So, you’re thinking about launching your first dropshipping
business. But what is your online business going to sell? Should you start
selling every product category or should you build a niche store instead?
We understand how important it is for dropshipping
entrepreneurs to come up with the perfect idea for their future stores. That’s
why we have an entire blog section dedicated to the methodology and tips for a
smart product choice.
Still, there is one issue we haven’t discussed yet, and
today, we will talk about it exclusively.
What kind of business to choose: a niche shop or a general
store?
When our custom store development experts start working on a
new project, one of the first questions they ask the client is “What do you
want to sell in your store?”
Interestingly enough, one of the most typical answers is…
“Everything”.
It means that the client wants to launch a so-called general
store.
What is a general store?
As you have probably guessed, a general store is an online
marketplace that is similar to an offline department store. The only difference
is that an online dropshipping store typically doesn’t sell food and beverages.
A super wide range of consumer goods, from socks to light
bulbs, can be found in a general shop. These store owners assume that a large
number of products is a winning strategy because a passerby site visitor ‘is
guaranteed’ to get interested in something and place an order.
Are these assumptions true?
General store benefits
There are several reasons for an entrepreneur to build a
store that sells all kinds of products:
No research is strictly
necessary
Actually, to start a successful business of any kind, you
need to conduct at least basic research to understand the market trends, the
product offers, and the customers’ preferences.
But, when you start a general store, you don’t always see
the need to learn anything about the market. You just fill your store with any
products that got your attention and wait for the purchases.
The product choice is
huge
Another important task for dropshipping beginners is to pick
products to sell. If you’re going to make a niche store, this choice is going
to be limited.
Wait.
Does it sound too
good to be true?
There is a good reason to be suspicious because, frankly
speaking, this business strategy is not as tempting as it looks.
General store
drawbacks
You might get an impression that a general dropshipping
store is a ‘lazy’, undemanding venture. Don’t make yourself fooled by this
seeming simplicity. In fact, running such a store in an efficient way is a really
challenging thing to do.
Product-related tasks
are overwhelming
If we’re talking about a large-scale website with a diverse
range of products, it certainly needs a LOT of items (hundreds of them,
probably), otherwise, it will look really weird to the customers.
Yes, you can import the desired items from AliExpress in
seconds and set prices for them automatically in a couple of clicks. But can
you imagine how long it will take you to edit all these product pages? It’s not
an option to leave them unedited. In this case, your website will be filled with
non-unique content that is damaging for SEO. Besides, the store visitors will
quickly understand that they can find identical products on AliExpress for much
lower prices.
It’s nearly
impossible to rank high for the chosen keywords
Again, this is a competition-related matter. If the product
range of an online store doesn’t have narrowly defined specifics, it is
extremely hard for the owner to turn it into an SEO-friendly website.
It will only be logical to optimize this store for really
broad keywords like ‘online shopping’ or ‘buy online’. Just imagine how many
well-established ecommerce sites are already using these keywords.
Simply put, with such a generic keyword, your store won’t
rank high enough on the search engine results page. As a result, Internet users
won’t stumble upon it often enough.
A proper marketing
strategy is really hard to build
If you can’t compete by price or by product range, and if
you can’t make it to the first page of Google with the power of SEO, the only
thing you can do to generate sales is to promote your store all over the
Internet.
Still, for general stores, even this task seems to be really
challenging. The problem is you can’t rely on a niche marketing strategy.
Where will you post your advertisements if you don’t know
what platforms and websites your target audience uses? What exactly will you
promote if you have hundreds of products in your store? What types of messages
will you use for each of the marketing channels if you don’t know what’s
relevant and important to your buyers?
Basically, you will either be going with random guesses or
taking no promotional actions at all. And you can’t expect these measures to really
be moneymaking strategies.
You don’t know what
to focus on
Many beginners are unsure what they should do at the
beginning of their dropshipping journey. But with a general store, it’s possible
to get even more confused.
With no previous experience in this business area, it’s easy
to get overwhelmed with the unstructured and segmentary data within your store.
What is a niche store?
As you can guess by its name, an online niche store is a
shop that sells a narrow range of products.
All the items offered in this store should have some
unifying feature. It’s up to you to decide what exactly you will use for this
purpose.
Maybe, you will concentrate on the items’ price. For
example, in this sample product selection, we are listing the products that are
unified not only by their visual side (plant pattern) but by their price (lower
than $3) as well.
Maybe, you will use a specific products’ purpose as the
uniting feature. For example, for this sample product selection, we’ve chosen
the items that are designed to reduce anxiety and help people cope with stress.
Or, maybe, you will use buyers’ hobbies and personal
interests as the basis for your niche store. For example, this sample product
selection would be appealing to customers fascinated by astronomy and space
exploration.
You can find more niche ideas on our blog as well as tips on
how to find your niche and evaluate it.
Niche store advantages
So, what makes a niche online store the perfect choice for a
dropshipping entrepreneur?
Easier management
In comparison with a general store, a niche store is a much
less resource-consuming venture. The thing is, you are not building a mega
ecommerce empire in this case. You are creating a much smaller business that
can be flexibly improved and conveniently run in a long-term perspective.
Well-defined product range
Knowing what is trending and popular in this particular
niche, you get a brilliant opportunity to only fill your store with demanded items
that will be bought often.
Plus, as a fan of your own niche, you know exactly what
product features are valuable to your target audience. Therefore, you can
create unique product descriptions that are both appealing to your potential
buyers and winning in terms of SEO.
Understandable customers’ profile
As a fan of your own niche, you have a more or less clear
idea about like-minded people who are also passionate about these specific
topics and products.
Understanding your niche audience, you can configure your ad
settings in the most precise way and deliver your valuable content to Internet
users who will be happy to join the community you’re building around your
brand.
Targeted marketing strategy
Knowing the necessary details of your potential buyers’
interests and behavior, you can easily create highly attractive promotional
messages. On top of that, you can choose the right channels for their
distribution.
When you speak your buyers’ language and hang out exactly
where they do, you are very likely to succeed in creating just the perfect
brand image. Actually, it might even result in frequent repeat purchases!
Efficient SEO
With a narrowly defined product offer, you have an
opportunity to find and pick awesome long-tail keywords. These keywords
typically consist of 3 and more words, and they describe the contents of your
site pages precisely.
Probably, the greatest thing about these keywords is their
power to attract highly interested people to your store. Indeed, if a person
googles a word combination that is similar to some of your target keywords and
clicks on your site address because it gets shown on the search results page,
this visitor, most likely, will make a purchase from you sooner or later.
Higher conversion rates
Will each and every store visitor buy something from you?
If it is easy to navigate your site and locate the desired
products, if the items are chosen carefully, if the product pages look tempting
and trustworthy, the chances to convert a passerby visitor into an excited
buyer are quite high.
Obviously, it is much easier to achieve this scenario with a
niche store. As we have already figured out, a product-rich general store can
be challenging for an owner to run and troubling for a visitor to browse.
Niche store disadvantages
Does a niche store have any disadvantages?
Personally, I think that all the so-called ‘downsides’ of
niche stores can be described with the ‘it’s not a bug, it’s a feature’ phrase.
Still, let’s go through them anyway!
You need to conduct a research
Well, yes, this might seem to be the most significant
disadvantage of a niche business. With a niche store, you really need to
understand what you’re selling and whom you’re targeting.
But, it won’t be a problem if you know this niche fairly
well. In this case, you either already know the most crucial aspects that
characterize this business segment, or you have an idea where to hunt for the
relevant information.