If you’re like most people who want to start their own online business, you have the determination and the drive to succeed, but no clue where to begin or what to sell… This is pretty common among aspiring entrepreneurs but you can’t get stuck in this phase for too long. More often than not, people get stuck in this idea phase and never come out, causing them to never get their entrepreneurial career off the ground. 

Eventually, you’re going to have to buckle down and make a decision on what you want to sell.

The important aspect to understand about deciding on what to sell is determining if what you want to sell will bring you success. All too often, aspiring entrepreneurs will have a business idea in their head, think it’s great, start that business, and come to the realization that there wasn’t a need in the market for their “grand” idea.

That reason alone is why market research is so important when starting your business. Market research is actually one of the most commonly overlooked areas when starting a business. For the most part, these entrepreneurial “newbies” will begin their entrepreneurial journey backward.

They’ll build their website first and then try to figure out what they want to sell; The order in which they need to go about starting their business is to first conduct market research on what they want to sell and then find the best website builder to start their business with.

But everyone has their own “method of madness,” right? Of course, and oftentimes, these individuals get so caught up and focused on the wrong areas of entrepreneurship that they forget to take notice of the other equally important but often overlooked areas of it… E-Commerce niches are one of those important areas of businesses that are often overlooked.

What is an E-Commerce Niche?

An e-commerce niche is a specific and unique area within a market that’s often not overly saturated and frequently overlooked by other businesses. Some common e-commerce niches include:

• Eco-friendly products
• Handmade items
• Pet-related products

An e-commerce niche is basically anything that will set you apart from your competitors, and because of that, your business will have a better chance of succeeding. Unfortunately, most aspiring entrepreneurs want to go into those heavily saturated markets where their teeny-tiny business has a very slim chance of surviving. 

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of small businesses fail within the first year. But can you guess why they failed? Well, based on various studies and research on the matter, the top reason small businesses failed within its first year is because there was no market need for a particular product or service.

With an e-commerce niche, your business’ chances of survival will be very high. With that high survival rate, you’ll have the opportunity to experience all the benefits of an e-commerce niche.

Benefits of an E-Commerce Niche

Loyal Customer Base

Because your niche is so unique and specific, you’ll not only have a better chance at keeping your customers happy, but you’ll also encourage repeat customers, which in turn, translates to loyal customers. Also, with a niche business, you’ll be able to partner with influencers who are part of the same industry as you. This will drive more traffic to your site and add credibility to the unique products you’re selling.

Higher Price For Products

By selling unique products, you’re at an advantage of being able to sell your products at a higher rate. This isn’t in any way an attempt to get over on your customers but more so in retrospect to your budget and what it takes to produce the products you’re selling.

Think about it… Niche products are unique, so that means that they’re not going to be produced in mass amounts, and because of that, it can cost you more in materials to get those products made, causing you to have to charge more to compensate for it. 

The good news is that people are more willing to pay more for the products they want, especially when those products are unique and aren’t as easy to find in traditional brick-and-mortar stores.

Unique Aspect of Certain Trends

Trends are known for being “here today and gone tomorrow,” but some trends have been known to stand the tests of time, and the businesses that rode that trending wave have stuck around just as long. 

The biggest aspect to take away from trends, whether they stand the tests of time or fade away, is that you have to strike while the iron is hot. If your products follow along with a particular trend, you have to maximize your growth opportunities while the trend is working in your favor… It’s an opportunity to attract a lot of customers within your niche that you otherwise might have never been able to reach.

Cheaper Advertising and Marketing Costs

One of the best parts about e-commerce niches is that because you’re marketing to a smaller audience, that also means that you have a smaller market to promote your products to. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t invest in an effective marketing budget, because you still want your efforts to be effective; it’s just not going to cost as much.

Everything from social media to other paid advertising opportunities is going to be great and effective ways to quickly give you a great ROI all without having to spend a considerable amount of money.

Conclusion

There are tons of successful e-commerce businesses out there. Some of these businesses fall into highly saturated markets and others are in niche markets. True enough, highly saturated markets prove to give small businesses a smaller chance at surviving and niche markets have a higher chance at surviving, that’s not saying that you absolutely have to choose a niche market but more so to at least consider it, given its proven success rates.

But the choice is yours, ultimately. You want to choose to start a business doing something you’ll enjoy but you also want to consider what will bring you the most profits as well.