Have you ever heard that you need to niche down in order to have a successful business? It’s true, even for crochet it’s very true. There are indeed riches in those crochet niches
Niching is where you choose one product type or a theme to base your business around. This one product or them is what your people are going to remember you for when they are ready to buy something.
If your thinking that you theme is crochet, then think again. No one buys crochet because it’s crochet – NO ONE!! (Well, not unless your selling crochet patterns or course at least)
Your customers do not care that the way your amazing creations are made is with crochet. They are buying because they love the look and you have the type of product they need.
This even applies to selling crochet patterns. You can rely on getting found in search results, or you can boost your pattern sales by niching and becoming known as the go to for particular items such as rugs or hats or even techniques like Mosaic or brioche crochet.
To have a successful crochet business of any kind, you need to niche.
What Kind Of Crochet Niches Are There?
You can choose any product type or theme you like. Just make sure it’s something you enjoy making as you will be working within this niche for a good long while.
It doesn’t matter if you are selling what you make, selling patterns, blogging or creating videos, you have to niche. If you don’t you just have a very pretty jumble sale and no one will know what to expect from your shop, or what they should visit you to buy.
You could become known for beautiful bridal shawls, modern but stylish bags, or there is a lady in my group who makes amigurumi of her customers’ pets!
You could have the theme of nursery products, 70s retro, goth chic. Whatever niche you choose, just stick to it and make sure every product you release fits in with it. You can never get too niche, the more specific you are about what you are offering the better.
Why Does Niching Matter?
If you’re still wondering why niching matters, then take a walk through a shopping centre. You will find a whole mix of shops there, but they generally fall into 3 categories and niching plays a big part in that.
First we will go into a shop that sells a bit of everything, the type that you go to when you need some bits and pieces but it’s not known for anything in particular. What is the price point of that shop?
Chances are, it’s a discount shop whose niche is simply the low prices. These types of shops rely on selling high volumes of goods in order to make a profit. They have to make hundreds of sales a day in order to bring in the money they need.
We had a chain of stores like this in the UK who tried to charge higher prices than discount shops, but it disappeared – you can hear more about Woolworths and why you don’t want to be like them here. When you go to one of these discount shops, you have to hope that they have the particular item you want. There is no guarantee that you will find what you are looking for.
Let’s walk further through the shopping centre. Now we get to well known high street brands. What do you notice about them? They are stocked with one type of product and their prices are average – the mid range zone.
These shops are all niched down to one product type. Carphone Warehouse is selling phones, Curry’s sells electrical goods, Smyths is selling toys. All of these brands are sticking to their niche, so all their customers know exactly what to expect when they walk through the doors.
Their customers are not walking into those shops HOPING they will find what they need. Customers walk into these niche stores KNOWING they will find what they need.
Would you rather go to a shop hoping you will find what you need, or knowing that you will find it so you don’t have to go to the trouble of traipsing around trying to find another shop that might sell what you are looking for? The truth is, if you can afford it, you’re going to the shop that you know has what you need.
But we have one more type of shop left in our shopping centre – The luxury store.
These shops are expensive and exclusive. They tend to have a smaller selection of products than the mid range shops, but they are still niche. In fact they are even more niche than the well known High Street brands.
Ferrari only sells supercars, and only a few models of them. Pandora sells fairly simple, elegant jewellery- they save the embellishments for their bracelet charms. Gucci sells only the latest high end fashion, and each new season brings a new theme and absolutely everything they offer fits into that theme – no exceptions.
The More You Niche The More You Can Charge
The trend is simple. The more you niche, the higher the price tag that you can command. Niching equals higher price tag and more profits. There really are riches in those crochet niches!
So if you have been worrying about being able to price your crochet high enough to make the pricing you need, then get niching. The more you niche, the higher you can price without frightening customers away.
OK, you will have fewer customers, but the ones you have will not quibble about your prices and you will make far more profit from selling one item than you would selling 3 at the lower price range.
Doesn’t that sound so much easier? Making the same profit selling 1 item rather than having to make and sell 3? If you are targeting the right customers, it takes just as much effort to sell 1 item at both price points. So why not save yourself a tonne of time and energy and just sell 1 Product at the higher price tag rather than 3 at the lower price?
So get niching, and do yourself and your business a favour and really get specific about what you sell and get those profits rolling in.
When you are ready there are 3 ways that I can help you:
- Listen to my podcast for more crochet tips and advice
- Sign up to my newsletter for weekly crochet selling tips and resources sent straight to your inbox
- Check out my free Facebook group for daily tips, resources and support
0 Comments