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How to find a product and a niche

27 November 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - Planning & theory of how to make money online

Here are some ideas to try and find a product or range that inspires you. Of course it is great if you can sell stuff you are really interested in but don't let that interest get in the way of making the right product choices. It is much better to become a millionaire selling pooper scoopers than it is to be a broke idealist.

In the end if you cannot find an inspirational niche market use the supplier list in the business directory (members only). Go through it systematically short listing products and ranges that are 'financially' inspiring. You choose. It might be a product or service you are interested in. Or perhaps something you are expert with, have worked with or sold while in a job. So quite simply it could be anything. But surely I have to make sure there is no competition?

No not really. By choosing a small, narrow range you achieve several objectives. Firstly you become a specialist. People always want a specialist. When you specialise you focus your energy in becoming efficient, customer focused and successful in a way that the big companies simply cannot. This will become apparent when you look into mailing supplies, sales copy (the words you use to advertise), product image/information/details effectiveness.

I would consider a few more things when choosing your niche or your initial product range within your niche. Are these 'expensive' items? If you are going to go in to business selling top of the range vacuum cleaners then chances are that at some point soon you are going to have to make a hefty financial commitment. And of course once you have gone to the trouble of giving good value and incredible service how long is it going to be before that customer comes back to you? Probably a long time.

On the other hand vacuum cleaner filters would be relatively cheap to stock, repeat purchase and there is of course a wide range of vacuum cleaners giving a genuine opportunity to specialise with a wide range.

Of course I am not suggesting you now dive in to selling vacuum cleaner filters but the three principals mentioned would serve you well if you use them as rules.

Low investment.
Consumable (repeat purchase).
Reasonably wide range.

These days, because of intense price competition on 'high ticket' items, the big retailers slash their margins and then try to make their real profit with add on sales. I recently visited www.Comet.co.uk. There plasma and LCD TVs and DVD players are superb value. But then look at a decent quality cable to connect them together. You can spend up to £100 on a cable! Now there's a potential niche market!

Then Google 'TV screen cleaners' and see the array of sites offering fancy cloths and tiny bottles of cleaner for up to £20! And all in one TV remote controls for £50. These are potential niche markets. TV's and other big ticket items are generally not exploitable markets unless you have something really special and unique to offer.

Of course if as mentioned before there is a product or service where you can add something that others cannot then this just enhances the value of your product. Ask yourself questions to get your creative juices going.

What have you done in the past? Have you sold any products before? What are you an expert in? What are you interested in? What do you admire? What products do you think are cool? What jobs have you done previously? What are your hobbies?

Now look at the list of suppliers/wholesalers in the business directory (members only). I am not suggesting you use any of them but it can get you thinking. Go to big web sites like Amazon and Ebay. Look at the categories they have. Click on a category and see what sub-categories they have. Click on the sub-category to reveal the sub-sub-categories. This is the type of level where you can find inspiration. Now you need to find a supplier or wholesaler.