I ‘ve got news for you – ecommerce is the future. If you’re an entrepreneur, wake up, pay attention and find ecommerce niches you can dominate.
The world’s population currently stands at 7.8 billion people and growing. And experts project this figure to hit 9 billion by 2045.
Similarly, out of this enormous number of people, an estimated 4.66 billion are active internet users.
So that’s around 59 percent of the total world population.
Furthermore, of this 4.66 billion population of the world’s active Internet users, the number of smartphone users has surpassed 3 billion.
Forecasts have also suggested that hundreds of millions will raise this figure in the next few years.
And available numbers suggest that the number of active Internet users will also grow by hundreds of millions in the next few years.
Are you paying attention?
These realities present today’s entrepreneurs with opportunities that were never available in the erstwhile traditional business world.
With the Internet becoming ubiquitous globally, business owners can now reach as many people and across boundaries.
So if you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or manager and you’ve not carved out an ecommerce niche for your venture, you do so at your peril.
In this guide, I’ll cover the different ecommerce niches, researching and selecting an ecommerce niche for your business.
We’ll also learn how to find niche products for ecommerce and examples of profitable ecommerce niches and niche products.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
- What Is An Ecommerce Niche?
- What Is A Niche Product in Ecommerce?
- How to Find Niche Products for Ecommerce
- 1. Start with your passions
- 2. Keyword research is your friend
- 3. Spy on your competitor
- 4. Search beyond categories
- 5. Solve a pressing problem
- 6. Keep tracking of trends
- 7. Anticipate and make informed predictions and forecasts
- 8. Define your unique selling point
- 9. Identify a niche market segment
- 10. Analyze product prices and alternatives
- 5 Ways to Do Ecommerce Niche Research
- Advantages & Disadvantages of Choosing a Popular Niche for Ecommerce
- Best Ecommerce Niches (Top 15 Hot and Profitable Ecommerce Niches)
- 1. Disinfectant Products
- 2. Natural Pet Care
- 3. Men's Beauty Products
- 4. Eco-Friendly Products
- 5. Smart Speakers
- 6. Online Art Sales
- 7. E-Book Sales
- 8. Online Courses
- 9. Online Grocery Store
- 10. Dropshipping
- 11. Smart Home Products
- 12. Fashion Products: Vintage Wears
- 13. Nutrition and Wellness
- 14. Wearable Tech
- 15. Vegan Products
- 5 Leading Examples of Niche Products for Ecommerce
- In Conclusion
What Is An Ecommerce Niche?
An ecommerce niche represents a distinct business segment (or product category) within a given market that the competition overlooks.
Ecommerce, in general, is an overlooked area of businesses.
Although ecommerce trends have always grown year-over-year (YOY), the percentage of retail volume through brick-and-mortar stores is much higher.
However, recently industry captains and business leaders are beginning to pay attention to ecommerce, its benefits, advantages, and tremendous potentials.
Thanks (but no thanks) to COVID-19.
While the big players (with their army of business consultants) can quickly define their ecommerce niche and start their ecommerce operations, the smaller guys (entrepreneurs and store operators) like us are left trying to figure out where to start.
For us, it starts with finding an ecommerce niche, identifying the right product niches, and validating it with the target audience.
Then, start the ecommerce operation and scale that operation to carve out our stake in the vast ocean of ecommerce.
As of 2020, PipeCandy revealed that the number of ecommerce companies operating worldwide (excluding China) stood at around 3 million.
Now, from that number, approximately 1.3 million do business in the US and Canada.
However, the truth is that we hardly hear about these other ecommerce businesses aside from two 800-pound gorillas (Amazon and eBay) that dominate ecommerce and few others such as Wayfair, Etsy Overstock, Chewy, QVC, Bath & Body Works, etc.
Likewise, available reports from SimilarWeb show that Amazon gets about 2 billion visits monthly, whereas eBay receives about 1 billion.
As such, this means that the big guys continue to dominate the little ones in both paid ads and organic search traffic.
Generally speaking, focusing on an ecommerce niche is critical to success in starting, running, growing, and sustaining an ecommerce business venture.
What Is A Niche Product in Ecommerce?
In ecommerce, it’s advantageous to look at products and markets from the perspective of ecommerce niches.
All in all, you need a niche product for a niche market to compete effectively and deliver outcomes that matter most to your target audience.
If you focus on a niche product and do an excellent job at it, you deliver positive outcomes to your target customers.
A niche product is a hyper-targeted product at a specific market segment to solve that segment’s particular problems.
When you have an ecommerce niche product, that product addresses and fulfills a unique demand in the marketplace.
By the way, this particular market demand is often overlooked by other market participants, thus creating room for you to be successful.
You’re able to charge higher prices and generate higher markups with the right niche product.
While the volumes might not be high, the high-profit margins uniquely position you for running a sustainable ecommerce business.
Having a niche product means that you’ve put in the effort to fine-tune required conditions (e.g., problem-solution, product features, specific market demands, price points, production quality, and demographics) to drill down to a narrow product category from the broader market.
To emphasize, with the larger participants in ecommerce out spending and out cutting prices on virtually every product and service, your ecommerce success largely depends on how well you define your niche across product categories and market segments.
While this may appear discouraging at a mere look at the options, Internet technologies and product research techniques make the product and market niche discovery process less challenging than you would expect.
How to Find Niche Products for Ecommerce
Now, let’s get practical and dive into the “how” of finding a product niche for your ecommerce business.
Once again, I must stress that finding your ecommerce niche is like carving out a unique space within the vast ecommerce terrain that others have neglected.
You must identify a product niche within a niche market segment as part of the process to discover profitable ecommerce niches.
Remember, your objective as an ecommerce entrepreneur, executive, operator, or manager is to generate profits.
It would be best if you also had a sizeable niche market segment with enough buyers to sustain your business and shrug off competition from the 800-pound gorillas as much as you can.
As such, you must spend enough time researching your product and market niche.
Finding an ecommerce niche product within a sizeable niche market requires focusing on the numbers appropriately and applying the following techniques.
1. Start with your passions
Yes, I know it’s a cliche, but you should not overlook this simple yet powerful strategy of taking an inventory of your passions.
Look, as with every other business, there’s a tendency that you will not be successful with ecommerce.
That’s the truth.
However, being in an ecommerce market segment where you lack passion compounds that probability.
Frankly, running an ecommerce venture requires devoting your resources, energy, and time to your business’s growth.
Passion is the “It” factor and is a crucial determinant between success and failure.
Our passion is essential in everything we do in life and tops the list of the Japanese concept of Ikigai.
Ikigai is the Japanese concept of our reason for being, and it begins with discovering our passion.
When you are passionate about what you are selling, you become a motivation to yourself despite the sacrifices that follow and the demanding nature of your ecommerce venture.
Don’t believe me?
Here are ten well-articulated reasons why you should start from a place of passion in your entrepreneurial journey.
2. Keyword research is your friend
I hope you’ve taken an inventory of your passions and now have a list of things/ideas/concepts that align with your passions.
If you’ve not made this list, I suggest you take some time and make this vital inventory list.
Now, I have not-so-good news for you.
The fact that you’re passionate about “something” does not mean that consumers are demanding that “something.”
What does this mean?
Let’s say you’re passionate about lighting and the different ways light bulbs can be converged to create incredible light colors and patterns.
If there are not enough people interested in the products that originate from this passion, then there’s no business case “at the moment” for this type of product (for example – special light bulbs, etc.).
I put “at the moment” in the above sentence in quotes for a reason.
That is because the trend can change in the future.
And if you notice such a change in trend and interest in this sort of product (using tools like Google Trends) – then there’s a business case for that sort of product.
So how is keyword research your friend?
Proper keyword research shows you consumer interest across buying intent (those looking to purchase the product) and information seeking (product research, reviews, comparison, etc.) across search engines (i.e., Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, etc.).
Hence, the volume of the search queries of keywords related to your product idea indicates consumer interest in that ecommerce product niche.
Doing keyword research gives you the necessary insights to understand your target audience and the product options they are researching.
3. Spy on your competitor
I like it when I hear politicians use the term “opposition research” – LOL.
Heck, David Axelrod (Democrat) and Karl Rove (Republican) – two master strategists in politics – even have a Masterclass on the topic.
Well, in ecommerce, we call “opposition research” – spying on your competitors.
While researching your ecommerce niche product for selection, you will have to spy on your competitors to learn what they are offering.
You’ll also have to study how they present their offers, the market’s acceptance, what they are doing right, and where they are making mistakes.
If you effectively spy on your competitors, you’re able to learn from their successes and mistakes to leapfrog the various obstacles you’ll face when running an ecommerce enterprise.
Just as with keyword research, spying on your competitors requires doing in-depth keyword research analysis to understand their organic and paid traffic objectives.
Furthermore, spying on your competitors enables you to look at their engagement strategies and tactics across social, paid, earned, and owned media.
Knowing what your competitors are doing and understanding how they are doing it is a powerful aspect of the ecommerce product niche selection process.
4. Search beyond categories
To find the right niche product, you need to go beyond the usual categories and sub-categories.
Anthony, what are you the hell as you talking about – you ask.
For example, let’s think of “lighting” (which I mentioned earlier) as a product category.
If you log on to Amazon (the largest ecommerce gorilla on the planet) and do a search for “lighting,” you’ll see results similar to:
Suppose your understanding of the “lighting” product category is restricted only to light bulbs.
In that case, looking at the search results on Amazon will expand your thinking and address that limited understanding of the “lighting” product category.
Furthermore, if you look at the area (in the above image) highlighted in blue, you’ll come to learn that there are different categorizations for the “lighting” product category.
Expanding further and drilling down the different categories (“departments” as Amazon labels them) gives you a different perspective on the lighting product category.
And this is what I mean by searching beyond categories.
Doing so expands your understanding of a given product category and gives you more ideas as you research your ecommerce product niche.
To find your niche product, you need to drill deeper into the category hierarchy (categories and sub-categories, sub-categories and sub-categories, etc.) that make-up your research product subject.
When you find the lowest common denominator within that product category, apply some keyword research to understand interest, search potential, and market potential.
5. Solve a pressing problem
So you’ve got a great idea for a niche product.
You’ve shared the product idea with family and friends, and everyone is in a chorus that’s it’s terrific.
But what problem does the product idea solve?
Truly, approaching the niche product research from a problem-solving perspective is a time-tested and result-oriented strategy.
Subsequently, you can target the product to solve a specific problem the target audience faces for that market niche.
The problem could be one that the competition is not addressing, thus creating an opportunity.
Equally, it could be a problem created by the competition or the market itself while innovating or addressing another problem.
It doesn’t matter how the problem was created or originated.
The key focus is to deliver a product to the market that solves that problem.
For example, ecommerce businesses often face problems with fraudulent credit card transactions and high chargebacks.
Shift Credit Card Processing not too long ago put this figure at over $24 billion (US Dollars) annually.
With such a considerable amount of money lost to credit card fraud in ecommerce, this is a huge problem that needs a solution.
Therefore, a savvy entrepreneur can focus on this niche and research further (searching beyond categories) into the problem’s various aspects to find a product niche they can bring to market.
6. Keep tracking of trends
The famous quote “In a world full of trends I want to remain a classic” by fashion model and entrepreneur Iman doesn’t apply here.
When it comes to finding a suitable niche product for your ecommerce business, if you’re not keeping track of trends, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
In ecommerce, staying informed about market trends keeps you intentionally conscious of spotting new product opportunities.
There are times and seasons for everything in life, and yesterday’s trends may differ from today.
As a result, you must select product niches that show a consistent upward trend.
So think of this as if you’re a Stock or Forex market investor.
You must know your upward and downward trends and be sure you have them covered.
Luckily, research tools (for example, Google Trends) are available to help you research and validate your options.
7. Anticipate and make informed predictions and forecasts
Don’t be shy about making informed predictions and forecasts.
We’re all constantly bombarded by external stimuli supplying us with information about events and activities surrounding us.
Pay attention and be perceptive as this may lead to avoiding costly product mistakes or identifying profitable product opportunities.
For instance, imagine investing in sourcing outdoor event clothing and gears for the summer of 2020 in April of the same year.
You’re doing so with the intention that your goods will arrive by the end of May or the first week of June so that you can feed your sales channels.
Doing so means you weren’t correctly anticipating trends and making informed predictions and forecasts.
Why?
The government shut down the whole country by the middle of March 2020 due to COVID 19.
How could you possibly expect the market for outdoor events clothing and gears to be as strong in the summer of 2020 as the preceding year?
Discovering the right niche products requires looking at the marketplace, anticipating trends, and making informed predictions.
8. Define your unique selling point
Knowing your ideal niche product’s unique selling points is essential in the research and discovery process.
So you’ve identified your passions and aligned them with specific problem areas you would love to solve.
Next, you need to have a clear understanding of what problem you’re solving, why you’re solving it, and how you will solve it with your product.
Doing so will better orient you towards finding the appropriate product solution.
Your ecommerce niche product’s unique selling points are those vital attributes that make it different and stand out in the market.
For this reason, you need to have a complete grasp of these unique selling points and articulate them to your target audience.
Remember, your ecommerce niche product should always project positive outcomes for your target audience.
When you properly define your niche product’s unique selling points, you’ve taken the right step in aligning the product to your target audience’s pain points.
9. Identify a niche market segment
The ecommerce marketplace is vast—over $6.5 trillion (US Dollars) vast by 2023.
As a result, your chances of success improve if you find a niche product that serves a niche market segment.
When you focus on a niche market segment, you reach an audience that is more highly engaged.
A niche product targeted at a niche segment delivers better conversions since it addresses that segment’s unique demands.
Moreover, your ecommerce niche product could end up being a complement to other products on the broader market spectrum.
If this happens, then voila – your product’s audience expands organically, thus bringing it more growth opportunities.
10. Analyze product prices and alternatives
As you continue to research your niche product options, don’t fail to analyze current product prices and alternatives in the marketplace.
The goal here is to understand your audience better and their preferences in prices and alternatives of a given product category.
Will your target audience give up quality for price?
Or are they willing to pay top dollars for the product?
What other product alternatives are available in the category?
You need to be able to answer these questions to narrow down your niche product options.
And you want a ecommerce product niche (with few alternatives) where the target audience is willing to pay top dollars.
Ultimately, it’s not just about how many units you sell or revenues generated – it’s about how much profits you get to keep.
5 Ways to Do Ecommerce Niche Research
The process of finding a niche product and conducting ecommerce niche research run parallel.
And this is because your niche products define your ecommerce niche as an ecommerce business.
Likewise, you can have a broader ecommerce niche but with tight niche product categories.
For example, you can be in the wellness ecommerce niche for senior citizens with tight niche product categories around nutrition (meals) and nutritional supplements.
Now, the processing of finding an ecommerce niche straightforward but a bit technical.
Most of the product research process discussed in “The Complete Product Research Guide for Ecommerce Market” applies when selecting an ecommerce niche.
I’m going to recap the essentials here in this post quickly. But I suggest you take time out to read the complete guide for more information.
1. Explore search data with keyword research
I’m thinking of a number – 3.5 comes to mind.
Yes, 3.5 billion – that’s the number. The number of search queries per day on Google.
So that’s about 40,000 queries per second and over 1.2 trillion queries in a year – according to Internet Live Stats.
These numbers are mind-blowing.
But here’s the kicker – Google stores each of those search queries for eternity, allowing you to mine them.
Within these search queries is a gold mine of data that you can harness when researching your ecommerce niche.
When done correctly, keyword research gives you backstage access to the show.
The show here is what people are searching daily on the Internet.
Fortunately, there are free and paid tools available for conducting keyword research.
Of course, Google has its Keyword Planner tool, which is free to use.
Likewise, companies such as SEMRush, Ahrefs, Moz, SimilarWeb, etc., provide paid options.
I discussed using Google’s Keyword Planner tool here, so make sure you read it to get a quick overview.
2. Track market trends with Google Trends
With the immense volume of search queries on Google daily, you can monitor trends using Google Trends.
As I mentioned earlier, Google stores all search queries for eternity.
Luckily, we can access this data from 2004 to date.
Google makes available the search data in easy-to-understand charts for everyone.
So you can easily navigate the most popular search terms and search terms that most align with your ecommerce niche.
One cool feature like love about Google Trends is keeping track of top, rising, and breakout keywords.
When used correctly, you can keep track of what’s currently trending with the top keywords and know where the trend is heading with the rising keywords.
When you see a breakout keyword, that’s huge because Google tells you that particular search term grew by over 5000%.
Such an intense surge in search volume for a given keyword signifies a rapid change in the market.
3. Amazon product category analysis
I get it – Amazon is not the typical market research tool.
But Amazon is the largest ecommerce platform in the world and commands over 50% of the ecommerce retail sales in the U.S.
So it will be irresponsible if we ignore Amazon to spot opportunities when doing ecommerce niche research.
You can navigate through Amazon’s product categories and sub-categories to spot their best sellers, hot new releases, and top movers and shakers.
Obviously, this information is valuable because it gives you insight into what consumers are interested in for a given product category.
I encourage you to read the product research guide for more information on using Amazon categories for ecommerce research.
4. Scour through the Internet’s big data for trends
The Internet is one giant encyclopedia, and you should take advantage of this big data to research market trends.
So as scour through the vast amount of topics on the Internet, use your intuition to forecast trends of interest.
I understand this is slightly different because you’re not making use of a particular set of tools.
But that’s the point – you should not use this strategy standalone.
Once you spot trends while browsing through Internet research, you can then validate them.
And this is where you get to take advantage of the different research tools and Amazon for validation.
By all means, this method of how to find ecommerce niches is merely getting your hands dirty.
You get to spend a vast amount of time studying Internet resources (blogs, websites, online communities, social media, etc.).
Ultimately, you will stumble on an area of interest that is worth further exploration.
Then you can use online tools such as Google Trends, Keyword Planner, etc., to validate that interest for market opportunities.
5. Take advantage of your website analytics data
If you currently have a website, take a look under the hood and learn what matters to your audience.
Of course, I’m making an assumption here that you properly tagged your website with Google Analytics and Facebook Pixels.
If you have those tracking tags in place, then you’ll get to learn how your audience is finding you.
You can extrapolate that information by doing further keyword analysis to discover search volumes and related keywords.
Indeed, you can use Amazon to corroborate the outcome of your keyword research to validate demand.
But what if you don’t currently have a website?
Here’s a crazy idea – build one!
Yes, you can employ the concept of minimal product viable (MVP) and build a version of your future website and start growing your audience.
One right way to do this is to set up a blog and write about topics that matter most to you.
And based on your interactions with visitors to your blog, you can better learn more about their interests and desires.
Next, validate if the niche is a viable ecommerce business using keyword research tools and studying Amazon categories.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Choosing a Popular Niche for Ecommerce
So far, we’ve established that niching down your product is a crucial consideration you must make when venturing into ecommerce.
And this means that you can choose a popular niche or go with a relatively unknown niche.
But first, what are popular ecommerce niches?
Popular ecommerce niches are usually those with high demand (buyers) and a higher number of sellers.
For example, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) are generally a popular niche because they are everyday stuff people need and buy.
As a result, market segments for fashion, toiletries, household goods, furnishing, etc., are generally crowded with sellers because of high demand.
On the other hand, the not-so-popular niches are the direct opposite of the popular ones.
In some instances, they are non-existent.
Let’s take Red Bull, for instance.
Red Bull created the “energy drink” product category within a much popular beverage category dominated by Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
When deciding on your ecommerce niche, you need to consider going into a popular niche with enough buyers.
All you have to do in such a niche is differentiate your product by price or solve existing products’ problems.
Optionally, you can choose to create a new category or go into the not-so-popular niche with few buyers but higher margins.
Now, let’s take a look at the pro and cons of choosing a popular ecommerce niche.
Advantages of Choosing Popular Ecommerce Niches
- A large market with available buyers
- Assorted product variations and opportunity for differentiation
- Consumer preferences are diverse, thus presenting an opportunity for new entrants.
- The right marketing mix can lead to predictable sales.
- Enjoy health competition, follow trends and quickly bring new products to market.
Disadvantages of Choosing Popular Ecommerce Niches
- Market acceptance of new unique products can be challenging.
- A high degree of competition, which is usually price-based
- So many participants (sellers) results in low-profit margins.
- Difficulty making a case for a new market entrant’s unique selling points
- The high cost of marketing and cut-throat pricing for new market entrants
Best Ecommerce Niches (Top 15 Hot and Profitable Ecommerce Niches)
It doesn’t matter if you are an ecommerce veteran or a newbie.
It would be best if you differentiated your ecommerce business to achieve sustainable success.
Yes, I know it can be initially tricky finding your product differentiation.
But if you focus on using data and available techniques discussed here, you’ll better equip yourself to find your niche.
Let me share some of the best and profitable ecommerce niches out there to get you started.
I hope this gives you an idea and expands your thinking and imagination as to what’s possible.
1. Disinfectant Products
It’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic made personal hygiene sexy again.
As a result, disinfectants and personal hygiene products were among the best sellers of 2020.
The world’s population’s consciousness about cleanliness and hygiene is at an all-time high for the past 100 years.
Multilateral institutions such as the World Health Organization and World Bank are actively promoting the importance of personal hygiene.
Guess what?
This new trend might continue well into the nearest future.
I, for one, believe that this global consciousness is there to stay.
In fact, at a point in April 2020, there was a complete shortage of disinfectant wipes. And this was projected to last until 2021.
Brands such as VirusGuard are taking advantage of this new trend to bring products to market that address this surge in demand.
So can you.
2. Natural Pet Care
According to Global Market Insights and Statista, the global pet industry sales will surpass $350 billion by 2025.
In the U.S., pet supplies and food are the second and third largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories for ecommerce.
And the demand for natural and organic pet food is growing at a very rapid pace presenting an opportunity.
This growth in the natural pet food sector makes it an emerging ecommerce niche worthy of consideration.
3. Men’s Beauty Products
So you think men don’t care about beauty – their looks?
Think again.
With new gender norms, attitudes, and preferences, there are indications that men care more about their appearance than before.
Similarly, over the past few years, retail trends show that more and more men’s beauty products appear on store shelves.
For example, Research & Markets estimates that beard growing essentials grew by a CAGR of 5.5% globally from 2014 to 2019.
CAGR is the compound annual growth rate.
It’s a useful indicator of the annual growth rate over a specific period of more than one year.
I expect this trend to continue.
As a testament, I have spent more on beard grooming products in the last five years than all my entire life – LOL.
4. Eco-Friendly Products
Climate change is real.
There is now an increased demand for eco-friendly products as we (the human race) face this reality.
As a matter of act, the consequences of this reality are too real to ignore.
And the opportunities it presents for entrepreneurs are too profitable to miss.
Eco-friendly products are a new ecommerce niche you can research for your ecommerce business.
They are available for almost every version of items we use daily.
For example, bamboo toothbrushes are trending and cut down on plastic toothbrushes.
Likewise, brands such as Lilybee Wrap and PeriodAisle are presenting reusable food wraps and eco-friendly pads alternatives.
5. Smart Speakers
Smart speakers are transforming the consumer electronics space and changing the way we consume audio and communicate.
This ecommerce niche has proven that it’s more than a fad and is here to stay.
More households now have one type of smart speaker or the other.
And people (especially kids and teens) are very much into this new product category because of its simplicity.
The leading brands such as Amazon Echo, Alexa, and Roku Smart Soundbar dominate this niche.
However, there’s plenty of opportunities for anyone to venture into this space and carve out a niche.
6. Online Art Sales
The sales of art and crafts online are growing and growing steadily since 2015.
Industry sources estimate that this new ecommerce niche will surpass $9 billion by 2024.
In effect, arts and crafts creators are starting to project their content, sell and interact directly with their audience.
The online art sales industry is not any longer limited to painting and wall hanging.
Other creative craft options such as prints and authentic pieces are now part of this expanded product category.
7. E-Book Sales
Available figures indicate that content creators in the U.S. sold over $335 million worth of e-books in 2019.
And experts expect this number to grow yearly by 4.5%, which means e-books sales could reach $400 million in 2021.
Our reading habits have changed drastically in the last decade.
Thanks to innovations by e-book readers such as Amazon Kindle, you can carry thousands of books in your pocket.
So expect e-book and other digital content to lead the surge in ecommerce in the coming years.
This new trend presents an opportunity for anyone to carve an ecommerce niche out of digital books.
8. Online Courses
According to Facts and Factors, global demand for E-learning will surpass $374 billion in 20216.
This figure was at about $144 billion in 2019.
So we’re looking at an over 2x growth for the stated period.
Truly, it’s without a doubt that the COVID 19 pandemic of 2020 contributed to this increased demand.
It’s my firm belief that we’ve been on that trajectory for a while now. And the pandemic is only a catalyst to accelerate the growth.
Therefore, this presents an opportunity for anyone (especially subject matters experts) to participate in this ecommerce niche.
Interest in learning how to carve out an ecommerce niche selling digital products online?
I’ve written a guide just for you on that topic. You can access it here.
9. Online Grocery Store
Another impact of the COVID 19 pandemic is the rise in online grocery sales.
People are now buying their groceries online, with almost 50% of shoppers preferring online grocery than in-person.
According to Super Market News, the online grocery industry recorded a 39.5 percent rise in 2019 globally.
And that figure increased to 52 percent in 2020.
So what we have here is an upward trend in online grocery shopping.
If this sector is of interest to you, take a moment to study the industry and create a niche for yourself.
10. Dropshipping
Don’t let the lack of capital prevent you from participating in the ecommerce gold rush.
Luckily, you can take advantage of dropshipping when starting your ecommerce niche.
With drop shipping, you don’t need to invest capital into sourcing inventory.
Rather, you generate the orders first and then send them to your vendor (the dropshipper) to fulfill them.
Your dropshipper will hand the packaging, logistics, and fulfillment of the order to your customers under your brand name.
Imagine the possibilities?
If you’re able to come up with a unique niche product and find a reliable dropshipper – then you can start your ecommerce business with no inventory capital!
11. Smart Home Products
The smart home market covers a spectrum of devices like security and access control, lighting control, entertainment, HVAC, etc.
Analysts forecast that this market will surpass $135 billion globally by 2025 with a CAGR of 11.6%.
The growing interests in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) powered home appliances and devices are driving this demand by and large.
Likewise, consumers’ enthusiasm for the Internet of Things (IoT) and the ability to control any device from anywhere is rising.
There are very few brands offering products options to meet the demand.
But there’s room for anyone to slice out their niche in this new industry.
12. Fashion Products: Vintage Wears
Not too long ago, vintage wear was a thing of the celebrity-esque.
However, the trend is now changing with the right of the vintage consumer and changing attitudes.
Notably, the development is due in part to the environmental impact of the fashion industry.
As a niche market, vintage fashion is thriving and will double its 2018 value in 2023.
So we’re looking at a market size of over $51 billion in 2023 from $24 billion in 2018.
If you are fashion savvy, this is a great ecommerce niche to research for your ecommerce venture.
13. Nutrition and Wellness
It’s without a doubt that this is humanity’s golden age of nutrition and wellness awareness.
From what we eat to what we do, we’re more conscious of what we put into our bodies and what our bodies tell us now than ever before.
As such, it’s no wonder that fitness and wellness goals are rampant.
Just take a look at social media profiles.
Our interest in fitness and nutritional products like fitness equipment, meal plans, and vitamin supplements is rising.
And available data from Slice Intelligence shows that the sales of vitamins and supplements online is growing faster than in other sectors.
Hence, an opportunity exists for an ecommerce niche on specialized vitamin supplements that improves our diets, energy, mental health, and much more.
14. Wearable Tech
Did you know that connected wearable devices has more than doubled between 2016 to 2019
The market for wearables increased from $325 million in 2016 to 722 in 2019. And forecasts estimate that it will reach $1 billion in 2022.
Moreover, there’s been a steady growth in the wearable tech industry, from smartwatches to earpods and other small smart devices.
You have to pay close attention to the industry as a whole to spot opportunities.
If you look at the industry from the smartwatch perspective, you will be discouraged by the false alarm that it’s a saturated industry.
You need to study the entire industry and carve out an ecommerce niche.
For example, there’s been a steady interest in smart backpacks. These are on-the-go bags with all the tech accessories (e.g., Bluetooth, USB charger, solar panel, etc.) consumers need.
15. Vegan Products
Veganism is the in thing and becoming a popular lifestyle for many people.
Google Trends supports this fact by showing an increasing global interest in veganism starting in 2014.
In the U.S., there’s been an over 600% increase in people who identify as vegan, according to Food Revolution.
It’s a known fact that more people are taking an ethical interest in their well-being.
Notably, keyword searches for “going vegan” have also steadily increased in the last two years than ever before.
There are many opportunities to create and deliver quality vegan products, meal plans, or nutritional online courses.
So pay close attention to this ecommerce niche.
There’s a lot of room for growth and early market movers to define the industry.
5 Leading Examples of Niche Products for Ecommerce
Let me do a quick recap. I defined a niche product as a product that is hyper-targeted at a specific market segment.
The idea of focusing on a niche for your ecommerce business is to deliver positive outcomes.
And these positive outcomes are in response to unique demands from an often neglected sector of the market.
When you focus on a niche and do a good job delivering outcomes to your customers, they reward you with higher profit margins.
Now, let’s look at some leading examples of niche products in ecommerce to give you a practical perspective.
1. Kids Toys
Selling kid’s toys online is a popular ecommerce niche that is tested and proven.
While other companies are busy selling toys online, Kiwico took a different approach.
The ecommerce operator offered educational toys that not only entertained but also educated kids.
And guess what, parents love it – especially during this pandemic with millions of kids home school.
But Kiwico didn’t stop at selling educational toys. The company took advantage of subscription ecommerce to give parents more options.
With subscriptions, parents can subscribe and pay a monthly fee to have their set of educational toys mailed out to them monthly.
2. Wines
People believe that wines are the healthiest of all alcoholic drinks.
And industry analysis indicates that online wine sales are exploding, especially during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Ecommerce companies such as Bevvi are pioneering the online wine niche by delivering wine to their customers within 1 hour of purchase.
Interestingly, millennials are beginning to substitute bars and restaurant meeting with Zoom meetups.
So your guess is as good as mine – buy wine online, Zoom and Chill with friends while enjoying the wine.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is a saturated niche.
Just as you see gas stations across from each other on the same road – there are still opportunities for anyone to make an entry into online wine sales.
3. Harmless & Organic Beauty products
We’re more self-conscious of our looks than our parents’ generation.
And the plethora of beauty products with harmful ingredients is affecting many.
Studies have shown that plastic packaging and synthetic ingredients cause adverse effects on our skins and bodies.
So this has created opportunities for new product categories that promote harmless input and organic ingredients in the production process.
The Honest Company is an example of a company that has built its entire business around this niche.
4. Pet Food
Pet lovers are also paying attention to the quality of ingredients used in the food made for their pets.
And this has given rise to many pet owners turning to companies that use organic ingredients in pet food production.
Similar, there’s a growing campaign across pet owners’ communities against the use of preservatives in pet foods.
The industry is now leaning towards raw diets and no grain diets in this niche.
Ultimately, the pet food ecommerce niche is ripe. Companies such as Pure Pet Food are delivering fresh, air-fried, and natural pet food.
Furthermore, the company offers subscription plans, making it easy for pet owners to have their pets food replenished monthly.
5. CBD Products
It’s like we all woke up one morning, and CBD is everywhere.
In case you don’t know, CBD stands for cannabidiol, which is among the chemical compounds that make up cannabis.
We’ve seen a rise in demand for CBD-based products with the recent decriminalization of marijuana and legislatures around CBD.
Several studies have confirmed the positive effects of CBD on health, thus further driving these products’ demand.
There are indications that CBD could become a mainstream health product just like supplements.
Indeed, CBD is now one of the trending products getting mass attention as a viable ecommerce niche.
Ecommerce brands such as CBDistillery offer a wide array of CBD-based products across oils, gummies, topical balms, and powders.
In Conclusion
Altogether, ecommerce is here to stay. It has become the standard.
If you ever thought ecommerce was hype, think again.
From the consumers’ perspective, ecommerce is a compliment to their new lifestyle of contactless purchases of products and services.
But for an entrepreneur, there are two aspects of running an ecommerce business.
The first one is running an ecommerce business the right way.
And the second aspect is running an ecommerce business the wrong way.
I’m a proponent of running an ecommerce venture the right way.
To run an ecommerce business the right way, you must first start the ecommerce business the right way.
The right way to start an ecommerce business, in my view, is to focus on ecommerce niches.
When you focus on a niche for your products and a niche for your market, you’re starting your ecommerce journey the right way.
Therefore, I hope that after you’ve read this post, you have better ideas on how to start your ecommerce business the right way.
I hope you’re in a better position to see running an ecommerce business from the perspective of having an ecommerce niche.
Let me know your thoughts, suggestions, questions, or ideas on where you are on your ecommerce journey. Leave your comments below.