8 Ideas For Profitable Ecommerce Niches Image credit: Pexels Choosing profitable ecommerce niches can be very difficult, but if you can find the right one, it can prove extremely profitable. There are hundreds of potential niches out there and millions of products that you could sell, so you need to commit time and attention to finding one or two to focus on. Prioritization is essential for entrepreneurs. Niche products are easier to market than general products because you can target a very particular group of people with less competition to contend with. You see fewer leads overall, but the vastly-improved conversion rates more than make up for that. Read on: 22 Ways to Collect Customer Feedback — The Ultimate Guide from Replyco that helps you centralize and organize customer emails across marketplaces and stores. Source: ecomdash Not sure where to start? Here are 8 ideas for profitable ecommerce niches that you can use for inspiration. Athleisure wear The word ‘athleisure’ first entered common parlance a few years ago, and it looks set to stick around. Athleisure wear, as the name suggests, encompasses items of clothing that are suitable for both athletic and leisure activities: if you’ve ever been out to brunch in your gym gear, you’ve rocked the athleisure look. Within this category you can sell everything from yoga pants and sports bras to running shoes, all in a wide variety of colors and prints. Athleisure wear interest levels. Source: Google Trends Millennials are the usual targets for athleisure wear, with a fairly even customer split of 60% women and 40% men. Because the products are centered on fashion, visual channels such as Facebook, Pinterest and especially Instagram are excellent platforms to grow your brand. Buy it for life (BIFL) People are growing tired of buying cheap, low-quality products, and are getting interested in conscious buying — something targeted through buy it for life products. The emphasis here is on high-quality, durable items that aren’t cheap but will last for a long time. As we become aware of the negative impacts of consumerism in our throwaway culture, we are finding ourselves more willing to spend money on things that won’t break within a few months. Source: The Good Human While the buy it for life niche automatically means fewer return customers and fewer products sold overall, selling premium products offers a better margin. In addition, buy it for life offers the valuable opportunity to build your brand with a great story, which will help you connect with customers and keep them loyal. Night masks Night masks are a good niche to target because they offer a solution to a persistent problem: needing to block out excess light so you can get a better night’s sleep. Night masks can be broken down into three main customer segments: sensitive sleepers, travellers, and beauty fans. This means you can sell related products alongside them, such as relaxing lavender oil, travel pillows, or skin care products, depending on which group you are targeting. Night masks Source: Google Trends  Good sleep is very important for a variety of reasons, and always will be, so this is a niche that isn’t just a passing fad. Shapewear It has been reported that the shapewear market is expected to leap to $5.6 million in sales by 2022, so now is a great time to start establishing your brand within this niche. Shapewear is worn underneath your clothes and creates a sleeker and slimmer silhouette. For many years it has been associated purely with lingerie, but there are now many different cuts and styles that can be worn under everything from cocktail dresses to pairs of jeans and t-shirts....

Market Assessment Framework Industries whether small or large function in an environment of controllable and uncontrollable variables. A small enterprise has to constantly interact with the market in which it has to operate and is also exposed to the risk of other environmental factors. Its marketing efforts must stay fine-tuned to suit the requirements of the market in general and the needs and wants of the customers in particular. They have to develop an exceptional market orientation in light of Intensified industrial activity Increased competition and Increased discerning capacity of customers. Need for Market Assessment: The marketing orientation outlook will drive an entrepreneur to seek answers to many questions relating to market segments, marketing inputs, product quality, price structure, technology of manufacture etc., before setting up the venture. This exercise will facilitate him/her to move ahead with greater degree of confidence and tackle the problems that may arise during the later stages, in a professional manner. Market Composition: Analysis of market demand, the competitive situation and trade practices are vital for a sound market assessment. The market is composed of a large variety of customers who differ in their likes and dislikes, options, preferences, education, employment, income and status. The location of customers also differ, some may be located nearer and others in distant places. Here are 30 Great Marketing Ideas to Increase Sales for Your Small Business: Factors that help a firm to decide the target segment which is of special interest: Resource availability Scale of operation and its Impact on profitability The identification of the customer groups aids in making an estimate of the market demand for the product chosen. Look for Competitive Situation: Once the market demand has been estimated, one has to look for the competitive situation prevailing in the market as a firm cannot just pursue its own policies without considering what the competitors are up to. The nature and extent of competition will place several constraints on the marketing policies of a firm and a thorough analysis of the same will help in pricing and also in identifying the gaps and opportunities that will be available for exploitation. Opportunity Evaluation: An intelligent and experienced entrepreneur would weigh an opportunity as follows: How large is the gap between demand and supply in the market and what is the nature of competition in the market for the product? Whether the product is covered under any of the promotional policies of the government, so that, either entry into business or competition in the market is facilitated. Whether there is any special product/service specific problem that he/she will face and can avail of any part of promotional policies, to soften the impact of these problems. Based on such product-market-policy, policy-product-market type of analysis, the entrepreneur will finally conclude if the opportunity is worth investing...

Small Business Startup Checklist Establishment of a small business and successfully running it is definitely by no means a small achievement. It is a commendable achievement as entrepreneurs are the backbones of a country’s economy and its growth. Proper planning and understanding the significance of critical factors and determinants affecting a small business paves way for the smooth functioning of your enterprise. What are the prerequisites for running a small business? Any plan or idea to be transformed into a product or a service needs to be categorically put into experimentation and subject to inquiries. Prepare a detailed project report With the help of an external expert consultant get it appraised Let the product be innovative which has hitherto not hit the market, for instance flying cars Plan your geographical area of operations Go for a detailed market survey through questionnaires and giving out free samples Try to gauge the pulse of your target customers Launch your product at the right time Plan your marketing strategy regarding price and promotions Fix up proper capitalization that would meet your financial requirements. Definitely you have to bring in initial working capital of your own and don’t rely solely on bankers for the entire funding. Asset management, fixed capital and working capital management must be absolutely preplanned. Man power requirements -Right person for the right job and the appropriate number of persons needed to complete a job has to be planned. Their recruitment, selection, training and development forms part of the package. Location and Layout Most important criterion is the location and layout of your manufacturing facility. It should facilitate easy movement of materials to bring the product out to the market in the shortest possible time. Avoid bottlenecks or try to resolve them for smooth production. As we all know technology feeds on itself and more the delay, more competitors and better products throng the market. Keep in mind the end product should always reach the buyer or the consumer at the right time. Plan your re order level, delivery schedule and lead times in accordance with the orders in hand.   Picture Courtesy : Yourcityenterprise.com   Production Inputs Smooth supply of production inputs, uninterrupted supply of power, copious water supply, the nature of the soil( if your product is agro based), proximity to the market and transportation facilities have to be given due importance. Your product has to be compliant in such a way that it should not pollute the environment. So a proper waste disposal management system should be designed right at the start of your operations. Book-Keeping Proper book keeping and maintaining your accounts will please the tax authorities by which you create goodwill for your company and also keep your credit management under controllable limits. Any product centered around the consumer will be a hit and that is “marketing”. If you plan your success formula from your product that is “selling” that might not always be successful. Your distribution channels should be continuous with unbroken links and strong. The kind of self confidence that you exuberate makes you a reliable person and in the long run you become iconic. Technology Updates Businessmen have trained the customers to expect something new everyday, because such is the power of technology and the competitor force. So it is better to keep yourself updated with the latest technology available in the market. Take your product to your customers in a convincing manner by which it proves to be a win-win situation for both sides; profit making and customer satisfaction for the entrepreneur and buying products the money’s worth and the real benefits of the product for the...

Effective Strategy Generation Why effective strategy generation is necessary? A business enterprise has to generate strategic alternatives and determine the effectiveness of its strategic decisions in order to be successful in the market. Various approaches to strategy formulations exist and it is a real complex phenomenon in that, a wrong strategic execution may produce irreparable consequences which may prove detrimental to the survival of the firm. The method of strategy formation usually follows the traditional approach, based on rational and normative disposition. Sometimes different thought processes may also serve as basic premises for the evolution of new strategies.   Intuition: The strategy evolves in the mind of the chief executive without ever being explicitly stated and without the aid of formal procedures. Personal judgment also backs up this process. People with excellent intuition are often remembered for their imagination, drive and expansive vision leading to corporate growth and prosperity. To look into the future with such creativity and brilliance is the basic premise of this approach.   Disjointed Incrementalism: This approach towards strategy making reflects an attitude of management having strong preference to act only when there is a need or only when forced to, and then considering a few convenient alternatives involving only small, non-disruptive changes in the organization. This approach is followed by firms that enjoy a pretty decent profit margin in the existing business and possess an exclusive niche in the market; they will not be ready to come out of their cocoons for fear of failure. The firm cannot take the risk of setting unrealistic goals deviating away from the status quo.     Pic Courtesy: Account Manager Tips Entrepreneurial Approach: Systematic risk-makers and takers who look for and find opportunities belong to this category. Entrepreneurs view challenges as opportunities and not as problems.   Key factor approach: This approach is based on determining the really significant factors that are important in the success of a particular business and concentrating major decisions on it. Say, for instance, a quality product at relatively low price may be a critical factor for a business firm. But eventually it has to achieve this in order to capture the market whence the same critical factor becomes unique to the company and adds value.   Integrated approach: Analyzing the present internal and external conditions Identifying and evaluating the present strategy Search for strength and weaknesses viewed within the present strategy and environment Considering changes in the present strategy Generating alternatives unified to resolve the problems and exploit the opportunities Developing alternative unified strategies by combining the various alternatives in each of the problem and opportunity area Evaluation of unified strategy in terms of the enterprise objectives and choosing the strategy that best satisfies the objectives.   Strategy formations should conform and comply with the changes in the external environment and the change called for may be in the strategy itself or in the implementation of the...