Is a niche a necessity or just nice to have?: How to fill your corner of the market

One time-honored rule of commerce of any variety is that the fewer customers you have, the bigger percentage of a given market’s share you can take for yourself. This translates directly to more customers, more income, and more profits for you, your employees, and your shareholders. But how do you make sure to have as few competitors as possible while still staying on the up-and-up? One of the easiest ways is to consider which niche your ecommerce business is filling. By finding an underutilized niche you too can corner your intended market and become a go-to solution for hundreds or thousands of people. Read on for our overview of ecommerce niches, how to find one, and how specialization can take your company to the next level in no time flat.

What is a niche?

Simply put, a niche is a unique segment or offering in a market. In contrast to dropshipping, which has a low barrier for entry but tons of competition, niche ecommerce offers the chance to truly stand out and show your unique perspective. What is it that you have that nobody else on the market seems to be offering? Just because a product isn’t available yet doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t sell. Chances are there are dozens of customers anticipating the release of something that will help solve their specific problem. It can take a little bit of work to discover a niche that can really allow you and your products to shine, but it’s well worth the impact it will have on both your community and your bottom line.

How do you find your niche?

Start out with a good, healthy brainstorming session. What are some problems your customers might have that simply aren’t being resolved by current market offerings? Is there a feature products similar to yours might be sorely lacking? Is there a way for you to develop those premium features and offer them to your customers? It never hurts to conduct a little market research. Don’t be afraid to send out a survey to your loyal customers asking about the things they’d like to see. Get quotes and recommendations from your manufacturers, as well. New features can often be added for cheaper than you might think. Ultimately, niche ecommerce selling is all about putting the customer first, and ensuring that their needs are the ones being met.

How can you create an effective direct-to-consumer strategy?

There’s six points you need to keep in mind when developing any sort of marketing strategy that will benefit your brand and your business in the long term. We’ll be listing them off as follows and providing a short explanation in case you’ve never seen it explained this way before.

First, you need to keep your goal in mind. What exactly are you trying to achieve? Do you want to reach new customers, or convince existing customers to buy more? Do you want to increase brand recognition? Tie yourself to a certain set of ideas? All of these can be accomplished through clever marketing.

Next you need to hammer down your message. Your unique selling proposition or what you’re most looking to promote online. Sit down and brainstorm, either alone or with trusted colleagues and mentors to see what really says what you need to say while also being punchy and to the point.

Your audience is worth heavy consideration as well. If you market towards a demographic that doesn’t buy from your brand, you’re almost worse off than before. Unlikely to make new sales from previous customers, and selling towards customers that are unlikely to be interested in your product leaves you having spent a lot of money on advertising for little gain.

Next you need to take a look at which channels you’re advertising through. Email? SMS? SEO blog posts? Social media? All of these avenues have pros and cons that balance against each other in interesting ways. Picking and choosing only one is seldom the way to go, but they each require their own unique touch to get just right.

Consider also which tools you’ll need to accomplish your goals. Email campaigns require an email platform and often a campaign management tool. Social media accounts, analytics programs, and ad management tools are also a major bonus for any would-be marketer to have in their arsenal.

Lastly, you need some way to test the success of your endeavors. Analytics numbers can help a bit, but it’s best to have solid evidence of how your sales are growing over time. This means dedicating yourself to long-term monitoring to make sure that the jump in sales isn’t just normal growth that you would be experiencing anyway.

By keeping these six points in mind, you’ll be able to draft up a marketing plan that keeps all the important parts of your business at the forefront of your consideration.

In conclusion

Coming up with a cool, effective, and sustainable niche in which to sell your products doesn’t have to be rocket science. Neither does fulfilling the new influx of orders you’ll get with your awesome new products. Whether you’re aiming to sell digitally or in store, P2Pseller is ecstatic to bring you along on the ecommerce revolution. Register a free account with us today to see everything we can do for you and your business.