Technology has done wonders and transformed the way we live our lives.
A few years ago, the global business operated in the physical world. Back then, you were expected to visit a shop to make a purchase. In the present world, smartphones, tablets, and PCs have changed the scenario, and companies have started setting up online businesses to tap into the massive population of the internet world.
Companies like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Target proved that e-commerce was the newest kid on the tech block worth checking on. But as time went by, niche specific business owners realized that some buyers don’t want to go to these general sites for everything.
Niche-specific businesses are usually passionate about what they sell, and they usually do a lot of research and value the opinions of their customers while scouting for a product to add to their catalogues.
If you are planning to start an e-store and need inspiration from enterprises that have made it, you are in the right place.
This article is also suitable for those who are looking for niche-specific e-stores where they could be getting most of their stuff from. Now, let’s get it on:
Here are 15 niche ecommerce businesses that have made their mark in their respective industries:
360 Shoes
360 Shoes is home to a wide variety of classic shoes. The website's interface is clean, easy to navigate, and a few autoplay images slide across the screen to show you some of the models available.
To make shopping an effortless process, all the shoes are classified into two main categories: men and women.
Once you choose your gender, you can also narrow down to other sub-categories such as running, court, sneakers, trail, sandals, and work shoes.
One of the best things about this e-store is that it houses shoes from some of the most powerful brands such as Puma, Nike, ASICS Tiger, Adidas, Spingle, Onitsuka Tiger, MBT, Birkenstock, and Patrick.
360’s mode of discounting includes taking 10% off for first-time buyers and offering free delivery for those who buy goods of up to $50. Oh, and free delivery applies to those who reside close to their physical stores.
Niche store built using Magento
Koovs.com
Koovs is a hub of fashion content targeting individuals with an exquisite taste for personality transforming collections. As one of the top contenders in the fashion niche, the online fashion portal launches over 150 new products every week so their frequent clients can find something new every time they log in.
The top-selling brands available on this platform include New Look, KOOVS, J.D.Y, Spring Break, Forever New and several others.
In their efforts to keep providing unique products, this megastore has had to work with established designers like Masaba Gupta, Patrick Cox, Mawi Keivom, Henry Holland, Giles Deacon and the dynamic duo Pankaj & Nidhi.
Besides offering a long list of cheap and high-end fashion wear, Koovs knows how to fish new customers. All prepaid orders get a 5% discount, and if you post a picture of yourself on Instagram wearing your new collection from Koovs and tag them (using a special code), you may just get featured on their website. Cash on delivery payment mode is available and should you get a damaged or wrong order, returning is free and easy.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle is one of those stores that are fully packed with the latest fashion wear for modern people. Their goods are meant for men, women, boys, and girls. The major categories on their platform include bottoms, lingerie, dresses, jumpsuits, ethnic wear, inner wear, sportswear, tops, nightwear, winter wear, shoes and other accessories.
Like its competitors, Lifestyle features only the best brands on their website. A few of them include Melange, Fame Forever, Jack Jones, Polo, Ginger, and Bossini.
While shopping, you have the option to select goods by category or merely search whatever you want through the “what are you looking for?” tab.
This shop has incredible discounts of up to 50% on products. Discounts offered depends on the product you are buying, and they do change with time and payment method.
The common payment methods on this portal include PayPal, Mastercard, VISA, Landmark, Cash on delivery, RuPay, Net banking, and Wallets.
Pier1
Pier1 is home to many outdoor and indoor furniture that one can use to improve the look of their dwelling places. The outdoor section consists of patio furniture, cushions, décor, dining furniture, patio umbrellas, and other outdoor accessories.
The indoor furniture section, on the other hand, contains the living room, dining, bedroom, office, children, and accent furniture. Vanities, nightstands, Ottomans…whatever you need is here at Pier1.
When it comes to discounts, this e-store seems like it understands how the human brain values reward. A larger percentage of their marketing tricks revolve around referral programs, reward cards, and coupon codes.
These are the things new visitors look for- and quite conveniently, the discount deals are the first things that pop up on their site.
Niche store built using Salesforce Commerce Cloud
PrettyLittleThing
PrettyLittleThing is an e-store that specializes in popular (yet inexpensive) women’s fashion and accessories. The collection of apparels you find here are loud and edgy fit for ladies who aren’t afraid to stand out from the rest.
Their website is not congested, and the upper section reveals a drop-down menu that takes you to all the products offered. Regarding discounts, there is a 15% price reduction for students. There are also other temporary discounts such as “refer a friend” meant to entice buyers.
Payments on this platform can be made via VISA, VISA Electron, PayPal, American Express, Maestro, and Mastercard.
Niche store built using Magento
Zappos
This is a 24/7 e-store that deals with designer shoes, clothes and accessories for men, women, and kids. The shoe section has offerings like flats, sandals, boots & booties, heels, comfort wear, loafers, slippers, clog and mules. The accessory department is loaded with bags, wallets, sunglasses & eyewear, hats, belts, and watches.
Goods sold on this portal come from big brands like Nike, ASICS, Born, Nine West, Luck Brand, Vionic, Converse, Coach, Adidas, Merrell, Sperry, and Timberland. The website is user-friendly with bright colors, a search bar and a shopping cart to make the buying process as simple as cutting through a cake.
Most payments on this platform are made through a credit card. In case you are not satisfied with the product supplied, Zappos gives you up to 365 days to return it to its original condition for a full refund. They can even take care of return shipping fees.
Bluemercury
This is an online portal that packs luxurious beauty products from top-notch brands like Jack Black, Kiehl, Ilia, Eyeko, Lamer, M-61 and over twenty others. Their product line includes the following broad categories: cosmetics, skin care products, bath and body, scents and even spa services.
The website’s “what’s new” section targets the frequent shoppers who are always looking for something new to add to their recent collections. While discounts may not exist in the biggest scales as other e-stores, their prices are somewhat realistic.
Also, the fact that this shop was started by individuals with experience in the beauty industry (Marla and Barry Beck) makes it the most distinguished stores for beauty products of all sorts. The site’s layout is simple, and all the tools meant to assist the shopper like a search bar, drop down menu, and filters are available.
Niche store built using Shopify
Horchow
Horchow packs high-quality furniture, décor, and lightning for those who need to add pizzazz to their homes. It’s one of the leading e-stores in the home & garden niche with plenty of indoor and outdoor items such as tabletops, rugs, curtains, bath kits, bedding, wall accents, home accents and all sorts of furniture.
Like Pier1 at the top, this shop attracts new customers by displaying discount offers right in the middle of the page. The discounts are undeniably irresistible. During one-day sale offers, the site cuts 30% off every item listed on their site.
The shopping experience on this store must be a good one. The layout is simple with neutral colors, and themes have been used to prevent coming off as an eyesore. There are various ways you can go about selecting your items on this platform. The first one is by searching through the search bar at the top. You can also narrow down and shop by new arrivals, brands, or through the help of filters.
Etsy
Etsy is unrivaled when it comes to selling handmade items. This seller-driven e-store is a great place to shop for clothing, home décor, clothing, gifts, jewelry, rugs, beddings, wedding accessories and other custom made items.
This artwork collection hub may come off as a multi-market store, but they only deal with items that can be ornamented. It’s one of those places that you go when you need unique selections including drawings and artworks. They have a vintage section for those who light up to designs of the old times.
Etsy has a clean website with a shopping cart situated towards the top-right corner of the page. If you can’t use the search bar to locate your item, the drop-down menus can serve as an alternative. Gift cards abound, but discounts are not so common here considering some of their collections go for as little as $1.50.
Click here to learn how to build a store like Etsy
Ugmonk
This is the simplest and cleanest online shop for the most stunning designer items. In a world full of mockups and imitations, Ugmonk intends to make individuals with unique taste continue to stand out. Their products include clothing (mostly t-shirts, cap, sweaters and hoodies), workspace items, and everyday carry items like canvas messenger bags, water bottle, card case, and wallets.
This store strives to provide its buyers with minimal designs and hence very appealing to people who hate clutter. For the lovers of eye candy images, the print section has lovely printouts with interesting messages such as “Never settle,” “minimize,” “do a lot with a little” etc. There is also a section where you key in your email for royalty free wallpapers of Iceland.
Niche store built using Shopify
Nasty Gal
As eccentric as the name sounds, Nasty Gal is one of the most favorite fashion stores for young women. They mostly deal with clothing, shoes, and accessories like jewelry, hair, hats, socks, legwear, sunglasses, bags and backpacks.
This online shop treats all its customers to a discount deal. All new arrivals come with a discount of 25% plus free next day delivery for those near the shops.
With Nasty Gal, it’s not all about shopping. You can relax on the site and read their “Nasty Galaxy” section to know what’s happening in the world of young women. If you are a student, you get 25% off everything you buy.
Niche store built using Shopify
Wine Monger
Ranked first by a Forbes article, Wine Monger is one of the biggest wine sellers in the world. They sell Red, White, sparkling and sweet wine. Well regarding the user experience, the site is very easy to use and can help buyers get the wine they want in a couple of seconds.
While in the “Appellation” tab, you can select your wine by country. They’ve got varieties from Austria, Hungary, US, Germany, France, and Italy. Even better, Wine Monger is transparent enough to list down all their producers within these regions. You can also get wine and champagne glasses from this ecommerce platform as well.
Niche store built using Magento
Glossier
This store has quirky design features that perfectly bridge the online/offline experience. It’s a wealth of both user-generated content and customer reviews. It has a well-laid product listing and a smart swatch selector that provide detailed information about the products.
Glossier majorly offers all types of clothing, jewelry, and accessories at affordable process. It offers cash on delivery, PayPal and debit/credit cards as the main payment options. Since payment methods are common, this company has been able to serve individuals from all parts of the world.
Customers can download a user manual to get a full description of the goods. Additionally, they can also use an elaborate shopping option like Facebook “style bot” and video chat among others.
FTD.com
Wish to spread love and show those close to you how much they mean to you, then visit FTD.com for some flowers. The site is an e-store that deals with flowers for every occasion- be it an anniversary, get well soon, sympathy, love, and romance, just because or congratulation.
Since the site deals with flowers only, there aren’t a lot of places to click on, making shopping a one-minute activity.
Wrap up
Ecommerce now rules the internet, and human beings have proved that they love making purchases while sitting on their couch catching up with the Kardashians(pun intended). As of 2018, so many shops have already established their online presence, and all that remains is to increase user base.
So if you are planning to start your own online shop, you need to take a look at how your competitors are doing, their site layout, the marketing strategies employed and even the mistakes they have made. Above all, you must learn how to retain your current customers and also come up with techniques to target newcomers.
To a great extent, how successful you are depends on the unique advantages you have.
And what are some unique advantages that an ecommerce business owner can have?
There are many, but the ability to be seen as the go-to store in a particular niche is an unfair advantage. If you take a step back and think- it makes a lot of sense: why do you think some marketing agencies consult only with businesses in a particular niche, like doctors, dentists or lawyers?
It's because by focusing on one specific niche, they will be seen as the go-to-people in that niche or industry. Just like the above ones.
Niche down to grow faster!
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