Positioning yourself as the go-to brand for a niche audience establishes
credibility, it results in a more focused business, and it makes it easier for
the right customers that are interested in buying your product to find you.
So if you're scouring the internet, trying to think of your first
product idea, choosing a niche is the perfect place to start.
In today's video, we're going to discuss what a niche market is and I'll
give you examples to get ideas going.
So make sure that you're sticking around until the end of this video, where I'll
teach you how to find your own niche.
Welcome back and if you're new, welcome to the community.
I'm Michelle Bali, your host.
Here on Learn With Shopify we create a new video every week to help you
start and grow your online business.
So make sure to hit that subscribe button so that you don't miss
out on any future videos.
Alright, so what exactly is a niche market?
You might've already heard of the term before, but a niche is a segment of a
larger market that can be defined by its own unique needs, preferences, or identity
that makes it different from the market.
At large, this specialized segment of the market is where
you want your business to occupy.
Selling shoes is a large market.
So instead, perhaps you decide to sell vegan shoes for men or shoes
for plus sized women, or how about shoes for transgender people?
So you see how the market is now quite focused.
To make it as a business, you'll need to carve out a niche.
So imagine that you had a shoe store, you add as many types of
shoes as possible to that store.
Then you add t-shirts hats, jackets, bags, and then you throw in some
sunglasses for good measure.
If a customer is looking for durable work boots, are they going to come to you?
If they're looking for performance enhancing running shoes, are you
going to be their first choice?
Probably not because your message gets diluted.
This is a common pitfall of new business owners.
Now let's reverse the scenario.
Say you still have that lovely shoe store, but instead of expanding your
product offering, you actually narrow in.
You decide that you're going to sell shoes for nurses.
You sell non-slip shoes that provide all day support and you spend your marketing
budget on Instagram ads and influencer posts that appeal directly to nurses.
The result of niching in is that you are now the go-to spot for nurses.
You've established credibility and you've dominated that corner of the market.
So hopefully now you can see why it's important to find your niche.
Every market can be further refined by consumers needs and preferences.
Some of the most common ways to define a niche are based on price.
So you can sell luxury, moderate, or discount goods.
Level of quality, so you can sell handmade or premium goods.
Geographics, so you can sell to people that are within your city
or just within your neighborhood.
Demographics, including age, gender, income level, education level, as
well as a psychographics, which includes attitudes, beliefs, and
values of a specific population.
So to distill all of that down, you can break it down into one sentence.
So here I'm going to write, I want to sell and I'm going to put in my price.
So here I'll put in discount.
Then the quality.
So I'm going to write vegan shoes where the product is.
They appeal to, now I'm going to put the geographic.
So Canadian
female nurses.
And that's the demographics.
And then I'll put in the psychographics.
So these people might value, comfort
and fashionable
accessories.
So super easy.
Right away, we can see that we've distilled all those characteristics,
including the price, quality, type of product we're going to sell,
the geographics, demographics and the psychographics.
And now I have a clearer idea of who it is I'm selling to, who my audience is,
and the type of product that I'm selling.
So let's take a look at five examples to start giving you some ideas.
Conscious consumers.
Sustainability has become an important topic and for good reason, so think of
any mass produced product, and there will be a niche of conscious consumers
looking to embrace a greener alternative.
In the past, companies might have donated proceeds to a cause, but now consumers
care about how products are made as well.
This means that within the culture of green living, there's
a subculture of people who care about ethical supply chains.
So keep that in mind, if you're playing within this niche, some product examples
are BS, rap that replaced saran wrap.
You can also do cruelty free cosmetics or vegan clothing, or even try
menstrual cups, but avoid greenwashing.
Make sure that your environmental claims are supported rather than just marketing.
It's of course impossible to be perfect in this category.
That's not how business works.
That's not how commerce works.
But do keep in mind that greenwashing will always backfire in the end.
Pet owners.
Pet business in the US estimated $75 billion in sales in 2019,
so there's lots of opportunity here.
So for example, Pup Socks sell personalized socks that you can
plaster your beloved pet picture on.
And they have hundreds of thousands of website visitors monthly.
Some product examples can be GPS pet trackers or organic pet food.
Gamers.
There are more than 2.3 billion active gamers across the
globe, including mobile gamers,
PC gamers, tabletop gamers, and the list just goes on.
But nearly half of these people spend money on their hobby,
so there's definitely space for your emerging business.
Take Shazim Muhammad for example.
He launched his online store called Glorious PC Gaming Race and it's now
become a seven figure business that basically just runs on autopilot.
A few little tips here.
Mobile gaming in particular is taking over, which makes up 91% of the market.
Plus more females are entering the market than ever before.
More niche, product ideas for gamers include ergonomic products for long
gaming sessions, like controllers, chairs, and blue light blocking glasses.
Homeowners.
The definition of being a homeowner is changing.
We're now seeing homes as investment properties or shared spaces.
This paved the way for products like August to launch it's keyless entry
tools and home security products.
Here are some more niche product ideas for homeowners.
So you're going to want to check out accessories for Airbnb guests
like couch covers and renter solutions like no drill blinds.
Locals.
Even the world's biggest brands are adopting local marketing approaches
through targeted campaigns.
This is because they're competing with the consumer driven movement
to support local businesses.
But if you're only selling online, it can be difficult
to establish a local presence.
Luckily, there are ways for e-commerce sellers to appeal to locals.
Peace Collective for example, was founded around Toronto pride with
the slogan Toronto versus everybody.
Now, if you want to sell locally, you could do t-shirts with subculture slogans
like this, and you can also do subway station swag like this Etsy artist here.
So if you get to the end of this video and you're still not sure what to sell
and you need help finding a product, make sure that you're checking out our free
40 minute webinar that will teach you how to find winning product ideas, how
to validate them and how to get started.
Just click the link in the description box below to get
started with this free training.
Now, how to find your own niche market.
So there's no single way to choose a niche.
There are actually many methods you can use so find one
that feels intuitive to you.
You can start with Google searches.
The best place to start brainstorming is to understand what other
online retailers are doing.
Let's take vegan shoes as a starting point.
So I like to scroll to the bottom of the search results page to
see the related search results.
From there, we're able to find a gold mine of potential angles like vegan
crocodile heals, and faux fur slippers.
Keep digging until you find an underserved problem that you feel
you can provide a solution to.
But keep in mind that even if you have competition, you can
still compete by getting even more specific with your audience.
Another tip is to pay attention to your surroundings.
Start looking outward to catch any common pain points.
Your own experiences, as well as the experiences of
others, can spark some ideas.
If you're selling shoes, for example, you might notice both youth and elderly
people have trouble tying laces.
Maybe you yourself are after a certain style of shoe but
no one ships to your country.
So take note of any problems like these and be that business to serve a niche
population with your unique solution.
Use Google suggestions.
Ever noticed how, when you start typing something into a Google search, it
shows you suggestions before you finish.
These are Google's most searched for related queries.
Use it to your advantage to find a niche for your product category.
I plugged in 'best shoes for' which gave me some ideas.
Look for passionate communities online.
The internet is pretty good at organizing itself into communities based on shared
interests, passions, and hobbies.
In other words, into niches.
So dig through the most active subreddits and listen in on their conversations.
Subscribe to hashtags on Instagram and Twitter, like #sneakerhead and you'll
find opportunities to niche down.
Instagram is a really great tool to get people talking about your
brand but if you have a product or a service to sell, you'll need a
platform where customers can actually go ahead and make those purchases.
Shopify is a really great place to start.
Selling online with your own e-commerce website has never been
easier, faster or more scalable.
Setting up your store can actually be done in a matter of days and
you can do it all by yourself.
You don't need a fancy coder.
You can get started with a free 14 day trial.
There is no commitment at all.
You don't even need to give your credit card information and you actually have
two full weeks to build a fully beautiful, branded, personalized, e-commerce store.
So I'm going to leave a link in the description box for you guys
to check that out so you can take advantage of your free 14 day trial.
How to validate your niche market ideas.
So now that you know what to sell online, you need to make sure that
there's an audience for it at the start.
Your niche market and products are just ideas or a hypothesis of what you think
will resonate with your target audience.
Having a niche makes it easier to find potential customers and
convince them to buy from you.
But you need to be sure that there are enough buyers in
that niche to make it viable.
So let's say you're targeting dog-loving nurses in Toronto, and you
determined that your niche is too small.
Consider pivoting.
You could expand to dog-loving professionals in North America.
But you won't really know what will resonate until you try.
Here are some ways to evaluate your niche market idea.
Build your audience first.
Kickstarter campaigns generate awareness about products
before they're even developed.
You can introduce your idea and gain followers before the
idea has even come to fruition.
This way, you'll have an engaged group of potential customers ready
and waiting for when you launch.
Test before you invest.
This applies to both time and money.
Start with a small batch of products and run a campaign to your
target audience and influencers.
Ask them for feedback.
It's important to get feedback early on, especially if you're developing
a new product, so you can perfect it before it goes out into the real world.
Dig deeper into your niche.
As you're doing your online research, analyze blogs, ads,
product reviews, and other key areas in your niche to gain insights.
Can you solve a problem that is repeatedly coming up?
Research consumer trends in your market.
It's important to be up to date with what's happening in your chosen niche.
Resources like Facebook IQ, Think with Google and Nielsen Consumer Research
will help you understand consumer pain points, desires, and breakout trends.
Set up Google alerts for related keywords and regularly monitor
social media conversations to stay on top of what's trending.
Even if you do achieve success early on, niches change, so expect to
evolve with your audience over time.
You might even introduce new products to your line as new
opportunities present themselves.
Understanding the unique needs of each niche makes it possible to speak
directly to them in your marketing.
You'll have a greater chance of attracting a buyer's attention and winning their
business by making it clear that your product is specifically for them.
Don't forget to sign up for this webinar to learn even
more in less than 40 minutes.
Let us walk you through how to find product ideas, how to validate
them and how to sell the product
once you have an idea that you want to pursue.
So now that you know how to choose a niche market and generate product
ideas your target audience will buy, it's time to turn it into a reality.
The next video that you're going to want to watch is how
to start an e-commerce business.
I'll link that right up here.
But if you found this video helpful, make sure that you're giving it a
thumbs up because that helps our community and our channel grow.
And make sure you're subscribed so you always have the scoop on how
to grow your e-commerce business.
If this video sparked any ideas, be sure to drop your new niche
idea in the comment section.
I want to see who's managed to pick out a deep subculture with potential.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
I'm your host Michelle Bali and I will see you in the next one.