How to pick a niche for dropshipping? This is one of the first things to think about when starting your dropshipping journey. Most new dropshippers believe that choosing a product to sell should be the first step – but this isn’t the case. A more astute thing to do is to consider what kind of customers you will be hoping to sell to – otherwise known as your target market.
Depending on the type of product you want to sell, the potential market for your online business can be huge. Therefore, it’s wise to narrow it down into a specific ‘niche’ when deciding what to sell and who to sell to. This article will explain what a niche market is with some examples, and provide a handy guide to help you choose the most successful one for your online business.
What Is A Niche Market?
You can think of a niche market as a segment of a larger market. This segment would be defined by the unique needs, wants, and preferences of the potential customers within it that differ from the larger market as a whole. Segmenting the larger audience down into a smaller niche allows for a smaller pool of potential customers to base your product selection, marketing, and branding on.
Often when beginning your dropshipping journey, it is wiser to target a smaller niche than to try selling to the market as a whole. This is because usually there is less competition, meaning you have a much better chance of receiving sales. Furthermore, it allows you to focus on who your ideal customers are, giving you critical information to help when deciding how to market the product.
To illustrate a niche market, we can examine the fashion industry. An enormous amount of people are interested in fashion, so obviously it wouldn’t be practical to target them all. Instead, we can section the market into niches – for example, customers interested in t-shirts would be considered a niche market. It is still a subset of the larger market, but has its own unique set of characteristics.
If you were to open a dropshipping store targeting potential customers with an interest in t-shirts, why not use Contrado’s dropshipping service? Our service allows for endless customisability in terms of design, and with our fast shipping methods, customers would receive their order in a flash! Check out Contrado to learn more.
How To Pick A Niche For Dropshipping?
When deciding how to pick a niche for dropshipping, there are many factors to consider. Many people automatically choose to sell products that they have an interest in. However, this can often be a poor decision if there isn’t enough of a market for their chosen products.
Passion vs Profitability
New dropshippers must strike a balance between finding a niche that you are passionate about but that also has the potential for profitability. Some niche markets have fantastic potential – for example, knitting or comic book collecting. However, other niches do not have the volume of potential customers that would make them a viable option.
So, what are some things a new dropshipper can do to choose a profitable niche? Firstly, it’s essential to consider the level of competition within potential niche markets. The most saturated dropshipping niches are often challenging to attract customers. The established firms already benefit from economies of scale, and can usually sell products at a more attractive price without suffering financially. So, it’s wise to examine your potential competitors before deciding on a niche and determining how you can differentiate yourself through either pricing, marketing, or product selection.
Trends
Another thing to consider when choosing a niche market is current trends. Suppose you can define a trend early enough; in that case, you have an opportunity to get in on the ‘hype’ and provide an attractive product to customers. Remember the selfie-stick craze from a few years ago? Many dropshipping stores managed to create a profitable business by riding the wave of that trend and providing a product that customers wanted to purchase.
Reliability of suppliers
The third thing to consider when deciding how to pick a niche when dropshipping is whether the potential suppliers who can service that niche are reliable and trustworthy. It’s all well and good defining a possible target audience, but what if there are no suitable suppliers out there to provide the product? It is crucial to perform supplier research and there are certain things to look out for. These include how long the supplier has been in business, the feedback they get from other dropshippers, and their shipping speed.
Final Thoughts
Finding a profitable niche can be difficult, but it’s something all dropshippers must research before starting their eCommerce journey. Ensuring your target audience is viable and exciting is a crucial task – but it can be done. Do the correct due diligence and your chosen niche will provide the foundations for your online business’s growth and success.
At Contrado, we can help you figure out how to pick a niche for dropshipping. Our Print-On-Demand model means you can create products that appeal to a wide range of market segments. This will streamline your niche-choosing process. Our dropshipping service integrates directly with your online store, meaning all you have to do is get the orders in. We will then create and send your product to the customer – easy, right?
Why wait? Get started with Contrado today!
