A niche market is a specific group of people within a larger market. These people have specific needs and often need specialist companies to fulfil their needs. When you think of a niche market what springs to mind?
Teen Entrepreneur Foundation is a good example of a niche market (if we say so oursleves). We fall into a niche market because we are a specific group of people with a specific set of needs and cannot just be bunched with all teenagers or all entrepreneurs. We have managed to identify this need and are now looking to cater to it and provide a service, which is not provided anywhere else.
Research is the key to any successful business, no matter what industry you fall into. However, in a niche market you have to ensure that necessity for your product will continue to stay around into the near future. One of the biggest problems with marketing to a specific niche is that they become trends or fads for a little while before dying out or shrinking drastically. This could mean failure in the long term for your business.
Industries that have been identified as being niche – vintage clothing, pet accessories, and green products are red hot right now (a positive or negative, depending on what you identify as your business idea). Tourism has been around for many years but because it is a massive industry there are plenty of smaller industries within it – countries and tour operators are offering specialised tours like charity tourism, festival tourism and home stay tourism all of which could be very popular in South Africa.
Researching and conceptualising an idea, which targets specific segments of your market is well worth it. Once you have identified your product or service and its up and the running the rewards will start to flow in.
Lydia Zingoni
Founder and Director of SA Teen Entrepreneur Foundation
