How Niche Markets Relate to the Success of a Small Business
The success of many small businesses relies on finding the correct niche in which to market their goods or services. Competition between larger corporations and smaller businesses can be too much for the small business to succeed. Finding a unique niche and doing it well brings in many benefits to the small business. Sources for inspiration in finding that niche are all around the small business owner if they will just do the research and take a moment to look around. Finding the niche is just the beginning, for success though, it will start with creating a solid business plan. That business plan sets forth rules on entering, maintaining, and even exiting the niche market(s) if the need arises.
What is a Niche
A niche is a smaller section of the market that is not being met by the mainstream. It is typically overlooked by larger businesses. “A niche can be defined in many ways, including by geography, by customer profile, by product, by product usage, and many others. (Pearson, 2011). A niche may be served by brick and mortar stores or for further reach via the web, or both. A product within a niche is meant to appeal strongly to a narrow set of tastes (Anderson, 2008). As a small business owner, it is your decision on what type of niche to even enter. You can choose business to business or business to consumer niches and then narrow things down from there.
Purpose of a Niche Market
“You don’t need a lot of things to start a business…but you must have one thing. You must have a customer. Go get that customer.” (Fox, 2004). Getting that customer though in part requires you to offer some good or service that is needed or wanted. Since a niche market is a focused section ...
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High-end and niche merchandise: With rising disposable incomes the demand for high-end goods in increasing, which can best be catered by specialty retail stores. Large players can offer competitive prices as they buy in bulk. Smaller players can differentiate themselves by offering niche products and superior customer delight at a premium price.
Know your market and competitors before starting your business. Effective research and strategic planning are often what separate the winners from the losers.
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Bass, Brian, and Demand Medina. "What Is Prosperity in the Business Cycle?" Small Business. Hearst
The success of a business is greatly dependent on its entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone who takes the financial risk of starting and managing a new business venture. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, one must be ready to take a risk and invest one’s own savings into a business. The job requires that the individual be ambitious and committed to working hard in order to achieve the set targets. A successful entrepreneur is able to multi-task and communicates effectively with people, possessing leadership qualities such as confidence and motivation. The individual must play the role of constant motivator and inspire employees to improve their work performance, whilst ensuring a comfortable environment for the employees to work in. According to Schumpeter (1982), an entrepreneur is more of a ‘heroic’ than an ‘economic’ figure; his motivation should not solely be monetary, rather stemming more from inspiration and ambition.
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