Making Niche Markets Work For You

One of the keys to product sourcing, especially where the small home business is concerned

, is finding an untapped niche market. By small home business, I'm really talking about the population of work-at-home folks trying to make an extra buck (or maybe a lot more) in their spare time. If you are a student, stay-at-home mom, or one of the many people recently suffering from "work reduction" due to the economy, then this includes you.

What exactly is a niche market and is it really necessary for financial success? A niche market means nothing more than a much smaller segment of much larger and very profitable market. The idea is that a niche market would be particularly desirable to a relatively small group of enthusiastic buyers of the larger market. Now, does making money absolutely depend on working within an untapped niche? No, it does not. But, the point of researching such a market is that it can be easier and much less expensive to put together such an ecommerce shop. The amazing thing about the Internet is that you have potential access to millions of customers. If you find the right niche, it is possible to launch a website, do nothing else and still have people show up and buy stuff.

I'm not suggesting that you do nothing else but put a website up and let it sit. My real point, though, is that the Internet is this extraordinary virtual shopping space with potential access to the world. Of course, it takes work and a business plan to develop a reliable income, but unlike running a brick and mortar shop, you can set up a legitimate retail business online selling high quality products for mere pennies compared to a land-based store. And, you can do this all from your home or private office with minimal or no space needed for inventory. However, to some degree, once you have everything in place, an essential part of your success will depend on your products and the suppliers of those products for your home business.

The ideal untapped niche market is an area where there is high demand but relatively little competition. For example, within the larger market of batteries, we have many sub-niches, such as hearing aid batteries. Another example of a niche area to explore would be vintage clothing for dolls. Military insignia is another market where there is a pretty steady demand. To narrow the niche, we might look at World War Two Russian Military infantry insignia.

How do you find fresh, profitable niche markets and their products? Sourcing is not difficult. This can be done on a shoe string by simply using available Internet resources such as Google, Amazon, and eBay to find hot markets. Take a stroll through Best Buy, Menards, or Lowes and see what's on the shelves. Browse a magazine rack and look for the sub-niches. Make a list of contenders and for further analysis, do some research using Google Insights and hot trends.

Before you even start finding potential niche markets, product sourcing for home business at the level of the micro business means you must take into consideration a number of important factors. First, you need items of excellent quality unless you are selling used, remaindered, or surplus items. It also means that your suppliers must provide you with reliable customer service, provide product guarantees where applicable and be willing to forge a partner-like relationship with you. And of course, you also want to verify that the supplier is legitimate and has a clean track record--something you can research with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) online at bbb.org.

by: Strand Davis.

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