Building a niche store

[wmhelp]

While reading the thread "ecommerce niches", I remembered a few questions I have.

I am contemplating several niche markets that I have knowledge and am passionate about.

Q) How does one build a niche store?
I browsed several threads that have confirmed my suspicion that even in 2009 finding a good shopping cart/ecommerce solution is difficult unless I spend a lot of money.

Q) Biggest problem (aside from technical aspects) is finding suppliers/manufacturers. How do I negotiate with suppliers when I don't have that background?

Q) How relevant is the idea of a niche market when Amazon and other big stores have many items that were once niche and keep adding more such products? Of course, there are lots merchants selling niche products on Amazon. Even if I am going to start selling niche products, I would be just another merchant selling on Amazon and am not building a real niche store.

It would be very difficult to compete with these stores which carry all kinds of products. Many suppliers sell directly on or through Amazon. Obviously, there is a price advantage these stores have because of the size and market share. Doesn't this erode the idea of finding a niche (small one even)?

How did you overcome these problems in building a niche?

[tomhumf]

Hi,

I don't think it is nessecary to spend a lot of money on a shopping cart. Look at Mal's Ecommerce, Zen Cart or Oscommerce, they are all free.

One of these combined with a paypal, or other payment processor is all you really need.

I think most manufacturers in niche markets will be keen to find new outlets. Just email or write to some of them and ask for a trade price list. Also ask about what volume discounts they offer, normally it will be cheaper to buy 10+ or 50+ of items.

I don't think you should worry about Amazon. Do your research and make sure the market isn't saturated with your products.

There will probably always been someone doing it cheaper, if your site is dedicated to the niche and well optimised though you will get sales.

[HRoth]

The point in being niche is having things no one else has. Amazon does not have everything, believe me. You have to find your area of expertise and then ask yourself what do customers interested in that area want that they can't find, or can't find easily? I have not only made things that are hard to find in my niche but created things that didn't exist before that I thought people in my niche would want. That means I have no competition on those items, which is an end run around cheap. But that isn't the kind of business you can have other people mostly handle.

I know it's possible to find producers of oddball items abroad, but the problem with that is that often you run into volume difficulties. They want you to buy a containerload and you know you can sell maybe 25 of the items a year, that sort of thing. Obviously, that can't work. In fact this is one of the reasons why I decided to focus on making more of my own products. I really like that part, but I know plenty of people would really hate doing that kind of thing.