Digital enterprises or online businesses are not bound by geography or stringent local regulations. This makes it easier to start a business but it doesn’t make running the business any easier. Competition is fierce in almost every niche. Whatever your niche is, you should validate it by researching your competition. Let us explain how you should go about this and also why.
Demand and Supply!
The essence of most businesses can be boiled down to one reality, demand and supply. If there is enough demand then you can cater to the supply. If there isn’t enough demand, then catering to supply doesn’t make any sense. If there is only one diner in a locality, then it is likely to do well. If there are too many diners and not many people to fill up all those places, then most of those enterprises will run out of business.
Likewise, a digital enterprise or any online niche must have enough demand for there to be space to exist. While firms or endeavors can always coexist, the pie gets smaller and there is just less in it for everyone. The hard reality is that if there are enough players in a niche already and some of them have already amassed a massive market share, then penetrating their share or usurping a chunk of it will be a herculean task.
Study your competition to find out how large a market is and if some of your competitors are already catering to the needs of the audience. If you intend to do the same thing in the same niche, then there is little or no possibility for your enterprise to find a foothold, let aside being a roaring success.
Niche within a Niche!
It is unlikely that the niche you have planned to target will be completely void of competition. There may be stiff or less competition. If there are players already with humongous market shares and dedicated customers or audiences, then you need to find a niche within a niche. You cannot cater to the same exact niche that your competition is committed to.
For instance, if you are planning to target the niche of food, cuisine or anything culinary, then you can find some subset that the existing players have not touched upon yet. If that is not possible, then you must figure out what you are best at and use that authority to create a niche within a niche. It is all about the value you can offer to your audience and how you help, change or enrich their lives.