Yesterday,Digital Commerce 360 stressed how important it was for ecommerce merchants and ecommerce-only merchants in particular, to stick with a niche. Reading this article made me want to research and share some ways that ecommerce sites can find, and subsequently grow and market their niches.
Why Specialize?Once you have some idea of the types of products that you want to sell online, there are several reasons why specialization, or finding your niche makes sense.
For one thing, marketing products is much easier when all of the products fit more or less into the same category.
Remember, each product that you decide to offer increases the amount of time that you will need to spend learning about price ranges, demographics, and other information about each product, so having similar types of products can help to simplify this process.
Selling items that are the same also helps to increase customer loyalty. If you buy a pool filter from an ecommerce store, for example, you will likely return to the same store (provided that you have a good experience the first time) to order similar items, such as pool covers, cleaning supplies, and replacement light bulbs.
It goes without saying that you will be more interested in selling products that you are passionate about then products that you really don’t have any interest in.
If you are a music lover, consider selling musical instruments, if you are a jewelry lover, you may want to sell different types of jewelry. Are you a music and a jewelry lover? What about jewelry shaped like musical instruments and notes?
We all have many different interests, and if we’re lucky, we find ways to profit from our interests. Unfortunately, not every interest or niche ecommerce idea is a profitable one, which leads us to our next tip.
Once you have a few good ideas for potential niche markets online, the next step is to research them. Find stores that sell similar products and see what they are doing in terms of marketing, pricing, and advertising.
Be wary of niches that are highly competitive, unless your products represent an improvement over similar products in the same niche.
If you don’t know very much about the products that you want to sell, or the niche market as a whole, you should research the history, key demographics, average prices, and other related variables.
Don’t be discouraged if your research leads you to the conclusion that a particular niche market isn’t for you. Choose another on your list and move on.
Once you have a niche market identified, products to sell, and a website in place, you may think that the bulk of your work is done. Unfortunately, people aren’t going to find your site or your products without some help from you, no matter how unique or innovative your products are.
List your website in directories related to your niche, reach and expand your fan base on social media sites like Facebook, reach potential customers through email marketing campaigns, and promote your business through press releases and blogging. These are just some of the ways that you can grow and strengthen your business, and become a leader in your niche market.
Sometimes, merchants will realize that a particular niche market isn’t for them during the research phase, before they have invested time and money into products that aren’t selling.
Other times, they aren’t so lucky. Often, the only way to see if a niche will be truly successful is to try to market it to the public, and this can be a hit-or-miss proposition. Remember, being an entrepreneur means taking risks, learning from them, and getting that much closer to building a successful online business.
Finding your niche may take time, but the results will be well worth It.