How to find a niche market for your online store + 115 niche market ideas

By Julia Gifford • Reading Time: 4 minutes

Pot-eh-to, pot-ah-to? Some people pronounce it in its original French pronunciation neesh, while others favor the americanized nitch. Regardless of your pronunciation, what they all have in common is that it’s essential to your online store’s success.

What is a niche?

When we talk about niches, we’re usually referring to a market niche.

A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused.

Once you find the products to sell online, you need to adapt them to the specific niche. This means making sure that your product suits the interests, the demographic and the economic status of the target group. For example, if your target audience is youth/students, then chances are they don’t have much extra money to spare, what with just getting started in the work force with likely large student debt. For that reason your product should be reasonably priced.

The sales sweet spot will be when you’ve achieved the perfect product-fit for a specific niche. When you’ve got a specific segment that’s very interested in the specific product you’re offering.

Danger zone: If your answer to the question “who would be interested/would buy your product” is “everyone,” then your niche isn’t defined enough. By making your target so broad, you end up targeting no one as a result, and as a result your sales suffer.

Keyword research

A foolproof way of finding a relevant niche is by using the recently popular method of doing keyword research to identify growing trends. This lets you 1) automatically validate your business idea, because you already see that people are interested, 2) know that you’ve got a good chance at receiving organic traffic, since it’s a popular search, and 3) know that you have targeted Adwords options that you can use to drive sales.

Rather than go into a step-by-step explanation of how to implement keyword research, I’ll point you in the direction of Shopify’s guide on how to choose what product to sell. Chapter 5 is all about keyword research.

Keep in mind that by using keyword popularity as a method to define your target audience, you’re looking more at making quick sales. Since you’re based on growing keywords, you’re basing your business on a fad. And as we all know, fads fade and get replaced with new ones. If you’re ok with that, then proceed. If not, you might want to find a niche more grounded in long-term elements.

Value-based and long-term niches

My personal advice would be to focus your brand on something that has some more staying power than matcha green tea. If you focus on something more global, then your brand can stay intact as fads change, and you can change your products as time goes by.

Think about what’s important to you, that’s sellable, and that people would want on their garments.

Not just a topic

It’s important to understand that a niche is not just a topic you decide on. The more specific you get, the better results you’ll have. For example, rather than targeting “dads,” you can target “stay at home dads” or “dad bods.” For example this store has targeted “bad dads.”

The Bad Dad’s Club

BAD_DADS_CLUB_BLACK_SWEATSHIRT_422_1024x1024

Photo courtesy of thebaddadsclub.com

115 Niche Ideas to Inspire Your Next Online Store

We’ve put together 115 topics that you can use to base your niche upon. You might consider combining two topics to create an ultra-specific niche, or building on one topic. For example, you could combine world travelers with coffee lovers to have a very specific target audience.

Animals

Photo courtesy of caninecaricatures.com

1. Any dog breed
2. Any cat breed
3. Horses
4. Birds
5. Uncommon house pets (otters, hedgehogs, etc.) that people are proud to have

Fantasy & Mythology

6. Unicorns
7. Nerd Culture
8. Elves
9. Greek & Roman mythology
10. Egyptian mythology

Heritage

Photo courtesy of vainags.com

11. Dying languages
12. Your heritage-based designs
13. Flags
14. Patriotism-based designs
15. National symbols

Occupation

16. Any occupation (ex. positive dentist)
17. Teachers
18. Firefighters
19. Medical workers (family members, etc. my daughter is a nurse)
20. Entrepreneur
21. Large corporation employees (ex. Walmart employees, Meijer employees, Facebook employees, McDonald’s employees)
22. Freelancers
23. Developers/ programmers
24. Designers
25. Startup employees
26. Biologists
27. Ornithologists
28. Sciences
29. Artists

Family Roles

Photo courtesy of www.thepoplyfe.com

30. Mom-boss/ mom-preneurs
31. Single dads
32. Aunts/uncles
33. Godparents
34. Grandparents
35. Sibling love
36. Twins
37. Custom family trees
38. Newlyweds
39. Young mothers/parents
40. Expecting parents

Uncommon Skills

41. Left-handed people
42. Underrepresented sports
43. Male dancer
44. Female programmers

Indulgences

Photo courtesy of http://www.shopwhiskeyginger.com/

45. Whiskey
46. Craft brews
47. Wine
48. Coffee

Food

Photo courtesy of www.makelovewithfood.com

49. Any type of cuisine
50. Food trends
51. Vegan/gluten-free/vegetarian
52. Junk food
53. Chocolate
54. Cheese

Geography

Photo courtesy of www.grafomap.com

55. Landmarks
56. Maps (city maps, subway maps, favorite route maps)
57. Airports
58. Architecture
59. Climates (tropical, desert, mountain themes)
60. Up and coming districts/neighborhoods

Literature

61. Famous authors
62. Literary quotes
63. Inspiring quotes
64. Uninspiring quotes

Beliefs

65. Political affiliation
66. Presidential candidate support
67. Hipsters
68. Grassroots movements

Awareness

69. ~~Dis~~ability
70. Rare illnesses
71. NGO support
72. Environment
73. Recycling
74. Access to clean water
75. LGBT
76. Civil rights

Fitness

77. Any sport
78. Cyclists
79. Wellness trends
80. Fad fitness classes (spinning, crossfit, barre3)
81. Self-help affirmations
82. Body-positive messaging
83. University Spirit
84. Spirit wear
85. Olympics/World Cups
86. Yoga
87. Golf
88. Whole30

Hobbies

89. Tech preferences (ex. Apple, Android, Linux)
90. Any hobby
91. Computer games
92. Programming/coding/math
93. Sci-fi characters
94. TV/Netflix shows/cult series fan art
95. Hiking
96. Photography
97. Hammocking
98. Rock climbing
99. History
100. Fashion
101. Cars
102. Hairstyles: iconic hair cuts, beard cuts
103. Motorcyclists
104. Dancing (ex. ballroom, ballet, hip hop, etc.)
105. Singing
106. Fishing
107. Camping
108. Aviation
109. Slack line
110. Gardening
111. Skiing
112. Astrology

Travel

T-shirt by Icon Speak

113. Wanderlust
114. Travel quotes
115. Local quirks (ex. Riga Black Balsam)

Share your own niche ideas, and together we can build a huge collection of niche market ideas for online stores!

Linda Edward December 10, 2018 at 12:32 pm

Hi Julia,
Just want to acquire from you, if for e.g. i take netflix shows as my niche and take the photos from their website or from other online sources, do i need to get their permission? Or i can just go ahead with it anytime?

1. Giedrė Kronberga December 12, 2018 at 7:18 am
  
  Hi Linda. Just from the sound of this, it doesn’t sound right. You can learn about acceptable content guidelines here.
  
Victor January 3, 2019 at 5:33 pm

Is funny t-shirt considered as niche or it is too broad? I have a funny t-shirt website that covers different kinds of topics for example, pets, coffee, tacos, fitness, Wine, Father, Mother etc… everything funny way on t-shirts. Just need your expert opinion…

1. Giedrė Kronberga January 4, 2019 at 9:08 am
  
  I’d say that funny t-shirts isn’t exactly a niche market. Remember, if your target audience is everyone then your niche isn’t defined enough. Try narrowing down your audience to, for example, funny t-shirts for pet owners. Or even better – funny t-shirts for pug owners. Hope that answers your question!
  
  1. Victor January 5, 2019 at 8:15 pm
    
    Great, I think I got your point. My store name is focused on sassy t-shirts but started to promote t-shirts in different areas. So I believe, instead of promoting funny t-shirts in all area, I should stick to sassy statements. Can you provide your feedback about the idea?
    
    1. Giedrė Kronberga January 9, 2019 at 4:01 pm
      
      I’m not sure what you mean by sticking to sassy statements. One thing I can say is that your overall store concept should target a specific audience that is not too wide 🙂 Hope I could help!
      
      1. Victor January 10, 2019 at 2:54 pm
        
        I meant “sassy sarcastic quotes tees”
        
        Great that helps
Jamie Spink January 5, 2019 at 4:59 pm

Hi, I was wondering if it is possible to have my customers upload their own images to my site, which I then pass on to printful, for them to print on garments, as opposed to having predetermined images in my store…
Thanks

1. Edward Zarins January 8, 2019 at 12:10 pm
  
  Hey Jamie, It’s possible with our Printful + Shopify product personalization tool. 🙂
  You can learn more about it here:
  https://www.printful.com/product-personalization-tool
  
  1. Antonio February 14, 2019 at 4:32 pm
    
    Hi Edward
    
    The personalization tool is applicable also on accessories (ei phone case) or it’s just available for clothing products?
    
    Thanks
    
    1. Giedrė Kronberga February 15, 2019 at 7:04 am
      
      Hi Antonio,
      
      As for now, you can use Printful’s tool to personalize DTG products and wall art only.
      
Christina January 11, 2019 at 4:44 pm

I’m planning on starting a new clothing printing business . I come up with the name of Star For All Seasons Shop. Is this too long for a name? My niche is for photographers and Vloggers/Youtubers ! Thanks

Pat McGhee January 11, 2019 at 10:52 pm

My store has multiple collections that target different groups: family reunion shirts, bridal t-shirts, etc. do I need to have separate stores for each?

1. Edward Zarins January 14, 2019 at 2:33 pm
  
  Hey Pat, not at all! You can create separate collections on your store end. But, if you prefer it that way, it’s also possible to have more than one store under the same Printful account. 🙂
  
Allen Kimble Jr January 12, 2019 at 1:39 am

Greetings! I have a Shopify web store and I Printfil is my fulfiller.
It is my intent to also provide bulk to dropfillers in need of products. I’m planning to list with Oberlo. My question is how can Printfil assist
me with regular sales and bulk accounts. Thanks!

1. Edward Zarins January 14, 2019 at 2:31 pm
  
  Hi there! We offer bulk discounts! 🙂 You can learn more about it here:
  https://www.printful.com/faq/products/364-are-there-any-discounts-for-bulk-orders-
  
Chen February 2, 2019 at 11:57 pm

Is beard a good niche? Is it not to broad? Though on the other hand i don’t find too much of shirts really different designs/sentence. I have a beard shirt design i bought before i thought of what niche i want to choose, and now I’m not sure what to do with it, and what niche should i create my Instagram page.. should i choose an other niche and upload this shirt there first?

1. Giedrė Kronberga February 4, 2019 at 12:49 pm
  
  Hi Chen! You should pick a niche that you’re interested in and know how to contribute to. There’s no golden rule to follow that will guarantee success, you’ll just have to try. And if I were you, I’d try to narrow the niche you’re thinking of targeting 🙂 Best of luck!
  
Michael Gordon March 5, 2019 at 7:36 pm

Hello everyone, I’ve been struggling finding a niche for a T-shirt brand that is meant to inspire, uplift and encourage people who are going though a hard time to become empowered and motivated to live their best life. I will truly appreciate any feedback, I’m totally lost on finding a niche

Les March 10, 2019 at 4:46 pm

Is a niche for my city and state good?