How to Find Viral Products to Sell on TikTok

TikTok has forever changed the way products go viral.

According to Statista, TikTok Shops’ gross merchandise value (GMV) skyrocketed from about one billion dollars in 2021 to an astonishing 33 billion in 2024.

And that’s showing no signs of slowing down.

An incredible three in four TikTok users are likely to buy something while using the platform, and 70% discover new brands and products there, according to TikTok.

The challenge for sellers on TikTok, though, is timing. By the time you discover a "trending" product, the market is often saturated, and it’s much harder to sell the product than you’d hoped.

To find truly viral products before they peak, you’ll need to combine real-time TikTok performance data with long-term search trend validation. You need to identify products during their early explosive growth phase, not after they've hit their max popularity.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through seven super effective strategies for discovering viral TikTok products before your competition does.

Let’s dive right in.

Strategy #1: Find Niche-Relevant Trending Products

The first thing you want to do is make sure you’re looking for products in your own niche, without having to sift through hundreds of irrelevant ones.

To do that, I’m going to show you the Exploding Topics TikTok Insights add-on. This tool aggregates real-time TikTok performance data across thousands of products, showing you which under-the-radar products are gaining traction right now.

The dashboard includes 18+ specific categories like Beauty, Fitness, Home, Pets, Fashion, Health, Kitchen, and Technology, so you can zero in on your specific niche immediately.

Plus, you can search by specific hashtags to hone your results even further to find the perfect viral products to sell in your niche.

These hashtags also help you figure out exactly how creators are positioning the product and what content angles are driving views. You can use these insights to inform your own content strategy once you start selling.

Sort by Views Growth to Catch Products in Their Viral Spike

Once you've filtered by your category in Exploding Topics, sort the dashboard by "Views Growth" to catch products in their viral spike. This surfaces items experiencing explosive growth in the past 30 days, not products that already peaked.

Each product listing shows critical metrics at a glance: total TikTok views over the past 12 months, view growth over the past 30 days, posts created over the past 12 months, post growth percentage, and hashtags.

Look for products with both high view counts AND rising post activity. This combination confirms creators are actively filming content and audiences are engaging.

Pay attention to the Total Posts metric and whether it's increasing. If posts are up +35% in the past 30 days, that means more creators are jumping on the trend. When you see both metrics climbing together, you've found a product with genuine viral potential.

To explore a product further, click on it to find the Activity Over Time chart.

This chart helps you figure out whether growth is sustained or just a flash in the pan. Products showing steady upward momentum over several months have real staying power, while sharp spikes that quickly flatten indicate a shorter fad.

You’ll also find a ton more data on this screen, like views, likes, and top-performing videos:

Validate Product Demand with TikTok Creative Center

After identifying potential products with Exploding Topics, go ahead and validate demand using TikTok's free Creative Center.

Navigate to the Creative Center and access the Keyword Insights section. Choose a relevant industry from the “Industry” dropdown and set the keyword type filter to “Products” to see top-performing product-related keywords.

These keywords can be pretty broad, but it’ll help to try typing in the products you found using Exploding Topics.

For example, if you used Exploding Topics to find that massage balls are trending, search for related terms like "massager" or "back pain relief" in the Creative Center. Click on it to get data like current trending content, related keywords, and related hashtags.

When looking at related videos in the Creative Center (or in the Most Viewed on TikTok section in Exploding Topics), pay attention to video length, presentation style, and the specific pain points creators emphasize so you can tailor your content to fit.

Cross-reference products showing explosive growth in the TikTok Insights dashboard with strong keyword performance in the Creative Center. Products that rank highly on both platforms have validated demand from two independent data sources, significantly reducing your risk of stocking a dud.

Discover Product Opportunities Through TikTok Seller Center

If you're already selling on TikTok Shop or planning to, the Seller Center's Product Opportunities feature offers another angle for finding winning products.

Log into the Seller Center, click Products on the left-hand navigation bar, and select Product Opportunities. This tool shows you trending keywords, hashtags, subcategories, and products on TikTok to help inspire new product ideas.

The Top Searched Keywords tab is awesome for finding keywords relevant to your products or category that have high search volume and a low number of related products. This mismatch means opportunity—lots of people are searching for these products, but few sellers are capitalizing on the demand.

You can also use the smart search feature by entering a product keyword to check its selling potential. This gives you insights on customer demand, units sold for that product type, and product supply/seller competition over the last 60 days.

For example, if you search "portable blender" and discover it has high demand but limited competition in the past 60 days, that's a validated opportunity signal. You can then cross-reference this data with what you're seeing in the Exploding Topics dashboard and the TikTok Creative Center to really hone in on the best ideas.

Strategy #2: Exploit Marketplace Gaps

One of the smartest ways to find winning TikTok products is by looking for items that are already proven sellers on other platforms but haven't saturated the TikTok market yet.

The Exploding Topics Trending Products report shows Amazon sales data alongside TikTok metrics for each product. This dual view helps you spot opportunities where a product is crushing it on Amazon but hasn’t caught on on TikTok just yet.

Look for products with high Amazon sales ranks and strong review counts, then check if those same products are available in TikTok Shop in your region. If they're not, or if they have minimal content around them, you might’ve just found a gap you can exploit.

For example, say you might find a kitchen gadget with 10,000+ Amazon reviews and steady sales, but only a handful of TikTok videos showcasing it. That disconnect signals untapped opportunity. You can be among the first sellers to bring that proven product to TikTok's massive buying audience.

Watch Pinterest for Emerging TikTok Trends

Pinterest and TikTok share significant demographic overlap, particularly among younger female audiences interested in home decor, fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products. This overlap creates a pattern: trends can gain momentum on Pinterest before exploding on TikTok.

Growing search volume on Pinterest can signal an emerging trend that's about to take shape on TikTok. Use Pinterest Trends or the Exploding Topics database (you can find Pinterest activity in the Channel Breakdown report for any product) to identify products showing rising search interest on Pinterest, then check if those products have gained traction on TikTok yet.

If a product is trending upward on Pinterest but still has limited TikTok content, you might be seeing an early warning signal. If you stock that product now and create content around it before the TikTok wave hits, you’ll be in a great position when the trend crosses over.

Strategy #3: Pick Top Brands in a Competitive Space

If you need to enter a competitive product category, your best bet is to stock items from brands that are at the top in terms of performance. Instead of trying to use generic alternatives, stock the winners.

To do that, start by exploring the TikTok Shop marketplace directly. Search for your product category and sort by "Best Selling" or filter by high ratings (you’ll need the mobile TikTok app to do this). Look for brands that have significantly more sales and better ratings than their competitors.

For example, if most products in the "sleep mask" category have 50-200 reviews, but one brand has 2,000+ reviews with a 4.8-star average, that's your outlier.

These standout products have already won consumer trust and demonstrated their ability to convert on TikTok, so they’re the ones to stock now.

Use Amazon Data to Identify Top Performers

Another powerful way to identify category leaders before bringing them to TikTok is to look at Amazon performance data.

Head to the Exploding Topics Trending Products tab. Filter products by your category and begin looking at the Amazon statistics. Products with many positive reviews and great Best Seller Ranks (lower BSR numbers are better) have a higher probability of success for your store. You can also click on table headings to sort by BSR or average reviews:

When you find a product that has a low average BSR and high average reviews, cross-check whether it's already saturated on TikTok Shop. If it's not, you've found a proven product you can introduce to your audience and find some success with.

The combination of strong Amazon performance and limited TikTok presence gives you the best of both worlds: validation that the product actually sells, and room to capture market share on TikTok before your competition catches on.

Strategy #4: Brainstorm Product Ideas with Related Trends

When you identify a trending product, you're often only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

To really get the lay of the land and find more opportunities, you’ll want to look at related products and trends.

To do that, click into any product in the TikTok Insights or Trending Products dashboards and navigate to the Related Products and Related Trends tabs. This shows you other trending searches and product categories that share audience overlap with your primary product.

For example, if you're researching "massage ball," the Related Trends might reveal searches like "massage gun," "foam roller," "trigger point therapy," or "muscle recovery tools." Each of these represents a different product you could stock to serve the same core customer need.

Related trends also expose different search intents within the same product category. Someone searching for "back pain relief" has a different intent than someone searching for "post-workout recovery," even though both might buy the same massage tool. Understanding these different intents helps you position multiple products for different use cases.

Use this feature to build out a product catalog rather than betting everything on a single item. If massage balls are trending, you might also stock massage guns, acupressure mats, and heating pads. You're serving the same audience with complementary products, increasing your average order value and reducing reliance on any single product.

You can also use the Related Trends data to help you build a winning content strategy. If you see that "office chair back support" is a related trending search to your ergonomic pillow, you know to create content targeting desk workers with back pain, not just general comfort seekers.

Strategy #5: Prioritize Products Solving Demonstrable Problems

TikTok's algorithm rewards content that hooks viewers in the first three seconds and keeps them watching. Products that solve visible, demonstrable problems naturally fit this format if your videos are engaging!

Look for products where the transformation is immediate and visual. Think of items like wrinkle-removing steamers, stain removers, posture correctors, or acne patches. These products create natural before-and-after moments that are perfect for short-form video.

Compare this to products like vitamins or supplements, where the benefit takes weeks to materialize and can't be captured in a 30-second clip. Those products can certainly sell on TikTok, but they require more sophisticated marketing. Products with immediate, visible results practically market themselves.

Use TikTok Insights to Evaluate Demonstrability

Once you've identified a potential product in the TikTok Insights dashboard, click through to see the top-performing videos associated with it. Watch how creators are showcasing the product and pay attention to what makes those videos successful.

Are creators demonstrating a clear problem and immediate solution? Are there satisfying visual transformations? Do the videos show the product in action rather than just talking about it? If the top videos follow this pattern, you've found a product that plays to TikTok's strengths.

The top-viewed videos should also help you come up with content angles for your own marketing. If you see that "struggling to make protein shakes at the gym" is a common angle driving millions of views, you know exactly how to position the product when you start selling it.

Strategy #6: Create a Strategic Burner Account

This is a fun one: create a fresh TikTok account specifically for product research, completely separate from your personal or brand account. You’ll use it as a product intelligence tool, curating it so that your For You Page (FYP) shows you exactly what products are being actively promoted in your niche right now.

Start by following creators and brands in your target market. If you sell fitness products, follow fitness influencers, gym equipment brands, and wellness creators. Interact with product-related videos, especially sponsored content and TikTok Shop showcases.

The TikTok algorithm learns quickly. Within a few days of consistent interaction, your For You Page will be flooded with product content tailored to your niche. You'll see which products are getting heavy ad spend, which creators are pushing what items, and which promotional angles are being tested.

Seeing the same product promoted by multiple creators over several days? That signals a brand investing heavily in TikTok marketing, which could mean it’s a good brand to stock now.

Strategy #7: Analyze Comment Section Sentiments

The comment sections on viral product videos contain some of the most valuable market research you can find. Users share their experiences, complaints, questions, and buying objections, giving you direct insight into what customers actually think about a product before you invest in inventory.

Look for patterns in what people are saying. Are they asking about durability? Questioning whether it actually works? Complaining about shipping times or quality issues from other sellers?

Use the comments to learn about a product's weaknesses and common objections. If you see repeated complaints that "it broke after two weeks" or "the battery dies too fast," you know to source a higher-quality version of that product. You can then position your offering specifically around the pain points other sellers failed to address.

Comments can also hand you some great messaging angles. If users are commenting "I wish this came in more colors" or "I need the XL version for my husband," those are direct product development and positioning opportunities.

You could source products that address these gaps and create content that specifically calls out the improvements. For example: "Everyone complained the original version was too small—this one comes in three sizes" directly addresses those customer frustrations.

Positive comments are equally valuable for understanding what's driving purchases. If people mention things like "this actually works for back pain" or "so much easier than going to the gym," those are the exact benefits you could emphasize in your own content.

Win Big on TikTok By Selling Viral Products

Finding viral TikTok products before they hit their peak takes time and effort, but you can speed things up significantly by using a smart product research tool.

Speed matters in this market. The window between "emerging trend" and "oversaturated category" can be surprisingly short on TikTok. A tool that aggregates data and surfaces patterns helps you move much faster than competitors relying on manual research.

The TikTok Insights add-on does exactly that: it shows you what's trending right now on TikTok and helps you figure out quickly whether it has long-term search momentum to back it up. This data helps you avoid chasing temporary fads while catching genuine trends during their explosive growth phase.

Ready to discover the best viral products for your TikTok shop? The TikTok Insights add-on is available for $59/month on top of any Exploding Topics Pro plan.