively. Also shown is the CPC (cost per click) of $0.42 in this example, and the competition label is High. The user can download the results.
Keyword Cloud
This feature shows one, two, and three-word keywords trending in the US, UK, or Germany on the day selected by the user. It also displays the number of times the word or words were used in the previous 24-hour period.
Trending Phrases
Same as Keyword Cloud but includes four-word phrases.
Niche Hunter
This feature displays top-ranked keywords and the search volume for t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, and PopSockets on Amazon for the current week.
To search products in a specific niche, type a word or phrase in the search box for one of the product categories mentioned above.
Trademark
Merch Informer’s Newbie subscription allows users to explore features dealing with trademarks as well. This is useful for creators who do not want to get into any hot water with their designs.
It is important to be sure that your merch does not violate any existing trademarks. These features make it easy to check.
Trademark Checker
This feature allows the user to research specific words or phrases to discover if they have already been trademarked with the US Patent and Trade Office.
If it is not listed with USPTO or if it is listed but does not have a Trademark serial number, it will be listed as safe. Always check USPTO!
Trademark Hunter
Allows the user to upload a spreadsheet as a .CSV file with up to 250 Amazon Standard Identification Numbers (ASIN) and perform automatic daily checks of those products for Trademark filings. New ASINs can be added at any time and manually checked.
It is recommended to check both of these daily since new trademarks with serial numbers are added to the USPTO website every day.
Additional Tools
Below are more tools that users find helpful on Merch Informer’s Newbie subscription. These are all available during the three-day free trial since it is an all-access pass to the Newbie plan and everything it has to offer.
The features below are miscellaneous and extremely useful.
Listing Score Checker
Allows the user to take a product ASIN and add keywords to check optimization of the product keyword.
Merch Informer checks to see if a match for the keyword is in the title, the brand, and the description. It also checks whether the description is more than 1,000 characters. Merch Informer scores the optimization allowing 25 percent for each category.
Merch Analytics
This feature allows the user to upload Merch by Amazon .CSV file to analyze the sales data of a chosen time period.
Analysis displays:
- the total number of sales
- the number canceled
- the number returned
- the number of royalties earned
The analysis also displays the number of unique items sold, if any, along with a comparison against the previous time period.
Merch Calendar
This feature displays official and unofficial holidays in the US, UK, and Germany. It allows the user to plan products and product launches of niche items targeting specific celebration or observance events.
Key Features of the Merch Informer Pro Subscription
If you explore the Newbie subscription during your three-day free trial and find it lacking some essentials, you can upgrade to the Pro subscription.
Upgrading to Pro allows the user the same some important additional benefits.
With the Pro plan, a user can track:
- As many as 8,000 trademarks
- 200 keywords
- 150 products
It also allows the use of the Single Upload Interface. This app lets the user directly upload product information to existing accounts like Printify or Merch by Amazon. This can save the user many hours that are better spent on additional niche research or highly valuable personal time.
Additionally, the products can also be posted to other platforms like Etsy if the user has an Etsy storefront.
Product information includes product titles, descriptions, tag words, prices, and design images.
Conclusion
Merch Informer has a free 3-day trial allowing the full use of the “Newbie” subscription tools. With the free Merch Informer trial, there are no long-term commitments. If nothing else, a great deal of research can be accomplished and saved until pursuing success is more convenient.
If you decide to get a paid plan, use the coupon code “greg20” at checkout for an additional 20% off any plan.
Overall, Merch Informer is one of the best all-in-one tools for selling on Merch by Amazon and other Print on Demand platforms. It is easy to use, increases the chance of products being successful, and assists in tracking and duplicating past top-performing products and niches. I highly recommend it!
