What is a Niche Market?

Niche markets are not any market in which you are selling to a small number of customers. A niche is a much smaller and focused market where the customer base is very specific, such as seniors with arthritis or people who need wedding invitations designed for their faith. Niches have great potential because they're more profitable than general markets and they're easier to target.

Niche markets can be specifically identified through targeting criteria that would be difficult to find otherwise, such as women between 40-55 years old living in a big city who like gardening (and therefore also like flowers). The niche could also expand into other cultures, religions, languages, and life stages.

Let's put together some examples of niche markets.

Example #1 – Walks and Walks in the Park : This niche is for walking enthusiasts in rural areas. It's a specific group of people that generally does not have a lot of choices. The tour operator in this case would charge more for his tours because they're more profitable, but the niche itself isn't very big or very profitable.

Example #2 – Traditional Canadian Food : The market for this niche is older Canadian couples who like food that is not processed or made with tons of convenience ingredients, but still tastes good. For this market, you'd want to target women aged 50-65 years old living in suburbia instead of downtown areas.

Example #3 – Emergency Medicine Physicians : This niche market consists of doctors who specialize in emergency medicine, but are not necessarily surgeons. These practitioners are required to have a specialty in this field since the nature of emergency care can be different from that of general practitioners.

Example #4 – Stable-to-Intermediate Swingers : This is a very specific group of people who want to either take up or enhance their sex life by having swinging encounters with other parties. Some may go as far as online dating while others have regular partners.

Example #5 – 48-hour Flower Delivery Time : This example is for florists in major cities who deliver flowers on time, usually within 2 days (48 hours).

Example #6 – Internet Users with Christian Faith : This example is for businesses that sell products and services related to the Christian faith. It's a very niche market and may require a little bit of research in order to target the right audience.

Examples #2, 4 and 6 all have large niches, but their potential customers are also scattered here and there in different cities and even countries. This can't be avoided if you really want to reach your niche market. In these cases, it's best to expand into your own network of friends, family members, colleagues, customers etc., so that the message reaches as many people as possible.

Example #1 and #3 have small niches, but note that they're all very specific. If you've read these examples carefully, you'll notice that they all focused on the same things: life stages and geographical locations. These details allow you to target your market more effectively and put together a highly profitable plan of action.

After all, finding small niches is the best way to increase profits per customer since you don't have to pay for advertising or put up with other marketing expenses. It's also a great way to avoid competition because big companies don't usually invest in such obscure markets.

Conclusion:

Learning the characteristics of niche markets can help you find more profitable niches for your business. They have great potential since they can always be scaled up into other categories and expanded even further.

Reality:

Niche markets are very small and exclusive markets that usually contain a specific demographic. However, almost everything is a niche market in some way: niche media, niches in general, and even general ones are all tiny unless you're selling something very large to a lot of people. Successful marketing strategies should always be adapted to the size of the market and its growth potential.