Choosing your market niche

By Mikal E. Belicove: Director, Community & Education - Doba

If you and I were to decide to go into business together, and we chose to open up a brick and mortar store on Main Street, there’s no way we’d sign an 18-month lease, order display furnishings, install carpet, hook up a phone line, and hire employees without first knowing what we’re going to sell. Yet, online retailers–or, more accurately, casual sellers who want to become successful online retailers–do it every day.

Without giving much thought to a company name, product line, or business or marketing plan, new online sellers sign up for services like Doba, work with a third-party vendor to build a webstore, and only then get around to asking, “Hey, what should I sell?” They head to eBay, see what is selling, and then decide to sell the same products–usually consumer electronics–for slightly less than the competition. They end up being disappointed, mainly because their profit margins are so low.

The problem is that…

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