Best Way to Sell in a Competitive Niche?

In ultra competitive markets, it's best to have a loyal brand following, a very large ad budget, mega traffic to your store, and something that sets you apart from all the rest of the competition (like free shipping, the best guarantee or customer service on the planet, or the most comprehensive inventory of products available.

Since you will be going up against some of the older established brands that already have a customer base it would be wise to also offer something that all your competitors can't in order to set you apart from the pack. It could be a proprietary product, free 2-day shipping, a local gift . . . or anything of perceived value! Figure out a way to stand tall above your competition.

Steve

Don't.

Go into a small niche and sell there. Why go against Walmart when you can destroy every local small barbershop in your area?

Competitive niches doesn't necessarily mean a saturated market.

The simple answer is to search through eBay and track what other sellers are commanding for the same or similar product(s). Take into account your costs (selling fees, listing fees, paypal charges...etc.) and if there is enough margin for you to jump in, then by all means jump in.

I did the same thing in jewelry, and THAT is the most competitive market besides clothing. We did pretty well, in fact, well enough that we sold the business and used the funds to enter a new retail niche.

It sounds like you'll have access to many products. You can use loss leaders to drum up a following. Put up no reserve auctions to entice people to visit your store. One thing I'd have to stress about selling on eBay is that buyers require good feedback, and especially in electronics and appliances.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine.

HI,
I'd go with ebay and amazon.
But do your research first on ebay pulse and amazon best sellers to see what your competition is doing.
If you have a competitive price you will make sales on ebay and Amazon all day.
Good luck.

Yes, it's a good idea to start with eBay and Amazon. You'll the be able to build a client base quickly and cheaply (otherwise you'd have to buy the traffic).

However, do keep the long term in mind and have a strategy in place to keep your customers coming back to you. Email marketing is perfect for this.

So use eBay and Amazon to get new customers and then keep them coming back for more so you can keep growing your business.

Good luck! If you need any more help, there are more than enough people here who have the knowledge and experience to help you out.

Don't sell "all of the categories"; like the posts above said, narrow yourself in a certain niche/direction (if you're selling phones, then focus on a certain brand or type). This will make you appear as an expert in your field.

Secondly, just have a great support. Regular buyers cannot just call a big store such as Amazon for a recommendation of a product. But if you give great support, and make yourself available to your customers then you will be in business! Allow them to contact you for free suggestions/help either by phone or email. This kind of service is highly recommended these days

Good Luck friend ..

I would go with the Amazon/eBay route. if it's a competitive niche you can easily make a listing on Amazon/eBay and test to see if it will sell or not. If you can't sell it on a platform with millions of customers like that waiting to buy it'd be a bear trying to set up your own site to make it happen. You can also try and list it on Amazon and run sponsored ads to see if anyone bites.

Hi Marty,

Out create the competition until you stop worrying about them Then, you'll work with folks from your niche to cross promote, to endorse each other and to share your secrets. Then, you make more money than you ever dreamed of online. Guys like Zac Johnson and Darren Rowse appear to be my direct competitors but I decided to befriend Zac and to connect with Stacey at Pro Blogger. Now these guys let me guest post on their blogs, which has done a world for my blogging rep.

I endorsed each dude and promoted them and commented on their blog to build our bonds. You can connect with folks from your niche through personal emails or any other strategy to build friendships. Working with and for beats going against; much for money in FOR because when you're FOR, you don't FEAR

All the best Marty!

Ryan

Find which products have the least saturation in their market

Then start looking at angles/keywords that your competition has the least presence

Always try to go into areas buyers are and the competition has not discovered

I always follow the advertising money and SERPs for clues, most of the competition always look at the obvious while so many areas in any market are almost totally void of competition

The biggest marketing advantage you have is that your business is unique
Every business is unique
Every business has a story
People like stories
When you use the unique story of your business in your marketing, it will capture and hold market share
When you condense that story into a USP – and stay true to it - you will take business from your competitors

A USP immediately answers your prospect's two biggest questions …
“What makes you different”
“What's in it for me”

You integrate your USP into :-

• website
• advertising
• phone scripting
• emails
• every promotion and marketing campaign
• everything your business does

.
You sell the customer your USP
Then you have rigorous after-sale follow-up to check the USP is performing as promised
Then you help the customer to upgrade and maximize what is already working


How to create a USP


https://goo.gl/adBKSg

Gather as much information as you can,about your competition, by using help of a Google search, Amazon, eBay, YouTube, CPA's etc.

Pick up the leading marketers position in this competitive niche. Learn from their style of marketing, and possibly adapt or modify some of their ideas.

Then create your own promotion and test,test, test.

Hope this helps.
George

All of the advice above is valuable...One thing I also always do is try to figure out simple but imaginative ways I can differentiate myself from the competition...Have you thought about cost free or low cost "extras" you can throw in with your products?

For example, say you are selling digital cameras on Ebay... and you include a disk that has...

PDF complete instruction manual,
PDF links to tips and tricks pages on the internet
PDF link to free online picture editing software + links to YT tutorials
PDF catalog of other items and/or accessories you carry (for back end sales) + Sign up for an ongoing "tips and tricks newsletter" (that builds a subscriber list for you that you can offer related back end products to!)

Alternately, can you add a cheap accessory that your competition doesn't?
- Free moon filter?
- Free carrying case
- Free lens cleaning kit/cloth
etc.

Hope this gets your creative juices flowing

Hi all, sorry to butt in on someone else's post but maybe someone here can help me because I am in need of some advice and this post seemed appropriate. This is my first ever post. I normally just read but never post anything...

Well... I started an online fashion and accessories boutique for women online 3 years ago. I have had high ups and low lows. I took a 4-5 month set back early this year due to a rough pregnancy. Prior to my taking this break the majority of my sales came from selling on other marketplaces and not my own site... When I came back this year some months ago everything on the internet seemed to have changed...the marketplaces some of them went out of business and the ones that didn't were dry... No sales or rarely any. So all of this has forced me to really scrutinize my own site, look at analytics, email list, site design, anything I can tweak to help with sales, SEO etc... I have seen sales trickling in but not as fast of course as I'm used to with the larger markets.... This all now has me doubting myself as there are some real dominating companies in this particular niche. I'm wondering if I missed it completely as far as selling in this category and if this is worth all the energy and money I am going to continue spending in order to continue to build my brand. Should I just become a seller who finds a great product, go to Amazon and sell... Or just keep persistently building my own brand.... This is the decision I'm currently wrestling with... Any advice would be great....

Hi MartyD,

I find that no matter how much planning you put into it,
a good business model is to "find your own way"

Try everything. Keep what works.
If you have a good marketing idea, use it, see how it performs.

I have found my best "marketing" techniques to sell a product or service
come from trial and error, not from an outsider or guru telling you how.
You can get some good ideas and points from experienced people in your
field, but what will work best is finding your own groove.
Often that groove will be "doing something no one else is doing"

That's how to get ahead and stay ahead, no matter what the product
or service is that you are trying to market.

I hope that helps.
Have a great day toward your online success !

Yours truly,
Jeff Noyes

Vendor-Lock Hosting & Software co.