Is this niche specific enough?

by bsurb
14 replies
I have posted in a previous thread about finding the right niche and sports and pets I have a high passion for. I decided to start an online store selling pet products but instead of creating a general store and selling hundreds of common pet products I thought I would dig deeper.

I came to an idea to sell sports products for pets. I have a lot of experience and knowledge in the field so I figure I could come up with a strategy to market pet sports apparel. Going to local games and advertising, writing post-game articles and somehow tie the pets in the article, and also have a weekly contest of the coolest pet who is decked out in their favorite teams gear!

Now I have a couple name ideas that I wanted to use but I couldn't really come down to a final decision. I know its all about following your heart and what sounds best to me but if you all were guests on my store and you seen the name, what would stick in your mind more? (Now mods/admins who read this, I am not here to spam I am not posting any links, I just want to hear some opinions on this.) Moderator response: Your last thread was locked because you kept bumping it. Intentional bumping to keep your thread on the first page will get your thread locked every time it's reported.

I have PetMerch as one name and Petletes as the other. PetMerch I was using as a general pets store. Not too sure if it sounds sporty or a place that would sell nothing but sports apparel. Now Petletes, is the same word and replacing the word "Athletes". Athletes who are known as humans, Petletes are simply pets who are sports crazy too

I have some good marketing strategies. I have a good follow base on Instagram, Facebook etc and I have $ to advertise. But what sounds best ?

Is the sports niche deep enough?? Instead of focusing on ONE particular team because then I would be really limited.

Thank you guys and gals!
#niche #specific
  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    Originally Posted by bsurb View Post

    , Petletes are simply pets who are sports crazy too I like this name better

    I have some good marketing strategies. I have a good follow base on Instagram, Facebook etc and I have $ to advertise. But what sounds best ?

    Is the sports niche deep enough?? Instead of focusing on ONE particular team because then I would be really limited. !
    Have you consider the major markets - NYC , Chicago & LA. you could promote football sweaters for pets of the teams, start with one team from each city. but you would have to make sure you are not violating trademarks. You could use basketball or hockey for Winter and Baseball for summer. Still kind of broad niche wise so testing would be your best bet. Good Luck what ever you choose.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    Well I have a drop shipper who has lots of sports apparel I was going to sell. Also I was going to start trying to sell custom made gear like etsy offers
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  • Profile picture of the author Jarrod
    While I personally would agree on petletes out of the two for what you have stated, if you ever want to expand the biz beyond just athletic stuff for pets, petmerch might be better long-term.

    But I am definitely NOT in your target market for this. You might be better off polling the instagram/Facebook following you have on this.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    I was hoping to sell pet merch and use that money to market the other.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      I think petletes is spot on for what you're trying to do. The niche seems to be at the right depth too. Narrow enough to be uniquely targeted, and wide enough to cover an ongoing market that won't fizzle out any time soon ... or ever!

      With a healthy imagination and energy I can see a lot of ways you can go with that.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    Thanks for the advice!
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  • Profile picture of the author redeye paradigm
    Although I think going any narrower would make life more difficult it could work if the market for your chosen team was big enough. The great thing about being team specific is that it would allow you to engage much more parochially with your customer base, ultimately you would be more of a friend than a business.

    The wider you niche the more objective you need to be. Did the refs just cost you the championship? Well you'd better keep your mouth shut if you want to sell the winning teams merchandise.

    Bigger niche = more money. Smaller niche = more personality.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    I believe I am in the middle then.... Instead of selling general pet products there are THOUSANDS of sites out there or amazon/ebay etc to compete with. Narrowing it to sports only I can get creative and make hand made items too.

    Well said, though!
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  • Profile picture of the author Everett and Carol
    I have been creating websites on tight sports niches for years. I am confident you will do well in this niche. If you find a reliable dropshipper for this, you will do much better than you would as an affiliate.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    Thank you! My main problem now is deciding to go woocommerce or open cart I purchased the open cart version on a theme I meant to get for woocommerce. YIKES.
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    • Profile picture of the author bentanck
      Seems like a very specialize niche.... good luck..
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    So does the name Petletes sound professional enough?
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  • Profile picture of the author bsurb
    I signed up for aweber email list. Its $20 a month but $1 the first month. I currently have a pop up email newsletter when you land on my site but I may try to run a contest here soon which requires guests to subscribe.
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