DTC PRODUCT & MARKET RESEARCH SPECIALIST — US E-COMMERCE

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TYPE OF WORK

Full Time

SALARY

$800/month

HOURS PER WEEK

40

DATE UPDATED

Sep 15, 2026

JOB OVERVIEW

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are building a portfolio of international Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) e-commerce brands, beginning with the United States market.

We are looking for an experienced DTC Product & Market Research Specialist to work directly with the Founder to identify, research, validate, and document potential product and market opportunities.

This is NOT a generic VA role.

We are also NOT looking for someone who simply finds viral products on TikTok and calls them “winning products.”

Our approach is:

Market → Problem → Customer → Product → Competition → Economics → Opportunity

Our goal is to build sustainable consumer brands, not temporary dropshipping stores.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Your responsibilities will include:

• Research promising US DTC markets, categories and product opportunities
• Identify real customer problems before recommending products
• Conduct Amazon product, competitor and review research
• Research successful Shopify and DTC brands
• Analyze competitor products, pricing, offers, bundles and positioning
• Research TikTok, TikTok Shop and TikTok Creative Center
• Research Meta Ad Library
• Conduct Reddit, forum and customer-review research
• Study customer complaints, desired outcomes and failed solutions
• Identify customer buying triggers and objections
• Capture real Voice-of-Customer language
• Identify market gaps and differentiation opportunities
• Research suppliers and manufacturers
• Compare MOQ, pricing, packaging and lead times
• Conduct basic product economics analysis
• Research influencer and creator activity within potential markets
• Organize findings into clear research reports and spreadsheets

TOOLS

Experience with some of the following is preferred:

• Amazon
• Shopify
• TikTok
• TikTok Shop
• TikTok Creative Center
• Meta Ad Library
• Reddit
• Google Trends
• Similarweb
• Store Leads
• BuiltWith
• Kalodata
• Alibaba
• Google Sheets
• AI research tools

You do not need experience with every tool. However, you must be comfortable learning new research tools quickly.

WHAT WE DO NOT WANT

Please do not apply if your product research process is simply finding products with high TikTok views.

We are not looking for:

• Generic Virtual Assistants
• Copy-and-paste researchers
• Traditional dropshipping product hunters
• People who send dozens of links without analysis
• Researchers who confuse revenue with profitability
• People who recommend products without understanding the customer
• People who always say YES to an opportunity

We want someone who can investigate, think critically and challenge assumptions.

WHAT GOOD RESEARCH LOOKS LIKE

Your research should help us answer:

• Is this customer problem real?
• How painful or frequent is it?
• Are customers already spending money trying to solve it?
• What solutions are they currently using?
• What are they unhappy with?
• Who are the strongest competitors?
• What are competitors doing well?
• Where are competitors failing?
• Is there room for meaningful differentiation?
• Can the product support healthy DTC economics?
• Is there bundle or repeat-purchase potential?
• Can the product generate many strong marketing angles?
• Are there major regulatory, shipping or operational risks?
• Can this become a real consumer brand?
• What evidence could prove that we should NOT launch it?

Your research should eventually lead to one of three recommendations:

• CONTINUE VALIDATION
• MODIFY
• KILL

We value evidence over opinions.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Previous experience with Shopify/DTC product or market research is strongly preferred.

You should be:

• Highly analytical
• Excellent at online research
• Comfortable with Google Sheets
• Organized and detail-oriented
• Strong in written English
• Able to work independently
• Curious and willing to investigate deeply
• Comfortable questioning assumptions
• Willing to recommend NOT launching a product
• Able to document your evidence and sources
• Able to communicate your reasoning clearly

Quality of thinking matters more than the number of products you find.

COMPENSATION

Starting salary: $800 USD/month

Full-time: 40 hours per week.

This is intended to be a long-term position.

There will be opportunities for increased responsibility and compensation based on performance, research quality, initiative and contribution to successful product validation.

HOW TO APPLY

Start your application with:

EVIDENCE BEFORE PRODUCT

Then answer the following questions:

1. EXPERIENCE

Tell us specifically about your previous Shopify/DTC product research experience.

What products or categories did you research? What tools did you use? What happened with the products you recommended?

2. RESEARCH PROCESS

Imagine we are considering entering the US pet-home-care market.

Do NOT recommend a product.

Explain step-by-step how you would determine whether this market contains an opportunity worth pursuing.

3. KILL DECISION

Tell us about one product you researched but ultimately recommended NOT launching.

What evidence caused you to reject it?

If you have never recommended killing a product opportunity, explain why.

4. COMPETITOR RESEARCH

If we give you one successful Shopify brand, explain how you would investigate:

• Products
• Pricing
• Offers
• Target customers
• Traffic
• Advertising
• Creatives
• Reviews
• Customer complaints
• Suppliers
• Potential weaknesses

Tell us which tools you would use.

5. ECONOMICS TEST

Assume:

• Selling price: $39.99
• Landed product cost: $8
• Fulfillment + shipping: $7
• Payment processing + refund/replacement allowance: $3
• Customer acquisition cost: $17

Calculate the approximate contribution profit per first order.

Then briefly explain whether you would continue investigating this opportunity and why.

6. AVAILABILITY

Please provide:

• Current employment status
• Hours available per week
• Time zone
• Earliest starting date

7. PORTFOLIO

Share examples of previous:

• Product research
• Market research
• Competitor analysis
• Shopify/DTC research
• Research spreadsheets

Please remove confidential client information before sharing.

SELECTION PROCESS

Shortlisted candidates will receive a paid practical research assignment.

The assignment will test your ability to:

• Investigate a market
• Find real customer evidence
• Analyze competitors
• Identify opportunities
• Identify risks
• Think about product economics
• Present a clear recommendation

We are not testing how many “winning products” you can find.

We are testing how you think.

SKILL REQUIREMENT
E-Commerce Product Research Market Research
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