We all dream of starting our own business. But for many of us the idea of what our business should be, sell or provide often escapes us. Ecommerce is a popular path that many entrepreneurs start down.
We all have big dreams of becoming the next big giant and following in the footsteps of Amazon or Apple, but did you know that if you start your business journey by selling niche products then you might get there a lot quicker than you think.
Unsure of what I mean? Read on for a little
inspiration.
1- Lower Cost/Investment
An ecommerce startup costs less to start up than a physical store. That’s it in a nutshell. In the early days of your ecommerce business you probably won’t be paying outrageous fees for rents, and utilities not to mention paying staff, insurance and working out things like health and safety plans, first aid training etc.
You might be concerned that what you want to sell can’t be sold online… Well, in that case, let me tell you that you can sell anything online, from food and clothing to heavy equipment and even railroad crossing signs.
2- Focus and Then Expand
One of the most famous and most successful stories in the ecommerce world is the Amazon story. When Amazon first started out back in 1995, its founder – Jeff Bezos, only sold books. As it’s popularity grew, Amazon then went on to sell CDs and other forms of media. Before taking the plunge during the festive season and selling toys and gifts.
It’s clear that Amazon was simply testing the market and trying to determine whether or not selling other items would have the same success as their book sales. The rest as they say, is history. The moral of this story is that selling niche products doesn’t mean you’re always stuck in one category; you can build a following and then slowly expand your business; allowing you to move into different categories seamlessly.
3- It’s Easier to Attract an Audience Online
Running a niche store means that it’s much easier to attract an audience rather than trying to cater for everyone that passes by your website. You’ll be able to understand the demographics much more and therefore create highly targeted ads.
You’ll be able to pinpoint, specifically the age, gender and interests of the people you want to find and focus on. Your business and its mission statement is straightforward and to the point, not trying to appeal to the masses. Clarity is something any potential customer will appreciate and most importantly – they’ll keep coming back.
4- A Better Chance of Success
Trying to build your mega-empire on the first try will most likely, fall flat. When you sell niche products, you’re appealing to a particular line of client that you can easily target and base a lot of your market research on. You can follow trends and see what kind of product they really want. Your competition will be low, and you can take pride in being the go-to online store your niche customers can rely on.
The Bottom Line:
The small business landscape is changing every day, bringing in more competition and making it tougher for new businesses to find success, however, with a high in demand niche market, you have higher chances of success. And, when you do it online, you do it better!
