Niche markets

A niche is a specific segment of the consumer market. Think ‘vegan pet toys’ or ‘eco-friendly watering cans’. It caters to a very specific set of customers and, when done right, can be incredibly lucrative for your business.

Say you sell pet products. Without any specialisation, you’ll be targeted ‘pet owners’ - that’s a big potential customer base with lots of competition. Now imagine you sell vegan-friendly pet products. Your customer base will be smaller, but there won’t be as many brands selling the same products. It also means you can be targeted with your messaging and campaigns. With the right positioning and marketing, you could become the go-to brand for vegan-friendly pet products.

What are some examples of niche markets?

There are some broad markets that encompass a number of different niches. For example:

 
• Health and well-being
 
• Clothes and accessories
 
• Furniture and home interior

Within each of these categories there are customers who have specific needs, and brands who cater to them.

For example, accessory and handbag brand Kelly Wynne, (one of our customers) doesn’t just sell handbags. They’ve identified a niche market of people who need transparent, fashionable handbags to help them get through airport security.

Likewise, DTC brand, Goodrays, sell CBD-infused drinks to promote relaxation and stress relief. Although the CBD market is growing - meaning more competition - Goodrays have built up a loyal customer base within their niche, making them a popular choice for anyone looking for CBD products.

What are the benefits and challenges of niche markets?

Picking a niche market has loads of benefits, but it’s important to know the challenges too. Let’s have a look at both:

Benefits

Firstly, having a niche market means you can be way more targeted with your marketing. You can use targeted keywords in your paid ads, and you can be more specific in your content marketing. You’ll can also launch Facebook and Instagram ads aimed at a smaller, niche audience, rather than spending lots of money going after a large segment of people. There’ll also be less competition, which means you can quickly build brand awareness and become the go-to brand in your niche.

Challenges

There may be less competition, but having a niche market means you risk being over-shadowed if a huge, well-known brand decides to swoop in on your market. That’s why your brand awareness is so important.

Another drawback is if your niche is suddnely just not that popular anymore. Do you remember when kids used to walk around in light-up trainers? What about fidget spinners that had a resurgence a couple of years ago? Some niche products go in and out of popularity and sometimes, there’s not a lot you can do about it. 🤷‍♀️

How to pick a niche?

Pretty much any market will have a niche that you can focus on. If you’re an established ecommerce brand, chances are there are lots of unique problems you can solve for your audience. This, in turn, will help you discover your niche. Here are some tips to get you started:

Build your audience

It’s hard to discover your niche before you’ve built an audience. Likewise, it’s hard to build an audience before you’ve settled on a niche. It’s a bit of a Catch-22.

But, there are some small things you can do to build an audience:

 
• Launch a Kickstarter campaign - this is a crowdfunding platform that gives you the opportunity to showcase your product idea to a community of like-minded people. If your idea’s any good, you’ll get people investing in it.
  
  
 
• Create a buzz on social media - launch an Instagram or TikTok account and build up an audience. You’ll need some content to get started, but if you build up enough buzz around your niche, you can (pretty much) guarantee some sales after you launch.
  
  
 
• Survey your audience - Once you’ve built an audience, it important to keep talking to them to find out what they’re enjoying about your products. Send out some surveys via email or post polls on social media. Even better, try and have a proper conversation with them to get a gauge on how they’re feeling.
  
  
 
• Scope out the competition - one way to know for sure whether your niche is worth pursuing is to see what other brands are up to. Is there another vegan pet food store that seems to be doing well? Chances are that’s a good niche to focus on.
  
  
 
• Set up a dropshipping business - you can sell products online without ordering any stock up-front. This is ideal if you don’t have much budget or warehouse space. List some products on your website and see what your audience likes best. Once you get an order, you’ll then buy it from the dropshipper who’ll package and deliver your products directly to the customer.
  
  
 
• Use Google Trends - One way to check if a particular niche is popular right now, is to search for it in Google Trends. For example, if you search for ‘shampoo bar’ you’ll see there’s been an increase in search queries for this particular product over time.

If you’re picking a niche based on trending products, you’ll need to be conscious that trends do fluctuate. Shampoo bars probably weren’t as popular five years ago because there wasn’t such an awareness of the environmental impact of plastic waste. However, if you build up a loyal customer base, you’re less likely to lose sales when trends dip. These customers will always have your back. 💪

Create a niche marketing strategy

Once you’ve found your niche, it’ll be time to market it. The great thing about niche marketing is you’ll be able to be super-targeted because you’ll know exactly what your audience wants. Take a look at our ecommerce marketing strategy guide to get started. ✨