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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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Source: SmartThingz
Shapewear offers you plenty of versatility as a retailer, and can be sold alongside everything from high-end women’s fashion to general apparel, allowing you to position your brand in a variety of different areas.
Even the highest quality pair of socks doesn’t last long, making socks an ideal ecommerce niche to explore.
We buy socks on a regular basis and in bulk, and we love statement socks — the ones that are colorful, patterned and fun.
There are further niches within this niche too: research has shown that 21% of men buy new socks after a romance ends.
Who will be first to open the Break Up Sock Shop?
Source: Pinterest
People are even buying socks by subscription, choosing how many socks they want and how frequently they want to receive them. We’re always going to need socks, so this is a profitable niche to target.
Matcha is green tea powder that gives you all of the incredible health benefits of the leaves in a super-concentrated form. Matcha has boomed in popularity in recent years, and is used in everything from lattes to cakes.
Matcha Source: Google Trends
Aside from already being a popular product, matcha is also a great niche for ecommerce because it’s small and easy to ship — and since it’s a consumable, it encourages returning customers and repeat sales.
Coconut oil is a remarkably versatile product that can be used for cooking and eating, as a skin care product, or even to polish your shoes.
With such a wide range of uses, there is room for plenty of ecommerce stores in this niche, though it might be a good idea to narrow your product offerings even further to tap into a less competitive part of the market.
Source: Brandettes
Skinny & Company found a way to make coconut oil that was purer than all the other alternatives, and used a fast-turnaround internet store builder to launch its website in a month on a budget of just $500 — today, it’s bringing in $800k. Finding that special niche within a niche can lead to huge success.
Nootropics, also known as ‘smart drugs’ or cognitive enhancers, are natural supplements that enhance brain power and are used to boost concentration, memory, creativity and motivation.
Nootropics are a quickly growing business and are popular with many groups, from tech billionaires to college students.
Nootropics Source: Google Trends
The global nootropics market is expected to reach $6m dollars by 2024, a growth of 17.9% from 2016.
However, it’s important that you thoroughly research nootropics and the market before setting up business, as they might face legal restrictions in some parts of the world.
If you can find an underexploited niche and market your products well, you will have an excellent chance of developing a successful business.
Carry out a lot of research before committing to a niche: check out the competition and figure out how you can position your brand to outperform them.
Ecommerce looks set to grow and grow: choosing the right niche will help you build a business that is both sustainable and profitable.
8 Ideas For Profitable Ecommerce Niches is authored by Kayleigh Alexandra is a content writer for Micro Startups — a site dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and founders who love to work hard and play hard. Visit the blog for the latest entrepreneurial news and side hustle tips. Follow us on Twitter @getmicrostarted.