Are you a jack of all trades?

Are you a jack of all trades, master of none? Then it's time to find a niche! Selling in a niche market gives you greater buying power, product profitability and advertising precision - "The 3 P's" - all of which can lead to a strong and sustainable eBay business.

What is a Niche?

A niche is a profitable segment of a larger market. When you sell in a niche you are focusing on supplying products and services exclusively to that market. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, a niche seller strives to be a unique retailer to a narrow segment of the market.

The concept of selling in a niche market is not a new one. Niche selling has been around for as many years as there have been retail stores. 90+ years ago, the Kirby vacuum cleaner company started selling only vacuum cleaners. They were phenomenally successful and remain successful today by focusing on a niche.

The same principal applies to your eBay store. By focusing on a specific target market and identifying the needs of that specific market, you can translate those needs directly into product sales.

What are some examples of a niche market versus a broad target market?

The following are examples of a broad target market versus a niche market. You can see that with the broad target market, the customer is not definable. With the niche market, the customer is clearly defined.

Broad Target Market: Clothes
Niche Market: Preemie baby clothes and accessories

Broad Target Market: Desks
Niche Market: Home office computer desks, chairs and related accessories

Broad Target Market: Bicycles
Niche Market: Cycling products for the avid cyclist, including lightweight high-end bikes, clothing and bicycle accessories

Broad Target Market: Skin care products
Niche Market: Men’s skin care products

Your customers have similar needs and desires.

Pull a random sampling of buyers in a niche market and you will find some very strong commonalities among all of them.

What they want, what they need, and why they want it, all centered from similar base values. If you sell in the organic food products niche market, you will find that the majority of your customers have a concern for their health – not wanting to eat pesticide laden or “lab-made” foods, they have a desire to conserve the earth’s resources and they want to know what it is they are putting in their bodies.

I’m new to selling on eBay, when should I start identifying a niche to sell in?

When you first start selling on eBay, unless you have come to eBay with a clearly defined and well-researched niche, you’ll want to start by selling in the “variety store” model.

The variety store model = Selling a variety of products from a diverse selection of product sources.

This accomplishes three critical things:

1. It allows you to get up and running quickly. The most important thing to your success in selling on eBay is to get started!

Often, people have a tendency to over think things from the beginning and delay action. But the opposite it true! Action is the fertile ground that grows thoughts and ideas for potential niches to sell in.

When you take action and start selling things from around the house, from friends and family, discounted retail products etc., your beginning the process of gathering information to identify a niche to sell in.

2. You can begin test-marketing products from different niche markets.

As you start to sell a variety of merchandise, take notes on what products are selling well that can be associated with a niche market.

For example, do you find that the high-quality wooden toys that your children have outgrown are selling well? This could be a potential niche to pursue.

Did you quickly sell that colorful lightweight designer look laptop bag that you recently replaced with another style? This may be a niche to pay attention to!

Maybe you picked up a lot of “sun-screen” swimsuits on clearance from your local boating store, that flew off the shelves like crazy. Jot these ideas down as potential niches to sell in long term.

3. You make money while you are identifying your long term niche.

Identifying a niche to sell in is a process of research and refinement and does not happen overnight. By selling a variety of products while you are researching your niche, you can hone your selling skills on eBay and make money at the same time.

Where do I learn about potential niches to sell in?

Ideas for niche markets are all around you. In order to identify a niche to sell in, you must first make yourself aware of a wide variety of niches. Read a wide variety of publications each day and make notes on potential niche markets.

Niche market information is not hidden! Seeing potentially profitable niches involves getting into the Product Sourcing Mindset™. When you are in the Product Sourcing Mindset™, you begin to see every piece of information that you come in contact with each day as a potential niche market to sell in.

Additionally, to do this, you will need to look outward and frequent Idea Hotspots™.

You can learn more about Idea Hotspots™ either at Link in the Member’s Area or in my new best-selling product sourcing book titled “What to Sell on eBay and Where to Get It” published by McGraw-Hill and available at Link

Read everything that you can about potential niches. Frequent physical stores in your city that sell products in a niche market. This will give you a better understanding of the niche.

Once you familiarize yourself with the niche markets that are out there, you are now ready to determine which ones are in demand.

Identifying your niche.

Identifying the right niche for your business will involve doing research on market demand of the products in your niche.

Using the information at:

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will allow you to determine whether or not there is a market demand for your niche. Also, as you research information on your potential niche, you will learn about the trend forecasts for your niche.