| Finding a Niche Finding a niche market is where the challenge lies. You don’t want to start out your online venture selling something everyone else is selling. Most likely if a seller specializes in something; they will bury you in a price war. When too many sellers get in on a market it ultimately drives the price down. This is basic economics when the number of suppliers increases for a fixed amount of buyers. What you need to do is to find a little place to call your own. You may not have the market totally to yourself but you have to make it your own. Our table and chairs sets are a good example. We have a signature accessory that we put on our tables that make them unique. Also our artwork is totally our own and that’s what makes people take notice. It’s the attention to detail. A lot of people are drawn to homemade items. Look at the popularity of craft shows. There is one in Florida that I know of that draws over 200,000 people to it. That’s a lot of people, and the goods are all handmade. In fact in most shows if you show up with something mass-produced, you will be asked to leave. That tells you about the power and draw of handmade items, especially if you’re talented. How? So how do you find your niche? You cruise the market. Yes here comes the research word again. First you need to find something you know about and are good at. Then research it to death. My favorite place to start is Ebay. I always look the item up in the search box and see how many are on that particular week. This by itself does not give you the complete story. When you have the item opened, go to the left margin and you will see “completed items”. By clicking that you will go to that item’s auction’s that have already sold. Now you can look at what the going price of that particular item has been. Keep in mind that if an item does not look like it sold very well, look at their ad. A lot of times people write terrible ads, you have to promote your product the best you can. A poorly written ad can affect sales, always keep this in mind. Another great way to find out what is selling well is to see what the Ebay Power sellers are selling a lot of. You can buy these lists on Ebay, I recommend this particular one. http://www.powersellerpower.com/ I am not saying find out what sells, and then sell that too, but it will give you some data that will generate some ideas for you. Also keep in mind what market is saturated. If you’re really into computers and have your heart set on selling them online, you will be disappointed. There are a ton of computers and electronic vendors online. Some are great and some are really bad. I am not saying there is not room for more, but you would have to have something that would set you apart and that something would NOT be price. There are screaming good deals out there. My general rule of thumb is that you can buy something online (auction) for about 75% to 80% of the retail price (new item) With the online auction price in mind you would next turn to a general internet search. I use Google and put in my keyword or search word. Think of every possible word that could be used to describe an item. If you were looking up a car, you would not put “car” into the search engine. Nor would you would put 1988 Ford either. You would want to narrow your search down as far as you could to get the best results. When you have finally picked a product or product line, you have to think how your customer is going to find your item. Picking the right keywords to submit to the search engines is big part of the challenge. Try to be specific, the more specific you are the better your search results will be. Just using auctions to identify what items sell well is not enough, you need to look around a lot to find out what regular online vendors are selling. Traditional brick and mortar stores are setting up websites and making additional sales. Look at Wal-Mart for example, they are a powerful retailer. Now they have added a way online to increase their sales margins. Wal-Mart already can buy goods at very good prices; they will do extremely well online. You do not want to try and compete with them. They have much more advantages that you do not have. Pick a product that Wal-Mart does not have, your chances of success are much better. Chances are you already have a good idea of what to sell online. The Power of a Deal I have noticed a trend online lately that actually has very deep roots in history. Name me one person who does not want to get a good deal. In fact look at the traditional garage sale and notice how people flock to them to find a bargain. You can always find a bargain at a garage sale or yard sale because the sellers usually are cleaning out the garage or moving. The same goes with online sales, especially Ebay. Ebay is like the biggest garage sale on the planet and people are looking for a deal. Here is the concept of the power of a deal. I have seen sellers tap into that power and offer products based on the fact that people are always looking for the BBB (the bigger and better deal) Some sellers buy or produce items in a larger quantity knowing that someone out there will want to buy a larger amount in search of reselling them for a profit. And in fact that very thing happens. There are many people out there who sell their items at “wholesale” and cater to that market. The power of a deal concept does not really revolve around becoming a wholesaler. It comes from thinking about offering a product based on the desire of people wanting to get a deal. If someone thinks they are getting a good deal they will bend over backwards to obtain your items. Keep in mind not to offer some specialty items in larger quantities. Some items don’t do well offered in larger quantities. Also keep in mind if you sell online, sell something bundled. If you sell a toy or a tool, bundle it with something else and the buyer feels like they are getting a lot for their money. Computer manufacturers bundle tons of software on their computers to attract more buyers for the same reason. |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
It's easier than you think
This site is dedicated to helping
you build an e commerce
business by creating your own
product line.
you build an e commerce
business by creating your own
product line.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright protected
