How To Succeed at Ecommerce by Using a Niche Marketing Strategy
Image Credit: Entrepreneur.com
E-commerce has been growing rapidly in the past few years, especially due to the global pandemic that forced many people to switch to online shopping. However, even though there are many people now choosing to shop online, it can still be a very competitive environment for many new online stores.
This is exactly why you need to choose a niche and aim to establish yourself in that niche firmly. Hence, here’s how to choose your niche and succeed at e-commerce by using a niche marketing strategy.
Why Do You Need A Niche?
So, why exactly do you need a niche? Well, there are several different reasons why you need a niche for your online store, but they can all be summed up in a single word: competition.
A niche helps you understand who your competitors are and how you can beat them. Moreover, if you really understand the market, you could even choose a niche that no one else is competing for which will allow you to take it over completely.
A niche can also determine how you will be using your resources and which direction you will be moving in with your marketing. You could be targeting a very specific audience, or you could be targeting several different segments. You could be relying more on social media or on PPC advertising.
You might even decide to combine online marketing with offline marketing if you will be targeting an audience located in a specific region. Remember, just because you run an online business doesn’t mean you have to serve the whole country.
What Are the Best Niches to Choose From?
One of the most challenging things about choosing a niche is trying to determine your scope. You shouldn’t be too broad, but you should also refrain from being too narrow or your business will not grow. The ‘Goldilocks happy medium’ should be your goal!
In addition to that, it can be a bit overwhelming to choose a niche just because there are so many different options to choose from. In reality though, it’s not that complicated.
Cillian Woodley, an expert from the writing services reviews site Trust My Paper, says:
“With enough research, it will be easy to make a good choice. You just need to consider certain factors [explained below] when making your final decision.
It’s also probably a good idea to start with certain niches that are known to be particularly profitable in e-commerce. If you take one of these as your starting point, it will be easier to narrow down and choose your niche.”
Here are some examples of profitable e-commerce niches at the moment:
· Health and wellness products
· Eco-friendly products for conscious consumers
· Products for the LGBT+ community
· Travel, outdoors, and sports equipment
· Gaming and tech products
· Products and services for pet owners
Here are the three key factors you need to consider when choosing your niche:
#1 Your Resources
Start with your resources. How big is your budget? How much expertise and experience do you have with e-commerce? How much expertise and experience do you have in specific niches?
Are you ready to learn about a specific niche if you don’t know anything about it? How much time do you have to spend? Do you have a team, or will you do everything yourself? Which e-commerce marketing techniques are you experienced with?
Answering these questions will help you better understand what kind of goals you can set for yourself and what you can realistically expect in the first year of working with your online store.
Likewise, with the answers you now have, it will be easier to determine which niches you definitely don’t want to or simply can’t work with.
#2 Your Audience
The next step is to consider your audience. Reagan Hall, an expert from the custom writing reviews site Supreme Dissertations, explains, “Your niche and your audience are directly related to one another, and you can’t actually consider them separately. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to start with your potential audience before you choose your niche.”
The most important things to consider about your audience are:
· Geographic location: Where is your audience located? Do you want to sell locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally?
· Demographic data: What is the age, gender, education level, marital status, income level, profession, lifestyle, hobbies, etc. of your customers?
· Psychographic data: What are the interests, attitudes, values, religious beliefs, etc. of your customers?
#3 Your Products
Now, you can consider specific characteristics of your products in relation to your previous considerations. What you should focus on the most is the price of your products or services.
Your price range will directly depend on your resources and your audience, so it is definitely important to consider prices in the context of your previous decisions.
You might decide to sell luxury goods to a very narrow audience. Alternatively, you could be selling products wholesale. Whatever you decide about the price range for your products, it needs to be in line with what your audience expects and is willing to pay.
Likewise, you need to consider the current market situation and what your competitors are up to.
How Can You Set Up A Niche Marketing Strategy?
Once you have determined what your niche will be, you will need to create a marketing strategy that will fit that niche. Juliette Webb, an expert from the essay writing services reviews site Best Essay Education, puts it this way, “A niche marketing strategy takes into account the specific of your audience and your products to use your resources to get the best results from your campaigns.”
There are certain techniques commonly used for niche marketing that you can try:
· PPC ad campaigns and offline ad campaigns
· Video marketing (including live streaming and webinars)
· Social media marketing (including UGC curation and influencer marketing)
· Hyper-targeted and interactive content (including email marketing)
What Are Some Examples of Niche Brands?
To give you a better idea of what a niche brand looks like in practice, here are three different examples of brands targeting specific markets:
1. Lefty’s: As the name suggests, Lefty’s is a brand targeting left-handed people. It sells a range of commonly used items (e.g. stationery, kitchen utensils) that is adapted to use specifically by left-handed people. While the brand doesn’t focus on a very narrow set of products, it does target a more specific audience.
2. Divvies: Divvies is a brand that specializes in vegan baking. They offer products that are vegan but also free of nuts, eggs, and dairy which allows them to target customers that are either vegans by choice or avoid certain foods due to health conditions.
3. Lush: Lastly, Lush is a brand that sells ethical cosmetics and thus targets customers that want to purchase eco-friendly products produced with ethical considerations in mind. The brand uses organic ingredients and offers maximum transparency about its practices.
Final Thoughts
All in all, choosing a niche for your online store is not as difficult as it may seem at first. However, you should still do enough research and make a good choice that will fit your specific situation. Use the information in this article to help you decide which niche will be the best choice for you and how you can then structure your marketing strategy around it.
By Regina Koinava. Regina is an expert writer who specializes in creating various training and professional upgrade courses, materials, manuals, and reviews. She also provides consultations and creates expert writing materials. She likes traveling and speaks German and French.
