It’s 2021 and dropshipping isn’t a new business model anymore. The market is saturated, and it continues to record new online stores each day. Still, claiming that dropshipping is no longer a profitable business is far away from the truth.
People just get disappointed when they see that making a Shopify site, adding 30 products to it, and waiting for the magic to happen, guess what – doesn’t work.
Today, with thousands of dropshippers out there selling the same or similar products to yours, it is more than ever important to find a way to differentiate yourself from others and be the one who will draw the attention of potential customers.
That’s where micro-niche and one product stores take the stage.
Creating a micro-niche or one product store gives more than one advantage to dropshippers who decide to put some effort into designing a store like that.
Micro-niche vs. one product store
Micro-niche stores are stores specialized for a specific, smaller group of people. All the products they have in offer are connected with a particular target group’s interest that the seller has chosen.
To make a difference between niche and micro-niche stores, we’ll use the pet products example. Having a store with different products for pets is a bit broad but still a niche store. Specializing only for dogs narrows the target group more than twice, but creating the store specialized for Pugs only, is an example of a micro-niche we’re talking about. In the same way, a niche store with sports equipment can be turned into a micro-niche store intended for cyclists or specified even more for mountain biking fans.
On the other hand, one product stores – stores with just one item sufficient to uphold the whole shop, allow you to focus all your energy and resources into advertising and selling that one product. It only takes to find the right product (the winner) and then make a whole brand around it.
Creating a micro-niche or one product store gives more than one advantage to dropshippers who decide to put some effort into designing a shop like that:
Possibility to build a brand
A store specialized in a specific field gives the customers a feeling that it’s the only or the best place to buy a particular product. It allows you to present your brand as a group of experts for a certain field, gives you a more professional and exclusive look, and makes content creation a lot easier.
We’ve shared 6 crucial tips for brand building in dropshipping in this post.
Connection with the customers
When you know who your customers are, you know which Social Media channels they use, what kind of content they like, which profiles they follow, their values and interests… you know who you’re talking to. By connecting with your tribe, you won’t be just another store anymore, but someone who gives an additional value and participates in their everyday lives. All that will lead to creating a loyal group of followers and customers.
Creating a solid brand and getting to know your customers will make a significant difference when it comes to the advertising and profitability of your store. You’ll know exactly who your customers are, where to find them, and which content to create. It will help you have a more personalized approach, more effective ads, more conversions, and more sales too.
You’ll know exactly who your customers are, where to find them, and which content to create.
However, the downside of setting a micro-niche or a one product store is the freedom that you lose in testing and experimenting with different products and niches that don’t fit in the concept of the store you created. That’s why it’s completely okay, moreover strongly suggested to spend more time on the research in order to create a store with high profitability.
We’ve broken down this post into two parts to help you find both – micro-niches or THE one product, no matter what you decide to go with.
What is a good micro-niche for dropshipping
Micro-niche with the high demand
Many dropshippers search for fresh micro-niches with no competition, which is a logical way of thinking. But if we look from another angle, no competition usually equals no demand, and no demand means no sales.
In this industry, setting the trend and making a new micro-niche popular requires a lot of money and investments. Therefore it is better to leave that job to the “big fishes,” and then just follow existing trends and use the opportunities given.
By adding the AliInsider extension to your Google Chrome browser, you can easily check what the most popular and most profitable niches at the moment are. Besides the detailed analytics of any product on AliExpess, Ali Insider provides you the list with 30k fastest selling products of the moment. By typing in the name of the niche you are interested in (in the 30k fastest selling products list), you’ll get the number of its average daily sales, average daily dropshipping sales, average daily dropshipping revenue, and the number of products in that niche.
Micro-niche that gives the solution or triggers the emotions
If you are hesitating about a specific niche, wondering if it is a good pick for dropshipping or not, problem-solving micro-niches are always a good choice. Make a list of possible products and just ask yourself: will those products solve some problems? Do people generally struggle to pack their luggage efficiently or clean the house… Would I help them improve any of that? Do I offer some unusual solutions, rarely available in “offline” stores?
Will this product solve some problems? Do I offer some unusual solutions, rarely available in “offline” stores?
Another option is micro-niches that provoke different emotions. Those niches target people with a specific passion or hobby like pet owners, fishers, musicians, and many others. Unlike in problem-solving niches, products in the passion-niche stores don’t have to be necessary “useful.” A cat owner will certainly go crazy if s/he sees a mug with a cat on it or a ballet dancers when they see a clock counting only 5,6,7, and 8.
Evergreen micro-niches
Looking at the market trends, we can see that from time to time, certain winning products appear on AliExpress and record an enormous number of daily sales and profit, but after a month or so, their sales are beginning to decline. We all went through the fidget spinner mania, and for those who have been there on time, selling those products must have paid off. But selling short-term trends isn’t worth investing in brand creation, learning about the niche, and getting to know your target audience because it won’t take long before you’ll need to switch to another store. That’s why the key to a sustainable store is in searching for constant trends with a permanent demand.
The micro-niche you’re familiar with
That’s why there is no answer to the question: “What niche should I pick?”. It is an individual thing that depends on many factors. A profitable niche for one dropshipper doesn’t have to be profitable for another.
Before deciding on a particular niche, have in mind that you’ll also have to generate niche-specific content; you’ll need to know which products your target audience would like and need, understand their lifestyle and taste. All that will be much easier if you work with the niche you’re familiar with. Don’t get us wrong – you don’t have to be a professional fitness trainer to sell home gym equipment. Still, if you’re at least interested in exercising, you’ll enjoy your job more, you’ll feel more comfortable in that field, and you’ll understand your customers better.
You’ll enjoy your job more, you’ll feel more comfortable in that field, and you’ll understand your customers better.
Appropriate target group size, approachability, and offer
We already talked about the advantages of smaller target groups when it comes to the creation of a community. Still, there have to be enough people interested in a certain micro-niche in order to have enough sales and a successful shop. You can quickly check how big your target audience is by going through other Instagram and Facebook profiles and groups, using the Google Trends tool or Facebook audience insights.
The approachability of a target group matters too. Does your target group use Social Media? Are there specific websites where you can place your ads? Instagram profiles targeting the same group? How easy can you find your target group on Social Media?
Once you have a list of possible niches for dropshipping, you need to be sure there is a decent offer of those products on AliExpress, too, so you can create a store you’re planning.
Which product to pick for a one-product store
With one product store, a tactic is a bit different. You should still build a brand around your store and connect with your customers, but the first task on your checklist should be to find a winning product good enough to be the only and sufficient product for your store.
Although just finding a winning product isn’t enough to make a successful store, because it also takes time, effort, creativity, marketing, and sales skills, some characteristics are typical for most of the winning products. You can use them as indicators to check if you are walking on the right path.
Common characteristics that winning products have and things that you should consider first when searching for one:
- Problem-solving
With problem-solving products, you offer your customers value by meeting a real need or giving a better solution than existing alternatives. When people see an ad that aims directly to the core of their problem, it’s much easier for them to make a decision that is supported by reasoning.
- Exclusivity
The potential winning product shouldn’t be widely available and easy to get offline. That’s why typical winning products have some unusual characteristics, something new and unique for that type of product.
- Wow factor
A winning product should be able to say everything just in a couple of seconds – why you need it and what is so special and unique about it. It should stop you, impress you, and make you say – WOW, I want it.
- Profitability
When setting a price, a quick checklist should include:
-Cost of the product and additional expenses
-The perceived value of the product
-The purchasing power of a target market
-Competition prices.
If you’re looking for deeper insights on finding a winning product and tools that can help you in it, check out our post Winning products hunt in 2021: how to spot them first.
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