How to Find Profitable Niche in eCommerce

profitable niche

Anytime you read anything about starting a successful online business, you’ll likely see the phrase “profitable niche.” Finding a profitable but also specific and targeted niche is essential for success, especially in 2018 where eCommerce is so incredibly competitive.

Finding the right niche that balances having enough interest to drive profitability without being so competitive that it’s impossible to break into is critical. However, how do you make it happen?

Look at Complaints

According to a post on building an eCommerce store by Wise Merchant, one of the first things you do to find your profitable niche is to look around online and see what people’s complaints are.

A lot of times people who are building online businesses will go in the opposite direction. They’ll look for things that people like or popular things at the time. Instead, look at what people want but aren’t necessarily getting.

Social media and message boards are great places to find complaints people have. It may be that they feel there’s a product entirely missing from the marketplace, or there may be existing products, but they have complaints about those, so you can use that and build on offering something better.

Build A Foundation Based on Your Audience

Another starting place you can go with instead of looking at complaints is creating an audience first. If you can create a highly specific audience, then you’ll better be able to fill a need for them.

It’s good to choose an audience that you’re part of because you’re already going to be starting from a place of understanding.

Think about who this audience is, what they do, and what motivates them.

Not only is building your targeted audience early on going to help you identify a profitable niche, but it’s also going to help you with your marketing as you build your business.

Once you’ve created that audience, think about the problems they likely face on a daily basis and how a product could solve them.

Think About Longevity

Sometimes a person might do some research into profitable niches and what they come up with can be great for a period of time, but it falls out of favor. Then, you’re left with nothing if interest declines too much.

It’s best to think about what are called evergreen niches, in addition to focusing on profitability.

Certain general niches are probably going to always be popular. Some of these include relationship niches, health and fitness, and finance and money. If you can find a sub-niche within a larger evergreen niche, you’re more likely to have staying power.

Finally, even once you think you’ve found a profitable niche that’s a good fit for you, you will need to evaluate and test it before you dive in fully. You’re also going to have to think about how much content you’re going to be able to create from this niche and whether that’s really going to be viable over the long term.