What product to sell in 2027: strong categories, compliance and costs

The choice rests on two verifiable elements: European regulation already adopted, which sets stable rules for building a product file, and documented demand, distinguished here between official fact and private market estimate. The market sizes quoted below come from research firms with unaudited methodologies: orders of magnitude, not promises of revenue.

Connected home, cosmetics, pet products, LED lighting: these four categories have a precise regulatory calendar for 2026 and 2027, which makes it possible to plan the compliance file ahead of time rather than discover it after the first order. None guarantees a profitable launch: the demand exists, but execution and cost control remain decisive.

The RED directive (2014/53/EU) has governed every radio device placed on the European market since 13 June 2017. Since 1 August 2025, delegated regulation (EU) 2022/30 adds three mandatory cybersecurity requirements: not harming networks, protecting the personal data of connected devices and baby monitors, and providing anti-fraud safeguards for equipment that processes monetary transactions. The harmonised standard EN 18031, published on 30 January 2025, provides a presumption of conformity.

This regime is set to shift a second time: regulation 2022/30 will be repealed on 11 December 2027, absorbed into the Cyber Resilience Act, which entered into force on 10 December 2024. Since 11 September 2026, every manufacturer must already report exploited vulnerabilities and serious incidents to ENISA. From 11 December 2027, its full set of requirements, including CE marking, will apply in full.

On demand, research firms do not agree on a single figure: the connected-home market in Europe is valued at around 61 billion dollars for 2026 by some studies, around 24 billion by others. A gap of double, to be read as an order of magnitude, not a settled figure.

Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 governs every cosmetic product made available on the European market. A company established outside the Union that wants to sell cosmetics must designate a responsible person established in a member state, by written agreement, who answers for compliance before the authorities.

Article 13 of the regulation requires, before any sale, notification of each product on the European CPNP portal: category, contact details of the responsible person, country of origin if imported, presence of nanomaterials or of carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic substances. A single notification covers the whole European market. The responsible person then keeps the product information file, including the safety report, for ten years after the last batch.

Skincare, makeup and fragrance remain the most sought-after categories according to commercial analyses published in 2026, a trend observation, not an independent market study.

Feed and accessories do not follow the same regulation, and confusing the two wastes time. Feed of animal origin falls under the animal health law, regulation (EU) 2016/429, and the official controls regulation (EU) 2017/625: every imported batch undergoes a veterinary inspection, comes from an approved establishment and travels with a veterinary certificate. Regulation (EC) 1069/2009 sets out the certification of animal by-products, tracked on the European TRACES system.

Accessories, toys, carriers, bowls, leashes, grooming products, fall mainly under the general product safety regulation (EU) 2023/988, in force since 13 December 2024, supplemented as applicable by REACH, the Toy Safety Directive or RoHS: tested safety, traceability, technical file kept for ten years. A connected pet device, a collar or tracker with radio, adds these obligations to those of the RED directive and regulation 2022/30.

The European pet-care market is estimated at around 85 billion dollars for 2026 by one research firm, to be taken as an order of magnitude. One official figure is worth noting: according to the European federation FEDIAF, 140 million European households, or 49% of households in the Union, own at least one pet.

Ecodesign for light sources is set by regulation (EU) 2019/2020, known as the single lighting regulation, in force since 1 October 2019. Energy labelling depends on delegated regulation (EU) 2019/2015: every light source must be registered in the EPREL database before being placed on the market. This framework is due to shift: the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which entered into force on 18 July 2024, is meant to progressively replace the 2009 framework directive, but with no official date yet fixed for lighting: the delegated acts specific to this category are still pending.

Cross-cutting obligations add to this: low voltage 2014/35/EU, electromagnetic compatibility 2014/30/EU, RoHS 2011/65/EU since 2 January 2013, and WEEE 2012/19/EU, with a minimum collection rate of 65% of the average weight of equipment placed on the market over the previous three years.

No reliable, dated market data was found for this category: the window of opportunity here lies in the regulatory shift itself.

A launch budget is built from several line items, not just the ex-works price: product development or adaptation, reference sample, compliance testing, technical file, first stock, online shop. These items vary widely from one category to another: a pet accessory that reuses an existing model is cheaper to launch than a connected device subject to the RED directive's cybersecurity tests.

The most frequent pitfall is treating CE marking as a formality handled by the factory, when it is in fact the responsibility of whoever places the product on the European market. A second pitfall concerns cosmetics: ordering a finished product without a responsible person designated in the Union exposes you to an irregular sale from the very first order. A third concerns pet products: treating feed as a simple accessory means missing the veterinary inspection required on entry into the Union.

Sorva is a sourcing and trading house between Europe and China, with a Chinese-speaking team based in Guangzhou and a presence in Paris. Before committing a budget, our technical feasibility study assesses a product idea against the applicable regulation, the demand observed and the actual cost of compliance. Once the product is chosen, our full supplier search identifies and compares the factories capable of producing it at the volumes and quality targeted.

Sorva buys the goods in China and resells them delivered, with sourcing, quality control, transport and compliance tracked by a single team. For a full launch, the turnkey business plan covers the chain from product and factory search through to going live on your shop and its automation, an area where Sorva draws on its own experience in multilingual search visibility.