Starting a business is not a piece of cake. You can’t just jump out of nowhere and start your business without researching your market and customers, sooner or later, you will be drowned in your own mess. At the first stage of building your own business empire, when you have no experience and resources, it’s particularly important to find a niche market.
Table of Contents
1. What is a niche market?
A niche market is a small segment of the market where target a particular customer group. The business focuses on the niche market supplying particular products or services that are not concentrated by mainstream vendors. In other words, a niche market is a group of potential customers with specific needs, a subset of the whole market. No matter how big a market is, it always exists a gap where the demand of customers hasn’t fulfilled yet. If you have a well-defined niche, you can stand out in the market and have a chance to extend your brand awareness.
You might have asked:” Why should I think of setting up a niche market?”. The most significant advantage is that you don’t have competitors; Other small businesses may not be aware of your specific niche market, and big businesses want to focus more on larger market share. (Note: This is true in the short term but when a business has established an appropriate market niche, others often quickly enter into the competition and if it generates enough profits then bigger businesses will pay attention.)
A niche market can also be used as a base that allows your ecommerce store to expand to larger markets.
An iconic brand in the fashion industry has made glorious in its niche market is Levi’s. The brand Levi’s is considered a phenomenon of western society in the twentieth century. The brand’s iconic jeans, “saving” American fashion with a high-value clothing invention. Levi’s is a giant in the fashion field specialized in jeans. It has made a success story in the U.S and worldwide only by selling jeans and denim jackets.
Another name cannot be mentioned in the luxury car industry is Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The main market which Rolls-Royce focuses on is successful entrepreneurs who have a demand for the luxury car. In 2013, the world was on save shopping trend, however, Roll-Royce still sold 3,630 cars. This company has kept a stable growth rate over the years.
2. How to find a suitable niche market?
However, how to find a suitable niche market for your business is another tough question.
Niche market selection is extremely important, especially for a startup. It helps startup businesses has an opportunity to launch successful businesses, less competition and risks than facing big companies that have existed for a long time in the market.
Generally, small ecommerce entrepreneurs can succeed if they understand that only a few people will purchase their products or services. Their mission is to identify exactly who those people are and direct their marketing efforts to those customers.
It’s crucial for both new and established ecommerce merchants to have an overview of the large market before seeking a niche market and product ideas.
Your niche market will include in the general context of the industry, thus, you need to clarify these first:
- The products meet the market’s need.
- Price range.
- Manufacture quality.
- Marketing strategy.
How can you do this? By utilising the target market segment to find the potential customer group that is most interested in buying the product and service you offer. One of the first things you need to do is refine your product or service. You are not trying to sell to everyone, you want to be an expert in your own field!
There are some common ways to group your target market:
- Location: Target a small geographic area, such as a small town, a city, or maybe a school.
- Jobs: some particular type of jobs need particular products.
- Demographic.
- Psychographics.
- Occasions: Christmas, Easter, etc.
3. Which resources ecommerce merchants can use to find niche and product ideas?
Now you’re so ready to start your own business, right? Let’s figure out some resource can give suggestion for your product ideas.
Google’s suggestion.
Everything has on Google! It’s free and it’s endless knowledge store. Taking advantage of Google now!
Whenever typing down something on Google, it’s has suggested a list of the most search for results related to what you just typed. You will know what is people most interested in.
Consumer trend publication.
Another reliable source to find ideas must be consumer product trend publications. It might give you some hint of what is a popular product or some start-up ideas introduced by famous entrepreneurs. This might be a source of knowledge expose you to the new industries which you never heard before.
Top ecommerce trend publications you can follow:
- Trend Watching.
- The Cool Hunter.
- Trend Hunter.
- PSFK.
Industry’s KOLs.
If you already decide which niche you targeted, you might probably know some famous people in it. These people are leaders in the industry, they can inspire you through accurate information. If you’re interested in Health and Beauty, you might want to follow the famous doctors in the health industry, their advice about sort of nutrition product can inspire you to come up with some product ideas.
Online marketplaces.
Online marketplaces are other good sources to figure out what is trending. You might want to search in the best-seller categories to look for the most purchases product.
HappyPoints will list out for you top e-commerce websites and where to find their best seller products.
- eBay: eBay Market Research – display the most popular things on eBay.
- Amazon: Amazon Best Sellers – present the products has a high purchase rate.
- Aliexpress: Aliexpress Popular.
Until now HappyPoints have kept you update about a niche market and some sources to looking for product ideas. Hopefully, this blog can inspire you to come up with some brilliant business ideas and step further in the journey to become an e-commerce entrepreneur.
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