There’s a lot that has been said about finding niches for your Merch by Amazon store – but how do you find one that is a perfect fit for you?
Usually, many sellers start off by trying out their hand in several Merch by Amazon niches to find one that works.
This is still a good technique; however, it will take patience since it will take some time to make a conclusive decision as to which niche is profitable and which one isn’t.
Like with anything, finding the right Merch by Amazon niche research takes time.
There is a lot of research needed.
You will need to spend time in various groups and forums, understand what is trending on social media and Google and so much more.
What Is a Niche?
A niche is a segment of the population that is interested in a particular topic.
This unique market has its own interests and needs.
A niche should be focused on a specific group so that when they see products geared to them, they can see it and say, “that’s me”.
The more specific you can get your niche, the better it is for your Merch by Amazon business.
So where do you look for niches to start your Merch by Amazon niche research?
Google is your best friend.
Google has a few helpful and free tools that you can use to find out what is popular.
From Google Trends to Google AdWords, you can find out which keywords are popular in the searches.
You can also make a general Google search to find out what recent articles are saying are the top niches on Merch by Amazon.
Make sure to source ideas from relevant and reputable websites.
Write down a list of up to 10 top Merch by Amazon niches and you can narrow down the search either by preference or using Google Trends or Google AdWords to find which niches are pulling in the most traffic.
Online Communities
As mentioned above, online communities and forums are a great resource for your Merch by Amazon niche research to venture into.
Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have several users.
After collecting a list of niches, you can search for their popularity on these platforms.
You can do this by checking how many times words within that niche have been used in hashtags.
When looking into hashtags, look for words that have between 50,000 and 500,000 posts.
This means that there is enough market to support the niche without too much competition.
On Facebook, you can find out how many people are in groups within your niche.
You can even join some of these groups to find out what people are talking about and the current trends to give you an idea of what is popular.
The ideas that you gather from joining these communities will help you jumpstart your Merch by Amazon niche research.
High-Selling Products on Merch by Amazon and Other Platforms
If you don’t have any idea of what you want to sell, look at what other sellers are creating and seek ideas.
The goal is not to copy, but to inspire you to create new designs within a selling niche.
To start your Merch by Amazon niche research, you can use tools like Merch Informer to find designs with low BSR.
Look through other print on demand platforms and find out which designs are popular and are selling.
Reverse ASIN Lookup
Look for products on Merch by Amazon that are bestsellers.
Copy their ASIN, and enter them into a reverse lookup tool.
This tool will show you all keywords that are being used with these products.
This will give you a clear idea of topics and niches that are popular and are creating high-selling products and designs.
This is aso a great way to survey the niche that you want for your Merch by Amazon niche research.
How To Identify Potential
With several niches to choose from, how do you conduct Merch by Amazon niche research to find ones with the most potential?
At T-shirt Academy, we use the CPM Model.
This stands for Controversy, Pop Culture, and Media.
Controversy
When looking at controversy, you want to find out which Merch by Amazon niche elicits the strongest reactions.
Which niche has the most debates?
This can be on topics such as abortion, gun rights, climate change, or similar topics.
People who also draw out strong emotions on both sides, for example, Trump can be used as a niche subject.
Pop Culture
This is perhaps the easiest to identify.
Studying pop culture is a dynamic part for your Merch by Amazon niche research.
Finding hot topics in pop culture can be as simple as observing what is currently being talked about on popular news channels on TV or social media pages such as BuzzFeed.
What is trending?
This can also be what is being used in memes and so on.
If you are not already familiar with pop culture, you might need to take some time and follow relevant pages and see what themes and topics are recurring
Media
Once you have found a controversial or pop culture topic, you’ll want to see if it got relevant media attention.
This can be through conventional media such as TV or radio or digital news channels.
If this topic/niche had attention from both, then you know there would be enough interest and market.
You do not want to jump into a crowded niche – especially if you are still new to Merch by Amazon and don’t know how to get your listing to stand out.
You will want your Merch by Amazon niche research to intersect between at least two of the three categories.
Digging Deep
After finding a niche that appeals to you, you will want to dig deeper into it.
Unless you have been interested in the topic for some time, you’ll need to study the niche further to learn more about it.
Merch by Amazon is extremely competitive, and therefore the better you understand a niche the easier it is for you to create designs and find topics within the niche that are popular.
There are several steps for deep analysic of your Merch by Amazon niche research.
Early Learning
In this phase, you want to learn the basics of your niche.
You will look through Wikipedia pages and Google blogs/articles that are specifically created for beginners.
Find a few articles that you consider “important” and read them from start to finish.
This will keep you familiarized with the niche and you will better understand it.
If you prefer listening and watching to reading, there are several YouTube explainer-videos where you can learn more about any niche.
Pop Culture Analysis
In this part of your analysis, you will want to understand how pop-culture views your niche.
Here you will find more inspiration in the form of memes, challenges, trends and so much more.
Pop culture shapes how people view various topics.
As a Merch by Amazon seller, your main aim is to make as many sales as possible – and you can only do this by remaining current and relevant.
Pop culture will also give you insight into how popular your niche is.
Pop culture and entertainment can be dismissed as surface, but it’s not. It’s the language we all speak, and it’s the connection point between people all over the world.
Bozoma Saint John
If you find that people are making jokes, memes, or starting trends around your niche, then you know that you have a sizable market for whatever designs you intend to create.
To further dive deeper in your Merch by Amazon niche research, you will want to find out how themes around your niche were portrayed in movies, tv shows, and music.
If your niche is alcohol, find out how pop-culture views alcohol and the consumption of alcohol.
How have popular music videos or movies portrayed it?
Symbols and Lingo
In this part of your analysis, you want to understand the language used to speak about a certain topic.
What new phrases are being used?
What symbols are being used?
When creating your t-shirt designs, this information will prove to be useful.
You will be able to create designs that are reflective of the niche and also designs that the group interested in the niche would be willing to buy.
Quotes and Ideas
Similar to how you were trying to source for Merch by Amazon niche research ideas, you should scour online groups and forums such as Reddit and subreddit pages.
While you are not looking for niche ideas, you want to find out how people speak when talking about these topics.
How are jokes used?
What kind of jokes are used?
What are they more passionate about?
Is this a more serious niche or are people light-hearted?
The trick is always to identify with the group you want to appeal to and speak the way they speak.
Make the same jokes they would make and use them appropriately.
When searching for quotes, you will want to make two searches.
One for popular quotes and another for puns and jokes.
Note down all these ideas and use them as a starting point for future designs.
Create a Mind Map
Mind maps are a great way of having your ideas down and connecting them to see what makes sense and which ideas are doable.
They give structure to your thoughts and form for your Merch by Amazon niche research.
After you have written down all the ideas that you gathered during your search, you will dig deeper and look at each idea individually.
Drill Down
While finding the right niche and understanding more about it is amazing, you will want to look into any possible sub-niches.
Sub-niches are very important for delving deeper to your Merch by Amazon niche research.
You do this by drilling down the niches you identify and discover all its various components.
Drilling down can also be used with existing designs within broader niches.
If these designs were neutral, you can rework them to make them more specific to a specific sub-niche.
Sub-niches are better than broader niches since the audience is often more targeted.
People who follow sub-niches are more enthusiastic about them and are more likely to buy designs and products being offered.
The riches are in the niches.
Neville Chamberlain
While the niche “nursing” might have a large market, it is too broad.
The niche “nurses who own pugs” is very specific and targeted.
Any nurse who comes across this design is more willing to buy one of your designs since it speaks specifically to them.
That is the advantage of drilling down.
People who are members of sub-niches want to stand out, they love it when there is merch that is specifically for them.
This smaller group is more willing to spend money on designs and if you create relevant and good quality designs, you will make sales.
If you are already a Merch by Amazon seller and have been selling under a broader niche, you can niche down your designs appropriately.
Taking the previous example of nursing, you can niche down to “pediatric nurse” or “nurses who love pugs” or something similar.
Make sure that whichever sub-niche you want to venture into has a substantial target market.
To successfully find a sub-niche, look at the different sub-categories, types, or models within a niche.
Remember that in starting your Merch by Amazon niche research, almost every niche has a possible sub-niche.
If you can’t find a suitable category, use social media groups to find out what other topics people within broader niches are discussing to find out possible sub-niches.
In Conclusion
Many sellers do not take the time to conduct the research needed to find the perfect niche.
Merch by Amazon niche research can make or break your business model.
Some sellers typically resort to jumping onto niches that are already popular.
While this is not a completely bad idea, popular niches have a lot of competition.
This makes it harder to break into especially if you are still new to Merch by Amazon.
While sourcing for ideas is great, always try to be as unique as possible while still maintaining a sizable audience.
By following these steps, you will find that you can identify a niche that has enough interest but is not crowded with sellers.
With good designs, you will be able to make sales and eventually earn a profit.
As with anything, patience and perhaps some testing will be required.
Remember that you don’t have to narrow yourself down to only one niche.
However, you should be able to give each niche the time and attention needed to learn it and understand what people within each niche are attracted to.
What do they desire?
How do they talk?
What appeals to them?
Once you have chosen your niche/niches through your Merch by Amazon niche research, it is time to take the next step.
Craft your designs and listings in a way that speaks to them.
What niches do you think are most popular right now?
Leave a comment below and let us know.
