Looking for the next great business opportunity in your market niche?
- Start by picking one Department that relates to your market.
- it tells you what people want to learn about most, within the different book topics.
Know what you're getting into if you think you want to go after a big market.
Who are you going to be competing against?
What are they selling?
Or, in the case of information, what are they teaching?
This is my all-time favorite way to use Amazon. The more you browse through a category, the more ideas you'll get. By the time you're done, you could easily have a big list of products you want to create, courses you want to teach, blog posts and emails to write, and titles of new books to write. Keep that list safe!
Here are just a few places to look for ideas:
- Sub-categories
- Top Sellers
- Products with a high number of reviews (indicates interest and passion for a topic)
- What's Hot (eg topics in time management; trends)
- Table of Contents in top-selling books
For example, take a look at all the sub-categories in Management & Leadership
Look Inside and find the Table of Contents. Now you have ideas for things to write about in that niche.
If you already have a customer base or email list, or you know people who are in your target market, you have another tool you can use for ideas:
The Wish List
You can be relatively safe in assuming that the keywords and phrases on amazon are the ones that people are using in their searches.
That means that you can borrow those keywords and use them in your own content, such as blog posts, categories and sub-categories on your site, and in product descriptions. Actually, use them anywhere people might search for your content – your website, products, videos, slideshows, social media posts, etc.
- Look at the names of the categories on Amazon
- Names of subcategories
- Key phrases in the descriptions of top-ranking results
- Look at the number of products in your category. Are there thousands, or just a handful?
- How many sub-categories are there in your main category niche? If there aren't any, or if there are only one or two, then you may have hit the bottom of the bucket. Your niche just may be too narrow and limited for longterm growth.
- Keep researching.
- What is amazon's recommended upsells/cross-sells/combos (frequently bought together, customers also bought)? If there are a lot of options there, chances are that people buy multiple products in your category. That means people are spending money and there is growth potential for you.
- Are the products in your niche repeat purchases? Or are they one-off items? Anything that people buy over and over can mean income in the long-term
- What are the different price points of products? If people are buying items for $100 and up, there's a good chance that they'll be willing to spend more-
That tells me that people who purchase items related to the psychology of persuasion in the Marketing & Consumer Behavior category buy a LOT of books. There are over 100 in the section of what people also bought.
If you look at some of those ‘also bought' books and what categories they fall into, you'll also get ideas for topics related to your niche that you could potentially expand into,
Take notes on all the data you find here since it's a combination of all of it, plus other market research, that will help you assess profitability. Don't rely solely on amazon for your data!
7. Uncover Untapped MarketsI've saved the best for last. This is a secret trick that takes more time, but it can yield some unexpected and surprising insights into your market's needs.
The trick is to look at the reviews of top selling products in your best niches. It's here that you can find the unmet needs and opportunities. You'll also find out what's most important to your customers.
- Look for top-selling products in your category with higher number of reviews
- Look first at the ‘Most helpful' reviews. These are reviews that browsers found most helpful in making their decision about buying the product,
- Read poor review ratings. What are people saying? What are they unhappy with? For example, is there a key feature missing? Was customer service horrible? Was the quality? Is there another competitor they mentioned as being better?
- Now read top ratings. What do people love about that product? Those are things you'll need to make sure you can provide. What did they say is missing? Those are opportunities and often can be found in 4-star reviews.
- Look for trends in the reviews you read. Just because there's one person who was disappointed that the widget didn't come in yellow doesn't mean you should become the next great yellow widget provider.
your research, before you commit to a niche:
You must be able to compete and offer unique value!Can you provide a better system that addresses people's complaints? Can you provide a product with the features that people say are missing?
All the research you do in a place like Amazon is a first step. You'll have pages of ideas by the time you're done, but you'll need to sift through those and winnow them down to the best
Now it's your turn to start having some fun shopping for ideas and market intelligence on Amazon.
(if you're interested in learning more)
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