Finding Your Reselling Niche

Read along to discover my simple formula for discovering your reselling niche.

Even if you sell "a little bit of everything," I think you'll find having a niche quite beneficial. And it's important to remember that your niche is not carved in stone; it changes and grows with your business.

The importance of having a niche (or niches)

We often hear the argument that having a niche is a way to ensure return customers, and that's definitely a piece to the puzzle. Building a customer base is certainly much easier when your customer knows what to expect. Wouldn't it be weird if Talbots suddenly started selling clubwear? Their demographic would NOT be happy because it's not what they expect; it's not what Talbots has built their reputation on. And I doubt that 20-somethings would trust Talbots to deliver trendy nighttime pieces. Even a massive box store like Walmart has a niche of sorts: affordable/cheap items. Yes, they sell all kinds of items, but the idea is that they're always inexpensive.

Besides benefiting the customer, having a niche also benefits the reseller. Now I'm not saying you should pick one strict niche and only sell that (after all, we don't want to put all our eggs in one basket), but we do want to know what we're about. Knowing your niche or specialty helps you form your business identity, and once you are familiar with your identity, you can grow confidently. A niche shouldn't limit you, rather, it should guide you.

Examples of niches

A niche can be a price point (like Walmart). Perhaps you specialize in cheap and affordable items for the budget-savvy shopper. Or maybe you fall on the other end of the spectrum and focus on high-end, designer pieces. A niche can also be a category, for example, shoes or jewelry. Styles or trends can also serve as niches such as athleisure, business attire, or one of the popular -cores (cottagecore, grandmacore, etc). And of course niches can overlap; I for example sell a lot of business attire that also happens to be vintage. Again, try not to think of a niche as some kind of barrier, instead think of it as a spotlight.

The niche formula

What items do you gravitate towards?

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Which of those have low COG/large ROI?

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Niche

Simple, I know. But let's look at this personal example.

When I first started reselling, I gravitated towards jeans because I was comfortable with them. They were also affordable at my local thrifts. I was able to find Miss Me and Rock Revival or under $10/pair. Of course times changed, and now those jeans are behind the cash marked at almost-retail prices. Even jeans from LOFT or Talbots are over $10/piece now, so I had to change my niche.

Takeaways

It's important to not lock yourself into one specific niche, but it's also key to know what your business specializes in. And remember, your current niche may not be your forever niche, and that's okay! It's all about knowing who you are in this moment so you can make confident business decisions.