Automatic Merchandise Proposal and Market Research Analyzer - n8n Workflow

• Print-on-Demand (POD) business owners looking to automate content sourcing.


• E-commerce analysts requiring automated competitive pricing data.


• Users seeking advanced n8n templates integrating AI, scraping, and asset management.


• Developers needing an example of a complex, multi-stage n8n workflow involving external APIs (NASA, Cloudinary, Apify, OpenAI).

Developing new merchandise requires constant content sourcing, design iteration, and crucial market validation. This comprehensive n8n workflow streamlines this entire process, transforming the daily NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) into a fully analyzed product proposal.

The automation begins with fetching a public domain image and immediately bifurcates into two parallel tracks: 1) AI analysis for keywords and 2) visual product mockup generation using Cloudinary. Crucially, the n8n workflow then performs competitive market analysis by using an Apify n8n node to scrape Etsy, calculating potential profit margins based on custom production costs.

Finally, all this synthesized data is delivered as a concise proposal to Slack. This unique n8n templates solution incorporates a user decision point, where the execution pauses using the Wait n8n node until an explicit Go/No-Go command is received, ensuring human oversight before final asset storage in Google Drive and Notion.

The entire process is initiated daily by the Schedule Trigger n8n trigger.

1. Configuration and Sourcing: The workflow begins by setting variables (Cloudinary credentials, production cost, profit threshold) in the Workflow Configuration n8n node, followed by fetching the high-resolution image and details using the NASA n8n node.


2. Parallel Processing (AI & Market Prep): The data splits. An OpenAI n8n node generates relevant product keywords and checks the image for potential logo issues. Simultaneously, the image URL is passed to an HTTP Request n8n node, which leverages Cloudinary's powerful URL transformations to instantly create a product mockup (e.g., T-shirt design).


3. Market Analysis: Using the AI-generated keywords, the Apify n8n node (Search Etsy Market1) scrapes Etsy for competitor products. A Code n8n node then processes this scraped data alongside the configured production cost to calculate the average market price and potential profit margin.


4. Data Synthesis and AI Advice: The market data and the product mockup are recombined using the Merge Data n8n node. A second OpenAI n8n node (AI Marketing Advisor1) analyzes the market data, price, and keywords to provide actionable marketing strategy advice.


5. Approval Loop: The Slack n8n node sends a rich proposal detailing the profitability, AI keywords, and marketing advice (attaching the mockup preview). The workflow then enters a pause state using the Wait for User Decision n8n node, awaiting a user action via a connected webhook.


6. Conditional Storage: The Switch n8n node checks if the user's decision was 'save'. If approved, the high-quality source image is downloaded, saved to Google Drive, and the complete product metadata (including profitability and AI advice) is logged into the designated Notion database via the Notion n8n node.

To deploy this automated n8n workflow, follow these steps:

1. Import: Copy the provided n8n workflow JSON and paste it into your n8n instance's workflow editor.


2. Credentials: Set up and connect credentials for all required services: NASA, OpenAI, Apify, Slack, Google Drive, and Notion.


3. Configuration Node: Open the Workflow Configuration1 n8n node. Update the placeholder values with your specific Cloudinary cloud name, API key, base T-shirt public ID, and define your productionCost and minProfitThreshold.


4. Endpoint IDs: Update the specific IDs in the following nodes (marked with placeholders):

1. Activation: Ensure the workflow is set to 'Active' to enable the daily Schedule n8n trigger.


2. Webhook Setup: Verify the Slack interactive message setup so that the Wait for User Decision1 n8n node successfully receives the 'save' or 'discard' action.

Schedule Trigger: This n8n trigger initiates the entire process daily at 8:00 AM, ensuring fresh content is analyzed.
Workflow Configuration: A Set n8n node used to securely hold environmental variables like production costs and external service keys (Cloudinary) within the n8n workflow context.
Get NASA APOD: A specialized NASA n8n node used for guaranteed sourcing of high-quality, public domain images.
Generate Keywords & Check Logo (OpenAI): Uses OpenAI to analyze the APOD content, generating SEO-optimized keywords and performing a crucial check for sensitive content or logos.
Search Etsy Market (Apify): An Apify n8n node configured to run a web scraper (likely dtrungtin/etsy-scraper) based on the AI-generated keywords, providing real-time market data.
Calculate Profit (Code): A Code n8n node which executes custom JavaScript to parse the scraped Etsy prices, calculate the average selling price, and determine if the calculated profit exceeds the defined minimum threshold.
Create Mockup with Cloudinary (HTTP Request): This HTTP Request n8n node leverages Cloudinary's image transformation service to dynamically generate a product visual by overlaying the NASA image onto a base T-shirt template.
Wait for User Decision: A critical Wait n8n node that introduces a human in the loop, pausing the n8n workflow execution until a webhook signal (triggered by a Slack button) resumes the flow with an explicit decision.
Check User Decision (Switch): This Switch n8n node acts as flow control, ensuring the final asset storage steps (Google Drive and Notion) only execute if the user approves the proposal (i.e., action equals 'save').
Save to Google Drive: Saves the approved high-resolution source image file into a specified Google Drive folder.

• Save to Notion DB: Logs the complete market analysis, AI advice, and product metadata into a Notion database for tracking and project management.